There are some things you have to see to really understand what they are all about. Times Square, for example. Wrigley Field. The Las Vegas Strip.
You can see pictures and you can hear stories, but until you get a first-hand look, they are hard to fully understand.
From the outside, the Soul Bowl – the annual football game between Booker T. Washington and Green Oaks, Shreveport’s two historically black high schools – may seem like another game with a cute name attached to it.
The game itself doesn’t exactly revolutionize the way football is played – neither team won more than three games last year – but that’s not the point.
When these two teams play Saturday at 5 o’clock, Leonard C. Barnes Stadium on Milam Street will be a mecca for the community. And you don’t even have to look inside the stadium to find out why.
All along the neighboring streets will be fans watching from across the fence. Even inside the BTW campus gates but still outside of the stadium, smoke from BBQ pits will fill the air.
As for parking, good luck. It’s every man for himself.
In some rivalries, there’s a football game … and everything else.
At the Soul Bowl, you get the definite feeling that there’s everything else … and a football game.
“It’s why we called the Baby Bayou Classic,” says James Mosley in reference to the Grambling-Southern game played every year in New Orleans. “That’s what the atmosphere is like. You got your tailgating, you got your talent shows, you got your battle of the bands, you got your pageants. It’s just a week of fun for both schools and both communities.”
Mosley ought to know. He was head coach at BTW (1986-92) and was on the staff until 2010.
This is not a show-up-at-gametime type of game. There are events all week, including a breakfast for both teams held earlier this week at LSUS at which Mosley was the guest speaker. He will also be honored at halftime for his contributions to high school athletics.
At almost every other school, Homecoming is the biggest event of the football season. But for these two teams, it doesn’t quite measure up.
Sorry, but it’s true.
“Homecoming is big, don’t get me wrong,” Mosley says. “But this is for bragging rights. You’ve got to live with this until next season (when they play again). It’s something that these kids don’t forget. Ever.”
The bragging rights extend way beyond the scoreboard in the south end zone. There’s also halftime bragging rights as well. If there’s something new that can be done, rest assured that one of the bands – or both – will try it.
Adding a little spice to that are the halftime P.A. announcers. All decorum is dropped when the bands take the field and they take over the microphone. Subtle digs at the bands from the other school are a part of the show as well.
“It’s just a great atmosphere,” Mosley says. “You go in the parking lot and you see former players talking still talking about their Soul Bowl games. From the moment the time runs out at the game, they start yelling ‘Soul Bowl.’ They don’t ever forget it.”
Since retiring from coaching, Mosley has been working for the Volunteers for Youth Justice. Until recently, one of Mosley’s co-workers was Gerald Kimble, who was the longtime coach at Green Oaks.
“We’ve had some discussions,” Mosley says about the interoffice talk about Soul Bowl games gone by.
Proving that you can get away from the sidelines, but you can never get away from the Soul Bowl rivalry.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com