For most people in America, football is not just a game. Coming from a small town, football may not be as big and glorified as it is in Texas, but it certainly isn't underrated anywhere here in the States. For most athletes, football is often how people lay out a path for their lives, filled with emotional highs and the lowest of lows. For some, it is a temporary escape from the real world. For others, football is their whole world. We have all heard it before: football is much more than any other sport, and more than a game.
High school football has been a tradition in the States since the late 19th century. It has formed into an essential aspect of the American society today, a great representative of the definition of morals and ethics set out to not only athletes, but the loyal community packed in the stands as well. Football is “a part of our culture like turkey at Thanksgiving, and lights at Christmas," according to CBS journalist, Bob Shieffer.
Football is a sport that proves that these athletes are much more than helmets and shoulder pads. You may note Corinthians 9:25: “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training, they do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” Here in the States, football is the game that transforms boys into men, the sport that demands discipline, confidence, communication, and the character of each and every team member. Although everyone is out there for a different reason, their reasons bleed together to become so similar. Some men play to win, some play to satisfy the lust, some play for scholarships and opportunities, others play for the feeling, not the feeling of a team but the brotherhood and the feeling of belonging.
Going to college, I think that, besides our dogs, Friday night lights is the one thing that every college student can attest to feeling lost without. Players, cheerleaders, loyal student section alumni -- we can all confess we miss it. We miss being a part of the unity. The emotional highs and lowest of the lows. We miss familiar faces (it is kind of cool when everyone knows your name), concession stand food, and oddly we even miss spending Friday nights with our parents and teachers. In the middle of the madness it is all so innocent, because through all of the different reasons the players play, there are just as many reasons as to why the community shows up decked out in colorful attire in below zero weather.
No matter who you are or where you come from, the game still remains the same. Just like a turkey at Thanksgiving, a touchdown is a touchdown, the band is the half-time show, and a victory is like coming home from war. Nobody is there for the money, or the fame, or the recognition. At the end of the night, win or lose, it was about the unity. The feeling that was not only invested in by the team but, by extension, the community.
