A Matter Of Life and Death.. and If You Don't Win It's Death!

With the leaves changing color, and as children go back to school, every high school student knows that means one thing; the beginning of high school sports. Although a matter of opinion, it is pretty inevitable that football reigns king during in the fall. In every city, and in every state around the nation, people from small towns to big cities flock to their local high school stadiums to support the team.

I've always marveled how a simple yet entertaining sport to some is transformed into a religion to others. In small towns all along the Southern United States, high school football is THE only thing that matters to these small southern towns. At meager ages of seventeen and eighteen years old, kids in these beyond serious football programs are put on the same level as professional athletes by those that watch them on the field on Friday nights. In today's sports world, high school athletics, especially football is being viewed more and more. The hit T.V. show Two A Days was a series on MTV that went inside a high school football team from Hoover High School in Alabama. It was truly stunning to see a city devoted entirely to a high school football team. The practices and program as a whole from other schools do not compare with the programs constructed at these high schools. The athletes seemingly don't stop training, practices are run all year long and during the season players are expected to practice twice a day, before and after school. 

High school football is literally a way of life for these towns. And, with a win comes praise for players and coaches until the next Friday, but with a loss brings a burden of questions and harsh remarks from fans. The only problem is, the fans and the city are all in the same. It is almost a no brainer that in these football programs if a team does not produce results, a new coaching staff can be expected the following season. It seems a silly concept that a football team and politics are almost identical. The towns containing these programs are almost in their own little world, electing a quarterback or coach is almost like electing a mayor or senator for anywhere else. High school football is closely watched all over the nation. To some a social event and to others a way of life. Some of us just watch, while others eat, sleep, and breathe high school football.