You know fall is approaching when college football season is back in business.  The excitement starts this coming weekend – so who are you pulling for?  Who’s your favorite team?

Many folks root for the university they attended.  That’s all well and good, except for when your college is without a football team.  My alma mater, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) doesn’t have a football squad (although they did become the darlings of March Madness in 2018 when – as a #16 seed – they knocked off #1 seed Virginia for what is arguably the greatest upset in college basketball tournament history, but I digress).  So, I’ve always been a Maryland Terrapins fan (“Fear the Turtle!”).  Since they play in the Big Ten, this makes it hard to find solace on Saturday afternoons, as they are often being beaten up by the likes of Ohio State and Michigan.

My girls attend Towson and Alabama.  By association (and since I pay bills for both institutes of higher learning), I am also now mildly interested in these football teams as well.  Although both universities play football, as you can probably imagine, there are some subtle differences in how their students, alumni, and communities support and embrace their teams.

Now, I’ve been to a Towson football game.  They are Division I (the Colonial Athletic Conference), and they play teams like Bucknell, Delaware, and New Hampshire (although they are stretching it out this year and have a match-up with West Virginia).  It has all the revelry, tailgating, and Saturday afternoon fan support you would expect.  Unfortunately, the Towson Tigers finished a paltry 4-7 last year, so you won’t normally find them on national TV on a Saturday afternoon or being talked about on ESPN concerning their post-season hopes.  Their game results are buried on page 3 of the sports section, and I might get a re-cap of the game in print by the following Wednesday – if I look hard enough.

That being said, Alabama football is a whole different animal all together.  They’ve won the national championship 15 times since 1925.  They were in the championship last year (although they lost to Georgia) and are ranked #1 pre-season for this year.  Bryant Denny Stadium (in Tuscaloosa) is like looking at the Coliseum in Rome.  It dwarfs the college landscape.  Every inch of window space of any downtown businesses is covered in red and white, and the script “A” is everywhere.  People greet one another with the phrase “Roll Tide” (and you better say it back).  Every game sells out months in advance, and the atmosphere on a home game day is unrivaled in all of college football.  I’d like to go experience a Saturday afternoon contest one time, but by the time I’ve taken the effort required to get there, obtain tickets, and secure lodging, I’ll be invested upwards of $2,000 for the weekend.  Good grief, a cover charge to watch a game at a Tuscaloosa bar can be $75 – to watch it on TV.  Football is not a sport in Tuscaloosa, it’s a religion – and its patron saint is head coach Nick Saban.

My youngest has met the university president on two separate occasions now – and had a nice conversation with him both times (along with photos), but she has yet to spot Saban (except on game day).  I even tell her “text me if you ever get to meet ‘the man’”.  He’s paid ten times the salary of the university president – a whopping 9.8 million dollars this season (moving up to $13 million in his final year – 2030) – the highest in college football.  Watching Alabama play football is like watching a pro game, and many of their players go on to be stars in the NFL.  My youngest won’t be home for Thanksgiving this year – and why?  It’s the “Iron Bowl”, when the Crimson Tide play arch rival Auburn – and this year it’s a home game.  There was no question as to where she’d be.

So no matter who you root for, this weekend starts another year of excitement, action, and post-season hopes that come with another football season.  I wish you a hearty “Fear the Turtle!”, “Roll Tide!” – or whatever the hell they say at Towson (“Go Tigers?”)

Have a great week!