Rod Frisco of the Patriot-News asked his readers this week to let him know why they like high school football. This is my answer to Rod Frisco:
Dear Mr. Frisco,
My earliest experience with high school football was when as a child my dad wanted to take my brother and me to see John Harris HS play. Only thing was I had to come up with fifty cents for admission. I don't recall if that was the going rate or just my contribution. I refused to hand over the quarters and to this day rue the fact that I missed that game.
Through the years I've come to realize that I missed out on more that just the game that day. I missed out on spending time away from life with my dad. Through my elementary school years and into high school most Friday nights were spent with my dad at Landis Field watching either the Rams or later on my own C.D.E. Panthers. During high school it would have been 'more cool' to hang out with my friends at those events but if I would have I couldn't have watched the game. I miss the old Central Penn League, I miss the
smell of a freshly lit cigar wafting through the bleachers and I miss the sweetness of a cup of hot chocolate in a cardboard cup. High school football was the focal point for good times and good memories for me during those years. Watch the game on Friday night and star in it over and over until the next Friday night.
Then came college and marriage and kids. I never lost the love of the game though. I listened to every game on radio that I could. I would drive home the long way just to hear the end of a game, between two teams I did not follow hoping that I'd catch an out-of-town score in which I was interested, because I knew my radio reception was better in the car than in the house.
As soon as my sons were old enough I started taking them to Friday night games. I suddenly found out what my dad already knew. A father and son had the perfect hiding place from the world when they were at a high school football game.
Three of my six sons played football at Bishop McDevitt. None beyond their sophomore season and none ever made it to Friday night or Saturday morning. It did not matter. For six wonderful years it gave me a reason to go to football on Monday nights and Wednesday afternoons in addition to the weekend. I was living large.
There was a period of twelve to fourteen years that my wife, a McDevitt grad, and I didn't miss a McDevitt game for any reason. We were at all those games as a family. All nine of us. The allure of the game, the family of McD friends and the security found in the autumn ritual drew us each weekend with the same magic that draws the geese out of Canada.
My youngest four kids did not play football but thank the Lord they played instruments. Instruments in the band which just happen to play at half time of, you guessed it, McDevitt football game. I truly have lived a blessed life.
I never put on the pads and played but many times I scored the winning touchdown on the field of my dreams. I never coached football but many times I called the down and out to Raki or pitch right to Shady. I never officiated a game but many times I felt remorse for the things I felt in my heart for those that do.
High school football is magical not in what it does but in what it allows you to do. - Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment