Dougherty’s Diatribe 10/25

The opposite of love is not hate it’s indifference. And there are many things in which I would classify myself disinterested. Septic tank maintenance, proper monument cleaning techniques and the NHL are just a few.

I had heard that a different world than the one I knew existed, a world where college football was not the second most important element to one’s life. Although, in the South, I guess religion takes a back seat with some people. I understand that people in California may prefer to live in a tree or smoke one. Or both. That people in the Northeast live in die with the Yankees and Red Sox. That people in the Midwest do, well, whatever in the heck it is that they do. But I didn’t really believe that college football was not put into proper perspective until I visited my friend Mark Christopher in St. Louis and spent an hour with him on his radio show on The Big 550 KTRS.

I was told that we would talk some Big 12 football as the college football season was just one week away. We would also look at some of the teams projected to be good nationally. Talk about who might end up with my Heisman vote. And, perhaps we would jump into the NFL for a segment about the Rams. I thought, Big 12 football talk…not my favorite topic, but I thought it would be fun to branch out. In preparation, I made some calls to people I trust and scoured various web-sites in an effort to gather as much information as possible. I would rock the Big 12 talk. This would be fun.

I had followed what Gary Pinkel was doing at Missouri for the last few years. I loved the quarterback, Chase Daniel. They get great production out of their tight ends and receivers. But can they run the ball and play defense? I reasoned that it wouldn’t matter because Nebraska would not be a great team plus the Cornhuskers would play at Mizzou. Great, Missouri will win the Big 12.

St. Louis will love hearing this!

We go on the air, I break down the Big 12, talk about how Missouri is going to finally break through and open things up for an hour of college football talk in St. Louis.

The phones light up and we roll through call after call about the St. Louis Cardinals along with some discussion about the Rams. No one listening to us wanted to talk about college football a mere week before the season began. I could not believe it. But, it was true, there actually are places where people are apathetic about college football.

Let’s jump ahead to Tennessee’s 4-3 start, where Vol fans seem to be increasingly anxious to move towards a new administration. We take calls every night from restless Tennessee fans that say they expect more out of their program than a cursory wave as its biggest rivals pass them by.

Concern is gaining in intensity and would never be described as apathy. And, as I think back to that late August day in St. Louis talking baseball and the NFL in an hour designed to dissect college football I think about how blessed I am to live in an area where people care this much about something we all agree to love with the deepest passion possible. College football is life to many of us. Some perceive this to be an illness. But, there is a twelve step process to get over this sickness, it’s called the college football regular season.

It all comes down to expectation level. You spend the off-season thinking this might be the year, building your case for how this might be the year. Then Tennessee fan watches perhaps the fourth best team in the Pac Ten dismantle their beloved Vols. They see Florida score the last 31 points and Alabama finish the Tennessee off 31-3. Some Vol fans grow angrier about the state of their beloved program. Yet, others grow apathetic. They would rather talk about the World Series or the NHL.

How would you be classified? E-mail me at brentd@wlac.com.

Thanks for reading! –Brent Dougherty.