Friday Night Lights

The good guys win again last night to boost their record to 2-1. The final score was 20-13, but it really wasn't that close, as the other team put up a Hail Mary in the end zone with no time left and someone happened to catch it, so up until the last second, it was 20-7. It wasn't all that pretty, but a W is a W, so we'll take it.

It's supposed to cool down a bit this week (and by cool down, I mean maybe our highs will be out of the 100s), so hopefully the evenings will start getting cooler soon. Watching a football game in 100+ degree heat (even if it is dark) isn't all that pleasant. I know, I know, think of the kids in their pads and helmets and band uniforms and all that. Well, they're young and they can take it. Then there's me, with a cranky 5 year-old who wants to go home (at halftime). This is after the first half of course, in which she wouldn't stop running around on the bleachers to find "friends" to "play" with. I wonder if these complete strangers that she sits next to and starts talking to consider her to be their "friend" too. Reason #72 why I'm a bad mommy: I let my child talk to strangers. I don't force my child to sit on the bleacher next to me the entire game. It's just not possible; that kid only has one speed, and it's like 2X fast forward. I am keeping an eye on her, and if it looks like she's bothering someone, I make her come back with us. Strangely, most people don't mind if she sits next to them. Go figure. But now that it's the second half and she's tired, the whining starts. I'm already hot and sweaty, and she wants to cling to me/climb on me/sit on me. I love ya baby, and I know you're tired, but yuck. So I gave her my seat cushion to use for a pillow, and she's actually tiny enough to lie down on the bleachers. And she was thrilled. Look:




While we're talking high school football, I think I have a few suggestions that could improve the game. First of all, you know the benches on the sidelines where the players sit? I think they should have an extra bench on the sideline where all the players' fathers who want to coach can sit. That way, they can all do their coaching from down there, instead of yelling from the stands. These guys know how to coach the team better than the actual coach anyway, so they should all be down there on the field, all yelling at their boys at the same time. Chaos would ensue, and it would probably be quite entertaining.

Also, the cheerleaders should go...somewhere else...far away. Behind one of the goalposts at the end of the field would be nice. That way, when they started shrieking something like "COME ON CROWD, YELL CHS...C...H...S!!!!" over and over and over and over, it wouldn't make me want to run down there in front of them and yell, "SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO WATCH THE GAME!" I realize this is a function of the stadium being small, and them being in two lines on the track right in front of us. But damn, it's annoying. I like ASU games much better, because the stadium is big and I can't hear the cheerleaders at all from where we sit...heck, most of the time I can't even see them, and believe me, the game is not any different. Ok, perhaps I have a little bias against cheerleaders. Having three daughters, I would much rather seem them out there playing or performing in their own games or competitions, rather than jumping around screeching "Go boys....yayyyyy boyyyys!" Barf. In fact, one of them, I think it was Shannon, used to have a little tshirt that said "Real girls don't cheer, they PLAY!" I loved that shirt. Speaking of cheerleaders, at halftime they had all these elementary-aged girls perform some cheers. I think they took part in some sort of camp, and they got to "perform" at halftime at the high school game. They were really cute, especially the little ones, but all I could think of was "Hey look, it's a gathering of the FMGA*."

Oh, I can think of one other thing that would make our high school games much better. Air conditioning. A domed stadium, you know, like the Cardinals just got. Hey, at least our team wins some games along the way. The Cardinals are 0-1 so far. Now you tell me, who deserves the nice stadium? :) Ok, so a multi-million dollar facility for a public high school is probably asking a bit much. I'd settle for a nice breeze.

*Future Mean Girls of America