2008 Woodie Awards
High School Football: Enjoyment, Minus The Ego
Steve Sheridan
Issue date: 9/9/05 Section: Sports
On Friday night, I worked at a high school football game between Hamilton and Morrisville-Eaton for possession of The Jug. (No, not the Old Stone Jug - although the ironies of Hamilton playing for something known simply as The Jug are too plentiful to write down.) The traditional matchup pitted two rivals against each other in the 2005 season-opener, and while the Emerald Knights jumped out an seemingly insurmountable lead by halftime, the Warriors (kudos if you know which team is which) stormed back to almost pull off one of the best comebacks I'd ever seen.
Now, you must be asking yourself why I'm telling you this - and it's not because of the knifing incident that appears elsewhere in this week's Maroon-News.
Quite simply, it was the most fun that I had ever had watching a football game - whether it be professional, collegiate, Pop Warner or two-hand touch. But at the time, I wasn't quite sure why I enjoyed the game so much. Because it became close at the end? Because the fan support was tremendous? Because I was getting paid to watch it? Then it hit me - it was entirely the kids playing the game.
As a constant refresher of ESPN.com, I know all about the goings on around the National Football League. Most of those happenings, however, have less to do with football than they have to do with agents, money and push-ups in the driveway. I feel like I know every single thing (football-related and not) about every single player, and most of that information I could probably live without.
But watching Hamilton and Morrisville on the field, I couldn't name even a single player on either team. If the player was good enough to be recognized, I may have remembered his number the next time he touched the ball. I didn't know anything about any of these players - and that's just the way I liked it. When Johnny sacked the opposing quarterback, I saw the genuine enthusiasm for helping his team - and not the instant public recognition that sack number 10 invoked a huge escalator clause in his new contract.
Now, you must be asking yourself why I'm telling you this - and it's not because of the knifing incident that appears elsewhere in this week's Maroon-News.
Quite simply, it was the most fun that I had ever had watching a football game - whether it be professional, collegiate, Pop Warner or two-hand touch. But at the time, I wasn't quite sure why I enjoyed the game so much. Because it became close at the end? Because the fan support was tremendous? Because I was getting paid to watch it? Then it hit me - it was entirely the kids playing the game.
As a constant refresher of ESPN.com, I know all about the goings on around the National Football League. Most of those happenings, however, have less to do with football than they have to do with agents, money and push-ups in the driveway. I feel like I know every single thing (football-related and not) about every single player, and most of that information I could probably live without.
But watching Hamilton and Morrisville on the field, I couldn't name even a single player on either team. If the player was good enough to be recognized, I may have remembered his number the next time he touched the ball. I didn't know anything about any of these players - and that's just the way I liked it. When Johnny sacked the opposing quarterback, I saw the genuine enthusiasm for helping his team - and not the instant public recognition that sack number 10 invoked a huge escalator clause in his new contract.