Magic in the Mountains
Those people who visit a place once and immediately deem themselves experts are the worst — you know the type. So with that in mind, I’ll tread lightly with the following: Boone, North Carolina may be the purest distillation of college football’s magic I have ever experienced.
An almost tangible energy emanated as I wandered the campus around midday Wednesday, waking me up from the daze sleeping on a cross-country red-eye left me in. I visited a local Walmart in search of a Chromebook1 and seemingly every other patron was purchasing items in preparation for the Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina game.
Now, my own feelings on midweek college football are mixed. I enjoy having the games on to watch as a television viewer, and there are benefits for the programs involved. A couple years ago, I took a deep-dive into the motivations of the Mid-American and Sun Belt Conferences in playing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
But at the same time, the backdrop of often listless, half-empty stadiums strips away much of what makes college football so special. ESPN’s treatment of the teams and leagues involved in midweek games often feels reminiscent of the early ‘90s aerobics shows the network used to air, existing exclusively as InVeNtOrY2.
This cynical view of the sport merely as programming leaves me wondering if the Disney brain trust wouldn’t prefer all Group of Five games be played on a sound stage somewhere, a la the American Wrestling Association’s Team Challenge Series3.
But people don’t love college football simply because it’s something to turn the TV to. The electricity at Kidd Brewer Stadium for Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina captured why the sport is so popular.
College football fans love the game because it’s fun to see elite athletes do remarkable feats, sure. But why are they not NFL fans? The NFL features the top fraction-of-a-fraction of football players in the world.
Because football is the centerpiece of a larger tapestry that brings together community, youthful joy and tradition. And never at an NFL stadium would you see a party break out on the field after a game-winning field goal.
I am working on a larger project that’s partially to blame for the lack of newsletters in recent weeks, and the lead-up to this trip to North Carolina brought new entries to a screeching halt. Despite having this journey planned since May, shortly after 2021 football schedules were announced and I received my second vaccination, I was still up against several deadlines that pulled me away from the newsletter.
I tell you all this to inform you that I am spotlighting App State-Coastal as part of this project and don’t want to spoil too much from the night. Thus, I’ll leave you with some images from Appalachian State and a recommendation: If you ever have the opportunity to visit Kidd Brewer Stadium for a marquee game, do it.
My 7-year-old son removed my laptop from my backpack to play Minecraft about an hour before I left for the airport. Upon discovering my computer missing, I frantically Googled on my phone “affordable chromebooks in Boone.”
I have come to detest the word “inventory” in the context of college football. I had a back-and-forth on Twitter with an ESPN reporter recently whose retort to the suggestion moving the FCS season to spring would alienate those schools’ fans was tantamount to tough shit. They should be grateful for a time slot in a season that’s been proven ratings poison for the sport, including last FCS season.
AWA aired on ESPN in the 1980s!