Jordan Davis has the best beard in country music (apologies to Chris Stapleton). Davis released a song earlier in the year called “Church in a Chevy,” (2020) about going for a drive in his truck.
“I went to church in a Chevy on a two-lane on a side of the road/ Sun coming up cutting through the live oaks/ Wind through the windows like a whisper on a breeze,” Davis sings. “And there wasn't no preacher, wasn't no choir, wasn't no words/ But it was the best sermon I've ever heard.”
Every Sunday in the fall since I was 6 or 7, I experienced a higher power too. And the sermon was delivered by Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. If I got lucky my parents would let me stay up late for the evening sermon with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth.
It might sound crazy to view watching football as a holy experience but I assure you that it is. Every year in September the air begins to feel a little bit crisper, leaves start to change color and a layer of dew appears on the grass in the morning. You can feel that it’s football season.
Time changes everything. Nothing about my life today is the same as it was when I was in first grade in 2006. People came and went, schools changed and smartphones took over the world. The one constant was watching football on Sundays in the fall. The passage of time is marked as much by birthdays as it is by the retirement of players I grew up idolizing.
So many little things in my life can be traced back to the hours I spent watching football on Sundays. I never needed to be taught how to multiply by sevens because I knew a team that scored four touchdowns had 28 points. I gained a geographical understanding of the United States through the American Football Conference’s and National Football Conference’s North, South, East and West divisions. I never would’ve known whoThe Boss was if he hadn’t played the Superbowl halftime show in 2009.
Of course, the glory of watching football as a kid was never just about watching the games on CBS and FOX. It was about running outside during the commercial breaks and halftime to play two-hand touch, snatching the ball out of the air like Randy Moss and cherishing that rare moment when you flick your wrist and release a perfectly tight spiral like the quarterbacks on TV. It’s tough to come to the realization you’re never going to play quarterback in the NFL, but it’s even tougher to realize you will never have more fun than you did playing backyard football with your best friends in elementary school. You can still get a taste though. Grab a friend, put down the homework you won't remember in a week, give your eyes a break from your screen and go outside. Breathe in the fall air, grip the laces and let it rip.
