The following is an original story about college football and how it brings families together. You may have similar experiences attending Clemson, South Carolina or any other college football game. As we head into the weekend and get ready to enjoy another college football Saturday, hopefully some of what’s written resonates with you as well.
My reverence for college football started at a very young age. From the time I was crawling, I attended Army football games with my family. We’d show up at my church, load a bus and drive two hours to West Point so we could watch Army take on a low level competitor that almost always resulted in a win.
I assume we were able to go because the church got a discount on tickets. Army was probably happy to oblige considering the opponent and sparse crowd that would be attending the game. I get what most of you are thinking, “an Army game, that sounds awful.” But you have to remember, I was a kid, and this is the United States Military Academy. There is absolutely no place like it anywhere, especially for a college football game.
The stench of diesel from the bus and chill in the October morning air, those are the things I remember most. All tour buses have the same smells, both on the outside and the inside. For anyone that’s ever been on one, you know what mean. Being six or seven years old from a working class New Jersey family, a bus ride was almost on the same level as going to the beach for a week.
Once we arrived, we’d setup our tailgate in the same place, a hill in the shadow of Michie Stadium. The hill flattened out to create the perfect resting spot for a grill, with room to throw a football and have a picnic. This is one of the time in my life when everything was perfectly aligned. My parents were happy, my brothers wanted to play with me and hot dogs, burgers and sodas were plentiful.
The cadets would walk by on their way to the stadium. My Dad would stand there and watch them pass, perhaps reflecting on his Army service while inwardly hoping the young men passing us would not experience war like he did. We’d all stare in amazement at these stone faced young men who looked anything but young to me. As far as I was concerned, twenty years of age may as well have been a hundred years old. It seemed so far off in my young mind.
What always stuck with me was the uniformity and tradition of it all. This, more than any other campus I’ve ever been to, embodies the history and tradition of college football. Keep in mind, at one point in time, Army was the Alabama of college football. Those days have long since passed, but they weren’t as far gone when I was a child in the mid 80’s.
As we made our way up the hill to the stadium, I would get excited to see the astro turf field, which was a novelty to me and an event in itself. Our seats were always in the front row of the end zone, allowing my vertically challenged frame to see all that was happening on the field and throughout the stadium.
One game in particular stands out in my mind. Army was crushing Colgate 35-0. In the second half, game firmly in hand, my Dad picked me up and placed me over the wall so I was basically sitting in the end zone. Colgate hadn’t crossed mid field all day and there was pretty much no chance of them reaching my new on field seat.
I looked around at the field, the stadium, the end zone paint and looked back up at my Dad who was smiling back at me. All was right with the world and I was hooked, college football was synonymous with happiness. My Saturdays would never be the same.
As I write this, Army stands at 9-0 for the first time since 1949. No doubt my father would be happy, which is not that difficult for me to imagine. His smiling face looking down on me is etched in my memory, unyielding to the sands of time.
If you’ve never been, I recommend taking a visit to West Point and Michie Stadium for a game.
With apologies to the SEC and their “It Just Means More” tagline, when it comes to Army and the cadets attending the game, the phrase is actually true.
