Friday Night Football Fever: The Joys of High School Football

What is it with people and high school football? Seriously, unless you are a woman with very little to no football knowledge, then you will have a hard time appreciating the joys of high school football from a woman's perspective.

As a mother of six, entertainment comes in all forms. Occasionally, entertainment outside of the home is needed to help prevent the mother from going insane. With having so many kids, our entertainment often comes in that of the cheapest form, one of which is Friday night high school football. Our team of choice happens to be that of my high school alma mater, and the school that our seventeen year old son recently graduated from as well. My husband has always enjoyed football so it was no surprise when our son started playing, that we became regulars at all the games.

My first experience with football (that I can remember) was when I was in high school. Back then I was in the pep band, so attending every Friday night home football game was a requirement. The time that I spent at the games, I was anything but focused on the ball. My Friday night football fun included things like, playing music, marching in the half time show, eating nachos, drinking pop and chatting with my friends. The only interest that I had in the game was the occasional glance of the score board to see how badly our team was getting beat. Back then we never had much of a winning streak.

Now there are three things that you must know. The first thing is that I love my husband dearly. As we both work full time hours, it is safe to say that we don't get as much quality time with each other as we would like. The second thing is that I love my kids, but more importantly, I value my sanity. Finally the third thing is that I just don't quite get football. Though my poor husband has tried to explain it to me (through his whoops, whistles and yells) I still don't get it.

As each Friday during football season approaches, I am faced with a pretty tough choice. Do I go to the game and deal with the kids, or do I stay home and deal with the kids? Inevitably there are always a few of them that don't want to go to the game should I choose to stay home, and a few that don't want to stay home should I choose to go, and so the fun begins.

By the time Friday finally arrives, I generally come to the consensus that my sanity is better off if I join my husband and go to the game. I have already weighed the pros and cons of going. The worst thing that can happen is that all the kids will go and drive me to wanting to jump head first off the very top bleacher. The best that can happen is that all the kids will go, and will actually be interested in the game and their friends and not in driving their mother into taking that jump from the bleachers. Either way, it's better than staying home and completely losing my mind.

About an hour before the game starts, we pack up our things and head for the door. Now "packing up our things" is a whole different subject in and of it self considering the fact that our youngest fan is two year old (she has been a fan since she was a mere three months old). Upon arrival, we pile out of the car and head for the stadium with the kids following close behind.

As we enter the gates, the music from the press box is blaring and my husband is now in football mode. Any sense of hearing his wife and children have officially gone out the window. It is about this time that I am bombarded with questions about food, drinks and playing with friends. All this and we still have not found our seats. After finding our seats, we settle down for the wonderful food they have to offer, and wait for the game to begin.

Once the game is underway and the kids have settled down, my football fun begins. I'm not talking about keeping your eye on the game kind of fun. I am not into football that much to give a hoot about it anyway. I'm talking about the kind of fun that only woman with no knowledge of foot ball can have, and that is people watching. Our youngest will happily sit with her football loving daddy and enjoy the game for the majority of the time. This right here is the best entertainment I will see all evening. As she sits there with her daddy, she will yell, holler and do her best to mimic every move the cheerleaders make. At this point, she has usually gained the attention of those around us who by now are used to seeing and hearing her.

With my husband now in control of the youngest (or until his legs get tired of holding her), I am free to enjoy the game. My attention turns first to the band. As a former band geek myself, I feel some sense of loyalty to watching and listening to them play. Ok, so there really is no "loyalty" thing there, I just enjoy listening to the music. I will save watching them for the half time show.

From here, my attention usually switches to that of the cheerleaders. Over the last several years of going to football games, I have come to the conclusion that there are three types of cheerleaders. The first is that of the cheerleader that looks and acts as if cheering at a game is the very last thing she wants to be doing. She is the type that you never see smiling and always has to look to her peers to make sure that she is getting all the moves right. The second type of cheerleader is the kind that is so wild she is simply out of control. This is the type that is always doing strange things, bounces all over the place, over exaggerates her movements and could easily be viewed as an embarrassment to her fellow classmates. The last type is your typical cheerleader. She is always alert to what is going on in the game, knows just which cheer to do at the right time, plays her part perfectly and is usually the captain of the squad.

It is usually about this time that things change and I become the holder of the youngest. As I hold our daughter my husband loses himself in conversation with other lovers of the sport. He stops talking only briefly to yell at the refs or give his ear piercing whistle when there is a good play or a touch down. I can always judge how a game is going, by the shrillness of his whistle. While he is cheering on the team, I once again am flooded by different requests from the kids. Their never ending requests for more money, bathroom breaks and the always annoying question "how long till the game is over". It is about this time that I begin to rethink coming to the game. That top bleacher is starting look mighty good right about now.

By now it is the end of the second quarter (this much I do know about football). And the band is ready to take the field. This is what I consider my time, and my husband knows this. It is at this point that he becomes care taker to our now cranky and tired little football fans, with the exception of our two year old who is still eager for more. This is the only time during the whole game that my eyes are fixed and focused on the field. Watching the band always brings back fond memories of my band geek high school days. Don't talk to me now because I'm just not listening. As always the stands are quite empty during this time. Of the people that are left, I can only speculate that they are all old people or former band geeks themselves just enjoying the show.

With halftime now over and two quarters left, I resume my people watching. As I gaze through the crowd I notice things like freaky looking hair styles, girls in cloths that are simply to revealing and sometimes an old face from high school or work. If the kids aren't being cranky enough to interrupt my husband's concentration, I will use this opportunity to escape and go do what women to best, talk. Though the conversation will be kept to a minimum, this break from the kids will be just enough to deter me from making the long trek up to the top bleacher. Once I regain what little sanity I have left, I join my husband again to finish watching the game.

By the time the game finally ends, the kids and I are more than ready to head home. Though it took us just a short time to arrive at the stadium and find our seats, it takes forever to leave the stadium, get in the car and go home. There are always those people who want to stop and talk to you or simply just stop to talk to others and block the way of those trying to leave. Once we get to our car, I can finally breathe a sigh of relief that I survived yet another night of Friday night football. There you have it, football from a women's perspective. The next time you go to a football game and notice a woman watching everything but the game, just know that there is more to football than watching the game.