Friday Night Lights

Last Firday night we all went to see Cassidy's marching band play at the Darby/Davidson game.  The band played before, during and after the game and they were great.  Cassidy was, by far, the best in her row!

For those of us from "back East" high school football in the midwest is hard to comprehend. First of all, you pay to go to the game (Adults $6/Kids $4).  If it's a decent match up, seats go quickly.  We got to the stadium at 6:30 for a 7:30 game, and by 7:00 the place was packed.  And by packed, I mean there were over 5,000 people in attendance...for a kids' football game.

*Everyone* goes to these things.  We were at a Wendy's beforehand and every person there was going to the game.  However, none of them had kids at the school, and some of them had even come in from other towns for the occasion.  Mind you, this isn't some rural community in which the Friday night game is the social event of the week.  Cassidy's town has three high schools with over 3,500 students.

The commerce of these games is also impressive.  First of all, the high school has a football stadium.  A real stadium, not just a field inside the track team's track.  In addition to several concession stands serving everything from nachos to pizza, there were several stands selling sweatshirts, coats, t-shirts, blankets and even jewlery bearing the team's mascot and colors.  Oh yeah, the mascot had a costume that any college team would be proud to have.

Then there are the corporate sponsors who provide trinkets for the cheerleaders (all 30 of them) to throw into the stands while the announcer (who has been with the team for 27 years) calls the game from an enclosed press box high above the field.  That night's game was being sponsored by a real estate agency, an insurance company and, wait for it...Hooters.  Hooters girls were actually standing in front of the stadium handing out coupons.  Later in the game my five year old was all excited to have gotten one of the coveted orange footballs the cheerleaders were hurling into the stands, only to find it emblazened with the Hooter's owl.

Remember being impressed by the Reading High School Band because they had better uniforms and more players than Stoneham did?  Well, multiply Reading's band times 5 and you'd be close to the size of Cassidy's band.  We thought we were doing well when we could march backwards without falling over.  These bands, who needed three drum majors conducting, were doing intricate formations, weaving in and out of each other's lines, and playing on key.

It's hard not to be impressed by the grand scale of high school football out here, but it does get me wondering at times what all the fuss is about.  You don't see the neighbors lining up to support the school's Academic Decathalon team, or businesses offering to support the Drama Club.  Such activities have to hold car washes and bake sales in order to raise funds.  I guess not much has chancged since I was in high school...