time for a little football

I think college football is a reflection of Middle America.
You go into a college football town, and you will find three generations
of a family sitting together.
It’s a rallying point for the university, the community,
and the families.

Keith Jackson (a Georgia born football announcer legend)


(Sanford Stadium, UGA, Athens on Saturday Sept 11th / AJC)

If there is anything that confidently thumbs its nose to Covid,
Vaccines, mask madness, political madness…. it’s football.
Be it college or even the NFL, fans are packing their favorite stadiums en masse.
Folks are ready for some football!

Of course there will be those doomsday naysayers as there will also be
those excited sideline cheerleaders.

There will be the super-spreader negative Nancy’s vs the life as we once knew it
super fans.
Tailgates and Dawgwalks vs social distancing and limitations–
Masks and vaccine passports vs the filling of stadiums.

I don’t know the happy medium with all of this…but personally,
I am glad football and her fans are back!

There are many changes in college football besides things like Covid.

Think play for pay and transfer on a whim….

I can’t say I agree with the current trend to pay college players…
giving them endorsement incentives…some of the team making millions off
their image and name while their teammates make nada.
I don’t know how that won’t build resentment…but what do I know.

Also I don’t agree with the firing of coaches in the middle of a season.
I think it was Lou Holtz who once said no good comes from firing coaches during
the middle of a season and I happen to agree.
Think of USC just firing their coach after the first two games.
What a ripple effect.
Think of the upheaval of a coach and his staff and their families…at the
onset of a season…

I don’t like the transfer portal.
It’s more like hopscotching when things don’t go the way one wants
them to go.

So yep, there’s a lot I don’t agree with…sadly it’s a big money business.
Big business takes a lot of the fun out of the game….
but what do I know, I’m just a fan.

Soooo, my feelings really don’t matter.
Money and power talks…my 2 cents mean nothing.

However, I can say that I am just thankful football is back!
Fans are back!
Energy is back.
Community is back.

Fans make the game what it is—something we can all rally around.

So Saturday, 9/11, at the Miami game of all things, a cat was lose in the
stadium.
Somehow this cat is seen dangling from an upper deck…
falling would be a death sentence or certain detrimental injury.
The cat is literally hanging by a claw.

Fans below this upper deck jump into action…they stretch out an
American flag to act as a net for when the cat falls.

And sure enough, the cat falls…safely…into the flag net.

Dana Perino captured the story best when she relayed the telling
of the event during her time on FOX’s The Five Monday afternoon.

She said that this event is a prime example of what makes Americans who we are.
This event should show our enemies, like the Taliban, that we Americans
do and can come together when our hearts find a common goal.
At this particular moment, it mattered not our political views,
our religious alliances, or our skin color…
there was a creature in need and we human beings sprang into action.

Like good scouts, the fans found what they had, a flag, and used it as a net.

The cat fell into the flag…then one of the rescuing fans lifted the cat
overhead for all to see–much like a Lion King moment,
as the stadium erupted in grateful glee.

Never mind that the cat later scratched his rescuer…
The cat was saved from doom because of the kindness of American hearts.
So when all is said and done…it seems that we still have our hearts intact—
we still have what makes us Americans…a desire to help…
even for a stray cat.

And so just when we’re all feeling full of gloom and doom…
a football game and a cat reminds us that we still have hope in who we are…

So who’s ready for a little football??