Abstract
This chapter traces the history of college football in the American South, and how the violence of American football fits with that history and the ethos of the region. Despite a dramatic and tumultuous history, the reader sees how college football played and continues to play a central role in the civil religion of the American South.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/table-3. Accessed 27 Sept 2016.
- 2.
See http://www.statisticbrain.com/gun-ownership-statistics-demographics/. Accessed 21 June 2016.
- 3.
In my book Game Day and God: Football, Faith, and Politics in the American South, I detail the religious elements of college football in the South (for example, its myths, symbols, and rituals) and defend the claim that these elements serve religious functions. I also make the argument (and this is what I am sharing now) that for many people college football is central to the Southern “way of life” (its civil religion) and for how people understand themselves as Southerners.
- 4.
In this regard, football was part of the “muscular” Christianity movement of the early 20th century.
- 5.
For a wonderful account from an African-American perspective, I strongly recommend writer Kiese Laymon’s essay “How They Do in Oxford,” http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/13842293/the-allure-ole-miss-football. Accessed 18 Dec 2015.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bain-Selbo, E. (2017). Third Quarter: College Football in the American South. In: Violence in Southern Sport and Culture. SpringerBriefs in Religious Studies(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50059-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50059-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-50058-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-50059-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)