‘Tis the SZN.
With high school jamborees and Week Zero college games, including a noteworthy Thursday night reunion in Natchitoches, football finally is here.
Too soon to tee it up, with temps in triple digits?
Nope. Do right and hydrate. That advice is free and important for everyone not pulling on a helmet at the games.
Those band members and cheerleader and pom-ponners, the dance line girls (and boys), and their coaches and coordinators, and everybody in the stands, won’t have hard-working trainers walking up with water bottles and sports drinks to guzzle.
Zig Ziglar said this long ago: “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” Since he was Alabama born and spent all his days south (Mississippi, South Carolina) and southwest (Dallas), except those traveling to spread his motivational messages, Zig should have added, “… to keep wetting the whistle while watching and cheering.”
Maybe they didn’t write that part of it down. Or nobody was taking notes at the tailgating party.
Stay thirsty, my friends. For victory, and for cold drinks. Do not let a concession stand line discourage you. Whoever is running it needs your money to support their good cause, and you need what they have to pour.
We all need the football. People who don’t begin to understand the game enjoy the spectacle of it, the social aspects of tailgating, and take on the responsibility of pulling on the school colors from head to toe even if they can’t name two players in their team’s uniforms or they think that NIL means nonexistent.
As in, “chances for survival were slim, almost nil.”
Which applies to college football as we’ve known it. The rules of the game haven’t changed much, but the rules of the sport have.
NIL has made it worthwhile for NFL rookies to retreat to better paying gigs at Big College U. LSU’s Lane Kiffin is not the only college coach scouting pro preseason rosters to identify first-year fellows who aren’t going to make an NFL roster but would happily collect six figures to play a dozen or more games back where they were stars.
Hate the idea, but admit it, in the depths of your fandom, would you rather have some of those guys playing for your team, or against it?
The Southeastern Conference fired out a statement Monday decrying this latest development, because SEC presidents and administrators know they’re staring at another court case that’s going to drag on indefinitely. Tuesday, they issued an edict that the SEC won’t allow pros to retreat to their teams, but expect more tremors around this topic or the next few to boil up.
Give me high school ball, along with colleges within a short drive from your front door. NIL is in play for the teams in those stadiums, too, but on a much smaller scale. Tolerable to consider.
High school football has its own special magic and traditions. One continued Tuesday when the Alexandria Rotary Club hosted the annual Pigskin Preview, providing a showcase for coaches and a couple of senior student-athletes from all eight of the parish football schools to show their optimism for what’s about to unfold, speaking in front of a large audience of community leaders.
Jamborees this weekend have a variety of matchups, from a clash of titans down south between Class 5A powers ASH and Zachary, to two programs trying to get going in the right direction when Pickering plays Lakeview in the Battle on the Bricks NRMC Jamboree at NSU’s Turpin Stadium.
There’s a small school matchup Friday night in Natchitoches that won’t matter in the grand scheme, but will be a farewell fight. The Tigers from LaSalle and the Tigers of St. Mary’s have squared off for decades as district foes, but realignment has halted that series, except in the second annual Battle on the Bricks Jamboree.
A night earlier, Turpin Stadium will usher in north Louisiana college competition when Louisiana Christian rides 58 miles up I-49 to play Northwestern State for the first time in 58 years.
Was a rivalry when TVs were black and white. Will be simply a neat reunion Thursday night, one that’s clear of court injunctions with the only fireworks going off when the Demons take the turf.
It’s been too long … since LC and NSU met, and since last football season.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com