College Football Fans: It’s All About the “We,” Not Wii

Growing up in Miami, I never knew what a crisp Fall day was. I knew what going back to school was but the whole crisp Fall day was a mystery to me.

I never saw what this whole leaves falling thing was all about either. I never saw snow until I was 15 years old and I never owned a real winter jacket. I had a sweatshirt that saw the light of day a few maybe times a year.

While people in other parts of the country were out raking leaves and shoveling snow I was at the beach or out by the pool. People often have asked me “didn’t you miss the seasons?”; the answer is no. I grew up with football season.

I didn’t grow up with video games, cell phones or even cable TV, I grew up on football.

When people that weren’t raised on football see the passion that those of us that were raised on it have for the game, they don’t understand. I have gotten past trying to explain it to them or justify it to them, its one of those things that either you get it or you don’t.

A few years ago before I was married, I took my now-wife down to the Orange Bowl for a Miami-FSU game. After baking in the 100 degree weather and seeing Dorsey hit Shockey for the game-winner in the end zone in a close one, she now gets it.

While she doesn’t enjoy watching games, at least she gets it and knows how much it means to me.

I know people who don’t understand think maybe I’m nuts. When I tell them they would have to go to a game to understand, they usually say “I know” usually followed by “those people are crazy.” I have long ago come to the realization that I am one of “those people.”

When I was a kid my friend’s father, Scott, was the one who took us to the majority of the games. He made us wear our Miami shirts and we knew we weren’t cutting out early to beat traffic. The Miami teams weren’t too good back then either but we enjoyed it just the same; it was football.

Later on in the Schnellenberger era when the team got better, we brought canned peaches to the games for a food drive and to support the choice of “our” Hurricanes bid to play in the Peach Bowl, it had been a very long time since the Canes had gone bowling.

I often say the word “we” when talking about my team and its because they are a part of me and I think any real fan knows that we are part of them.

If this weren’t the case, then what really is the home-field advantage and why do so many players talk about how fired up they get when the fans go nuts.

The players on the field change, but especially in the college game, the players that move on don’t really go anywhere, they just become part of the “we.”

Some of my older friends like to irk me just by saying to me things that refer to that since I don’t live in Miami I’m no longer part of the “we.” They’ll even go as far to refer to teams in my area like Illinois as “you guys.”

While I know they’re kidding (at least I hope so) it still always lights a fire and somewhere inside I still hope that they’re just fishing for a “I’m still we.”

I wear a large gold Sebastian the Ibis around my neck, I have for years. If it was someone else wearing jewelry this size I would make fun of them and probably use it somehow as a story in my blog.

I get a lot of questions from people as to what it is, and I just usually say its an ibis and I tell them the story of why the ibis is the mascot for a team called the Hurricanes.

It’s because when the storm comes, the ibis is the last bird to leave. When the ibis comes back, it means the storm is over, as it is the first bird back.

I have long since realized that there’s no point in trying to explain the college football thing to them.

So a few Sundays from now, when you’re here reading about how some stupid coach decided for his team to just take a knee instead of kick a field goal for to cover the spread, just remember that I’m just a fan like you and very much a part of the “we.”