My SEC friends sound off

I work for an independent publisher that specializes in books about the Southeast (www.blairpub.com - don't tell me about your manuscript; read the guidelines). Last year the Southeastern Booksellers' Association had their trade show and convention here in Winston-Salem, on the same weekend as Wake's home opener. Booksellers, publishers, and others in the book business came from all over the South, including the part that's south or west of the Appalachians - SEC country. Since several of them are friends of mine, and I know them to be football fans, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece for our website, comparing the rich tradition and pageantry of Wake Forest football to the humble, unassuming fall gatherings in places like Athens, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, Baton Rouge. I just didn't want them to be shocked by the rabid hordes that invade Winston-Salem when the Deacons play.

So you'd think they'd know that I understand Wake's place in the college football universe, but no sooner had I announced my first post for this blog than I began to get questions along the lines of "why don't you find a roundball to write about?" and "Isn't that like a Tampa Bay Devil Rays fan writing about baseball?"

Thanks, guys, but that's kind of the point of this here Deaconball: to find out why on earth anyone would fall in love with college football if they're a Wake Forest fan. I know it must seem strange to anyone who grew up in SEC towns, or might-as-well-be-SEC towns like Clemson, which becomes the 3rd largest city in South Carolina on game days, but Wake Forest does have fans who are just as passionate about their team as 'Bama, LSU, or Tennessee does.

We just don't have as many of them. Blame it on our high academic standards.

I was partly inspired to write this blog by two recent and very enjoyable books: Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer (http://www.alabamabooksmith.com/NASApp/store/Product?s=showproduct&isbn=0609607081) by Warren St. John, about the RVers who follow the Crimson Tide to every game, home or away; and To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever (http://www.parkroadbooks.com/NASApp/store/Search;jsessionid=aPp9q4jxl-Zh3JYoM1) by Will Blythe, about the UNC-Duke rivalry in college basketball* (I don't remember that he ever mentions football). Both books, in addition to being loving tributes to the authors' respective home states, chronicle and attempt to explain the unreasoning devotion inspired by the teams in question.

Wake Forest fans, though, piss on the so-called 'unreasoning devotion' of fans of Alabama football or Duke or Carolina basketball*. Unreasoning devotion? Those programs win - a lot, all the time; they win conference championships, national championships, multiple championships. What's unreasonable about that? Where does devotion come into play? You've got plenty of company on those bandwagons.

It takes guts, and faith, to be a Demon Deacon fan. It takes patience. The wins are sweeter because they are fewer and farther between, and because of the odds the team must overcome to earn them.

Meanwhile, the ACC opens up the 2006 season tonight with Boston College against Central Michigan. The SEC opens with South Carolina and the Ol' Ball Coach at Mississippi State. And there's 2 days and 27 minutes until kickoff at Groves Stadium.

* One of the infuriating things about sharing a spot in the ACC's Big Four with Duke and Carolina is the maddeningly consistent high quality of their basketball rivalry. Only recently have I been able to let go of my dislike of both teams and just enjoy some fantastic college basketball.

* Actually, Wake fans would be happy to piss on Carolina and/or Duke fans, period.