Football season starts today! In celebration--and also thanks to Labor Day--I'm in the midst of a four-day weekend. By the way, how long does a weekend have to be before it stops becoming a weekend? I mean, if I took Tuesday off as well, would that be a five-day weekend? At some point, don't you just have to say you took a week off?
Football doesn't signal the beginning of Fall, but serves more as a harbinger of it. Summer is slowly tiring. The weather is still hot, but the days are growing shorter. Today, we'll be in shorts and short sleeves. But soon, we'll be in jeans and long sleeves, the familiar autumn chill evoking thoughts and memories and feelings as only it can.
Today the population of Tuscaloosa will swell from 80,000 to 180,000 or more. People will arrive hours before kickoff. Some arrived days in advance. The streets will be buzzing with activity, the campus redolent with the smell of barbecue and burgers.
The stadium will be packed in anticipation not just of a new season, but of a new coach and a new era, hopefully one that awakens feelings and memories of an earlier time.
They'll strike up the band and the players will run onto the field, a sea of crimson spreading across the lush green. Both occurrences will elicit cheers from the crowd while at the same time bringing chill bumps to many in attendance.
There will be sons and daughters attending their very first game, and others who haven't missed a game in years. They'll sit next to each other, young and young at heart, decked out in their crimson, gray, and white, donning their houndstooth caps.
But all will share the same burning hope and desire. To watch the Tide roll on a Saturday evening in Tuscaloosa.
"Well, there's a football in the air, across a leaf blown field. Yeah, and there's your first car on the road, and the girl you'd steal..."
I sat inside an air conditioned apartment yesterday while the outside temp was over 100 degrees and watched University of Washington and Syracuse play football. I'm not sure who won because I fell asleep. It will be summer in So Cal until about October so no long sleeves for us for a while.
ReplyDeletehappy football season, Bone. I know you're in your happy place now.
ReplyDeleteI hope you come back to the surface to blog about it. ;)
There is nothing like a NCAA football game. Nothing in this world. I can't think of a better place to be or a more exciting thing to be in the midst of. You've captured those feelings here.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just about the game, the players, the scores . . . it's about tradition, comraderie and that feeling deep down that you just can't describe. Nothing floods my eyes with tears or raises gooseflesh on my arm like being at a game.
I hope all of our teams have fantastic seasons . .
This was truly a beautiful piece about the love of the game.
ReplyDeleteLooks like your boys produced a blow-out for you, too :) Congrats!
one word--Tuscaloosa
ReplyDeleteOne thought--I don't want to wear jeans and long sleeves or shorter days
But glad you got to see the Bamas
Yep. The sooners opening game was last night.
ReplyDeleteI didn't go or watch. I have no idea who won! lol
Xinher: Yeah, nowadays it's usually late October or November before we get to wear long sleeves to games.
ReplyDeleteRenee: LOL Yes, my happy place. I like that :)
Avery Laine: It is very hard to describe. So you call it gooseflesh? Is that the same thing as goose bumps?
TC: Thanks! They did. I see that your Badgers won, as well :)
Pia Savage: I love that name, as well. I don't mind long sleeves, though I'm not a fan of pre-5 PM sunsets.
Kerry: I think I saw where the Sooners won quite easily :)
yer from TUSCALOOSA?
ReplyDeletedang! I always heard that Red Skelton liked to hunt elephants down that-a-ways because the tusks'r'looser.
(sad isn't it, when a mind goes to waste?)
So, here it is Sunday (hey! I'm celebrating that daylight savings shtuff a whole different way. I save up my hours and buy back whole chunks of weeks!) and I just dropt in my three word wednesday bit.
Best I can say good for it is it's longer than three sentences this time.....
The worse I can say bad about it is, dang! LATE! LATE! LATE!
Now, on a different side of the track...the gig here is that the Colts have a dome.
It wasn't big enough....
they demanded a bigger dome or maybe they would be looking for a new home.
("GO! Already! If that's the best y'all can threat, we don't want ya!")
But on a local level, the mayor of Indy got together several big pocket investors, kist their butts till there was a warm glow on each and every fanny, and behold! A new dome being built as I write these words.
(Colts wouldn't even toss in 1% of their multi-million dollar contract money, so, between the big pockets and the new taxes rolling down the pike, well...maybe ol' Bart won't be with us after next election....)
Love football, but, playing, not watching so much. But, being too old fer rough housing around, I stick to golf.
FORE!
it always comes back to the football.. well just wait 'til roundball season.. that's when I get fired up.
ReplyDeleteYay for college football season! Although, it hasn't gotten off to such a good start for me. PSU won, ND lost. The first PSU home game is ND, I'm a little scared. I see the Tide crushed the...the..Catamounts. What is that exactly?? Who cares, you won! WHOOPPP!!! Enjoy your super long weekend!!
ReplyDeleteBone, you'll have to read my Saturday post. Now I didn't wear any team's colors (except my shirt was Carolina blue), but I was at Michigan's Big House with my uncle and both of our girls (this is my uncle who's like my older brother and his daughter is 2 years older than mine). He's also an Appalachian State alumni--and it was something to see!
ReplyDeleteBoneman: Well, Tuscaloosa is one of my homes away from home. I didn't know the Colts were getting a new dome. I guess that happens when you win a Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating in 3WW.
Shelby: Basketball, huh? Who's your team?
Carnealian: I saw where your Irish lost. *cringe* Yeah, we started off with an easy game. Then again, that's probably what Michigan was thinking, too.
Sage: You were there??? I bet that was something. I'll have to say we were listening to the game on the radio and I was pulling for App. State. You gotta love the little guy, unless your the big guy they happen to be playing that day :)
Football season...finally!
ReplyDeleteI stayed at a sleazy hotel in Tuscaloosa during a 36hr road trip from Boston to Galveston. There was some big ol' outdoor country music concert taking place around Chattanooga, and every hotel room from between Knoxville and Birmingham was booked solid. The outside of the hotel looked decent, but the inside was rife with riff-raff. I was tired and needed a short nap, so I stayed...for four hours anyway.
I could give or take football. If theres a party associated with the game, I will take it, if not I leave it! lol
ReplyDeleteI look forward to September Sundays. Football Sundays in Florida just didn't feel right. Back here in the Northeast, with the chill in the air and smell of burning leaves - that's football season!
ReplyDeletetwo words: ROOOOOLLLLLLLLLL TIDE!
ReplyDeleteI was at that game. Very cool to see the Saban Era getting off to a good start! Grant's opening play TD run was a thing of beauty.
ReplyDeleteNow, time to get ready for Vandy! Roll Tide!
Carlos: Four hours? They should've given you an hourly rate.
ReplyDeleteKate: I see how it is. Just don't be loud when the game is on, OK? OK :)
Scarlet Hip: Hmm, interesting. So who do you go for? Patriots? Jets? Should I or should I not tell you that I'm a Cowboys fan? :)
Melanie: There's my Bama girl. Roll Tide!!!!
Joe: I agree. That was sooo sweet. You couldn't ask for a much better start than that. Thanks for visiting my blog.