David White: Like a family reunion, football feels like home

The open grill was flaming, the oldie jams were blaring, and Fresno remembered what it means to have a good time again.

Fresno State football was back Thursday, getting 32,547 fans to agree that they do not, in fact, have anything better to do on a work night in September. After all, there is no show like a Bulldogs season opener, certainly not in this town.

And beating Abilene Christian 34-13 helped, too.

“Just having fun, like we always do,” said big fella Richard Abaya, who’s gone from a teenager hawking dollar hot dogs inside Bulldog Stadium to swallowing them whole in the grass parking lot outside 30 years later.

“Hanging out with friends, having a good time – nothing like it.”

So what if Fresno State is coming off a losing season? Who cares if the opponent is Abilene Christian, and who exactly are they again?

No one came to see a quality opponent Thursday. No one wants to think about next week’s death march to Ole Miss.

Everyone came to feel great about the most popular sports team in town, at the most populated sports facility in the city – and they didn’t even have to call it Thirsty Thursday to draw a crowd.

Nothing else in these parts gets Abaya and his friends to cut out of work early, drop the tailgate on the lowered Cadillac truck and pose for pictures with former Fresno State football coach Pat Hill.

“Hey, Coach, want a beer?”

“No thanks,” Hill said as everyone in the parking lot seemed to call his name.

What other local event can make a mini celebrity of Brandon Connette, the team’s former backup quarterback, or Cameron Worrell, a retired NFL player who regaled his audience with tales of a bum shoulder from his glory days?

Season openers are where local sportswriters go to talk for free for local radio stations, and local weathermen go to video local fans in beer zones, and broadcasters like Paul Loeffler get introduced as “The Voice of the Bulldogs” to complete strangers who always know what that means.

This was a day the school marching band could hold up rush hour traffic crossing the street, and commuters honk for joy. This was the night when fans have nothing to grumble about because the Bulldogs haven’t lost a game yet.

And so they came early, and they came happy.

Their red Fresno State flags waved high over RVs and EZ-Ups, and the American flag waved even higher. Retirees tended to their tri-tip, college kids worked their red cups, and kids played catch in the parking lot without their parents freaking out.

Admit it: you loved bumping into an old high school friend, or a second cousin for the first time since the last family funeral.

The players were amped. The coaches were stressed. The Derek Carr jerseys were everywhere, because one can always wish.

Fresno State football was back, and if Thursday’s season opener retaught us anything, it’s that there is nowhere else Fresno would rather be.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 8:02 PM with the headline "David White: Like a family reunion, football feels like home."