FOOTBALL SEASON

FOOTBALL SEASON

It is the start of another season of the greatest of all American sports, football. 

Every year the game gets a bit more violent.  The players are bigger.  The players are faster.  The players are stronger and better trained every year.  There is much discussion lately of concussions and serious injury in football.  I fear this great game may be in danger of disappearing years down the road unless it can somehow be made safer.

Strangely enough, one of the things that makes football dangerous is the equipment.  I remember when I played in high school hearing some kids talk about how rough they were because they played playground tackle football without pads.  I would tell them yeah, you may get a few scrapes and bruises, but without that helmet no one was going to drive their head into your sternum, lift you off the ground and then slam you into the turf knocking the wind out of you.  That is how we were taught to tackle, and that is how we did it in drills.  Helmets and pads only allow you to be more violent.

I played football in school for five years.  I didn’t really like playing that much.  I liked the comradery of my teammates.  I liked the games…when we won.  I liked the small amount of status being on the team gave me.  The practice, the time, the pain, I didn’t like so much. 

I played in college for about a week when I realized I didn’t like playing anymore and I really wasn’t good enough to play at that level.  I probably would not have been accepted to my school if it was not for football, I was glad for that, but I didn’t think I owed anyone anything so I turned in my gear.  After five years of organized football the last word I heard was when I turned in my gear and the coach simply spat out, “Quitter!” 

I felt like a quitter too.  No more.  I have since learned as much as I love the game, it soon becomes much more, and I also learned that most…well many football coaches are complete buttheads.  Oh, and by the way it may be fifty years later, but to the coach who called me quitter…FUCK YOU!! 

Well that feels better.

It is a great game though.  The best days of playing football were in the back yard. 

Three on three. 

Two hand touch below the waist.

Four downs to score.  No field goals, no PAT’s.

Kick-offs and punts were actually long throws.

There was no blocking.

You pass rushed only after three Mississippi.

Plays were simple and drawn up in the huddle on the palm of your hand.

There were several pass patterns that everyone knew; buttonhook, stop and go, down and out, down and in, zig-zag, pitch and lateral.

Someone’s kid brother (for many years…me) was always designated center who would be allowed one touchdown play a game cleared by the other team after a wink and a nod.

On fourth down you had to declare, “Kick or Stick!”

There were no penalties, committed or called.  There was no smack talk and no cheap shots.

Most games ended with “Next touchdown wins.”

I love watching the big guys play, but the most fun I had playing was in the back yard.