HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I will start with a confession. When I was in junior high, which I think they now call middle school, I was a cheerleader. (No photographs of this exist.)
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I was a terrible terrible terrible cheerleader. Good in my imagination and good in my yearning desire to be accepted, but pitiful, I’m sure, in real life. Tragically ungraceful, and extremely unathletic.
I was also completely clueless about the games I was cheering for. In football season, I would just wait, to see if anyone would start the “first and 10 let’s do it again” chant, because I had no idea what that meant. So I could not start it myself.
In fact, I did not know it was “first AND 10” until I was in my 20s at least. I thought it was “first IN 10.” Which back then, I never knew.
Anyway, that said. I live in Boston, and that means sports is on the radar, and my darling husband is a big football fan. Not in general, but of the New England Patriots. So, in support of the common weal, I sometimes watch football with him, and it is much more fun if you know the rules. First and ten, now, I get it! I am still iffy on why sometimes it’s offsides and sometimes it is false start, but that is another blog.
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But let me just ask you all. It’s football season now, with Thanksgiving being football central. And then the Super Bowl. Do you care? Do you have a team?
LUCY BURDETTE: Cheerleading is a tragic topic Hank! At our high school, the mascot was the Highlanders (we lived in New Jersey, not Scotland!). The cheerleaders wore the cutest short plaid skirts and stylish hats and I think knee socks, and I desperately wanted to be one. I was not chosen, so I ended up performing as a highlander sword dancer. (Longer skirts=not as cool, that’s all you need to know.)
That said, football is not my thing. I kind of like having it on in the background while John watches, and I’ll wander in and ask who’s winning. (He’s a Steelers fan.) For the Super Bowl, I definitely go for the food!
HALLIE EPHRON: I loved going to high school football games and sort of learned the rules by osmosis. I was on the drill team which, in retrospect, is pretty dumb. Our outfits were orange and white, in a thick felt fabric that retained… odor. White boots with tassels – that was the best part.
I like watching the Super Bowl but that’s about it. Once a year. Not rooting for any teams. Just annoyed when a game preempts Wheel of Fortune. Pathetic, I know.
JENN MCKINLAY: I’m a diehard Pats fan married to a Cowboys loyalist. Things get tetchy around here during football season, although we both root for the AZ Cardinals. I was in marching band (percussion) in high school so everything I know I learned at Friday night football games. That being said, if football disappeared tomorrow, I don’t know that I’d miss it over much as I’m not much of a watcher other than to check in from my office when I hear yelling.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I’m a little envious of those of you who have husbands who are fans. I kind of like the sound of Sunday football in the background, and the whole snacks/social aspect of it, but Rick does not like football at all. I have to twist his arm to get him to watch the Superbowl. Even though he professes not to like the game, he knows all the rules and that makes it more fun for me. I am not a Cowboys fan, which is heresy in this part of the world. Maybe I’m just contrary. My team of choice is the Chiefs (even pre-Taylor!) but I couldn’t tell you what their standing is so far this year.
As for cheerleading, a big no. I was a hippie chick, and uncoordinated to boot!
RHYS BOWEN: Big 49rs fan here. We watch every week I’d enjoy the games more if I were not sitting with someone who lets out loud exclamations every time a player drops the ball or the quarterback is sacked. Strange to say for an Englishwoman but I am a student of the game. Maybe that came from living in Houston for three years!
Actually I’m a big fan of most sports and can be found glued to the TV for any tennis match, soccer game etc. Not so much baseball until the World Series.
And since I went to an all girls school there were no cheerleaders and I played netball and tennis.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Ross and Spencer enjoyed the Pats, since that seems to be a requirement for living in New England, but the big family football passion has always been college ball, specifically the SEC. My father was a grad of the University of Alabama, and my grandparents lived in Tuscaloosa, so I was taken to games when I was just a tiny tot. Roll Tide!
Sadly, I find it’s just not that much fun watching games by myself. Without others to get excited or groan with, it looses a lot of its appeal. Plus, I’m not making nachos and chile and guacamole for one.
Some of my favorite games were the Bonny Eagle High School football team’s home appearances when Spencer was the percussion leader for the pep band. Go, Scots! The cheerleaders wore cute but sensible leggings and jackets, because it gets COLD in Maine during high school football season.
(And...thank you again for checking in on Friday! It was so wonderful to see you all. But! Blogger will STILL not let me respond to you. SO silly. But I read every single comment, and each one filled me with joy.)
Not a cheerleader [although I would have loved to have been one] . . . we don't watch football unless John watches the Army/Navy game . . . we don't have a team we follow/root for and we don't generally watch the Super Bowl . . . . like Hallie, I get annoyed when the game runs late and interferes with the game shows I want to watch.
ReplyDeleteThe Army Navy game--classic! Yesterday Jonathan was glued to Harvard/Yale.
DeleteNot a fan. In high school, my wife was not a cheerleader, Lucy, but she did do the highland sword dance in the school musical, BRIGADOON.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe it was cool after all Jerry!
DeleteDefinitely cool!
DeleteAdorable!
DeleteSuper Bowl, to me, is all about the food, seeing friends and watching halftime show with sign language translations of the national anthem (if the tv cameras show them at all).
ReplyDeleteOh, hmm...thinking back now..they don't always show it, do they?
DeleteI like college football better than NFL. I am a fairly faithful watcher of my Alma mater, Iowa State University. Go Cyclones! I usually keep track of how Nebraska is doing too as I lived the first almost 9 years of my life there and my parents were huge fans with season tickets. As for the NFL I follow the Chiefs because I lived the next almost 9 years of life there, the Packers because my husband has been a Bart Starr fan since childhood, the Vikings because Minnesota, and whatever team my cousin’s son is currently a strength and conditioning coach for. (Right now that is the Arizona Cardinals.) As for watching those I am usually in the room reading and just half paying attention.
ReplyDeleteI’ll save the details of my cheerleading story for some other time…but it was for wrestling.
Were you a wrestlerette, Brenda?!
DeleteCheerleading for wrestling? I have never heard of that!
DeleteWe were not called Wrestlerettes, but yes. My junior year they decided to start a cheerleading squad just for wrestling so that the regular, sophomore/JV/ and Varsity squads would not have so many winter events to attend. My friend who had not made the regular squad talked me into doing it..no jumps or splits or any of that stuff I couldn’t do as we just sat by the mats doing the cheers. Also the “tryouts” consisted of a test on the rules of wrestling that the wrestling coach insisted on and an interview with the coach and the cheerleading sponsor, Ms. Luyben, who also was the American History teacher. My friend and I got books on wrestling from the library and studied the rules. We were shoo-ins!
DeleteI was never a cheerleader. I was the geek kid. Our cheerleaders were very much a clique, and I was not a part of it.
ReplyDeleteI've always been a football fan, though, courtesy of my dad. Oddly enough, he hated the Steelers, while Mom and I were diehard fans of our black and gold. I haven't watched a single game this year, since Aaron Rodgers took over as QB, but I do follow the games' progress on my phone.
Me, either. I was a pity selection, I think the organizers were making some kind of an anti-clique statement.
DeleteI love these stories. I was dying to make cheerleader in high school. At Temple City High, there were technical tryouts in front of the senior-class cheerleaders and their advisor (gym teacher...). Those who made that cut performed an original routine in front of THE ENTIRE SCHOOL, who then voted. Guess who got the most votes? I chalk my win up to not being part of the elites - I didn't date a jock, I was president of the German Club and on the school newspaper, I couldn't even do the splits - so the elite vote was all split up and everybody else voted for me. Even though I'd been watching high school football every Friday night for four years, I was a little hazy on the rules (I absolutely thought it was first IN ten).
ReplyDeleteThese days? After all the research on chronic head trauma started coming out, we stopped watching football, even the Super Bowl. I do not want to sanction concussions, plus watching burly men crash into each other isn't that interesting any more.
Such a totally high school story!
DeleteNever a cheerleader but played and marched in the high school band.
ReplyDeleteWe watch every NFL game and three on Sunday. Julie is new to this in the past few years and has turned into an expert, calling plays ahead of time just like Tony Roma.
We’re Bills Mafia in this house, but like the Chiefs too. And I’ll always be a Cowboys fan, unavoidable after living in the DFW area for a couple decades.
In the meantime, I propose early sanctifying for Josh Allen! And James Cook.
GO BUFFALO!!!
what instrument did you play Ann? that would have been a useful and fun skill to have over the years!
DeleteYes, I was in the band, too, as a terrible majorette. I was told to "pretend to twirl."
DeleteLucy Roberta, I played flute and oboe, not difficult as the fingering was interchangeable. Haven’t touched either in decades but that muscle memory is eternal. I also had 12 years of piano, but I never played well at all. A couple of years ago I gave my piano to a friend who does play well. One more thing out the door.
DeleteGrew up in a small town which in the early 60s could not afford a football team. Went to a women’s college, no football team. Spent 2 years on Kodiak Island, no football. Moved to Kirkland, WA as the Seahawks began. My upstairs neighbor was private secretary to Chuck Knox. The training camp was a couple of blocks from home. But I never developed an interest. Just a blank space in my life…she swoons. (Insert eye roll emoji) No regrets. Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteTwo years on Kodiak island! would love to hear about that!
DeleteThat women’s college was in New London, Lucy. There was much street crossing between the college and the Coast Guard Academy (all men back then). Kodiak was a Coast Guard Base doing fishery patrols and search and rescue mainly in the Bering Sea. We lived on base. Back then the city of Kodiak, had one grocery store, one hardware store on the docks, and Sears order desk. Other shopping was at Commissary on base. Walking the beaches, the trails, seeing eagles in the front yard, learning all the different ducks. Adjusting to extremes of daylight and dark. Good memories and the place I became a grownup. Elisabeth
DeleteElisabeth, reading this brings back so many memories. My husband was a Coast Guard rescue pilot (CG Academy grad) and we too spent 2 years on Kodiak Island. It was both a wonderful time and a difficult time. Being so far from our families, bad weather and the isolation of island living was hard. But..bald eagles, bears, salmon, close friendships built out of a shared experience were priceless. After 2 years we were transferred to Tacoma, WA and then FL. After 4 years of gloom that FL sunshine was brutal!
DeleteSusan, yes, wonderful and difficult. The marriage did not survive the return to the Lower 48. I settled in Seattle/Tacoma area, and spent the next 20 years there. Family brought me back to CT and then on to FL. Yet, I feel more of a “home connection” to Seattle than CT… Elisabeth
DeleteSusan, my “Coastie” was sea going on the Storis. Elisabeth
DeleteOh, what a great setting for a book!
DeleteWhile I was a cheery cheerleader in middle school, I also did not understand sports and still am not interested even thought I have learned more about the games (I just cannot get past how much they are paid). I will go to an occasional hockey game with a friend if they invite me. I consider myself lucky (for me), to have married someone who is not interested in watching sports. I have seen many of my friends and family whose significant others take watching sports to a whole other level (so intense! So much time!) . I wouldn’t mind it so much if was actually participating in the sports though - like in a community team situation. I would support him in something like that. My grand father used to watch golf on tv. That perplexed me. I guess I put this one in the category of: good for them, but it’s not for me.
ReplyDeleteGolf on TV. Yeah. I don;'t get it either, but it can be beloved. Lucy, do you watch golf?
DeleteDon’t dare to change the channel when your dad (or in your case granddad) falls asleep watching golf. They immediately awaken and say, “I was watching that!”
DeleteOh so funny Brenda! And so true!
DeleteCheer-leading – only bad thoughts. In my first-year university, my cousin (who was boy crazy and an extrovert) insisted that I be a cheer-leader – the team took all they could get. Can you spell desperate? I hated every bit of it – the uniforms, the jumping, the yelling, the sport – all of it. I pasted the smile on my face – there, done. That was her graduation year, and so she did. I never did cheer-leading again – in spite of her nominating me for head cheer-leader. I also have no use for sports, especially football, and basketball – never could understand the game. I understood soccer as youngest son taught me the sport (I was the designated driver and that was all he talked about in the car). Now good thing Jack is allergic to balls or so he claims so no sport darkens our telly. We do watch the Olympics – sort-of.
ReplyDeleteAllergic to balls!?!?
DeleteMargo, that is a complicated history! :-)
DeleteDuring my high school years our high school had several state-champion gymnasts, and our cheerleaders performed a lot of gymnastics in their routines. So I am always taken aback when I hear stories of mere mortals like me donning their school colors and cheering. Where I grew up, cheerleading was for a specific type of elite athletes.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Columbus, Ohio, one could not help but follow college football. The Buckeyes kind of own the town. I didn't develop any interest in NFL until after marrying a lifelong Browns fan from a Browns-loving family. I have a whole standup routine about how every young woman should try to find herself a Browns fan because you will know you have found a man who is there for the long haul, through thick and thin, in bad times and REALLY bad times.
All that said, though, I'm only a casual fan. I don't mind going to football parties and watching games, but I no longer have the emotional bandwidth for it I once did. I do understand the sport and it can be very cathartic to sit with a group of fans and cheer my heart out, but I just can't muster the energy to hang on every play of every game.
That is a shrewd observation! Browns fans are in it for the long haul.
DeleteOH, that's brilliant, team choices as emotional barometers...
DeleteMy little sister was a cheerleader for our Fighting Quakers (how's that for a mascot? Now they are the Lightning) but Margaret and I were the quiet, studious ones. I learned the rules of football at a young age, because dad always had a game on. I was an LA Rams fan because Roman Gabriel was SOOO cute. These days, I like the Rams (their time in St. Louis helped) and will root for the WSU Cougs alongside my Coug-alumna little sister. I much prefer REAL football and am so glad that Leeds United are back in the Premier League and some of their matches are on TV.
ReplyDeleteOmigod, the fighting Quakers? LOL
DeleteThe fighting quakers? That is HILARIOUS...
DeleteNo cheerleader here, but I was a member of the marching band. I remember freezing in my badly fitting band uniform during Friday night games. (Girls had to wear skirts.) Cheerleaders were the elite in my high school, and I definitely was not. I have watched a lot of football through the years and have picked up a pretty good understanding of the game. Bills and Patriots fans in our house, but there is an appreciation of a good game regardless of who's playing. -- Irene
ReplyDeleteGo, PAts!
DeleteI was not a cheerleader. I was not cool enough to even try.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I was a hockey and baseball fan. Not so much football. My mother was, though. Buffalo Bills. She'd scream herself hoarse at the game, whether they were winning or losing.
Now in Pittsburgh, I do follow football. The Steelers, yes, but the Bills will always be #1. Which of course means I don't like the Patriots and I DEFINITELY don't like the Dolphins! Don't talk to me about this season. It's too emotionally painful.
SO cute about your mom!
DeleteAs you might imagine, given my grumpy persona, I was never a cheerleader. :D Well, that's at least one of the reasons. HA! Of course, having been what likely passed as a typical teenage boy, I probably wouldn't have minded dating a cheerleader...though that was as unlikely to have happen as me winning the Powerball is now, it wasn't a real serious idea in my school days.
ReplyDeleteDo I love football? Yes. But ever since I stopped coaching and pretty much everyone I was "friends" with through coaching disappeared from my life due to me not being there and the circumstances for why I wasn't there, I found that my active participation in The Sporting Life has been dramatically reduced. Sure, I pay attention to who wins and loses but I no longer prepare for each season with the same kind of dramatic intensity that the teams prepare for the annual draft process. Hell, I don't even watch the NFL draft anymore!
Growing up, being a contrarian and the fact that the Patriots were a bucketful of crapola as a franchise, I actually rooted for the Chicago Bears. Walter Payton, baby! But I followed a lot of teams and each week I would, with focus and intensity akin to religious fervor, check out all the reports of each team in The Sporting News magazine to see what was going on with them. I particularly liked keeping track of the Redskins, Seahawks, Packers and yes I did keep track of those Pathetic Pats.
These days, I'm a big Patriots fan. I became a Pats fan the day they hired Bill Parcells as their coach. Why can I trace my fandom to such a specific time? Because that was the day the organization finally decided to try and be a PROFESSIONAL football team. They hired a coach who knew what the F he was doing.
Around where I live, there's a weird mix of pro football fandom. We have the old school OLD people who rooted for the New York Giants back when the Patriots didn't even exist. Their loyalties never changed. Sadly, that's an old school with fewer and fewer members each year. Then you have the inexplicable Miami Dolphins fans. For reasons passing understanding, there seem to be quite a number of them around here. Then you have the lesser fandom groups for teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers (usually those who grew up in the 70s when they won four Super Bowls) and even the Cleveland Browns. I have a friend that is originally from Ohio and back when the Browns seemed incapable of beating a team of 4th graders, after every game I would call to check on his welfare because they were so incredibly bad.
But the largest grouping of displaced from their team fandom is easily those who root for the Dallas Cowboys. WHY OH WHY, they root for them is beyond me. They are NOT America's Team as they like to proclaim and given the slap-dash thoroughly unprofessional way they are run by their massively idiotic team owner, I don't know how they keep their fanbase with how universally pathetic they are on the field. Haven't won a Super Bowl in three decades and despite having an amazing assortment of actually talented players, haven't even been a serious contender to get any further than the first or second round of the playoffs AT BEST in years either. Seriously Jenn, how can your husband put up with Jerry Jones and his galactic level stupidity?
In college football, I would follow all the various scores to see the big blowouts and such, but I really only keep track of Boston College (so thoroughly awful this year) and Alabama (their new coach is no Nick Saban).
That said, I've never actually been to a Patriots game. Hell, it's too cold to be sitting around Gillette for most of their home games and I'd much rather be at my house where the overpriced food is already purchased and in my refrigerator. And the line for the bathroom is much, much shorter.
Nice post Jay. You bring up not just the team but the people involved. That is what makes a great or terrible football team - the coaching, general managers, players.
DeleteAww, Sweetness!
DeleteNot to mention the Foxborough traffic!
DeleteNot a cheerleader, though I performed in variety show kick lines, played field hockey, and ran track. Soccer, not football. English Premier League on a weekly basis and World Cup this summer!
ReplyDeleteKick lines! That takes SO much skill!
DeleteOur daughter's family is football obsessed. Her oldest son, born in Minnesota, is a Vikings fan. Her younger son, born in Delaware, is an Eagles fan. I am not too sure which teams she and her husband root for, he is connected to both Minnesota and Colorado. But, they watch every game they can and know all the players and, I am pretty sure, all the rules. The younger son plays flag football but it isn't his first sport.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, when we arrive, there is a lot of smack talk with Papa Irwin, whose pathetic Giants are just...pathetic.
For me, the noise of a crowd is uncomfortable so I usually find something else to do. Luckily, Irwin doesn't keep any type of game on in our home for more than a few minutes at a time.
Boys and sports, what can you do? Classic!
DeleteI was not a cheerleader. I perhaps wanted to be when I lived in Massillon Ohio. Our high school football stadium held 18,000 people, all the games but the last one were at night, and the stadium was usually filled. The Cleveland browns used to recruit from the high school. We moved to Massachusetts when I was 14 - just a small field and bleacher seats for the high schools, sigh. I have been a New England Patriots fan but I don’t really care anymore. I’m not much for sports on TV. Although if we have the chance to watch the Tour de France I watch for the scenery.
ReplyDeleteWow, you grew up in the epicenter of football! Both of my parents were from Ohio, so I heard about Massillon my whole childhood.
DeleteEven in our corner of SW Ohio we knew of mighty Massillon!
DeleteOh yeah, we had 500 kids in my high school....
DeleteI love college football - UCLA (Go Bruins), Princeton (Go Tigers), U of Arizona (Go Wildcats). I love high school football as my grandson played on Jr. Varsity - and had a mixed season but the varsity won 10 games and only lost 1 so it was very exciting.
ReplyDeleteOur San Diego Chargers left (yeah! no one misses them much), so I root for the Buffalo Bills and the Philadelphia Eagles. I also like to watch baseball and my husband is a die hard ST LOUIS CARDINALS fan.
Back in the 60's our school cheerleaders (usually about 5) were selected for their skills and popularity - but I've noticed that most our our local high schools allow anyone to sign up to be a cheerleader so there are often 30+ on the squad. It is such a nice change to see everyone being allowed to participate.
Anon, thank you for saying that about the (former San Diego) Chargers. I don’t know why the local TV sports still covers them. They are gone, didn’t treat the city particularly well so good riddance! — Pat S
DeleteOh, that's an interesting idea! Totally different vibe, and lovely!
DeleteI never had any cheerleading aspirations so didn’t have to suffer any humiliation in that arena. That being said, I did play Powder Puff (flag) football in my junior and senior years of high school. I was NOT good (one time as a pulling guard, I was too slow and my own teammate ran over me trying to advance the ball), but had fun. The main thing that came out of the experience is that I learned about football — the rules, the plays, and the strategy.
ReplyDeleteI was a diehard San Diego Chargers fan when Dan Fouts was the quarterback and we had wonderful players like Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner and Russ Washington. And the incredible Don Coryell was the coach. Until Alex Spanos bought the team and treated Coryell so badly. From that point, the Chargers were dead to me and I became a 100% 49ers fan. (I grew up in the SF Bay Area and had been a Joe Montana fan while cheering on the Chargers.) Now my husband and I try to watch them every week, if we can.
And Hank, last night while watching my Alma mater, the San Diego State Aztecs play, I asked my husband the difference between “false start” and “offsides”. False start is if the offense moves before the ball is snapped and offsides is if the defense jumps (past the line of scrimmage and doesn’t get back) before the ball is snapped. I swore they were both called “offsides” when I was younger, but my husband says no, they weren’t….. (P.S. I am also a hypocrite.While I will watch football and scream at the television for a player to “get” someone, knock them down and basically encourage the bashing of another player, I would not allow my son to play football. Luckily, he never wanted to and, as a high school water polo player, he came to resent the football program for getting the majority of the sports budget.) — Pat S
Pat S, the Charges with Dan Fouts, along with those greats you mentioned and of course Air Coryell, were the golden years. Fouts and Coryell along with Joiner and Winslow are in the Football Hall of Fame. Coryell really changed and revolutionized the way football is played ever since. And go SDSU Aztecs!! The football team is doing pretty well.
DeleteOh, my little brother was big football player in high school. ONe day he came home and said--I'm done. It just hurts too much. My mother was so thrilled!
DeleteAnd I so agree with you about the offsides thing. They used to be the same.
DeleteFrom Celia: such a great thought for this week in particular. Raising in an English boarding school my sports knowledge is sadly lacking. I played tennis which I still love but as a spectator now and lacrosse which I hated but with two grandsons who are Varsity players o have to change that attitude.
ReplyDeleteBut football which seemed to be a form of rigger with lots of sacking while the other game had its name pinched by the American and found itself demoted to second place as a slot now called soccer. I still don't understand the offsides rule whatsoever the game is named.
But football, we are not a football house until recently. Yes, my daughter loves football which is good as the other three male members of the household are made about it too. College football is slavishly followed. Wisconsin for eldest, who doesn't live to jump around? And Tulane for younger - Go Green Wave. College visits are planned around the home games and I have a Bucky magnet on my fridge. Of course the Pats are supported and I sit with my book making appropriate cheering or other noises a beat after the room explodes
Celia, that beat behind is me … watching any sport. Only “watching” because the rest of the room is and the watchers are people who are dear to me. Elisabeth
DeleteYes, I am often writing, and just go watch when I hear my husband applaud.
DeleteLet's just say I haven't cared one whit about football since middle school when my brothers were on the team (Go, Tigers!). High school, our school merged with our fiercest rival. I don't know the rules, don't want to know them, and wish the games would not last so long. I forgot--did attend football games when youngest nephew played middle school and high school. Second concussion occurred in a junior year practice just prior to homecoming--so glad he didn't continue as he has long-term vision problems which require periodic vision therapy exercises. And to give them credit, his school followed all of the state-mandated concussion protocols--they simply aren't sufficient protection.
ReplyDeleteThat is awful, Flora. Glad he did not have worse problems!
Delete::shaking head::
DeleteSo funny that you "confess" to having been a cheerleader, Hank! I, too, was a cheerleader in junior (middle) high, a fact that became slightly embarrassing by high school and afterward, when I turned into a writer and theater nerd, when I feared I wouldn't be taken seriously. Now, whenever an old school chum reminds me of that and other "popular girl" accomplishments, I still find myself apologizing by saying, "I peaked early." As for football, I married into a Texas Aggie family, in which adhering to the religion of Aggie football is the first requirement for a happy relationship. Gotta love 'em, the man and the game!
ReplyDeleteThere are many different kinds of teams! And family is a good one. xxx
DeleteAnd forgot to add, Hank, you aren't the only one--watching at those middle school and high school games, it's clear which of the cheerleaders actually understand what's happening on the field. The clueless ones are a wonder to behold!
ReplyDeleteYou just made me laugh..xoxo
DeleteNo cheerleading for me. And despite living in SoCal for 30+ years, my football-watching shirt still says, “Chicago Bears, Rebuilding Since 1986.”
ReplyDeleteThat is GREAT.
DeleteI played clarinet in the high school band; thank goodness our uniforms included pants, as Friday night football is cold in Wisconsin! Green Bay Packers, of course. And a life-long Chicago Cubs fan. Annette
ReplyDeleteThat is such a cute thing to envision! xx
DeleteNo cheerleading for me, and my daughters were forbidden to lead cheers until boy cheerleaders were teamed up to cheer for girls' sports. Still not happening. Two of my great nieces, 9 and 6, are cheering for the elementary school touch football teams (heaven help us), and they are incredibly athletic and energetic. Their mom is one of the coaches, so there is a big family dynamic there. And they are so cute with their ribbons and red lipstick, leaping around and doing back flips.
ReplyDeleteI was never interested in football, except for final scores. Interrupt my reading to tell me who won. Until our youngest daughter played marimba for her last two years of high school, which happens to be Steve's alma mater; he was co-captain of the football team in his senior year. Those two years when Holly was in the band happened to also be when they were on track to be state champions, and it was very exciting to go to the games and hang out with other band parents, and for me to finally learn something (a little) about the game. They just won their semifinals game Friday, and are on their way to the playoffs, undefeated for the past two years.
Then Holly went to The Citadel, where all students are compelled to attend football games, and where she spent most game day Sundays with our old neighbors who had moved there, watching the Bengals play. My oldest daughter's dad has been a rabid Bengals fan since their first season so she grew up watching them play, and now she and Holly text through games on separate continents. Their husbands have learned to accept the craziness.
Fun fact: a friend whose daughter was in color guard was asked to make the flags and banners for the team. She ended up having a very successful business out of her basement, making (30 years ago) well over $100,000 just between April and September. I worked with her one summer, learning a lot about using industrial machines, and sewing curves, and sewing FAST without making expensive mistakes. Some of her flags were amazing works of art that corresponded to the music, like the striped stockings and ruby slippers that flew to the music of Wizard of Oz. But her masterpiece was an enormous piano keyboard that was affixed to lightweight poles and floated over the entire band playing Rhapsody in Blue. Still gives me goosebumps to remember! She had to piece it together out on an empty parking lot, it was so big.
DeleteI know this is not about cheerleading, but only football games get such spectacular displays between feats of athleticism!
WOW!
DeleteEven though the Oakland Raiders used to train in my town back when Madden was the coach, I am a 49ers fan. I wasn't a cheerleader but was on the flag team my senior year in high school. We used batons with satin flags. I heard the school switched to tall flags a couple years later.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool. SUch a high school glory day!
DeleteGrowing up, I was into ballet & skiing and not the clique of cheerleaders. But while in college, I started dating a diehard Redskins fan. He proposed to me (the 1st time) when they beat the Cowboys for the playoffs! Thus became a fan, over the years thru thick and thin (now thin) but I find Sunday afternoons the perfect time to do chores or read a book while "watching" the game. The heyday is long past, the name changed, ownership changed, but traditions live on.
ReplyDeleteWOw, what a sports memory! And perfect for a rom-com, right?
DeleteMother of a cheerleader, games and camps. But I live in Buffalo, so football is life in Western NY from peewee, to high school, to college and Go, Bills!
ReplyDeleteAw, what a different perspective...very sweet.
DeleteI missed checking in on Friday, so will now: Melinda Osman here, in beautiful Madison, WI, currently about to begin reading At Midnight Comes the Cry, having just finished Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I came to the blog through Debs’ Duncan and Gemma books, which I love; I’d read several of Rhys’ books, and have since read and enjoyed books by all of the Reds. This is the only blog I regularly read!
ReplyDeleteAs far as football, did I mention I’m in Wisconsin? Being a Green Bay Packers fan has been a fact of life since my childhood. Like Lucy, in high school I desperately wanted to be a cheerleader but was not chosen; unlike Hank, I understood the game from the time I was an observant child with a patient dad. I was on the Pom Pom squad, which was fun, and drum majorette for the band which marched at halftime. Fun times. (I’m watching football right now, although these days I’m always multi-tasking during games on TV.)
Pom pom squad! That's great..and welcome, Melinda! xxxx
DeleteCheerleaders were voted on in junior high and high school, so it was a popularity contest. But I was part of the HS drill team- the Bellaire Belles. The uniforms were cool, a shorter version of a riding habit. Texas is schoolboy football central and I grew up in it. I loved going to the games. And then on to the U. of Texas Longhorns games for the years I was there. My love for the 'Horns remains; I just watched them yesterday working the Razorbacks over. Please God, beat the Aggies Friday! I gave up on pro football when the Browns left Cleveland for Baltimore. I can't work up any enthusiasm for pro football anymore. My father-in-law and I could talk college football every time we visited and it was wonderful. But he's gone and my husband is not much of a football fan.
ReplyDeleteOh, the idea of a drill team was always such a lure for me...everyone always looked so confident. And sports can truly bring people together, that's for sure.
DeleteSadly, the uncoordinated gene reigns supreme in me. I'm a true klutz. In high school, I got a "D" in Physical Ed and my mom went ballistic. She marched to school and told that teacher she needed to realize not everyone is a professional athlete and should be graded on the effort they put into the physical activities. Needless to say, I made the honor roll when that teacher took a look through adjusted eyes. I dearly love pro football and college basketball, but cannot stand college football or pro basketball. Weird, but there is just too much testosterone on the college football field and not enough heart on the pro basketball court to suit me. -- Victoria
ReplyDeleteWIth ya, Victoria. I still dream about not being able to climb that rope thing. Not one INCH.
DeleteI am proud to say that I have never been to a football game. Whywatch a bunch of idiots get traumatic brain injuries?
ReplyDeleteThere is that....
DeleteI love how fans pick their fave teams -- geographically where they live or a fandom handed down through the generations. Hub's grandfather was drafted by the Lions so there's a soft spot for them in our hearts, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's such a story! Have you seen or read Paper LIion? I just love that movie!
DeleteThe 49ers are THE team! All of my family, (going generation back), are in San Francisco County and Marin County. When I was in a girls boarding school, my best friend and I decided to be the cheer leading team. We ordered the sweaters, put together our look, and after a couple of games decided it was a silly idea. Both of my children went to U of O so those teams get cheered on no matter what the sport.
ReplyDeleteOh, Gretchen, that's such a sweet story. You had to try it, and you made it happen. SO great.
DeleteI assume U of O is Oregon in Eugene? My son in law is a professor at Portland State, which doesn't have a football team, so we root for the Ducks!!
DeleteYes, it is the University of Oregon in Eugene. Portland State University does have a football team.
DeleteIt was the homecoming game and I was a Song Girl. We danced in unison to the team/spirit songs in our little Dominguez High (Compton, CA) outfits. Our opponent was the powerhouse team from Centennial High where, as it happened, by father was principal. So... the five of us were in a circle, doing our routine, and we were laughing. I must have hyperventilated, because the next thing I remember, I'm on my back, looking up into the face of my father, who had seen me fall to earth (read: dirt) and rushed across the field. Not my finest moment! He was also an NFL referee for pre-season games, so I spent more than a few hours seated at the L.A. Coliseum scorer's table during many L.A. Rams games. (My mother was ill and hospitalized during much of my teenage years, so someone had to keep an eye on Vicki!) Despite the forced sports life, I still enjoy football... although now it's the 49ers.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how to edit... it should be "my father"!
DeleteThis is such a story, darling Victoria, the things we go through! And you turned out so beautifully!
DeleteI have not been commenting, but I have been reading the blog here this past week. And, now it's 7:03 and I'm popping up to post. I had my knee replacement surgery on Wednesday morning in Nashville, went in at 6:00 a.m. and was out by 11:00 a.m. The surgery went well, and I was feeling good about it all, I was able to eat, and I slept well that night. Then Toad's Wild Ride started the next day. I was in lots of pain and trying to get all the medicine I needed to take organized and started. I had the commands going through my head to keep that leg straight, elevate that leg, and sit in the stiff chair that I now know what to use for punishment of anyone. I barely slept Thursday night. I had PT the next morning (yes, started before I thought I would). I did well at PT because I'm that type of person who will do a good job at something required like that or die. I think the PT person overdid it on me that day, but I lived through it. I've been using a cane because I think the walker is cumbersome and slows me down unnecessarily. I've had the ice machine on my leg, my vibrating wraps, different kinds of ice bags. I've taken my blood thinner, which I will take for two weeks, then two baby aspirins for two weeks after thinner. I've tried not to worry too much about a blood clot, but because I had a PE six years ago, we're being cautious. I wasn't hungry Thursday or Friday and felt sick (but I was at times taking pain medicine without food). Saturday improved some when I got my writing down of my medicine schedule and other organized better. I know I'm not doing bad, but I really hate this, and I will do everything I can to avoid this on the other knee. And, I had the newer procedure that's supposed to be easier to recuperate from, no muscle cut. OK, time for a sponge bath and then bed. I wish I could concentrate on reading, but that's not happening so far.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm a Chiefs fan, as Philip lived in KC for a bit, well Ft. Leavenworth, and he went to some of the games. And, I was a cheerleader in junior high and high school.
You are so brave! This will be over soon, and you will be so much better, and you will be happy I promise!
DeleteYes, you are very brave!! Yikes, but hopefully time will heal all and you'll be better off in the long run. Best wishes.
DeleteMy Dad was a coach and the only way for me to participate was to be a cheerleader. I gave it my all in high school. I was even on the competitive cheer team at UCONN in my freshman year. Cheerleading today is gymnastics and dance rolled into one. I was not that person. But I loved it because I loved the game. I knew the different plays and could pick out what was wrong and right with a play. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to keep quiet even at a middle school football game where my grandson plays. I get carried away!. Go Cowboys. (Once you've live-in Texas...)
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DeleteWhat a journey! And such moments in time. And I do have to agree, once you know the rules, it’s hard not to yell about them :-)