A Texas High School Football Rant

The date is quickly approaching.  Tomorrow it will be a full year since I updated my blog.  I hate for that to roll up on side bars, so, out of pride I am breaking down to write something that has been on my mind.  I probably should spend a couple of months catching up on all of the fun we have been having over the last year, but that will come when I have more time.  Yeah, right...

Joe has started high school and has moved up to freshmen football.  Many of his buddies have dropped out to participate in other sports.  But Joe-verload has decided that this is his sport.  He is a big kid.  He is about 5' 11" and weighs 190.  He is not the biggest kid on the team.  Far from it.  Several boys weigh 250.  The freshmen are divided into two teams.  The Gold team is comprised of the smaller boys and the Purple team is made up of man-sized children.  Joe is on the Purple team. 

Joe's team lost the first game, but managed to break two bones of players on the other team.  Our quarterback ended up with a concussion.  This is a rough game.  When I have watched professional or college football I haven't been very concerned about the injuries.  To tell the truth, my biggest concern was how the injury would effect the outcome of the game or of the season.  As I sat on the bleachers watching the ambulance cart the kid with the broken leg away I had a change of perspective.  This could be my kid.  How could we incur all of these injuries for a freshmen football game?  And then there is the big question.  Why do we continue to do this?   Are the lifelong injuries these boys are going to experience worth the joy of the spectators? 

I have other concerns about the football environment, but this is Texas, and I know that my opinions will not change anything. 

Last night Joe came to me at the end of the day and told me he had been thinking a lot about football and had decided that he liked it more than ever, and that he wants to get better and prepare to play varsity in two years.  Clearly, we are not on the same page.