Thursday September 2, 2010
And so History Begins...
I was too embarrassed to admit to my wife that this game has affected my sleep. If I am honest with myself then I would have to admit that a good measure of stress from work is involved as well. But this date has beckoned and jostled in my mind for a long time. What is it about this day that has grown men tearing up when they see a logo or a color? What is it that us looking for any shred of information to digest regarding GSU Football? (Who will start at QB? Will the game kickoff at 7:30 or 7:37?). Our obsession has caused friends and family members to roll their eyes or avoid our phone calls. :)
Partly I suppose is the fact that this was never supposed to happen. Not HERE; not at Georgia State University. Not at the South's must urban university. GSU was that school downtown on Decatur Street pigeon holed between the Capitol complex and Grady Hospital. Commuter U we have been called. "That's where 40ish chain smoking housewives go to school" we have been told by fans of established football programs. But still the dream never died throughout the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's up until 2002 when a brave group of young men defied a college President and established the club football team. "Not here, not on my watch, not while I am President" he is alleged to have said. The F-Word was born. That club team, some message forum posters, alumni and a whole lot students kept asking "Why Not"?
Then came the feasibility study, the hiring of a coach; breaking ground on a practice facility. Nervous laughter from Statesboro and FCS (I-AA) message forums became a roar of vitriol. "Who do these upstarts think they are???" , "Nobody will show up to their Spring Game", "The Real GSU is in Statesboro", "They are playing in the Dome?? LMAO!!!"
"Why Not?"
3200 showed up to cheer for a scrimmage. Grown men feigned having something in their eye. Men and women who had stood in line in Sparks Hall for Financial Aid and to pay tuition months, years, decades ago now stood shoulder to shoulder to cheer their football team. How good did it feel to not be an orphan looking to Athens or North Avenue for a handou? As I waited to have Coach Curry sign my poster a member of the Dome staff asked, "What made GSU want to start a football program after all these years???"
"Why Not?"
I have found my mind wandering a lot this week wondering what it is that makes sport so communal. I remember where I was when the Braves won the World Series Title in 1995. Everyone watched, even the non-fan because it was Atlanta's team. We stayed up late together and then spent the next day yawning at each other; the knowing yawn that made people smile at each other. "How about them Braves?"
I found myself thinking of my cousin's following of the Panama National Soccer Team "Marea Roja". Sure I follow them from afar on TV, but he follows them religiously through driving rainstorms or baking sun. If there is a home game he is there with 40,000 others or 4000 others. Big Game or not he is there. So yes there is something communal about sport that unites people and communities in a shared experience. For many of us in Atlanta that shared experience is Georgia State University. Whether it was nap between classes in the second floor of Library North or a game of cards or dominoes in the Student Center. Like a knowing Braves fans playoff yawn , finding someone who attended GSU informs a shared experience. We worked our way through school, we took a little or a lot longer to graduate if at all. Through it all we became better citizens because we we're thrown into the workforce headlong. Our record of Law School students passing the Bar on the first try is as much a function of our students being older and paying for their own classes as a any other metric.
When we run into each other the questions come based on that perceived shared experience. Did you ever have a beer at Ivy Street Library or Texas? Do you remember when the pool was still in the aquatics building? Ever use the gym on the first floor in The Arena? Remember when we had to register in person for classes using Scantron sheets? Sitting on the wall in The Plaza?
There is a shared experience that is GSU but despite being in the South that experience never included football. Sure it would come up in conversation but we knew it would never happen. How could it? This was GSU; The Concrete Jungle. Colleges with football teams have campuses with rolling hills of whey. Why would we want a football team?
Why Not?
Tonight at 7:30 the Why Not's will win out. Despite all the obstacles and naysayers we have met every challenge and goal and exceeded. Some 28,000 fans and 141 band members will laugh, cheer and cry tonight. Our little collection of building has grown into a capus with 31000 students and 3000 on campus students. We will walk through the Dome doorway and watch the F-Word be come Future.
Why Not? Indeed.
...and so history begins.
