Sports Briefs: Sign of the Times

I didn't care about the National Anthem, I didn't care about the coin toss, I didn't even care about the game all that much. But if I missed the football players running through the sign, I might as well have been told that Saddam Hussein was my new bunkmate.

Before every high school football game, the players gathered at the edge of the field behind a giant paper sign (which usually read "GO, WIN, KILL!"), held up by the cheerleaders and lined with students, waiting for the band to start playing the fight song.

The band's reminder to begin was whenever the stealth bomber flew overhead, as was the custom before all our high school games. It really pumped up the overflowing crowd of roughly 300 people in attendance each game, some of whom gawked and clapped. As soon as the band commenced, the football players, emulating deer romping through the meadow, gracefully strode through the delicate, painted tissue, waved to the crowd, and generally embodied the merriment that is Friday night high school football.

Of course, this is what I think happened, as, more often than not, me and my family were still walking from the parking lot to the stadium as the players were running through the sign. Or, if you prefer English, I and my family.

We ate dinner at the school cafeteria before games, as the booster club usually served hamburgers, barbecue, or a combination of the two, also known as "hot dogs."

After eating, we headed back home to dress for the game, which normally involved Dad and I putting our hats on while my mom and sister stood in their rooms for hours, deliberating the more effective way to delay going to the game.

Around 7:29, I would calmly suggest that it was time to go, seeing as how the game started at 7:30. This, though, constituted "rushing" ...and when I say "rushing," I am not referring to something you do with a ball, but rather, when you are being such a persistent nag that both your mom and sister conjure up thoughts in their heads about a tongue-less son and brother.