Music Theory 101...a lesson in Football?

If you have not noticed, the past few weeks we have seen some incredibly odd packages on the offensive side of the ball, and for the most part they have been very effective. However, what intrigues me is not their effectiveness or how we run them, but the freshness and revolutionary approach to the designs. Right now the entire world of football is watching the “wild cat” take it’s place among the more traditional formations and is being juxtaposed in play books everywhere – similar to the influx of the spread formation in the late 90’s, and I cant help but wonder: what’s next? How long is it going to take for these new formations to catch on. It may seem a silly thing to wonder considering how abnormal these formations are, and that many consider them to be “trick play” formations, however Supurrier’s nickname (Evil Genius) could be shining through – and with enough repetition, the abnormal becomes routine. However, like any radical idea, it brings up the question: will there ever be a limit? Will we ever run out of formations to create, plays to design? Well, yes and no; and for this we are going to take a look to music, more specifically: 16th century counterpoint.

Any classically trained musician can tell you what counterpoint is – one of the first forms of traditional musical notation – and they can tell you some of it’s rules: no parallel octaves, no parallel fifths, cross voicing of parts, dissonant interval of notes, etc… the list goes for quite a bit. So, if you were going to write a piece of music in the 1500’s you would, generally, abide by these rules and create a melodic and harmonic line that conveys a musical idea (hopefully. However, because of the strict guidelines of counterpoint, one would assume, that there are only so many things a composer can do. However, people have been composing on this formal for around 400 years and in the standard repertoire of preformed music there is hardly any true “repeats” of thematic material. Im not saying that there is not repeated material, but the select pieces that the musical world has placed in the standard repertoire has been placed there because they are the most effective at getting their musical ideas across.


Ok – music theory lesson over. BACK TO FOOTBALL! How’s this relate? Well, football, like counterpoint, has defined rules when creating a formation and play, and while yes, there will be repeated material, there are a few formations and plays that the football world recognizes instantly: the I formation, shot gun, sweep right, statue of liberty etc.. and they are all effective in their own right, but like music – formations can become stale, predictable, and over the time loose their edge (see the option play). But, we still use them because for the most part, they work. However, coaches are constantly looking for new, effective, formations and plays that will give them the edge over a conventional defense that is designed to stop our canonized formations (4-3, 5-2 etc..), and when we watch one of these new formations or plays work, we realize there is deeper level of complexity of football that we can tap into that we have not yet reached.


Ok, so ill put it simply: Steve Spurrier is the Beethoven of football. Beethoven was considered the best pianist of his time – Spurrier has won a Heismen. Beethoven was worldly known for his temper – Spurrier throws visors...enough said. Beethoven was a master of improvisation – Spurrier was made famous by drawing up plays in the dirt on the sidelines. Beethoven revolutionized music with the symphony – Spurrier did the same with his “Fun and Gun” offense. People loved Beethoven, people hated Beethoven – we love Spurrier, others hate us for loving him (yeah it works out). Both men are known as the “Evil Genius” and I think my comparison of the two done. The point is – the ‘Ole Ball Coach is still composing (unlike Beethoven, unfortunately) and it excites me greatly because hopefully, the Gamecocks will be able to preform his 9th Symphony, live at Williams Brice. Honestly, to me it’s not an “if” question, more so a “when?”—and right now we are watching him hand pick his orchestra, while writing a masterpiece designed for that specific group of players to preform. And don’t fret Gamecock Nation, it will happen, but the technicality and talent needed to preform this work requires every player to be a complete virtuoso of their craft, or the design will not work.


So I guess the next question is: “How will we know when they are playing this great work?” Oh, you’ll know...probably by the shouts of the Hallelujah Chorus (I know...that’s not Beethoven), and the Ode to Joy (there, happy?) being shouted down the streets of 5 Points. Or – just be listen for the entire Gamecock Nation to be chanting GAME....COCKS!—Now that’s music to my ears.