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Keith Strudler: Love And Football

This commentary will focus on a word, an emotion or action really, we don’t talk about much right now, at least not genuinely. That word, that sentiment, is love. I’m not talking about loving a sandwich, or even loving someone’s speech. But deep, emotional engagement that is the genesis of and motivation for so much of our existence. I understand that hate is far more in vogue right now, kind of the skinny jeans of the moment. But this commentary, while perhaps less cool, is about love.

See, love is what Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney talked about moments after his underdog Tigers beat the machine that is Alabama football Monday night to win their first national championship since the 1981 season. They did so in heart stopping fashion, scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter against a defense that most viewed as just slightly less porous than Ft. Knox. Now, I can’t personally verify all of these 21 points being scored, because along with probably a lot of east coast Americans with kids, I fell asleep on the couch at the end of the third quarter. But I did wake up with two minutes remaining, after which Clemson drove the field for the winning touchdown with one second left.

So right after that, when Swinney address the media on the field, fighting back tears, he said he knew his team was going to win because of one thing – love. Swinney said the difference in the game would be love, and that they – his players and coaches – would win because, as he said, they love each other. Now this is in contrast to other postulates. Like, they won because Deshaun Watson played out of his mind in the second half. Or because Alabama’s defense got worn out in the fourth quarter because they were on the field too long. It’s a somewhat unconventional explanation for a sports team, that they can win because they love each other.

A couple of things here. First, I don’t want to proselytize everything Dabo Swinney says. Like when he said he’d get out of coaching if they started paying college athletes, because there’s already enough entitlement in the world. From a guy who makes over five million a year. Or when in reference to Colin Kaepernick sitting for the anthem, Swinney seemed to indicate that African-Americans have it so much better than they used to. So I’m not going to privilege everything Dabo Swinney says, especially since some of it simply hypocritical at best.

But to the point of Swinney, football, and love, there’s a lot nuance here. In some regard, Swinney’s comments follow a long tradition of viewing team as a surrogate family. Where people put aside their differences in deep support of one another. Bonded not by birth or adoption, but some singular focus on winning. Anyone who’s been on a sports team knows this feeling. It’s a fairly unique emotional outlay for young men, who historically are raised to hide this very emotion, at least outside the context of sport. And particularly given the longstanding stigma against and persecution of gay men, it’s an inherent challenge for men to openly admit their love – not physical attraction, but actual love – for other men. And that’s what Dabo Swinney openly admitted on Monday. Not only admitted, but referenced as the reason for his team’s success. That, for lack of a better word, is interesting.

Now, despite the current political hurricane in this country, and despite the onslaught of laws against gay Americans, I think Swinney’s comments are a glimmer of hope. I understand that lots of people who play and coach and certainly watch college football don’t share my particular politics around social justice. I’d guess a lot of Alabama and Clemson fans – from the Deep South no less – have supported a candidate and policies rooted in what I consider hate, more than anything resembling love. Yet Swinney, whose politics I most certainly wouldn’t appreciate, tapped into something important and universal. That we can all benefit by learning to love one another, particularly if we’re able to look beyond our differences and towards a common goal – in this case, a national title, which I know isn’t all that important to a bunch of you. But make no mistake, there’s a lot of diverse colors, ideologies, socioeconomics, and more in a college football locker room. And in Clemson, South Carolina, that diverse lot used love to bring them together to do something no one thought they could.

Maybe it’s just a game, and I’m making too much of some comments from an emotional head coach. But right now at least, I’ll take that over the inescapable politics of hate any day.

Keith Strudler is the director of the Marist College Center for Sports Communication and an associate professor of communication. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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