Friday Night Lights

October 16, 2005

I have two vivid football memories from my high school days. The first was me standing up at a board of education meeting and demanding to know why the girl’s field hockey team had to share uniforms while the football team had an expendable budget and outfitted over 125 players in new uniforms each year. Seriously, we stripped off our kilts after the varsity game and handed them to the junior varsity players who then went on to play in our sweat drenched skirts for an hour - with a losing record every season I am sure this boosted their moral even further.

I also insisted on an answer to why we played on a field that doubled as the baseball field in the spring (boy, if you were on offense with the dirt baseball field as your goal, you could really smack the ball hard) while the football field lay pristine during the day and only saw action five times a season when we were the home team. Surely the girls were worthy of playing on this precious turf? I should offer a quick thanks to Mrs. Niven who was my political science teacher and instructed me to exercise my rights. (I haven’t stopped since.)

My second memory is the pride I felt walking around in Ed Smith’s * varsity football jacket. He had already graduated high school and bestowed the honor of his jacket upon me. He would pick me up on Friday nights, in his hideous car, with music blaring from the speakers of a stereo system that was worth twice as much as his old’ jalopy, and we would go to the games. (I should also mention that Ed and I worked together at a local seafood restaurant and when he broke up with me, I put his jacket in a large vat of Manhattan clam chowder in the walk-in. That memory still makes me smile.)

Anyway, football in Brick, NJ was rather exciting as I am sure the many alums who were a part of one of our many state championship teams would attest. The school has had one coach in its 48 year history, which is also a draw. For me, it was a social event - as evidenced by my best memories … neither have anything to do with the game itself.

When we first arrived in Bluffton, my husband quickly took note of the fact that the local papers paid a lot of attention to high school sports. So, fresh off of renting Friday Night Lights, I pondered … is Bluffton one of those towns? Do the lights of the football stadium offer the allure of something better? And finally, is the appeal of high school football the sport? Or is it the sense of community that the event generates?

I decided that it was indeed time to put my social theory to the test and hit a local football game. But before I could even make my way to a game – I found my answers. I can see the stadium lights from my house, and on game nights I can hear the band and the roar of the crowd. And, with my senses heightened – relying primarily on what I hear - I suddenly put my finger on the appeal of the Friday night lights. Town politics, blog debates, disagreements among neighbors – they all stop at the gate to the stadium. And, for a few hours everyone is on the same team, all cheering for a common cause.

The Bluffton Bobcats are home this Friday, October 21. See for yourself.

*Names are changed to protect the innocent.