As a sports fan, more specifically, a Chicago sports fan, moving to Iowa a few years ago left a large hole in my life. Although most Bears games are televised in our corner of Iowa, we lack sufficiently rabid fans and that makes watching the games a lot less enjoyable.
So where to turn for football fun?
My son is a high school freshman and in the marching band, so I explored the universe of high school football—something I never did in my own high school (being more of a tennis, track, golf, skiing sort of guy).
After a couple of games, I discovered a whole new world—a world that was incredibly different from the professional world. I’ll grant you that part of the difference is that our high school team made it to the state finals, whereas the Bears, well … uhm, ok. But, there are other differences, too.
First, the people who show up at high school games are a cross-section of the entire town—old or young, male or female—the whole town seems to show up with all the enthusiasm of true football fans.
Generally speaking, the kind of professional football fans that I would see at a game always seemed to be predominately adult names, usually with a beer in hand.
And then there is the level of the players’ dedication and love of the game—at the high school level I witnessed instances of players getting injured, only to shake it off later and return to the game—maybe because their younger bodies could take it?
They would play with as much desire and intensity as any pro-player even though they weren’t getting paid.
At the high school level, players play two, sometimes even three positions, which is virtually unheard of in the pro ranks.
And, perhaps most importantly, I never saw any pouting about playing time, disrespectfulness to the coaches, or fighting with teammates at any of the high school games.
If I’m not mistaken, this has something to do with the concept of sportsmanship, which is still being taught to children. But professional athletes have forgotten it because of their pursuit of money.
And yet, on the other hand, with the NFL season less than two weeks away, GO BEARS!!!!
Bruce Kilarski is an independent writer living in Iowa.
