Ashley Richardson
Although fanatics might find it hard to believe, including me, football always will be a favorite sport in Texas. Football manages to cause many differences among individuals. With the football season kicking off, us ‘non-football fans’ have a hectic run ahead of us.
Now, I do have a good reason as to why I don’t like football. I simply just don’t understand it. I don’t get why or how people find it entertaining to tackle each other and be involved in what looks like a dog pile on one another. Also, when a football team runs the ball, they always end up running toward the middle where all the other players are. I have difficulty understanding why they don’t run on the side, where nobody is.
Another thing that tends to bother me about football relates to how the penalties, or flags, get determined. They have issues ranging from ‘pass interference’ to ‘horse collar.’ Apparently, the referee wants the tackle to happen in a certain way, and if not you get penalized for attempting the tackle wrong. A tackle is a tackle, no matter what, and if you want to grab someone’s face mask to do so, then do it.
Finally, the outfit, or jersey, always makes me laugh. Teams try hard to look good when playing. I think the way you look doesn’t reflect on the way you play at all. Teams go all out on uniforms, gloves, shoes and helmets all for the look. Yes, I understand that everyone wants to look nice and presentable; I do too.
My point in this opinion really falls back on how football tends to be the main focus for Americans. However, baseball is most commonly known as America’s pastime, football still manages to overrun it here in Texas and America. Although, in baseball all they do is run around in a diamond, swing a bat, get hit by pitches and chew sunflower seeds, to me, it still remains more intriguing than football. It all relates back to a southern thing, but baseball is known as America’s sport and it should to remain that way.
Alanna Zaskoda
I have always disliked the game of football. It has never really interested me, but then again, I never really went to games. I don’t understand how most of the game works, and I have never cared enough to learn. I have always been a baseball girl, I grew up watching it with my dad and that was how we bonded. The sport is so much clearer to me and everything that’s happening on the field is happen in one place.
But things have changed.
I have a friend that goes to private school at Calvary Christian Academy. She is a softball player named Shannon. She always begs me to take her to public school things that her school doesn’t have like homecoming, prom, large football games, etc. Because the game against Waxahachie was supposed to be a big game, I thought, okay let’s go.
I have never attended a more exciting high school sports game in my life including the high school playoff game at Cowboys’ Stadium. I don’t really know what it was: maybe the stressful back and forth scoring the entire game or maybe it was the fact that we won an away-game against the No. 3 top-ranked school in the state. Either way, it was a pretty cool things to stand in a student section and watch my team beat a really good team at their Pink Out game.
After having lost my voice the next day and trying to function on less than six hours of sleep after the long drive home, somehow I still had an adrenaline rush. I wish that every student would have made the drive to come and watch that particular game because in my opinion, it embodied everything school spirit should be.
Although I still do not completely understand the game, I have actually read a few articles on it following the game, and I plan to learn more. I did realize I have been missing something really great for the past three years of high school.
So Friday you can catch me in the student section, with a cowbell and a painted face, cheering with all of my friends, the cheerleaders, other students and the guy in the lion costume. If you are reading this and you are like ‘I was and have not attended many games,’ I strongly suggest giving it a try. Although the game will never be my favorite, (I will always love baseball more) it was overall a great high school experience.
