Well, football season is over for us at the Strait household. Yes, I know there are minor things like the Super Bowl and the National Collegiate Championship left, but Alison and I are checking out. All our favorite teams have left the arena.
We are dual state fans, attached to teams from Georgia (where we live) and Michigan (where I grew up). At the college level we have the Georgia Bulldogs, the school my middle son Doug attended, and then we have the Michigan Wolverines, my alma mater. Then professionally we have the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions.
We live in South Georgia, about an hour and a half away from Jacksonville, so we hear from many Jaguar fans. The locals on our satellite TV come form Jacksonville (we would prefer Savannah, but apparently we don't get a say in it). My wife Alison is not buying it. We live in Georgia, not Florida. We should be Falcons fans, just as she has been since she was a little girl.
The Falcons are the only team she gets passionate about. She wears Falcons clothes and paraphernalia on Game Day, cheers them on, curses when things don't go well, stays in the same chair or position as a superstition if they do well. She becomes greatly attached to certain players she admires, like Keith Brookings, who played high school, college and pro all in the state of Georgia. She really likes Mike Smith as a coach and a person, and cried when he was fired.
The Falcons had a rough season, only in contention until the last game because their division was so gosh awful weak. The last game was an unexpected rout by the Carolina Panthers. The only highlight of the year was that they beat the hated New Orleans Saints twice, but everything else was heartbreaking.
The last time the Lions won a National Championship was like the mid-fifties, so virtually my entire life. This year they put together one of their best seasons ever, only to have things snatched away by some horrible officiating in their first playoff game. How bad was it? Bad enough for some NFL administrators to say, paraphrasing, "Oh, yeah. That was pretty bad." Anther Lions defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
The Georgia Bulldogs showed real flashes of brilliance this year, but not enough to break through to the top tier. The Georgia/Florida game was crushing this year, especially considering our border status, where we are infected with more Gator fans than we can stand.
The Michigan Wolverines were the worst I've ever seen them. They didn't even qualify for a bowl game. I liked Coach Brady Hoke, but the reality was that the team's record was getting worse every year he coached. It was so horrible, that it was not enough to console me that the Big Ten finally bested the SEC in two of the most important year end bowl games (Wisconsin beating Auburn and Ohio State beating Alabama). I had been waiting a couple of decades for that, having had to listen to everybody around me tell me how superior the SEC was, and how they might deserve to have at least three of the spots in any college playoff, but I couldn't get over the fact that Michigan wasn't even eligible for the party.
So we pack it up for the year. I don't care if Ohio State beats Oregon, or vice-versa. I have no interest in the Super Bowl, except to fast forward to the commercials. We are done. We toy with the idea with giving up football all together.
But then I see that the Michigan Wolverines hired super-coach Jim Harbaugh to lead them next year. There are promising young players with the Georgia Bulldogs. And the Detroit Lions have a great coach and good foundation, so surely the referees can't take away every game from them. And the Falcons? Okay, I don't know what to say about them except...tomorrow is another day!
And most exciting of all, our young son, Benjamin, will be starting his first year in high school, and will be playing in the marching band. Which means Alison and I are going to be going to go to a good number of high school football games. Local people cheering local talent! What could be more exciting? Go Bears!
So maybe next season won't be so bad. Maybe one of our teams will break through. Certainly seeing our son participate in the great community bonding activity of high school football will be a real treat.
You know what? Come to think of it, we're actually excited it about! Bring on the Fall! Let's watch 'em play ball!
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