It’s Football Time

This is a glorious day in our house because football season has returned. People who have heard me preach know that I often say, “Football explains everything,” and it does. Last year, on this same Saturday, the opening day of college football, I wrote about what Ole Miss football means to our family.

With us, as with many families, it’s a matter of tradition. My grandfather had a farm outside of Oxford, Mississippi (about an hour west of Tupelo), which is why my father attended the University of Mississippi, affectionately known to its fans as Ole Miss. I can remember Dad taking us to watch Ole Miss games when I was only 7 or 8 years old. Again, football fans understand. You’ve got to start your kids on the right track early. When we couldn’t go to the games because Dad was a surgeon and often on call, he and I and my brothers would gather next to the massive Telefunken radio that he had rigged with a large outside antenna, mostly so we could hear Ole Miss football games in the fall. He would bring home Vienna sausages, canned sardines, and chocolate-covered marshmallow treats. I remember he would let us boys work the radio dial to find the broadcast from Memphis or New Orleans or maybe a high-powered station in Mississippi. We would listen to the game, cheer for the Rebels, and eat like kings.

Nick and I are leaving for the game in Oxford in about an hour and a half. We’ll meet Alan somewhere in the Grove for the tailgating party, watch the Walk of Champions at 3:50 PM, and go to the game at 6 PM. If all goes well, we will return home victorious about midnight. The Rebels haven’t won much since Eli Manning left for the New York Giants in 2003. Last year Ole Miss managed to win only three games, but they say we’ll do better under new coach Houston Nutt. 

And so we go back year after year, following a tradition my father handed down when I just a boy. Today we’re all full of hope that this will be “the year.” Every team is undefeated before the first game. You just have to keep believing.