Ode to Fandom

I finished reading a book a little while ago, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Road Trip Into the Heart of Fan Mania by Warren St. John. The book explores the psychology of the extreme fan through a season traveling and living with the Winnebago crazed world of Alabama football fanatics.

The book is a wonderful read and highlights the 1999 edition of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team, the one that features current Seahawk Shaun Alexander. St. John, himself a diehard Bama fan, decides to follow and chronicle the famous Bama RVers who travel from city to city every Thursday to Sunday to watch their beloved Tide play.

After reading the book, I have a much deeper understanding of how entrenched football, especially college football is in the hearts and minds of Americans. They say that 90% of the population in Alabama has declared a strong allegiance to either Alabama or Auburn football. I have some friends who live in Alabama that tell me that football is more than just a pastime, it’s a religion.

And it’s not just in America’s heartland where football is God. Right across the border in the states of Washington and Oregon, college and high school football followings are huge. Even with the recent success of the Seahawks, the biggest games remain UW Husky football and Washington State Cougar football. On Friday nights all across Washington and Oregon, it is commonplace to see thousands of students and fans packing in local high school stadiums to watch their high school teams play.

Whenever people compare the talent of BC and Canadian football players to that of Washington or the US, it invariably comes down to the culture. Football is as much a part of American culture as hockey is to Canadian culture. Football in BC and Canada is a far cry from what it is in the US, but as football grows and becomes more popular in BC, the talent will also continue to improve.

I'd like to think I am a football fanatic. I love football; it’s the greatest sport to follow in my opinion. But if it ever gets to the point where a field full of RVs from out of town is here to follow their team, that's a little too crazy for me, I might have to stick with covering Basketball instead.

So next time you meet a visitor from Alabama, now you'll know what to ask them, "Alabama or Auburn?" And if they answer Alabama, you can send them off with a "Roll Tide!"

As always, post or email me your comments to BCSportsFanatic@yahoo.ca