by Jeff Greenberg
Sports-Glutten.com
When I think of the college football bowl season I think of memories of my childhood. Gathering around the television over the holidays and watching those bowl games with relatives was a tradition in our family. We watched the games, we bantered back and forth about the games, and as we got older and had our own favorite teams we may have even argued about the games. Regardless of the conversations or how our relationships changed over the years, what the bowl games did was bring our family together.
There’s another family that has been brought together over the last few years by football. It’s a family that would be together regardless of whether or not football was there; but nonetheless, it’s a family that is able to get together again and again because of football. To be more specific, they get together because of “Ryan’s football.” That would be Ryan Switzer, the junior All-American at the University of North Carolina. Spend some time with his family, the Switzers, and you realize right away the pride they have in in Ryan’s football career; but more importantly, you see the pride they have in their family and how Ryan’s career has been the vehicle that allows them to celebrate being together as they celebrate him. With the Switzer’s, football really is a family affair.
The Switzers are a large family from West Virginia. Ryan is one of five children to Ashley and Michael Switzer. His father Michael is also one of six children. When you add in his mother’s siblings you find that Ryan is surrounded by a large extended family of uncles, aunts, and cousins. My first encounter with the Switzers came earlier this season at a tailgate before UNC played South Carolina in Charlotte. I had planned on just stopping by to say hello. Well, an hour and a half later I realized the game would be starting soon and I’d better head into the stadium if I wanted to see the opening kickoff. It’s hard not to be drawn in to this close-knit group and their family dynamic.
The Matriarch of the family is Ryan’s grandmother, Jacquie. She told me her mother taught her that the most important thing in life is to keep her family in touch with each other and always keep them together. As I looked around and saw 20+ family members tailgating together, it was obvious to see that she was doing just that.
