Hodge: My holiday tradition of football isn’t like most others

CONWAY, S.C. — When most people think of football around the holiday season, they probably think of watching it on TV, cozied up in a blanket with the Christmas tree lights glistening in the room.

For me, though, it’s not even close to that.

As some know, I’m only 23 years old, so I’m still in the “prime of life.” I still make some questionable decisions, but it’s a part of growing older.

My holiday tradition of football could be categorized with that.

It started just after I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 2021 when two of my friends and I made the decision to purchase tickets to The Myrtle Beach Bowl, a college football game played annually in December at Coastal Carolina’s Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina, between teams that are chosen from the Conference USA, Mid-American Conference (MAC), or Sun Belt Conference.

That year, it was Tulsa taking on Old Dominion. And while that may not sound like the most thrilling matchup, it’s more-or-less not about that but the antics we do while we’re there.

We can’t just sit there and watch the game like many do. We have to make it more interesting.

In last year’s edition of the game between Marshall and UConn, we had five of us in total go and sit in the end zone, where there were primarily UConn fans sitting. And for anyone who doesn’t know, that program hadn’t made a bowl game before that since 2015, when they lost 16-10 in the St. Petersburg Bowl against none other than … Marshall. So, my friends and I decided to become huge Marshall fans that day and cheer on every little thing they did — from them getting a yard on a play to them getting a good punt off.

Most UConn fans didn’t pay much attention, but we did make a few college kids who couldn’t say much rowdy as their team ended up losing 28-14.

We’ve added to our tradition by sitting in the end zone and cheering on whichever team is favored to win the game.

On Saturday, it was Georgia Southern and Ohio, so we made plans to cheer for the slightly-edged Ohio Bobcats that lost several productive players to the transfer portal. However, we all unintentionally wore navy blue — the colors of the Georgia Southern Golden Eagles. We cheered for Georgia Southern in the first half as they got bashed. With the Golden Eagles down 20-0 at the half, I made the somewhat irrational choice to switch fanbases and get an Ohio t-shirt to wear in the second half — even letting the Bobcat band know of my decision as they returned to their bleachers near the end of halftime.

After throwing on the shirt over the top of my blue one, Georgia Southern began to mount a comeback, cutting its deficit to two scores at 34-21 with 12:27 to go in the fourth quarter. But the Bobcats held on to win 41-21 and helped not make me look like I made a foolish decision.

We do plenty of other mindless things at the game, but it’s become a custom for my friends and me to let loose and enjoy life a little bit. We’re still young and need to express that. It also helps that we’re not actually fans of either team playing in the bowl, so there’s no added stress on wanting our team(s) to win. It just helps remind us to live life and relieve some of the worries that the holiday season can bring, with trying to buy gifts for family members, getting decorations up, making travel plans, etc.

So, next year, when the bowl game is held and shown on ESPN, if you see three to five guys in an end zone going nuts, remember, it’s probably us.