Become The Leaders Of The College Football Renaissance
As the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the globe, we saw disruptions to our daily lives. Many of us worked from home, our children attended school through a computer, and we needed to find new ways to break away from the stresses of the day as entertainment was shut down.
Then as we approached the 2020 season, the pandemic threatened to take away college football from everyone out of concern for the health of players, coaches, and fans. That began to change as certain conferences felt safe enough to proceed with modified seasons.
The Big Ten’s road to playing a season was rocky to say the least. There was the highly publicized cancellation of the season in August, before a reversal of that decision in September, after protests from parents and players. In what was a difficult and challenging year, we as fans would at least be able to keep one thing that brought us joy, a fall football season.
However no matter what conference you watched, something was missing from those contests. Something that makes college football unique.
Community.
With no fans in attendance, college football Saturdays were a shell of what they were before. Gone were the friends and family members meeting to tailgate outside the stadiums. Missing were the bands playing before, during, and after the contests.
No deafening cheers when a momentum-changing play occurred, or songs/chants that were once customary at the games and echoed throughout the stadium.
At first, probably many of you felt like I felt. The loss of these things was fine as long as our actual sport was back. In a year where we all had to sacrifice something from our regular routines, our traditions and building of a gameday atmosphere was something we would also have to sacrifice.
We made it work, the season was played and was completed with bowls, and a national champion was crowned.
But the loss of what makes college football special became more noticeable every week.
You cannot substitute years of tradition, atmosphere, pride, and community with cardboard cutouts throughout the stadium. It’s impossible to replace the authenticity of the cheers, songs, and chants with recorded versions from previous years.
We now are preparing for a 2021 season where things are returning to normal. States are lifting pandemic restrictions and that means we can expect full stadiums in the fall.
When we do return though, will it really feel “normal”?
I, for one, don’t believe it will. I believe, like others believe, that this year of college football is going to feel very different than the years before the pandemic.
Josh Pate of 247 Sports, and host of The Late Kick podcast/Youtube channel put it best when he said this year will be a “renaissance season” for the sport. There could be many reasons for that, but one reason I agree with that description is the return of community.
When week one is around the corner, and people begin showing up for tailgating events or whatever plans they have leading to the games, it won’t feel normal.
It will feel like a celebration of communities restored.
One community that can set an example for all of college football in ushering in this renaissance season is Penn State.
Those who follow college football know of Penn State’s White Out. It’s a tradition that happens once a year, and usually is reserved for the largest conference home game that year. People who have never been to one of those games have certainly heard how electric that atmosphere is. Those who have attended a White Out will certainly never forget it.
So my plea to Penn State and their fans is this: be the leaders of the renaissance. For one year, and one year only, consider the White Out experience for two games this year. Once for your traditional conference match up, but the other for your out of conference game against Auburn.
You lost a year of tradition, as all of us did, and nothing will get that back. However, you can be the leaders in showing the rest of college football that the return of community is important.
Let’s not act like this will be a normal year, because it’s not. Let’s celebrate by doing something unique and show how much we missed our Saturdays in the fall.