360 Degrees: Football

Since the high school football is just getting to the critical moments (next week we play Niles North for conference), football's been on my mind a lot lately. To me, it is probably my favorite sport and a big part of who I am. By no means is it the only thing that's important to me, though.

I think for other people that play football, it can play a different role in their lives. Some people really don't care at all and, to them, it's not that important. They're just out there to have fun. Others are really intense and football is pretty much what they're all about. These guys tend to be the best players, but not always.

For people that don't play football, I think there are a lot of stereotypes that they believe that aren't necessarily true. The obvious one is that football players are stupid or bullies. Obviously this isn't completely false, but I'd say about three quarters of football players have brains large enough to formulate words and about half are intelligent or at least average. Everyone knows that football is physically demanding, but a lot of people underestimate the mental aspect. Each week on defense we get four or five page long scouting reports to memorize and we have to change our alignment/style of play. For example, Deerfield (we beat them last week 33-14) had 9 different formations and about 10 plays that they ran out of each formation (that's 90 plays, for any football players reading this). What's more, they frequently shifted between formations seconds before the snap, and we had to react and change our responsibilities before the snap. Obviously, we did a fairly good job because we held them to just 14 points. The worst part, though, is that this week we have to completely forget everything we drilled into our heads last week and memorize an entirely new scouting report. Add that to the myriad of our own offensive plays to remember, and you can get a sense of the brainpower it takes to excel in this sport.

All I'm saying is that football is no better or worse than any other sport. Actually, I think it is better than any other sport. That's why I play. However, I realize that to a lot of people that play other sports, all the attention lavished on the football team is a little offensive, and I think that some of the people that come to football games every Friday should come to a volleyball game or swim meet or even a cross country meet once in a while. They'll probably be pleasantly surprised. Who knows? They might enjoy it even more than a football game. But I doubt it.