Each year at the start of September, students and teachers must flock back to school in masses. For the most part, it is not too exciting for anyone, but there are some good things that come with the start of school, and one stands above the rest, and that is football! For as long as I can remember sports have played an integral role in my life from playing them to watching them. Sports are important. Not just to me, but to millions of people. It is a great way to bond with someone, or to immediately become enemies. The ultimate goal is to win, but much like movies, one of the best aspects of sports is their ability to draw out emotion. Sometimes it may be soul crushing, but when that feeling is total alation, it is almost impossible to beat that feeling.
Over the years my sports fandom has waned more and more, mainly due to running. Now I go to bed early, so it makes it harder to stay up for the NBA games, I used to be all in when the season started, but not so much now. I basically do not start really watching the games until the playoffs start, it is a little more enticing to stay up late when the game means more. Through it all though, one thing has remained, and that is my love for football. Both college and NFL, it is the one sport where I can sit on the couch all day and not feel bad about doing it. Also during the regular season, there is almost always a good game going on Saturday or Sunday. So that just makes it all the easier to keep my butt implanted into the cushion on the couch.
The hope that a new season brings to fans is incredible. Everyone goes into the new season feeling like they have a chance, at least the most die-hard fans believe they have a chance, even if their team was at the bottom of the league last year. This year, going into Florida’s season, I did not have much hope. We got rid of our last coach because he was not doing a good job recruiting, so that put the new coach this year in a bad spot, so I did not think much of our chances, especially opening against seventh ranked Utah, but then they won, and I felt like anything was possible. At the start of the Kentucky game, I started to talk myself into the idea that we might have a chance against UGA this year, but then the second half started, and Anthony Richardson led the Gators to one of the worst halves I have ever seen. It was hard to go to bed after the game because I was so frustrated with how awful their performance had been. The second half was literally filled with short screen passes for no gain and runs straight into a wall of defenders. It was awful. Then this week, they eeked past USF, which is not what you want to see, but those ten quarters where I had hope that we would be awesome were exhilarating! It is also better than being a Nebraska fan, because they could not even make it past their first game in week zero with hope…
Also since I moved up to Syracuse, my family has had season tickets for SU, which although the passion for the Orange does not quite reach the levels of love for football as the south does, it is still almost always an excellent experience. Syracuse knows how to keep the games close, even last year when they were not that great. This year, they have gotten off to a great 3-0 start, and they have not played any lowly division I opponents like many of the power five schools do in their opening weeks, they have played a decent schedule of Louisville, Uconn, and Purdue, who are better than their 1-2 record leads you to believe.
On Saturday, when Purdue came to town, Cuse started out as slow as an offense can. They were totally constipated, which was surprising considering the praise that Garrett Shrader had been receiving from PFF, in back-to-back weeks he was ranked number one overall. Also Sean Tucker has been lauded as one of the best running backs in the nation. So when the offense was completely flat in the first half, it was very frustrating. Purdue’s offense looked great as well. They were methodically able to move down the field at their will, and it seemed like they converted every third down for a while, but at the half, it was still a surprisingly close game 9-3, but it felt so much worst.
It was very hard to watch the first half, and my emotion was lacking due to the massive amount of failure on offense, but in the second half, we took the lead in the third quarter, and then the volume was turned all the way up in the fourth quarter as Purdue and Syracuse swapped blows. At the end of the fourth quarter, 42 points combined points had been scored, thankfully 22 of those points were scored by Syracuse, including a last second touchdown that made the top blow off the dome, and it made Purdue’s players and coaches lose their cool in a way that I had never seen before. They had so many penalties that Syracuse got to kick off from Purdue’s 35 with seven seconds left.
Our season tickets are eleven rows back in the end zone, and in the fourth quarter, Syracuse was driving towards us, so that means that when their last play hit for the touchdown, it was literally right in front of us in our corner of the endzone. Thus making the emotion that much larger. One of the best parts of the game is acquainting yourself with the new people sitting around you or talking to the same people that have season tickets, but it does not matter if you have met the people around you before or not, when Syracuse scores, everyone celebrates together. High fives are had all around and screams are shared. Something that just will not happen outside of sports, unless you are a group of high school girls at a Harry Styles concert. When we were celebrating, I could literally see the goosebumps on my dad’s arm as he raised his hands into the air in victory. An all-time unbeatable moment.
Also the victory was made much more sweet due to Purdue’s poor sportsmanship. As previously mentioned, after Cuse scored the go-ahead touchdown, they received two or three unsportsmanlike penalties, as their whole sideline seemed to erupt into chaos. On the previous drive, when Purdue had scored a touchdown to regain the lead, their head coach had gotten an unsportsmanlike penalty along with another player, so they had to kick off from their own 25, which led to Cuse getting good field position, and being able to score their touchdown in less than a minute. On top of that poor display of character, at half time Purdue was practicing field goals, and they kicked a ball into the stands, and as a home time is app to do, the fan in the stands held onto the ball. The guy in charge of holding the kicker’s balls came up into the stands and started pointing to the guy who had the ball and got security on him to give the ball back. All of that is fair good-natured fun, but when the ball holder was walking down the stairs to get back on the field, he walked past a kid, who was undoubtedly less than ten years old, and he said, “Do you want the ball?” and he held it out to him, then he said, “Too bad” and continued to walk to the field. TO A CHILD! What is that!? So when Syracuse made the go ahead touchdown, it made the wave goodbye all the sweeter.
Another thing that is great about football is gambling. There might be a game with good teams, that you might not care who wins normally, but you put a little money on it, just a taste, and it immediately becomes the primary focus, as you live and die with every play. Sometimes it might just be losing five dollars, but it always feels like a stab in the heart when it is gone. It feels like your salary for the year is gone, even though, I am only betting winnings, I have never net lost money on gambling, it hurts nonetheless. It also goes the other way, sometimes it might be a win of a couple dollars, and it might come after multiple losses, but if you win a bet, it feels like the winning the lottery, especially if it is a multi-leg parlay. The highs and the lows make it all the better. (Gamble responsibly)
None of this could be more encapsuled than the Chiefs Bills playoff game last year. Largely I had felt like my emotional pull to sports was not too strong, but I lived and died on every touchdown in that game. In the end I had my heart ripped out, and it hurt bad to have the Bills lose, especially in that last second way that they did, where Mahomes had like 17 seconds when they got the ball and found a way to score a touchdown. It still hurts just thinking about it now, but that hurt makes it all matter so much more. Fall and football combine for the best dynamic, and it is one that truly cannot be beat. Each season brings so much hope that maybe this is the year, no matter how bad you were last year, and even if your team does end up sucking, bet a little petty cash on a game and make it interesting, and enjoy some pizza, beer, and wings while you are at it. Then you have a weekend that cannot be beat!
Movie This Week:
Only one movie again… Football is taking a toll on my time, and all of the new shows.
Pearl: The sequel to X, which was one of the best horror films of the year so far, and the sequel holds up to the standard. Mia Goth gives another incredible and disturbing performance. She tops it off with a long monologue toward the end of the movie, that is incredible. It is also a message that hits home about missed dreams and how far you should go to chase them. I loved this movie and would highly recommend seeing it! It is officially a trilogy, so I suggest watching these two great horror flicks. I have both X and Pearl in the top 10 of the year so far!
Also I love House of the Dragon still. It is amazing! I think it is better than Rings of Power so far.
New Rankings:
Pearl: 4 Stars
Comments