Gameday!

It seems like it took a little longer this year but college football is finally here. Just for the record, The University of South Carolina Gamecocks edged out the North Carolina State Tarheels 35 to 28 in a nail-biter in Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina. All I have to say about that game is that I must be in pretty good cardiac shape to have survived that one.

Wait, I have one more thing to say! When did the ESPN network play by play announcers abandon their neutrality in calling a game? My old friend Bob Fulton must be turning over in his grave over that broadcast. Yes - I know, Bob was very pro-Gamecock in his broadcasts out of Williams-Brice Stadium, but after all, he was on the Gamecock Football network. I remember how neutral he was when covering a game for the Mutual Radio Network or re-creating a Dixie Youth baseball game. He often said to me unless you are broadcasting for a specific team, that losing impartiality in game coverage was the cardinal sin of the professional sports broadcaster. But those two announcers doing the game yesterday were so biased that they even embarrassed the third member of the team down on the sidelines who at least attempted to level the playing field.

OK - now that I have that off my chest, on to Football Season.

I have to say that although I watch the NFL on Sundays, that prep and college football is what rocks my boat.

I went to almost every game during my high school years. My freshman and sophomore years, our band was still in their formative years. By my junior year, our pep band was in the stands cranking out the Sousa Marches and College Fight songs as the team went up and down the field. My senior year was the first time we fielded a marching band. It was pretty simple stuff; all block formations. Right turns, left turns, about turns and when we really got fancy, oblique turns. Yeah man! We had two of them; 45 degrees to the left and 45 degrees to the right. As drum major, I was in my heyday. We had fun and lots of it. Remember, what happens on the band bus stays on the band bus.

Left: Williams-Brice Stadium today! Onward to college and more block formations in the Navy ROTC drum and bugle corps. Yeah, I had that down. But then there was the big time, The Marching Gamecock Band, complete with field formations. This was a horse of a different color. In block formations, the drum major was the one who had to know where to go, the band followed along. But field formations had much more individuality. Each member of the band had sequential “spots” on the field assigned to them. Between these spots there were a given number of steps in a given direction. Some of these spots were end-points in a formation and some were turn points. If one stopped at a turn point or turned at an end point, they stood out like a sore thumb before 75,000 of your closest friends and neighbors. You had to be on your game on game day.

Enter pure spectator period number one. This is where I turned in my trumpet and spats for a microphone and turntables and started my full time radio career. One of my favorite segments of my shows was the sports report at 10 after and 20 till the hour. In the fall came the transition from the unpronounceable names of the international tennis players to those of the World Series baseball team members and good old football players. Those were good times with scores and just a sprinkling of stats. I didn’t spend too much time at the stadium but always followed our team.

In the 70s I was back in the stadium a little. On November 2, 1975, I was on the camera deck on the northeast corner of Williams-Brice Stadium with the new Electronic News Gathering (ENG) system at the Carolina – Clemson Game. Carolina defeated Clemson 56–20 to set a Gamecock record for most points scored in a football game against the Tigers. Later in that decade, during the 76 through the 79 seasons, I had the pleasure of producing and engineering the Gamecock Football Network with Bob Fulton and Tommy Suggs.

All that was a long time ago; these days football is a spectator sport for me, most of the time, via the magic of television. It is true that my easy chair in my air conditioned living room is a lot more comfortable than that aluminum bleacher in the hot sun of a September afternoon. But I do miss the smell of hot dogs, peanuts and popcorn swirling around in a chilling autumn breeze. There is an excitement about being there in person and the satisfaction of seeing your team secure a two score lead. Just don’t do it too soon and become complacent and let the other team get back into the game.

One other advantage of being at the game is not being able to hear those annoying “neutral” announcers pull for the opponent. Sure, my friend Dave Aiken, the stadium announcer, has a local team bias. But it is a little muted; “Another Gaaaamecoooock FIRST down!” Yeah – life is good, pass me some more peanuts.

But at home, not only do I have my soft chair and snacks, but I also have digital television. I can see every blade of grass on the gridiron and every turn of the football during that perfect spiral pass to that wide receiver streaking down the sideline followed by that explosion of crowd noise as the fans in the stadium cheer the latest touchdown. I give a big “Yes” and a fist-bump into the air. All this, wakes Darcy from her slumber and startles Chester onto his feet and out of the room. He is back in a few seconds as if to say “What the heck was that?” To quote Andy Griffith way before his Mayberry Days; “What it was, was football!”

Bring on the 2017 season! Oh MY!