The second in our series on Why We Love Football.  Look for more entries in the coming weeks.

TJ Carpenter – Host of the TJ Carpenter Show, ESPN 92.1 The Ticket

Why do I love football?

Hope. Eternal hope. The love of football, really sports in general, boils down to what might be or what is about to happen right in front of you – the anticipation, the moment as it unfolds – not the satisfaction of the win.

The reason I know that’s true is my father. He played football for Arkansas State in the 70′s. They were good then, they aren’t now, and they were worse when I was growing up. My father buys season tickets every single season to ASU games. AND THEIR TERRIBLE! But one game when I was maybe 10, we drove five hours to Jonesboro to see the Indians play against New Mexico State. Their getting their asses handed to them in the fourth quarter. Arkansas State is down by four touchdowns with 10 minutes to play, and then all of a sudden, something inexplicable happened. They were possessed by the Dallas Cowboys – who knows. But with 10 minutes left they score four straight times to tie the game, send it to overtime, and then won in overtime. And for at least that night, I thought Arkansas State could have beaten anyone in the country. And at least for a little while, as a kid I realized why the five hour drive, against the current of thousands of Razorback fans, was worth it.

Before I was a member of the media, I was a fan in the student section, and one moment in time will stick with me forever; it wasn’t the final whistle or a longing stare into the eyes of the score board as it read the final score of a job well done by the Razorbacks against Tennessee in 2006, it was the first time I saw Darren McFadden throw a pass out of the Wildcat formation. McFadden fakes the run, pulls up, play action – it’s a new look to a new formation, one that would revolutionize college and professional football for the next few years – you can tell he’s not a quarterback, but he doesn’t need to be. The ball hangs in the air as the stinted release pulls the ball up and for just a tenth of a second all at once 76 thousand Hog fans inhale collectively and hold their breath…. No one knows where the ball is going. And then every pair of eyes realizes they have no idea where that ball is headed. Frantically we all look and see a wide open Marcus Monk in the back of the end zone. And as soon as that ball touches Monk’s glove the entire stadium erupts. It was the loudest sound I’d ever heard. It feels nice to be a part of something. Arkansas fans feel like they are a part of those moments, and they’ll feel like that forever.

But it isn’t just that, it’s anticipation, it’s next year, it’s the next game, the next quarter, the next play, the last play…. Even when I became a part of the media, the first big game I ever covered, LSU-Arkansas 2008, the one thing I come away with that I will always carry with me is Dick to Crawford on 4th and 1. I was a sports photog for KFSM Channel 5 and the shot I got of that play could have been painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The ball is in mid air: in that moment, as I shot it, I knew it was going to be a TD… ok I didn’t really, but it felt like I did.

All of this is really an attempt to explain something really simple, it happens in a moment. I can’t tell you concisely why I love football, but in a single moment you know. That’s all it takes, one tenth of  a second of one play, and you’re hooked. You can live a whole life of sports, you’ll always remember that feeling.

- TJ Carpenter

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Feel free to email us why you love football at illegalshiftblog@gmail.com.  Your submission could be included in the series.