As you bask in the heat, and probably a good dose of humidity in Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa and Athens and Columbia, and the like, believe it or not I feel your pain. Even as I sit at my computer in Southern California, I can feel your angst; your anticipation, seemingly with no end in sight. You’re in that prison most of us Summer. You are the folks using your kitchen wall like an inmate uses his cell wall…one hash mark for every day that passes as you count down…48 days left until your lives can become, with great understanding from the rest of us, all consumed with the new college football season, (Gamecock inmates get two fewer days to suffer with an August 28th start because apparently the “Old Ball Coach” still has some pull with the warden).
SEC and ACC Football Fans
I will admit that many around the country don’t quite get the depth of the depravity, or as you folks like to call it, commitment the holy grail that is your college football. Out in this part of the world, we are talking about the exploits of Clayton Kershaw and Yasiel Puig and maybe making a quick road trip up to the Bay Area for a weekend series. We wonder how the Angels, with the second best record in baseball and the best player in the game fly so far under the radar. Certainly we are talking about NBA free agency and how the Lakers will look with a bunch of unwanted free agents and Kobe or do the Clippers need much more in order to make a run at the Conference title. Heck, for that matter the Kings’ recently won Stanley Cup trophy is still making the public rounds.
We are so consumed by the here and now that we overlook those of you who may be marking your walls, pining for August 30th, still six long, hot, humid weeks away. Now, sure, there is a smattering of NBA and NHL teams in the region, but short of basketball events in South Beach, there is not that much going on. And of course, a handful of you are within a 5-6 hour drive of catching a Braves game in Atlanta, but based on attendance figures, it is clear you don’t. And we will just pretend the Marlins and Rays don’t exist, because their fans are doing the same.
No, you folks of the fine and congenial South and Southeastern part of the country want your college football and you have been waiting oh so long! But what to do with all this “down time?” I mean, Spring practice ended 4 months ago for goodness sake! Now, based on my reading of various team message boards, I can see that some of the time right now is spent following the recruiting and verbal commitment whims of 16-17 year old high school students, hoping that, unlike other teenagers, they can keep their word for 6 months all the way to that signing day the first Wednesday in February. If you are an Alabama or Auburn fan, you are likely spending too much time calling into the Paul Finebaum show explaining how you can prove that your rival, and its fans, are the devil incarnate. Soon it will be conference media days and your message boards will dissect every word, every pause and every sip of water that a coach takes at a podium. Is that it though? Summer filled?
Many other parts of the country will tout the voracity of their program. I’m certain that folks in East Lansing, Columbus and South Bend are eager for the new season. Out West, as you folks like to refer to us, there is a lot of football to discuss with Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona State and perhaps a resurgence at USC. But we are not talking about it now because we have all those other sports items to muddle through first.
But I have turned the corner and understand where you are coming from. I have been to games in the SEC and ACC. I have witnessed the traditions and revelry. I have inhaled the myopia and consumed the passion. Heck, I even married an SEC girl. I have to say, the delusional commitment you all have is pretty compelling stuff. I must admit to my west coast allegiances that I have added more Southern schools to my wish for football games, (looking at you Auburn, South Carolina and LSU), and I recommend they venture out to do the same.
All of this is my way of saying to you, SEC Fan, and ACC Fan I am now counting down the days with you. My myopia may be a little lighter than yours….kind of a West Coast herbal tea compared to your daily sweet tea, but I am with you in solidarity. I am anxious for that last weekend in August. My wife won’t let me add the countdown hash marks to the kitchen wall, so maybe I will do it in my daughter’s room. She’s a teenager and it will take her months to even notice them there, but I am counting down with you.
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