We come around to this spot every year, but it is always worthy of a reminder. This is Week 1 of high school football, but that is so much more than a circled date on a calendar.
It is hot and steamy and ridiculously uncomfortable. In 10 weeks, it’ll be cold and blustery. The leaves will have fallen. Halloween will have come and gone. Forget Thanksgiving; there will be never-ending Christmas reminders.
So much will change during those 10 weeks on a personal level, a team level, a school level and on a family level.
Think about it.
The anticipation that has been building for months in weight rooms and on summer workout mornings will fade into the reality of what is actually happening on the field. Once, everyone was 0-0 and full of hope. Every week, the fortunes change in one way or another. This week may be heartbreak; next week may be joy. Then it starts all over again.
Think about it.
Right now, there’s a freshman or sophomore who has waited all of his athletic life just to run on the field with the varsity while band plays and the crowd cheers. He finally gets that chance in Week 1. Later in the season, it won’t be such a big deal. But it is on opening night. Mom and Dad are in Row 23, proud as they can be of a kid who may never see action this year. What happens from here for the rest of his career remains to be seen. But he is out there, living his dream – even if hardly anybody recognizes it.
Think about it.
Snap your fingers and all of a sudden it’s Senior Night. The parents are out on the field as their favorite player is singularly recognized. Mom will probably shed a tear. Dad will bite his lip and hold one back. Memories of 4th-grade football and carpooling to games will speed by as a glowing paragraph is read over the P.A. system. This is it, they all think without ever saying it. Playoffs or not, this is the end of the road.
Think about it.
There will be a pass dropped in the end zone. There will be throw and catch like you’ve never see before – until you see one better two weeks later. There will be one-point losses that you swear you’ll never get over. There will be games in which you have no idea how you won. All of those moments – big and little – form a tapestry that will stay around forever. Why do you remember this play and not that one 25 years later? Because that’s what high school football does to those who play it. For years going forward, when teammates get together, notice how many sentences start with “I remember …”
Think about it.
Say what you want about this glorious Friday ritual of high school football. As much as some try to ruin it, they just can’t. The fabric runs too deep. The old “metaphor of life” may be a little strong, but it’s not that far off. There’s just nothing like these 10 weeks (or more). They come and they go in such perfect synchronization that we sometimes forget to look at the total picture because we are too busy staring at the color patterns. And then when we step away and refocus our vision, all of a sudden it’s gone.
Maybe we spend too much time worrying about power points and playing time and who is putting out the coolest Instagram post. Maybe we should just enjoy high school football for what it is and always has been. Even as we fail to recognize when it is unfolding in front of our eyes.
Think about it.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com