Football And Coming Together

In the recent TV show we produced about the College Gridiron Showcase, CGS offensive coordinator Fred Armstrong said, “You see growth, where people are coming together. And I think football has always done that. We might not like some things about each other. But on Saturday or Sunday, I gotta push that aside.”

The statement came in the part of the program where we discuss how the social justice developments of the past year affected the American football world.

As you may have noticed, football season has begun. Thus, last week, I found myself doing some work at a football stadium. The project involved creating some video around a pregame tailgate event a sponsor was staging before the Carolina Panthers played the Houston Texans. The party was open to all fans 21-and-older, and while most sported red, white, and blue Texans gear, a few repped the visiting Panthers. As I watched an African American Carolina fan dash over to high-five some White strangers wearing jerseys like his, it reminded me of what Coach Armstrong had said in the show. Whatever the differences between those people, football had shoved them aside and given them something in common for at least that one day per week (a Thursday, in this case).

We asked our CGS interviewees of all ethnicities about their experiences with football and social justice. A theme we heard from many of them involved how their college teams held discussions about racism and even participated together in taking action. Houston Baptist’s Caleb Johnson said, “What was important was our unity as a team, and how we reacted and responded to things.”

Thursday, I watched a Black fan walk past me wearing the jersey of former Texan J.J. Watt, a White defensive lineman. He was followed by a White fan wearing the number 10 of ex-Texan DeAndre Hopkins, a Black receiver. It made me think about how the teamwork necessary to play their sport encourages one to deprioritize superficial differences in order to achieve a shared goal. That, in turn, encourages those who associate themselves with the team to embrace the same outlook. A whole lot of Black Texans fans will have fond memories of J.J. Watt’s sacks. White Houstonians will similarly reminisce happily about Hopkins’s TD catches.

CGS advisory board member Rodd Newhouse summed it up in a statement we weren’t able to fit into the show, but that I’m happy I can share here. He pointed out, “Team sports is just such a neutralizer because now you're on that team. And that team is the red team. That team is the green team. That team is the gold and black team. And then when you're looking at this Black American team versus this White American team, then that also now just becomes the American team. And I think that's what sports helps us bring out.”

I saw Rodd’s example borne out through our work with CGS. I saw it last week in Houston. And I know I’ll see it again, hopefully many times over.

Watch the one-hour CGS special nationally on Stadium tonight at 8pm ET and Saturday, October 2 at 2pm ET on these platforms:

?·?????Website: WatchStadium.com

·?????Stadium Mobile App

·?????Twitch: twitch.tv/stadium

·?????Over-the-top multi-channel providers, like Pluto, Roku, Xumo, YouTube TV, Sling, Fubo, and more.

·?????Digital subchannels for broadcast TV stations in 60+ markets, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. These channels are additional channels broadcast by local stations and are available for free with an over-the- air antenna as well as on many cable systems.

·?????In Fort Worth/Dallas, Stadium simulcasts on KTXD, channel 47.

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, it will also run on Marquee Sports Network Octopber 4 at 10pm CT, October 7 at 9am CT, and October 9 at 9pm CT.

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Rush Olson co-writes an occasional blog series on the intersection of diversity and sports with his friend Catalina Villegas. Read their work in Spanish on Catalina’s LinkedIn profile or in English on Rush’s.