Blitz Podcast: A historical, philosophical college football discussion on fan memory
By Zach Bigalke
Zach offers up a theoretical college football discussion about fan memory and the college football fan in this week’s Saturday Blitz Podcast.
Flying solo this week with John Mitchell unable to join the discussion, I hijacked the Saturday Blitz Podcast for a more theoretical discussion related to an ongoing book project. The subject is fan memory. Join me for a bit of history and a bit of philosophy, college football style, as I offer up my own experiences as a guinea pig to use as a case study.
Think back to one of your earliest experiences as a spectator. Even better, think back to one of the first truly painful games you experienced as a college football fan. That’s all it takes to get into the game for this week’s discussion in the podcast on fan memory.
Now think for a moment about how much you really remember about that game. Can you recall all the highlights and lowlights? What sticks in your memory? How do you feel when you recall those memories?
The memory that, more than anything else, shaped my worldview as a college football fan is the November 7, 1996 loss by 9-0 Wyoming on the road against San Diego State. Yet, as I started reconstructing this game, I realized that my memories of the game were less about the action on the field and more about how I reacted to that action on the field, less about the defeat itself and more about the repercussions of defeat.
What are your games that remain so painful that, years later, you recall the date and where you were at and how it felt in the moment? As you look at those games, do you remember specific plays or merely the individualized moments of how that game landed for you as a fan?
I know I was surprised when I did some soul searching on the subject. You might be as well. Listen in for the results of my introspection in this week’s Saturday Blitz Podcast on fan memory, either through the player above or by following the link to download this week’s edition.
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The Saturday Blitz Podcast is part of the FanSided Radio Network at Spreaker. The show goes live every Wednesday morning. You can reach John Mitchell at @jlmitchell93 and Zach Bigalke at @zbigalke on Twitter.