Football Games and Mother of the Year
Friday nights have hit and that means it's HS Football Season again. I don't mean to be unsupportive of my local team, and I care how they do, but it is not necessarily how I would spend my Friday nights unless it was a family togetherness social gathering. But it is not, so the only reason I can think of that I would go to an away HS football game in the drizzle means I have become a less self centered mother putting the desires of a posse of girls first. So as far as places to be socializing on a Friday night, this is a good, benign choice. Plus maybe they will nominate me for mother of the year (I doubt it). More likely I just bought myself the default role of the mom who will definitely drive to every game, home or away. The girls don't sit with me or watch the game. They hang out with their friends and walk the track around the field. And eat junk food. (Which I am now avoiding since going back to the discipline of wanting to rid myself of a final ten pounds, which have been stuck to my hips and upper thighs for several years now).
Danville won, 41-0. Poor Milton. I felt bad for them. And I felt bad for the coach. Mike Bergey is a super nice guy and that's a rough way to start the season. I hope we made an effort to go gently by giving some of the younger players a chance to play, but I really don't know, because, yes, I will admit this, I didn't pay attention to the game. (Neither did the girls). I sat with some friends (cheer leading parents who couldn't believe I was there..."What are you doing here?" knowing I don't have kids on the team, cheering or in the band...followed by "I wouldn't be here unless I had to be"). How well I could relate to that statement. I have to admit that until I felt the social pressure from my kids of going the only possible place to be on a Friday night, those were my exact sentiments.
So I took some things with me to do and passed the time, which became much more enjoyable when the drizzle stopped. Especially since I was writing cards and the only pen I had was not a ball point and water and ink are not a particularly good match.
And everyone was happy. Except the Milton fans and team.
Danville won, 41-0. Poor Milton. I felt bad for them. And I felt bad for the coach. Mike Bergey is a super nice guy and that's a rough way to start the season. I hope we made an effort to go gently by giving some of the younger players a chance to play, but I really don't know, because, yes, I will admit this, I didn't pay attention to the game. (Neither did the girls). I sat with some friends (cheer leading parents who couldn't believe I was there..."What are you doing here?" knowing I don't have kids on the team, cheering or in the band...followed by "I wouldn't be here unless I had to be"). How well I could relate to that statement. I have to admit that until I felt the social pressure from my kids of going the only possible place to be on a Friday night, those were my exact sentiments.
So I took some things with me to do and passed the time, which became much more enjoyable when the drizzle stopped. Especially since I was writing cards and the only pen I had was not a ball point and water and ink are not a particularly good match.
And everyone was happy. Except the Milton fans and team.
posted by www.kathypride.com at
9:59 AM
5 Comments:
This brings back such fun memories for me. We live about 200 yards, as the crow flies, from our highschool football field. Years ago, when our team was ranked at the state level and the attendance was high, cars would park in front of our house all up and down the street, the crowd noise was intense, and the lights lit our entire acre. I got to the point where I thought, "If you can't beat them, join them." So my then almost teenage daughter and I and my mom, who would drive the ten miles to be with us (actually being a football fan), would watch the games. We go so hooked, we even went to the away games (which around here could be an hour's drive) and drove the 2 hours to see them win the state championship, and then the next year, not win. Those were good times, like you say, bonding. Eventually my daughter started hanging out with her friends and it was just Mom and I.
Now I take my son. My mom lives a couple of hours away. My son is learning sportsmanship from a distance, and a little about football, and a lot about cheerleading. But it is still fun. We lose as much as win now, and we don't know the kids playing or their parents, but still the excitement is there, and my son, being a born foreman, loves the crowds.
Ah, a state championship; that is sweet. And it is fun to get caught up in the excitement. I loved watching our boys play baseball. Matt's team went to the semi finals of states...really cool stuff. I know I will probably go to every game, home or away, and some are an hour away...the weeks I am home. I will be in Atlanta next weekend, and we will be going to VA in October, but other than that, I imagine it will be my Friday routine till November. Just wish it would stay warm...
Aw, bundling up and sipping hot cocoa from smuggled-in thermoses, and huddling beside other fans to break the wind is all part of the fun. I have a big jeans jacket that I used to wear when I was 60 pounds bigger...I can wear a longsleeved shirt and a sweatshirt under it, AND it has pockets everywhere for sneaking in goodies. I look 60 pounds heavier decked out this way....but then, so does everyone else!!
I don't know...I'm not quite there yet. Now when our older son played (he was a kicker) and then played collegiate ball in upstate NY for a year, there was howling wind...it was cold and it was great, but I'm not quite there yet now...we'll see!
Hi Kathy,
Football in the little town of Damascus, MD is front and center. The cops even have their cars at each intersection and stop traffic on game nights. Until the county redistricted us, we were Damascus HS and Josh and Ben were in the marching band. We didn't go to many of the games, but the ones we did go to were fun. The kids I knew were bandies and what I mostly watched (besides half-time) were the cheerleading routines. Damascus was and still is a football powerhouse in the state, and several times during Josh and Ben's tenure, they went to state championship. That meant the band (and players) got to play in the University of Maryland stadium. Ben has regretted a bit that he chose a college (Emory Univ) which had no football team, and hence, no marching band. Something about football and marching band that really gives a school identity and school spirit. Ben didn't realize what his alma mater's song was until graduation! Josh had a different experience at Boston Univ., but that was primarily because he swam on the team, not that he went to football games. As you well know, Kathy, swimming is its own intense camaraderie.
It was great talking to you yesterday.
Love,
Katy
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