It’s the last days of summer. We’re feeling fall in the air and so many Americans ARE “Ready for Some Football. Whether it’s watching your favorite college team or favorite NFL team, American get geared up to watch the game of the week on the big screen or in person, complete with all the fix-ins’ of a good home party or a tailgate with favorite foods of the region of the country. So what makes American football season like no other spectator sport anywhere in the world?
From the (former)Monday Night Football Crew, Frank Gifford, Dan Dierdorf and Al Michaels, to Wolverines entering the Big House, to the Michigan State Spartans to the Kansas City Chiefs, it’s all part of the Greatest Show On Earth, come Fall in the USA.
Maybe it’s that football is the ultimate ‘gladiator’ sport. Men in an arena, duking it out with the fans cheering them on. They are big, strong, heroes to many young kids and led by coaches that lead their team like a general leads his troupes complete with a cadre of coaches and support staff below the head coach. There are treats, hot dogs, some stadiums boast gourmet foods and some serve alcohol. With luxury boxes, even a pro stadium boasting hot tubs in suites that can be rented for $12,500 per game, those with the most discriminating taste can find the ultimate in comfort and frivolity to view a match up.
Characters who are part of the show, top l-r Don Canham, former University of Michigan Athletic Director, OSU Head Coach, Woody Hayes and his rival at one time, Bo Schembechler. Bottom r-l, Dallas Cowboys Owner and biggest fan, Jerry Jones, the TCU Showgirls and their grown up counterpart, The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.
But that’s not all. Not only is it a toe to toe of the strongest athletes and some of most popular sports figures, it’s a treat for one’s eyes with pretty young dancers cheering on their team. Who else has the Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleaders in their famous costumes along with a coordinating squad for each team and many colleges and universities have now followed suit with their own versions. Texas Christian University may have gotten the ball rolling on that one with their own TCU Showgirls, clad in the purple, white and silver version complete with the white boots hailing from not far across town from the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. To complement the entertainment add a marching band, half time show and sometimes announcers who have become celebrities themselves, some who played the game at one time, think Michigan Wolverine, Dan Dierdorf, Frank Gifford, O.J. Simpson and Howard Cosell who didn’t but made a name for himself as a sports reporter and commentator. Even the commercials advertising Monday Night Football and the game of the week on other networks had theme songs. Remember Hank Williams Jr. who rewrote a country music song to come up with “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over For Monday Night Football.”
It was Don Canham, Athletic Director at the University of Michigan who took the college game to a bigger stage. He made the game of college football an industry with logo merchandise and events to draw more and more fans. He hired Bo Schembechler in 1968 as the head football coach for the Wolverines who took the team to more and more victories, winning over big rivalries like Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State, packed the stadium with over 100,000 fans consecutively, setting an example for other big name schools. as to how college football is done and the schools quickly learned that a football program could bring in big dollars and with it came more and more alumni donors too.
Nick Saban, former coach at Alabama, knew how to create a winning team, Southern Methodist is touted as having some of the best tailgating in all of college football, Students at MSU in Lansing just might disagree.
I once talked to a man who isn’t a football fan-yes, an American man, believe it or not, who said to me about the guys in my family talking about the latest University of Michigan football news the year it was rumored that Jim Harbaugh might take the head coaching job, “I just don’t get how they can go on and on talking about this and the recruits for hours. It’s not like they can control the out come. I just don’t understand it.” Although he did have a point, it would have been pointless to tell my guys what ‘Richard’ said. They DID find interest in discussing all the ins and outs of Michigan Football, and they, for sure, are not the only U of M fans who feel this way, and multiply that by all the MSU fans, OSU fans, Notre Dame fans, TCU, Texas, Georgia and on and on. Football fans LOVE to talk about all the latest news of their team. They just do.
Even Taylor Swift got into the football thing last year.
If you stop and look at it all and think about it, American football typifies all the best of Americana. Yes it can be over the top in terms of the paraphernalia, the ticket prices, the build up to the big games and rivalries, the ratings the commercials (think about how much a Super Bowl Commercial costs), the entertainment before and at half-time, the alumni who travel to season games, bowl game appearances and play-offs (“did you say PLAYOFFS?” Remember that whole set of commercials during football season a few years back, inspired by coach Jim Mora’s press conferences?). Think about the big name coaches, who at times are more popular than their players, such as Jimmy Johnson, Jim Harbaugh, John Harbaugh, Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry, Bill Parcells and those at the college level too like Bo, Bear, Woody, Nick and Dabo, Lane and Jimbo, who have unique first names that can stand alone and you know who they are before their last names are said. Consider the NFL team owners who make news themselves, like Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, the Hunt and Ford families.
The personalities and stories grab our attention. Top, from Lions head coach, Dan Campbell, who led his team to a long coming playoff berth, to the story of the friendship between Brian Piccolo and Gayle Sayers and the tragic untimely death of Piccolo, to the long career of Tom Brady. We saw him on the field at U of M and into the pros. Kids asked Santa for a Brady jersey, my boys did…Howard Cosell. He broke the mold when it came to calling games. He was just as much fun to watch as the game itself -here he’s pictured with Don Meredith and Frank Gifford on Monday Night Football.
Like any business or company you assemble a winning staff, work hard to give the people what they want and there’s a good chance for success, much like an owner assembling a staff, a team and an organization. They build it and they work towards a winning season. A coach and owner look for the best and strongest players. There is no checking boxes when assembling a team who could go to the Super Bowl. It’s survival of the fittest and that’s what makes it fun to watch. We love watching a hard fought game. Those guys have to be tough to enter a stadium knowing that someone is going to win and someone is going to loose. The strongest and fittest of players may have a long career in the game. Fans love getting to know the players’ backgrounds. Some of them are rags to riches stories. For some, football was the ticket out of a tough life and these inspiring players become role models to many young kids. A winning team and season can bring a community, city or state together. Anyone who lives in Michigan last year witnessed it with the Lions and Wolverines winning seasons, with the Wolverines winning the college championship and the Lions making it to the playoffs. We all felt the success of those teams and it was exiting and fun. It all gives us a break from the problems and the routines of our lives. It gives us something to be engaged in and talk about with our friends and text our families with the latest recruiting news, rumors of injuries, transfers or trades, and maybe even a joke or two about a rival team. We LOVE It! It’s fun to rally around a team, to wear our favorite team’s jersey or our favorite player’s number gets us feeling like we’re part of it. Sports can be the break from the bad new of the day. It’s a few hours on the weekend to get together, to catch up, to throw a football, enjoy some good food, to come together no matter who we are or what our interests are, for the game, we can come together and experience it all, even if we have never been on the field and it can make us feel good. It’s America at it’s Best…
Are you ready for some football? I am.
