the southern law

it's 7 am. i wake up, stretch, and rub the sleep from my eyes. i dart - well, maybe not dart - from my bed and to the window. sunshine. glorious. i hit the shower, running over the day's schedule of events in my mind. hair washed and conditioned and my legs are even shaved - this is a big day, indeed. i turn on my ipod to my special mix of tunes pre-arranged with this particular date in mind. the rush of sounds are exciting and edgy, and i dance to the beats in my bathroom with a hairbrush as my mic. i put on my outfit - specifically selected months prior to make its debut today. last, but certainly not least, i place an orange tiger paw on my right cheek.

it's game day.

towards the end of winter, i'd say as soon as march madness is over, i begin to crave the hot, sticky summer saturdays spent in death valley, tailgating until i can't eat another bite, and screaming until i have absolutely no voice. i love college football. no. i LIVE college football. i take every game seriously, and if you plan on using one of my season tickets, please, for the love of the ncaa, DON'T TRY TO TALK TO ME ABOUT THINGS UNRELATED TO FOOTBALL. i pace. i bite my lip and chew on my nails. i scream. i fight with the opposing fans. i jump up and down. regrettably, i criticize play-calling and mistakes made. i cry when we win, and i cry when we lose.

you are probably wondering why i wrote about this on the final day of college football for this season (hook 'em horns!). well, my friend, i chose this topic today because someone told me earlier in the week that i take football too seriously. i beg your pardon? i asked. then i heard the four little words that cause my lip to snarl, my eyes to narrow, my blood pressure to rise, and my pulse to increase. it's. just. a. game.

no, kind sir, it is not just a game. maybe to you, but it certainly is not just a game to me, to the thousands of tiger fans around the world, and not to the 105 players standing on that field. football is a way of life. for 20 years my family and i followed my brother around the state of south carolina watching him play recreation league football, then junior varsity football, then varsity football, and then, finally, in the culmination of his (and my father's) life dreams, we watched my brother run down the hill for the first time in 2007. i cried like a baby. my family, that now includes about thirty of my and my brother's closest college friends, tailgate together before and after every home game. we gear up in our best orange and purple and cheer for our tigers together rain or shine, home or away, winning or losing. my most favorite memories from my life are times i've spent at a camden high school or clemson university football game.

football is a dirty game. it's physical. it's hard work. it takes grit and determination. when the rain is pouring and it's muddy and it's hard to hang on to the ball and you're down by a touchdown with minutes to play, that's when champions are made. that's when you see what a player has. that's when you see character. football brought a community together in the tiny town of camden, south carolina, when kelvin grant ran a 98 yard kick-off return in the final seconds of a playoff game to put the bulldogs ahead. we won the state championship that year. football held a community together when the marshall university football team was killed in a tragic plane crash, and the sport was the only thing that could bring the college, students, families and city back to life. football is the only thing that made life - not money, not fame, but life - doable for high school student and future nfl star michael oher. football gave meaning to t.l. hanna's beloved "radio."

football doesn't change. it's pure. it's honest. it's a battle. i will never forget friday nights in zemp stadium. "we're in zemp tonight, boys. it doesn't get much better than this." coach neal says that to his players, and as a camden high alumni, i can tell you - it STILL doesn't get much better than a friday night in zemp when it's 20 degrees and the entire town is shut down because everybody is at the game. joe sherman said "there's something in these hills" about clemson. he's right. there's something in the hills of clemson university that you can't get out of your system. those days and nights in death valley, you never forget those. i carry them with me all the time. i calculate other events in my life based on clemson wins or losses. i plan future events in my life based on clemson's schedule.

i am already excited about the 2010 football season. i'm excited about wearing orange, seeing old friends, tailgating, hearing tiger rag, chanting "c-l-e-m" in cadence count, hearing the cannon explode, fighting tears back during military appreciation day as the f-16s fly over and taps is played. i'm excited about the chill bumps that cover my body as i watch the tigers run down the hill. i can't wait to link arms with the friends or strangers beside me and sing the alma mater.

don't tell me it's just a game.