Sports > September 18, 2008

By Phillip Brame | Staff writer

Dear Wake Forest Fans, Are you tired of the constant SEC love-fest from an unnamed four letter TV network? Are you angry that your Deacons are constantly overlooked and disrespected?

I understand. I’ve lived in an atmosphere of enormous SEC bias for 20 years. My father, an alumnus of the University of Tennessee and football season ticket holder for the last 12 years, came to family weekend last year to watch the Deacons demolish Butch Davis and the Tar Heels of UNC instead of making his usual four hour pilgrimage from our home in Wilkesboro, N.C. to Knoxville for a UT home game. I spent the next three hours listening to a laundry list of the ways Wake is “inferior” to SEC football standards. Our stadium, student section, pre-game traditions (or lack thereof), fight song and our conference were all up for a good shredding.

In many ways, my father is right. Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium seats an official capacity of around 102,000 and frequently when Florida, Georgia or Alabama are in town, six or seven thousand more people are in the stadium, making it the third largest city in the state of Tennessee. The “Orange Nation” student section is around 10 thousand strong at any UT home game. The Pride of the Southland marching band boasts around 300 members and performs virtually the same, elaborate routine at every home game, capped by the team running through a giant “T” of band members that covers half the field. Then there is the matter of Rocky Top (not the official fight song, but who would know it was any different?). To say the song is infectious is a gross understatement. If you feel the need to hear it, YouTube will suffice, but hearing it live and 100,000 strong in Neyland Stadium is a completely different experience. Virtually every other SEC school has the same religious fervor surrounding its respective program. What’s more, the fans of this hallowed and historic conference will put aside their own differences to slam any “lesser” conference to the point one feels sorry that those of us in the ACC dare call ourselves a major conference.

And I would never trade places with them in a heartbeat.

True, Groves Stadium….I mean…um….BB&T Field, comfortably seats 30,000 and only recently boats of a multi-million dollar Deacon Tower that gave the place even a resemblance of a major college football stadium. The “Screamin’ Demons” probably bring in around 3,000 or so students, and until recently, the majority of them were decked in an array of pastels that confused a Wake football game with the Kentucky Derby. The Spirit of the Old Gold and Black marching band typifies the school they represent, talented but lacking in sheer numbers when compared to larger state schools. “O Here’s to Wake Forest” isn’t based off of a folksy bluegrass tune, but I’ll sing along and scream “Go Deacs!”

If this discussion turns to results, I’ll proudly stand by Wake’s recent history. Against the hallowed SEC in the last three years, Wake is 4-0. True, we may not be able to beat the LSU and Southern California caliber teams (yet), but I’d place a large wager that the Deacs would fare just fine in any other major conference in the nation. Our coach is the embodiment of our team, underrated and respected. Grobe gladly searches for the unnoticed and under-hyped player with good character while the big names of the SEC continually recruit and keep players after they develop a better relationship with the local police department than their professors.

For all their tradition, a good few college coaches have risked the integrity of their programs by not helping their players learn that there is an education to be earned as well as championships to win. I’m also well aware that every school has its good and bad apples; I just have a hard time finding an example of a Wake football player who remains on the field after a felony charge, academic scandal or improper relationship with a sports agent. Maybe there is something to this “Proud to be a Deacon” thing after all.