Eileen and I have been fans of college football since our youth. That meant cheering for “our” teams which have grown over time. Those teams currently include:
- University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)
- University of Georgia
- Texas A&M University
- United States Military Academy (West Point)
It is a rare weekend that all four teams win their games but we are blessed that all of these teams are in good enough conferences that their games are televised now.
Of the four teams, we have season tickets to Georgia and UAB and interweave attendance so that we make at least four out of the six home games. This makes for a very congested fall season and we don’t travel to away games because there are very few open weekends.
The Phoenix of College Football
The phoenix of college football is of course UAB. The football program was cancelled in 2014 only to come back stronger in 2015 due to the combined efforts of President Ray Watts, Athletic Director Mark Ingram, Coach Bill Clark and many others. My first day at UAB was the rebirth of UAB football. Shortly thereafter and in a very rare move in NCAA football, I became responsible for the technology support for the Athletics program including the football program. Fast forward two years and it is Friday night before UAB’s first football game. I am the honorary coach for the game and am giving the pregame speech to the team while they eat about a billion calories of a dinner. I told them that everyone was behind them, they were well-prepared to win the game, and all they had to do was execute their game plan. Coach Clarke and the team were appreciative of the speech and they went on to win the game.
Family
One of the things that I really like about UAB football is that it is family friendly. The tickets are reasonably priced, the venue (Protective Life stadium) is modern and easy to get into and out of. The team is competitive in its conference (Conference USA and now American) and the games have some unique rituals.
My favorite ritual is the the Children’s Harbor game. For this game, the players have the name of a seriously ill child on their back instead of the player’s name. The child hangs out with the player at practice and if possible, attends the game. It is all about the child. This brings me to the 2017 Children’s Harbor game – the first Children’s Harbor game. Here is the hype video explaining everything.
UAB is 12 point underdogs against Louisiana Tech and like the Harbor children they are supporting, face an uphill battle to win. The game is close but Louisiana Tech has driven down the field and is on 12 yard line. They are going to kick a field goal and win the game. Eileen and I were at the game and right before the kick, I dejectedly told her that no one misses a field goal from the 12 yard line. Then this happened:
Remember the guy in first video wearing #42? His name is Shaq Jones and he was playing 10 year old Emme Nichols. Emme has a cancerous brain tumor. Emme’s father played UAB football. His number was #42. But there is more. Shaq’s mother has the same type of brain tumor. Here is a picture of Emme and Shaq before the game.
Here is a video of Emme, Shaq, and the rest of the team in the locker room after the miracle win. I can’t embed the video but click on this link, unmute the video and enjoy.
If you could not hear – the team yelled family at the end. Like I said, UAB football is family friendly. Like UAB’s miracle win against Louisiana Tech, another miracle occurred. Emme survived her brain surgery and is doing fine. Emme and Shaq remain good friends.
Georgia Tailgates
Eileen and I host four tailgates a year for Georgia games. We are fortunate to have six seats together and offer four guest seats at no charge on a first come, first serve to our family, friends, and colleagues. As the picture above indicates, we have more than six guests periodically throughout the season as folks stop in eat, play games, and catch up with us.
One of the rituals of our tailgate is for all guests to sign our yearly football. The real stars of the tailgate are our guests and we proudly display the signed footballs in our gameroom. As you can tell from the pictures above, some folks sign, some folks sign and emote, and some sign and leave messages.
Another tailgate ritual is the playing of stupid football. This ritual has a rich tradition of stories with one participant almost dying and another fleeing the field of combat (in pursuit of teenage girls). The rules are simple:
- Stand in a parking lot and pass a football around.
- Once everyone gets comfortable, you must start passing the football with your nondominant hand. This is when the nonparticipants start taking pictures.
- At some point, you must pass the football with your nondominant hand and catch the ball with one hand. This is when the non-participants start taking movies.
- At some point, you must pass the football with your nondominant hand, catch the ball with one hand while standing on one leg. There is so much laughter typically the nonparticipants cannot film. You will have to attend to witness stupid football in its full glory.
Our final ritual is the playing of cornhoe. This is normally low stress although occasionally nearby tailgates will come over to play and sometimes we make the mistake of underestimating young college kids and old wheezers who are on competitive cornhoe teams and never miss.
Dad, Mom, and ESPN
In a lead in to the story that follows this, Dad, Eileen, David Rubnitz and I were attending the 2010 Georgia vs Arkansas game. We were sitting on the 50 yard line about 10 rows back (using David’s cousin’s tickets) and we are 100% convinced that Georgia was going to win. We had hope. We were doing our best to influence the game much to the delight of the ESPN boom camera operator. At one point late in the 4th quarter, the boom operator pointed at us and turned the camera towards us. We continued to do what we had been doing all game – cheer on the dawgs. About a minute later, my phone ran and it was my mom. She asked me to tell my dad to behave himself, using some colorful language as he was just on national TV. The dawgs lost that game 31-24 despite our efforts.
Georgia versus Hope
If you watch SEC football, you probably watch SEC Shorts – an insightful Youtube channel that somehow captures everything that happened Saturday in an often bitingly insightful video. The script is insanely good and how they get all those props between midnight Saturday and 10 AM Sunday I don’t know. It is published at 10am Monday morning about the same time as all work stops in the South to see what brilliant lasses and lads have published on SEC Shorts. There are many fan favorites but for Eileen and I, nothing matches the epic love-hate relationship between Georgia and Hope (Josh Snead and Hannah Kuykendall). If you want to see where it started in their multi-video engagement which continues three years later, watch this:
In addition to their YouTube channel, they do live performances at various SEC campus towns which instantaneously sell out. When they announced their first Georgia performance, Eileen and I knew we had to go. Greg and Rhonda Jenkins (who know Josh Snead), Carl and Cynthia Holmen and Kevin and Rhonda Brooks attended their performance and met with the staff after the performance. I brought a football for them to sign and we had a lot of fun meeting them in person.
Texas A&M Football
We spent five years at Texas A&M and attended football games often as a student. We enjoyed a number of football rituals that I am surprised has not spread throughout the rest of the college world given their efficacy.
- If the team scores, you score: Lots of schools have some sponsor give like $5 off of some taco or burger if the team scores. For some schools, they do pushups for every score. Texas A&M takes this to a whole new level. If the team scores, you score and you score immediately as everyone will hug or kiss someone. This happens every score. Young ladies need to be careful on their first date unless you are inclined to a lot of kissing and hugging on said first date.
- Hand Signals: Texas A&M uses hand signals to indicate the next cheer and to coordinate 102,500 fans to all do the exact same thing together. All cheers are deadening loud from several miles away.
- Standing All Game Long: No one sits. No one argues about people standing in front of you because everyone is standing. This includes halftime because we are not going to disrespect the band. For those dying or are very pregnant, 250 seats are reserved so you can sit (out of 102,500 seats) although you are encouraged to stand when you can.
- Yell Practice: Everyone can yell but few can master the craft. Thus, at midnight the night before a game, about 10,000 true fans assemble to practice yelling. Alcohol is optional but universally used to accel at yell practice
A pregame meal at the hole in the wall Dixie Chicken is optional. Parking is constrained but there is always enough seating for everyone.
For bowl games, there is a limited number of tickets for students. Thus, Texas A&M is the last time I camped out overnight to get football tickets. A group of us rotated just like everyone else. Despite everyone being on their best behavior, it was highly entertaining. Texas A&M played Notre Dame in the rain that year in the Cotton Bowl. Wes lost.