These movies and songs were made for football season

“We thought it would be fun to put a Killigans twist on it and maybe start a new tradition,” bassist Trevor Nebesniak told the Journal Star when the paper’s website premiered The Killigans version of “The Cornhusker” in 2014. “We’d tried writing some of our own stuff. But the more we heard about this song and about how the coaches used it to get the team rallied up way back when, we thought we should just find a way to do ‘The Cornhusker’ Killigans style.”

The Killigans version saw singer Brad Hoffman and guitarist Chris Nebesniak rewriting the old-fashioned melody and inserting a gang chorus that revved up the song, turning it into a modern singalong anthem.

The band’s hope, in Trevor Nebesniak’s words, was that the new “The Cornhusker” would be “used at Husker events.”

Well, I’d say, it’s used at “Husker events.” For the past few years, it’s been played in Memorial Stadium between the first and second quarters of Husker football games.

I recount that tale because, from the moment I heard it 10 years ago, The Killigans’ “The Cornhusker” became my favorite football song, even if it doesn’t have the most direct references to the gridiron.

It joins a handful of others on my list, including:

Mojo Nixon, “Not as Much as Football.” The late Sirius XM “Outlaw Country” host, rock ’n’ roll loon and my SXSW running buddy Mojo Nixon got football. That meant he knew how important the game really is, which he spun out in this psychobilly rocker with lines like, “I love you more than drinkin’ beer/ I love you more than eatin’ steer/ I love you more than the polo ball/ But not as much as football.”

Mojo, however, also knew there is way more going on at a football game than what is happening on the field. Which is why my faves include “High School Football Friday Night,” a recounting of what’s going on off the field at a high school game — sneaking in beers, smoking pot behind the stadium, etc.

Fountains of Wayne, “All Kinds of Time.” Somebody in Fountains of Wayne must have played quarterback — or at least knows what’s supposed to happen when the QB takes a snap and drops back for a game-winning pass. The game slows down and all kinds of thoughts pass through his head, which are laid out in this power-pop gem.

Lou Reed, “Coney Island Baby.” Who’da thunk Lou Reed wanted to play football? But that’s how he starts off this song of love and experience — “They said I was too little, too lightweight to play line-back/ So I say I’m playing right-end/ Wanted to play football for the coach.” And just getting Capt. Lou on a football playlist is cool and kinda crazy.

And, finally, Andy Griffith, “What It Was, Was Football (Part 1 and 2).” OK, this isn’t really a song. But Andy Griffith’s 1953 routine about a country-bumpkin deacon who finds himself swept into a football game while he’s setting up a tent for a revival meeting is a classic — and still laugh-out-loud funny.

I’ve got a few favorites on the film front too — and remember, these are favorites, not a list of the “best” football movies.

My top list starts with a picture I saw at the giant Cooper Lincoln when it hit screens in 1979.

That would be “North Dallas Forty,” the brilliant, biting look at the Dallas Cowboys of the 1970s based on Peter Gent’s autobiographical novel. Mac Davis is the Southern hellion quarterback (“Dandy” Don Meredith), Nick Nolte, the troubled wide receiver — aka Gent — and G. D. Spradlin as the authoritarian Tom Landry-style coach. It gets a plus for including real NFL wildman John Matuszak in the cast. Call that authenticity.

“Any Given Sunday” (1999). Oliver Stone looks at the NFL, so, of course, “Any Given Sunday” is over the top. It’s also a high-level sports drama with unknown Jamie Foxx taking over at quarterback for aging veteran Dennis Quaid (again), new owner Cameron Diaz trying to put her stamp on the team, a crooked doctor or two and Al Pacino at his most explosive as the coach trying to hold it all together. Looks great, too, except for the ugly uniforms.

“Friday Night Lights” (2004). H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger wrote a fine book about the 1988 Permian Panthers of Odessa, Texas, and the high school football-oriented culture there. Director Peter Berg turned Bissinger’s study into a fictional film that takes some of the culture while telling the story of a coach, played by Billy Bob Thornton, trying to lead his team after its best player is injured. Country singer Tim McGraw memorably plays the drunken father of one of the players. It’s the best high school football movie ever. Period.

“Brian’s Song” (1971). James Caan and Billy Dee Williams play Chicago Bears running backs Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers, with Jack Warden as coach George Halas in this made-for-TV drama that established the formula for all sports tearjerkers to follow. Piccolo, a hard-working grinder, befriended Sayers when the Omaha-born Hall of Famer joined the Bears. Then Piccolo was diagnosed with cancer. In the words of a coworker: “That’s the only time I saw my dad cry in front of the television.” Enough said.

“The Longest Yard” (1974). Burt Reynolds is a disgraced pro quarterback in the big house. He needs to lead a team of prisoners against a team of guards, who are happy to bring brutality to the field on behalf of the sadistic warden played by Eddie Albert. This one’s as much comedy as drama. So is the 2005 remake that made Adam Sandler the quarterback. It’s not bad either.