I’m fairly new to football fandom and that’s since the Chiefs have become a powerhouse team. Okay, they were off to a bad start this year, but they’ve come back.
Although it’s only been the last few years that I’ve actually sat down and watched a football game on TV, for decades Jim would call me to the living room when a game (whether football or baseball) was about to start. He knew the attraction for me was to hear the national anthem and see the flyover. I suspect my fascination began in childhood. When I was a kid and Grandma Brown was at the house, the moment the national anthem came on TV, she asked us all to stand until it was over.
I’m not typically a crybaby, but I tear up when I hear the national anthem. A few weeks ago, I was in the passenger seat as a friend drove us up a hill overlooking a high school stadium on a football Friday night. We heard the anthem and pulled over. From our high perch, we watched the band on the field and saw a couple young men, probably 20s or 30s, walk out of the concession booth and whip off their ball caps and stand still. Some youngsters in that area placed their hands over their hearts. Very touching.
I feel that emotional response when I’m driving and see a funeral possession coming toward me. I pull over, of course, as do the cars both ahead of me and behind. It’s showing respect. And civility. Very touching.
The same when I hear a siren of ambulance, police car, or firetruck. Someone’s in trouble somewhere. I know it’s the law, but pulling over, getting out of the way so help can reach them shows we care about our fellowman. Very touching.
But back to football. I really love the flyovers. With Whiteman Air Force Base so close to Kansas City, it’s no surprise that the Stealth Bomber makes an appearance above Arrowhead Stadium. It is so impressive. I’ve not seen it in person at a game, but I was driving on I-70 from St. Louis to KC one day and saw the B-2 bomber fly in a training exercise. My gaze constantly darted from the highway to the sky to see that unique quiet plane.
When I was at Arrowhead for a game last year, the flyover was a formation of four helicopters. Because my generation’s war was Vietnam, and Jim was a veteran of that war, and helicopters played such an important part of that war, when I heard the whop-whop-whop of those blades, I was in tears. I tried to wipe them away inconspicuously so no one would notice me crying as I remembered Jim’s stories of rappelling from a helicopter in SE Asia.
Many times, a football game on TV starts with the flip of the coin. It’s as if commercial time is more important than “The Star-Spangled Banner” or the flyover. What is wrong with TV execs? Don’t they know this pageantry is a huge draw for viewers? This is a unifying American moment.
I’ve pulled up someone’s opinion of the top 10 flyovers on Google and watched them several times in the last few years. One was 49 private planes flying in formation above Arrowhead. Wow! And yet, the military flyovers are my favorite. Such speed. Such power. Such precision. Such training. Such dedication.
They bring tears to my eyes.
