It’s That Time of Year Again

Maybe I was born with too much testosterone, or maybe I just appreciate violence and aggression in a controlled environment – or maybe it is as my wife is fond of pointing out, I am just two chromosomes shy of being a real “knuckle dragger” – but whatever it is, the early weeks of Fall – which now actually begin with the last weeks of August – make up one of my two favorite seasons. One, of course, is Christmas, and the other is just about upon us – FOOTBALL SEASON!

It began creeping up on me recently as I took my sons to football workouts and witnessed with much pride my daughter progress to become a band majorette – and she is only an eighth-grader who will march with the high school band!

It is partly the sense of change in the weather patterns.  It is partly an awareness of activity.  It all adds up to an anticipation of the color, the enthusiasm, and the energy of a football game.

We who live in Alabama and who love football (and who in Alabama does not?!) are truly blessed.  I have lived in eight states of our Great Nation and have taught on the African Continent, in the Far East, the Middle East, and in the Caribbean and that gives me the authority to say that there is no better place on Earth to be during football season than the Great State of Alabama.

I can trace my obsession with football back to some very early days. I was born in Miami – Florida, of course – and I was influenced by my Uncle Bill, 14 years my senior, who took me under his wing.  He stood six foot three-plus and was an outstanding quarterback.  He was an All-American at Miami Jackson High – oh, his back-up at Jackson was ESPN’s Lee Corso – and Uncle Bill also was All-State and All-Southern.  He turned down our hometown Miami Hurricanes to play at Baylor, where he was back-up to Hayden Frye, who later gained fame as the coach at Iowa.  He took me to games when I was two years old and tried to get me to handle a football not long after.  I guess Uncle Bill can be assessed the blame or credit.

The first game I can remember watching on television was when I was nine and North Carolina was playing someone, but seeing the spectacle on television firmly cemented football as the pre-eminent motivator for my entire life.

I was never a great player, but I was a good player who did everything my coaches told me.  I gave my most sincere effort on every play whether it was in practice or in a game and it made me love the game even more.

I was privileged to be captain of a team which won a State Group IV Championship – in New Jersey of all places – in our junior year but could not repeat our senior year going only 6-3.

I have coached at the high school, junior college, and college levels and have been an athletic director at those same levels.  Of all my experiences in those positions, I must admit that there is no activity that can draw students, alumni or fans together more fervently than football can!

If one ever has the chance to walk through the halls of a high school on the day of the first game or on a college campus on a homecoming weekend the excitement, anticipation and the almost giddy sense of being can be near overwhelming.

So, if you can, “sense” the weather, “feel” the temperature and “tune in” to the ethereal vibrations dancing in the cosmos this time of year, you are or will be as afflicted as I am. 

And remind those in the band or on the playing field that the only obligation they have is to be great!

It’s football time again in Alabama!  Amen! And AMEN!