Start of the season
Mike Siroky
Sports column
I always think of this as the start of the calendar year.
Every high school football team in Indiana is undefeated today.
Tonight we find out about the two-a-days, as in if they were worth it after all. Tonight, the curtain goes up on this stage of life and a grand performance begins to unfold.
Some former understudy becomes a superstar.
Someone nabs a great pass that wins a game.
Kicking decides the outcome of another.
Defenses dominate or be dominated; the trench battles are that simple.
New coaches either start a stellar career or start the second-guessers in the stands yowling with I-told-you-sos.
Wonderful coaching legends add to their luster.
Players in the junior class begin to cement their standings with recruiters, making moms and dads both happy and less financially stressed.
Hot dogs taste better under the full moon of a first football Friday in the Heartland than even at baseball parks on opening day. The popcorn is saltier too and the beverages more refreshing.
It may rain. Who cares? We live where we live because of the seasonal changes. Mud Ball is more fun to watch anyway.
The majority of us will be in the stands, be those stands rickety yet newly painted wood or fancy concrete or even a press box.
Whether our team is ranked, whether it will win a conference title or even just one game matters not tonight.
For we are all back. Back to watch the kids with names on their uniforms which reflect names in the stands. Back to see the cheerleaders and band add to the pageantry of one of the last true amateur sporting events.
Every little town, every mammoth suburb, every traditional school has a team to call its own, to rehash Saturday morning, to look to again next week with hoped-for improvements.
Old guys like me will tell you how we would have won the game when we played even if we didn�t. Young kids will rehearse beyond the end zones for their time in the sun.
If your kid gets in the game, you know it and he knows it and that moment your eyes lock cannot be explained, only lived. Your eyes are on one of the prizes of life. The students don�t ever realize it (I know I didn�t) that this night is one of the best of their lives. Even those in the stands, rooting with the classmates, planning out their senior season, checking out the fashion parade, are having a game of their own, the sideshow to the main event.
When my oldest daughter, Megs, first went to a high school game in my tiny town, she was just about to enter kindergarten. When she sees the 2003 edition of that team, she will see folks she literally grew up with, from crayons to eye shadow. She will see her 13th edition of the town team.
This club is inclusive. For the price of admission, you�re in where most of the town is focused.
And it all starts tonight.
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