The southeastern region of the United States has many distinctive qualities, carb-heavy food, cowboy boots, and Southern accents being some of the best known characteristics. However, one stands out above the rest: SEC football.
Football is probably the number one most American thing to have ever been invented. It was invented in America, is only played in America, and typically only Americans follow the sport. SEC football fans take it to the next extreme, though. They dress up for the games, and follow the sport like it’s a life or death situation. As someone who doesn’t understand the game of football (and trust me, I’ve tried) and who lives in the South, I’m an anomaly. There are just things about SEC football I don’t understand, and these are the top three things a non-football fan living in SEC country struggles to understand.
1. Dressing Up
This isn’t necessarily a bed quality of SEC football, but it's just one I don’t quite understand. Most other football fans outside the SEC conference will simply wear a jersey or t-shirt to a game. Us southerners however, choose to go all out for these games. Guys wear khakis and button-ups, and girls wear dresses and heels. This custom is strange, but we’ll just chalk it up to always going all out, something very typical of the Southern lifestyle.
2. Sunday Afternoon and Monday Night Football
During football season, no self-respecting Southern family makes plans on Sunday afternoon or Monday night. You go to church, eat lunch and settle in for the long afternoon ahead of yelling and screaming and cheering at the TV. Monday night holds the same fate (except this time probably with a beer or other alcoholic beverage because everyone hates Mondays). Growing up in the South, you learn not to make plans with your friends on these nights because you know their parents or themselves will be too busy fervently watching the game to think about anything else.
3. Choosing Your Team
If you live in the South, more than likely you have “your team.” You may like this team because you parents like them (and liking a team different than your family is equal to asking to be written out of the family will). You may like this team because you go to that school and you are full of school pride. Or, you may be one of the few people who has no team so you hurriedly say the first one that pops into your head when asked the inevitable question.
So if you find yourself in the middle of SEC football fanatics, just know you're not alone. Even those of us that have lived in SEC country our whole life still don't understand it.
