WEBVTT - So Now What? The Fan Experience - Part 1 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.320 Last season college football Saturday, at least as we've come 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:09.280 to know, it was completely upended. As fans. It was 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:12.280 a challenge to channel the same fervor for game day 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:18.599 with altered schedules and viewing experiences. Now, as we look 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:22.360 to move forward, we take one final look back at 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.600 the awkward season that was and how we as fans 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:30.639 made it through from the solid verbal of this is 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:43.360 a special production, So now What. Welcome back to the 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.479 final installment of So now What. This time we're talking 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:50.640 about the fan experience. I am joined as always, I'm 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:52.520 a good friend, Dan Rubenstein, Dan, how you doing? 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.080 I'm great? And I could not be a bigger fan 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.000 of yours or the panel of reverballers that come on 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:00.280 the show or that came on the show to way 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:03.840 in on the fan experience. So I'm especially good today, Ty, 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:04.640 thanks for asking. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.640 We had a panel of verballers helping us with this 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.400 final topic, the fan experience. Thus far, we've discussed things 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.880 like what it meant to make decisions from the conference level, 0:01:17.440 --> 0:01:19.560 or as a coach to run a team, or as 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.640 a player to be on a team, or as a 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:25.279 broadcaster to try and broadcast the game. There's no doubt 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.360 though that perhaps the biggest impact was felt by the fans, 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.160 the fans trying to watch the product at home, trying 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.600 to root for the product in the same way and 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.680 the same fervor that they would otherwise. Dan, the twenty 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.399 twenty season was far from usual, and I think it's 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.160 a topic you and I grappled with quite a great 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.560 bit on the show, trying to figure out how exactly 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.760 do we feel about this twenty twenty season. For a 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:54.600 long time, as you recall, throughout the course of the summer, 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:56.400 we didn't think we were going to have a season. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.000 And then, certainly as news broke from the Big Ten 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:03.480 and the Packed twelve, as caseloads went up, the deeper 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.720 we got into the fall, there was a great deal 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:08.960 of uncertainty. Eventually, though, they pulled the thing off, They 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:12.280 pull it together, and there we are as fans, certainly 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.919 as podcasters, trying to place it all. What were your 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:16.000 thoughts in the moment. 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.760 Well, which should be noted also fans grappling with going 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:24.760 to games, traveling to games with increased security measures and 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:29.320 masks and allowances of people in or lack thereof. So 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:31.880 it's not just odd for those of us who didn't 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:34.120 go to games in twenty twenty, but I'm sure on 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.840 some level it was both very nice to be able 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.919 to go to games and forget all of the weirdness 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:43.440 and tragedy going on in the world at the time. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.280 So it must have been nice to be in a 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.360 stadium if everything was sort of done properly, but also 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.560 strange to be in a stadium with people separated out 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.280 and relatively empty or somewhat empty, or super duper empty. 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:58.960 So it was strange no matter where your vantage point was. 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.880 For the twenty twenty season, I think, how. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:02.640 Did you feel about it? 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:02.960 Though? 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:04.480 As a home viewer. 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:06.160 It was odd? It was odd. I've talked about it, 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:10.399 you know before that there's so much of the TV experience, 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.320 and we talked about this with a Niche Schrofsu where 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.480 you know, seeing the wide swaths of empty stadium when 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.720 a touchdown was scored and usually those sweeping camera shots 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.560 or fans going nuts, or fans with the surrender cobra 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.360 and super sad and bummed and deflated. And I think 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.519 that kind of thing helps to define how we react 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:35.080 to a situation, especially if we're not personally invested in 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.839 a team playing in that game. But it adds so much. 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.960 The TV experience of a full stadium and the emotions 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:45.160 contained therein really helps to tell the full story of 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.600 what we're watching. And so that affected me. The fact 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:50.960 that you know, I moved and I was watching these 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.120 games for the most part alone when I'm used to, 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.280 you know, watch parties and friends coming over that are 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.120 into college football. I mean, you know, crimea River. That's 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.400 I had the best of basically anybody in twenty twenty 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:03.960 if that's my worst situation, but it was different. It 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:09.240 definitely lost something the culture of college football was. Aside 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.720 from the actual serious losses in the world, that was 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.880 the biggest hit that our sport felt that cultural element. 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:20.159 So it is the least serious victim of the twenty 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.240 twenty football season. 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.600 I was incredibly torn on how to feel about the season, 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.160 because on one hand, there was a pandemic raging. It 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.080 was the elephant in every room right. On the other hand, 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.000 they were going to play the season, and we are 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.360 a college football podcast, so we had to figure out 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:40.400 how we're going to do. 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:41.080 Our best with it. 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:43.960 In truth, I never thought they'd be able to pull 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.560 it off. I thought the whole year through, that something 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.039 was going to happen, that caseloads would spike, whatever, that 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.839 the whole thing was going to be called off in 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:56.840 the beginning, then in the middle, and then towards the 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:58.919 very end. We talked about it on the show. The 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:03.599 fact that they made it true relatively unscathed. It should 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.039 be its own topic that somebody covers at some point 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:10.320 in the future, because I think that does represent an accomplishment. 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.680 But there was this source of conflict among fans. We 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:17.520 asked our panelists, like, how did you feel about things? 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:20.440 We didn't know if we were supposed to be happy. Meanwhile, 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:22.040 there's a pandemic. 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:23.600 Rage that conflict. Right. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:24.400 It was weird. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:26.400 Yeah, it was just like it was like a weird feeling. 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.520 It was like, you didn't think you should be doing this, 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.320 but of course, you know, we're all like addicted to 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:34.400 college football, so we're obviously going to watch it, so 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.760 but it was, Yeah, it was strange. It was like 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:41.640 a weird feeling to get excited. But also this is 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:44.680 a part of your mind that you're just kind of like, yeah, 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:46.920 I don't I don't know if this is I don't 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:48.040 know if I should be enjoying it. 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:48.520 This much. 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.880 So, given this sense of conflict that I know you 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.440 and I both felt, I'm curious to get your level 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:58.200 of excitement going into the season. I thought about it 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:01.240 a great deal before hitting the record button. For me, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:04.799 it's probably on the same level as the third place 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:07.880 game for the World Cup. I'm gonna watch it. I 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:11.320 enjoy watching it. But there was a sense that this 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.159 was a consolation prize and any football we got amid 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.839 a pandemic was going to be bonus football, And so 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:18.320 it was fine. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:21.599 You're saying my excitement level for last fall, for the 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.599 fall of twenty twenty, not for the upcoming year. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.360 For the upcoming year, I suspect it'll be much much 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.440 more intense. But for the twenty twenty season, for me, yeah, 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:32.560 on the same level as the third place game for 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:33.239 the World Cup. 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.600 So I'll stick with your World Cup analogy. I will say, 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:41.440 a relatively interesting World Cup matchup not involving my country, 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:46.560 the United States of America, so like Netherlands Spain, with 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.479 more stakes than third place on the line. But at 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.400 the same time, whatever happens in that match does not 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.799 necessarily going to It's not going to affect my sleep. 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.160 It's not going to affect how I read about the sport. 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:03.000 It's just it's it's good to watch, but I don't 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.520 have the personal stakes like I normally would in a 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.880 normal year or for my country if I'm watching that matchup, 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.720 so that's where I'll go there. It was, you know, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.120 it was it was more difficult than usual. I started 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:18.680 baking pizza for that specific reason often where I just like, Okay, 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:22.360 I'm gonna watch football, but I want to figure out 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.040 something to invest in at the same time and to 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.800 get better at If I'm stuck home, I'm going to 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.440 be because otherwise, if I had people over, I would 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.280 be cooking, I would be doing new stuff, and so 0:07:32.320 --> 0:07:35.360 I needed that outlet as well. But yeah, that's where 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:37.640 my excitement was. It was it was nice to have 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.880 the sport as that distraction, but at the same time, 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.160 I can't claim my heart wasn't fully in it like 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:45.120 it would be otherwise. 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:47.760 One of the things that we saw, one of the 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.760 things that I know many other sports podcasts also saw 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:56.640 downloads are down. In the entire sports vertical downloads were down. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.960 I think enthusiasm was down. That sense of conflict was 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.880 pervasive all throughout the sports world. As was this impulse 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:07.800 to sort of find a way to take up the 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.400 time you took up baking pizza. Our panelists talked a 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:16.080 great deal about getting into things like smoking meat, or 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.280 reading more, or taking up other activities that could fill 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.040 up the time. It was interesting to get that perspective 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.520 and know that it wasn't just us that that we're 0:08:25.520 --> 0:08:29.480 feeling it. One other thing that I guess predictably came 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.160 up in our panel discussion was this topic of the 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.560 TV product. We've talked about a time and again. We 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.880 did a whole series of episodes about it last week. 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.160 What it was like on the back end to try 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.480 and put that together, What was it like on the 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:43.959 front end. 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.680 What I noticed watching at home was that the lack 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:51.000 of fans in the stands was actually more apparent on 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.040 TV than I was initially anticipating. And that was actually 0:08:54.120 --> 0:08:56.120 a little bit of a bummer for me. College games 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:59.719 like the fans and everything, So something that I underestimated 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.040 going into it was the lack of fans of the 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:04.680 game how that came across on TV. 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:07.960 So I didn't mind the TV product as much as 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.720 some I am not in the majority on that opinion, 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.960 and that could be because of how you and I 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.559 have to watch a million games every weekend. Paying too 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:24.040 much attention to any one game is generally something that's 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:25.520 very hard for you and I to do because we 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:30.040 cover this on the national level, but specifically, if you 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.680 are tuned into just that one game, trying to soak 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:34.600 up the experience as much as you can from your 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.600 living room, I totally understand how you'd come away from 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.200 that experience feeling very underwhelmed, feeling like there is something 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:43.920 missing because there are no fans, because the ambient noise 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:47.040 isn't there. Maybe even because the quality of play, at 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.080 least in the early going, was something to be desired. 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:51.240 I get it. 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:55.120 One of Cole's points was that he made peace with 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:57.720 this because he felt it was more or less a 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.000 made for TV product, and that was it. 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:03.840 Y biggest ticula for me was just I was excited saying, Okay, 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.520 it's going to be a TV product. That's okay, But 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:13.040 the TV product was really not great. The fans, yeah, you, 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.959 I think tend to agree with Cole. You weren't as 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.679 gung ho on it or at peace with it, let's say, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:20.280 as I was. 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:24.160 Yeah. I mentioned this when we talked with the panelists 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.080 that there was an element of the entirety of two 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:32.920 football programs sneaking into a stadium to play a game 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.480 both the most and least important people on campus. I 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:39.319 guess it's the most important in terms of revenue, but 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.760 the least important is like, well, it's not the most 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.360 academic pursuit. And we understand why college football is played, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:46.600 and we love why college football is played, but you know, 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:49.200 it's one of those things where you're making a deal 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.040 with yourself about why college football players are playing in 0:10:53.120 --> 0:10:56.599 empty stadiums or half empty stadiums or quarter empty stadiums 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.679 when it's such a different world, it's such a different universe. 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:04.040 So there is definitely that strange element that makes it 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:08.040 feel like the newspaper stabs of the Michigan and Michigan 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.959 State papers are playing each other the Friday night before 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.080 the game in front of an empty stadium. There was 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.360 that feel to at least a lot of Big ten 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.480 and Pac twelve football. Obviously the SEC had a good 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.240 deal more energy. Acc a good deal more energy Big 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.920 twelve to a certain extent more energy. It was weird 0:11:26.960 --> 0:11:29.360 that some games would look a certain way and some 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.079 games huge games would look a totally different way and 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.920 you'd have a huge matchup in the SEC and Michigan 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:40.080 O'll has taken canceled. It was just this very strange 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.320 day of television every week. 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.120 One of the other topics that was very popular in 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:50.319 our discussion DAN was setups. How did people set up 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:56.160 to watch these games, either just by themselves with a 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.719 group as best they could. We talked about it. I 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.840 remember in the moment a great deal about putting together 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:07.000 some sort of outdoor setup. We asked our panel, did 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:08.160 you do anything outside? 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:08.760 How was that? 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.280 For the BC notre ame game this year? We did 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.920 a whole backyard setup. One of my buddies came out 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.560 and you know, we it was just you know, something 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:24.760 to get excited for amid a drab year otherwise, and 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.400 so we moved like a fire pit that we bought 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:30.480 a fire pit. We you know, moved a TV outside. 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:32.320 I want to say it was fun, but you know, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.679 the cold and just being outside and all that combined 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.440 and in the game it ended up being you know, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.679 a little bit underwhelming. 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:43.480 Were you able to do any kind of watch parties 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:44.120 this year? 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:44.599 No? 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.520 I mean the only people that were this past fall 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:51.800 in my house on Saturdays. It was basically limited to 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:58.240 me and my wife and my toddler and my I 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.160 guess slightly extended family who was not They were not 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.640 really going anywhere. So no, there was I remember for 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.120 the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl, I had the extended 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:10.760 family over and that when I say that, I mean 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.400 like three people. So that felt like the most social 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.000 event of the calendar year related to football and just 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.840 social gatherings. But otherwise, no, it was a lot of 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:25.160 solo time. It was I we did lose ty. You 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:30.240 know what we lost. We lost the always exciting phone 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.280 under the table at a wedding during a big game 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.640 of ability I've watched. I mean, I remember when Boston 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.920 College ups at USC in twenty fourteen. Does that sound 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.960 right to you? I lost that ability. I watched that 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.840 underneath during speeches set a wedding. The speeches weren't that good. 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.679 And I think there was a Michigan State Wisconsin game 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:52.719 in twenty ten, two thousand and nine somewhere on there 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:54.800 that were just like, there is that element of like 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.280 being a little sneaky and watching college football when you're 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.080 not supposed to, and it was largely lost this past fall, 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:05.320 So that was the sort of the weird stuff going 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.880 through my mind during my solo watch parties. 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:11.160 Most of the games for me were at home, and 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:17.040 interestingly enough, in many ways for me was an easier season, 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:21.520 just as the host of this show, because we typically 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:23.680 have a lot of family gatherings in the fall for 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:27.720 birthdays and holidays for nieces and nephews and all sorts 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:28.480 of things like that. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.240 Oh, we can look through our text records of you 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.200 asking me for updates because you're at a christening and 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.960 you're like, wait, who's hurt? Sam Alliant is hurt? Just 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.280 that's how you would take in college football news for 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.600 forty five minutes when you were unavailable otherwise. 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:49.520 It's true everything was off this year, at least for 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.120 bigger groups it was off. So getting in front of 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.160 a TV, at least for me, was much much easier, 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:59.000 and so I at least appreciated that aspect of it. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.920 Virtually nothing else but to get in front of a TV, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.840 at least for me, felt like it was a much 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.760 lighter lift this past season. A lot of folks found themselves, though, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.760 in the situation of having to watch games alone that 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.600 they might otherwise watch with a group, and this gets 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.600 back to something Dave Jones said. It certainly gets back 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.240 to points that we discussed for the last. 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:21.720 Couple of weeks. 0:15:21.920 --> 0:15:25.680 College football as a social sport is something that should 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:26.560 not be under sold. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.280 And I was actually on my honeymoon in Rhode Island 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:35.080 of all places, because of COVID during the Michael Pennox 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.800 reach and me and my wife are basically by ourselves 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:44.600 in a setting where it would have been a very 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:47.520 different feeling, like imagine being in a sports bar. 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:53.760 With that moment, I was outside of my patio watching 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:59.240 on an iPad next to my fire pit, and that's 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.920 when I saw the play where Michael Penick supposedly. 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:03.080 Hit the pilon. 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:04.360 We know he didn't, but that's fine. 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.280 I was reading pizza message boards on my laptop while 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:10.120 out of one corner of an eye watching the game. Yeah. 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.720 So for me, that definitely did not represent the norm 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.320 watching a game out by the fire pit on an iPad. 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.720 It was just not something that I had done a 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:21.360 whole lot of. And I remember thinking at the time, 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.280 I need to fine tune this, because if I can 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.480 find tune this, then I could watch games with people. 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:28.320 It was all about trying to figure out a way 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.000 to invite folks over, invite friends over to watch the 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.120 games with me, because I agree with Andrew, it's a 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.560 much better experience when you can watch with other people. 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.560 I know, gosh, how many times over the years you've 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:42.840 done watch parties as well. It's just the thing that 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:46.400 we do as college football fans. And so while I 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.200 wasn't able to find tune that fire pit football viewing 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.120 the way I would have liked, because it got cold 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.640 up here in the Northeast, it got cold, and it 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.280 wasn't as enjoyable an experience as I would have liked. 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.840 It is something I think that I'm going to work 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.520 on fine tuning and tweaking and getting ready for twenty 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:06.399 twenty one because if I can get that where it 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:10.879 needs to be, and presumably because the season will start 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:13.439 earlier and it will be a little bit warmer in 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:17.160 the September time frame, even the early October timeframe than 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.240 it was when the Big Ten was starting its season, 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:21.720 I think I can get a couple good weeks out 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.520 of that, and that could be potentially a positive that 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.800 came out of twenty twenty for me as just a 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:27.440 home fan. 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:31.439 It should also be noted, and this is going to 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.560 sound a little bit silly, but going to college football 0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:39.560 games with your friends, with your family, with whomever is 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:45.360 good for your health, right going places, traveling places, and 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:51.600 sharing experiences and experiencing new things and new emotions. If 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:53.920 your team has a huge upset out of nowhere because 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.879 you went to Columbus or you went to Gainesville, or 0:17:57.880 --> 0:17:59.879 you went to Tuscaloose or whatever, and you got to 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:03.600 see your team do something fun or do something that 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.040 made you and your group incredibly sad, but you all 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:09.040 shared that emotion, and you ate new food, and you 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.440 drove down a new highway. These things are all good 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:16.920 for your brain. And so many fewer people, if that's 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:21.520 acceptable grammar, much far fewer people were able to build 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:25.760 experiences this past fall, and I think that legitimately, not 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.080 going to as many games, or to any game, I 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:33.600 think is not great for somebody's social growth and the 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.520 social part of their brain. And I'm craving getting that back, 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:41.600 because again, going to college football games, be it in 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:43.560 your town, be it in a town an hour away, 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:46.439 be it a four hour flight away, it is good 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:50.840 for all of our brains to share experiences. And we 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.080 had to take. We had to take a by year 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:55.160 a lot of us, and that sucks. 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:58.520 The gap year of college football fandom. As it were. 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.480 We did talk, as you would expect, a great deal 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:03.840 about not being able to travel the games. So many 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.119 of our over ball or so many college football fans 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:09.399 drop the marker on the calendar, drop the marker on 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:10.000 the calendar. 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:11.080 Whether it's a. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.920 Couple games a year, one game a year, one game 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:16.919 every five years, it's something to get excited about. And 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.159 it wasn't something that really was easy to do or 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:20.879 could be done. 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.800 Our group of people, we've been to every bowl game 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.160 for the past ten years, and we didn't do that 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:31.879 this year. It was I think that detraction really stood 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.880 out and we were still friends, but we didn't have 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:37.680 that marker on the calendar. 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.120 How many emails do we get every year? Every week, 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.520 every month, Hey, me and my friends, you know, are 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.720 able to get away from our wives, husbands, kids, whatever, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:52.000 and we choose a new place every year. You know, 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.040 last year we went to Clemson. The year before that, 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:55.840 we went to Oregon, the year before that we went 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.680 to A and M. And that's that thing that connects 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.199 people and so people love the college football experience, and 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:07.240 so when he says put down a marker, that's real. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.720 You know, people look forward to going to that new 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:15.320 college town, that new campus, that brewery, whatever. And it's 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:17.399 always good in life to have something to look forward to. 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.120 And I'll, you know, stop my feet one more time. 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.359 It's a lost a lost element that is obviously not 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.560 the most serious or important thing in this but you know, 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:29.840 you notice it when it's gone, at least for a year. 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.840 I think one of the main takeaways for me after 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:35.600 talking to folks about their experience in the past year, 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.880 is really just to re emphasize that college football as 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.679 a social entity is really what makes it special. And 0:20:43.840 --> 0:20:47.639 without that flavor, without being able to watch with other people, 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:50.879 either in person or at home on the TV, or 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.680 even just tailgating outside of a stadium with friends and family, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.159 that was a real loss, and it was through no 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.919 fault of our own. We really had no choice. I 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.000