College football tradition

Arrowhead Stadium is considered unique when the Chiefs play. There is smoke wafting from the parking lot surrounding the stadium and some pretty tasty BBQ and other good eats to be found before the game. It is also not uncommon to hear people comment that the setting is “the closest thing to a college atmosphere as you will find in the NFL.” Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades though. College football is the best because wherever you go they offer up a special serving of tradition that the NFL just can’t match.

Quick, name me an NFL tradition that gives you goose bumps? There is no way you can say the traditional Thanksgiving Day games produce a strong emotional reaction, unless you find spending time with your family difficult, and if watching Detroit and Dallas play is your escape, then the problem with your family relations might just be you and not them. 

Ahhhh, but college football is a goose bump per minute producing parade of pomp, ceremony and tradition. Many a commentator has attempted to define the top traditions in college football, but that is the most subjective evaluation there can be. You can come closer to compiling a list of top running backs than defining the best traditions. When it comes to tradition, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and just imagine how much would be missing from the game if we did not have all of the great customs to participate in.

If you are in Death Valley how can you not be thrilled to see the Clemson Tigers come roaring down the hill as the cannon fires and the players all touch Howard’s Rock. How many times would you tell your friends, children and grand kids about the time you were chosen to “Dot the I” for the Buckeyes marching band? After all those years of losing to Auburn in the Iron Bowl Bama fans roared one of the most passionate “Rammers Jammers” ever after they defeated the team from the Loveliest Village on the Plains, where a big victory is just another reason to roll Toomer’s Corner.

Further west you better be able to move quickly to avoid the rush of Ralphie onto the field in advance of the Colorado Buffalos, and to this day my mother-in-law has a soft spot for the Oklahoma Sooners because she still remembers the day in 1993 when the Schooner toppled over sending the Ruf/Neks and their queen rolling across the field. Is there any more recognized symbol than the traditional “Hook ‘em Horns” hand sign?

Tradition is not something just for the biggest and best in college ball. Grambling’s band is an institution to itself.  When we say “the helmet” college fans think about Michigan, but the original design was given birth at Princeton, and did you know the largest trophy given in college football is exchanged between the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin and Northwestern State University? It is a 7’6” tall carving of an Indian named Chief Caddo. Northwestern currently has the trophy.

Time and space will not allow here for all the great traditions, but who does not appreciate the painting of helmets, with gold flakes mixed in for luck, that occurs each game week in South Bend? Tailgating at Ole Miss in The Grove has given rise to an art form that is unmatched anywhere else in college football.  We have the Trojan band at USC and the annual battle between the Ducks and Beavers in Oregon.

Ahhhh, tradition. It is what makes college football the special game it is. You have to get goose bumps just thinking about it.

Gary Brown

gary@secmatchups.com