The Smell of August

Dank humidity, fresh-cut grass, sweat-soaked shirts, and hot rubber. Ask any former gridiron athlete, and they’ll recognize the chemical memory of August football—a potent mix of nostalgia, excitement, and dread. 

In this essay episode, host Luke Ferris reflects on the brutal rites of late-summer pre-season, the sensory time machine of mandatory two-a-day practices, and how a millennial sports classic like Remember the Titans captured the exact physical and emotional toll of a team coming together under the blistering sun

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Sources for this episode:

• Royalty-free music and sound effects via Artlist.com
• https://youtu.be/uiqdA1B3_Nc?si=Hm985aciqVRPCv9c 
• https://youtu.be/35MvdHBWjwU?si=ws7NbsY8ZUeQVXNG 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

I can smell it. The dank humidity, fresh cut grass, sweat soaked shirts, dry electrolyte powder, hot rubber, and metal. These are the smells of the beginning of the football season, specifically August football. It's the time of year when you hit sleds more than celebrate touchdowns, and two days feel like a never-ending purgatory of exhaustion. Ask any former player in America, at really any level, and they'll describe the same smells. It's a chemical memory that captures ex gridiron athletes this time of year, one of nostalgia, excitement, and a little fear. I dreaded the early end of my summer vacation for football preseason. While my friends spent August at the beach or playing video games in air-conditioned basements, I spent hours wearing 10 pounds of creaky pads scorching under the hot sun. One of the ways myself and friends navigated these voluntary brutal conditions and practices was through motivation of football movies. Now there are plenty of fantastic American football movies, Friday Night Lights, both the movie and the TV show, Rudy, Varsity Blues, The Longest Yard, The Speech from Any Given Sunday, and one of my favorites, the replacements. But I think for millennial football players of a certain age, there's one sports movie that meant everything to us growing up with the game. Remember the Titans.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

We're gonna change the way we were.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

What did you say? You need a water break, you need a water break. Water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. Water is for washing blood off that uniform, and you don't get no blood on my uniform, or you must be outside your mind. We are going to do updown until Blue is no longer tired and thirsty.

SPEAKER_04 3:55

The air is dusty, the jerseys are stained, and you can feel the bright sunshine and humidity permeating the practice field. Coach Boone is at the center of the frame, blowing the whistle to signal when the players are supposed to hit the deck and then jump up before continuing to shuffle in place in an athletic stance. Coach Yost whispers to Boone that he thinks the players maybe have had enough. Boone just stares at him, and all you hear are the pants of the players in the background before he blows the whistle twice, signaling the drill is over. Players collapse, Ryan Gosling pukes, and they rush over to the water coolers before a fight ensues. It's a breaking point for the players both physically and mentally, but also a key tension point of the story. Because as an audience, we don't believe that these players can overcome the physical toll or emotional toll of coming together as a team and culturally in this newly integrated community. As a player, I feel the pain on those players' faces. I remember the feeling of the weight of the heat, the pads, and so much that I could just barely move my limbs. And then there was that relief, the sweet relief of when the whistle is blown to break up the drill, the exercise, whatever it is. It really is one of the best sounds you can hear as a young kid. If you haven't seen Titans, which you should, spoiler alert, as the training camp continues through the blistering August heat, the team ends up coming together because of the challenges they are facing physically and the emotional toll. Encored by Denzel Washington's daybreak speech at the Gettysburg Cemetery after a brutal long-distance run that starts in the darkness. It's fantastic. Now, my high school team never had the historic weight of the team depicted at Titans, nor were we competing for a state title, but the emotional journey that the film depicts of a team uniting during the worst practices of the season is true of all football teams. It begins in August. Now, as a grown man, far from the days of strapping on pads and hanging out in locker rooms, the smells of that season also provide a sense of comfort. The changing of the seasons, the constancy of the rhythm of life. Because August football was the first indicator of autumn. August football is really the, to quote Gandalf, the deep breath before the plunge of the new school year, new classes, new friendships, new memories, and the possibilities of romance. When I collapsed on the floor after an August football practice in a putrid state of dehydration and teen body odor, in the back of my head, I knew that the crisp October Friday nights under the stadium lights were on the way. August's blistering heat and pain made way for the comforts of September and October. The pride of walking the halls in your uniform on game day, the adrenaline of running onto the field and waving at the student section in the bleachers, the bliss of the celebratory locker room, and the relief of sitting on my sore ass on the couch all weekend watching the same game played by professionals. Now, as an adult who gets a back pain just from a restless night's sleep, the smell of August is just a reminder. It's nature's indicator that change is coming, that life passes by as fast as a football season. And whatever pain of the now will lead to something sweeter. Thanks for listening and watching The Least Important Things, a podcast about movies, friendship, and finding meaning in the most important of the least important things. I'm your host and creator, Luke Ferris. If you want to learn more about the show, visit patreon.com slash least important things. Find us on social media at Luke H. Ferris on Instagram at least important things on TikTok. And you can learn more about the show also on our website, that's least important things.com. And until next time, I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening and watching.