What Makes A Football Game So Special?

As football season is in full swing now, the rest of America is beginning to catch football fever. High schools are back in school and Friday nights will be filled with games and dances, while Saturdays offer the suspense and excitement of college football, leaving the NFL to show us how its done on Sundays. Every weekend will be full of great football.

For some reason this year I’ve been very excited to watch football. I love hanging out at home, on the couch, watching big games. I also enjoy going to see games in person, when my schedule permits. My wife enjoys watching games in person much more than on tv and I think I might have some ideas as to why.

Going to a football game engages all of your senses and creates an atmosphere of enjoyment, memories and excitement. Here are some of the sights, sounds and smells of the football game experience:

1. The Sights: Bright colors, clean cut grass and bright lights engage the corneas in a mystical display of visual stimulation. As a player, seeing the stands full raises your stomach in your throat, but gives you a feeling of importance and value. The movement and coordination of a football play is a beautiful thing to watch, seeing young men in coordinated moves attempting to best one another.

2. The Sounds: Pep band music, cheers of the crowd and helmets colliding bring the fan into a array of sounds in the game of football. As a kid, I can remember singing along to all of the pep band songs, pretending to play by trumpet or trombone. The hush of the crowd before a big play or the roar when their team hits the endzone creates a sometimes deafening, but thrilling experience.

3. The Smells: Hotdogs, hamburgers, sweat and grass make football games a potpourri of sensational smells. Smell, one of the strongest ways to evoke memories, make football games an experience you won’t forget. College fans tailgate before games, cooking all kinds of meats, and the smell of popcorn from the concessions mixes well with the player’s sweat and fresh cut grass and leather pigskin.

Perhaps these sights, sounds and smells arouse in you the same love of the game I am trying to portray. Perhaps they don’t. But if they don’t, may they at least paint a picture for you as to way the game of football is special to so many, and may it pique in interest in your heart to join the fans and experience a sight, sound or smell of this amazing sport.