By: Keith Kappes
Columnist
Carter County Times
My third grandson to play high school football took the field last Friday night and I was a proud papaw to be there cheering, even at a controlled scrimmage before the season opens.
He’s a 14-year-old freshman playing defensive end and offensive right guard but he’s big and strong for his age and seems to love the game. He’s listed on the depth chart as second team and that’s really encouraging to a young player.
I know he’s hopeful of repeating the success of his middle school teams which went undefeated in seventh and eighth grades.
Two of his first cousins were seniors last year and both were starters and made us proud many times, just like our four sons who preceded them at the same high school.
One of those cousins from last year’s squad is leaving soon on a two-year church mission and he and I sat together at the scrimmage.
I took that opportunity to tell him that his travels might take him to states where folks regard high school football as fervently as they do their own religion.
In fact, I teased him gently by sharing a football poem/song I first heard so long ago that I don’t recall the source. It goes like this:
“They were having a game of football in heaven’s own backyard;
With Jesus playing quarterback and Moses playing guard.
The angels in the grandstand put up a mighty yell,
When Jesus scored a touchdown against the boys from Hell!”
We both laughed and then I assured him that I was not being sacrilegious but merely trying to make the point that football can be an important life lesson. Being involved in any team sport can teach you a great deal about teamwork, about being prepared and being physically fit.
I’ve loved spectator sports all my life, but I will never understand why some fans, not just in football, get so emotionally involved in a game that they commit acts of violence and say hurtful, stupid things to others, especially the officials.
(Contact Keith at keithkappes@gmail.com).
