High school football games in the South showcase the best of America | Opinion
I arrived at the stadium gate to a gaggle of fans desperately trying to purchase digital tickets since cash wasn’t accepted.
“It just keeps everyone healthier,” said the attendant as she touched every smartphone to verify the purchases.
It had been a while since I’d been to a high school football game. The $1.50 service fee on top of the ticket price was certainly new, and I wondered if America’s toxic politics and cultural divisions had made their way through the gates of high school football.
Then I heard the announcer, smelled the concession stand, and saw fans packed shoulder to shoulder to watch the Nolensville High School Knights take on the Battle Ground Academy Wildcats. As the sun set, I saw a bright American future under the Friday night lights.
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How the game teaches players about life
The players on the field had learned to work as a team towards a common goal. In football, as in life, everyone wants to win. Most aren’t willing to pay the price victory demands.
My son plays for Nolensville, and he’s learning that lesson right now. There isn’t much glory in being a practice champion. Watching film is tedious. The weight room makes his body ache.
My son must decide whether he’ll rise to the occasion or fold because the path ahead is too difficult. Most of the boys think they’re playing a game, the coaches realize they’re teaching life itself.
The teenagers crushed up against the cyclone fence to watch the game weren’t detached observers. High school is tough. Growing up in “selfie” culture makes it worse. I assumed I might see a gaggle of kids each filming their own YouTube channels from the sideline. That wasn’t the case at all. The Nolensville High teens sang, danced, and cheered as if tomorrow wasn’t coming. They were connected to each other and their team.
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A Wildcat administrator approached me in the stands and asked if I knew where he could find a principal or school staff member as a group of young Knight fans had allegedly crossed the field and taunted the Wildcat student body.
I briefly thought to mention that the University of Alabama actually has “Hate Week” ahead of its tilt with the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Instead, I affirmed that I was not on staff, but I was confident that any staff would likely be wearing team colors somewhere in the crowd. He did not find my suggestion particularly helpful.
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Families and fans were there for each other
The parents in attendance cheered on their sons, second guessed the play calling, and politely offered to help the referees who occasionally had vision problems when it came to penalties. One mother in front of me nearly threw her phone across the stands in excitement when her son unexpectedly broke away for a touchdown. It’s rare these days to see joy that pure.
In a field behind the stadium, my younger boys shed their shirts, painted numbers on their chests, and played backyard football with their buddies. None of them could be bothered with the high school game as they laughed and tousled in the grass. Some day, the lights will shine on them, and they want to be ready for their chance. A little extra practice never hurts.
My father sat next to me. He’s played in plenty of games himself, but he’s watched and coached many more. It seems like yesterday that he was teaching me and my friends how to block and tackle. Now he’s helping his grandsons do the same.
It was only a football game on a Friday night in the South, but I saw the best of us. Past, present, and future collided in that stadium. We were there for the game. We were there for each other.
And I had hope.
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The ties that bind citizens must be stronger than our disagreements
As a columnist, I often fall into the assumption that we’re a divided nation. I begin to believe that America’s best days are behind us.
Sometimes I contribute to the division. I’m snarky when a kind word might heal. I take a political cheap shot instead of doing the work to explain the complexity of an issue I’m writing about. I want to give up because the path forward towards a more perfect union has always been difficult.
I learned better than that on football fields decades ago. My sons are learning it now. The ties that bind us together as Americans must be stronger than the differences that threaten to tear us apart.
At the game, not one person asked me about my political perspectives. I didn’t hear the names Donald Trump or Joe Biden. In fact, Washington, D.C. seemed like it was a million miles away. It wasn’t that politics didn’t matter; they simply mattered less.
Before the Knights celebrated their victory, players from each team shook hands and then many kneeled and prayed together. The game wasn’t a permanent loss for the Wildcats or an eternal win for the Knights.
The scoreboard resets for next week. Our future as a nation isn’t written either. From what I saw, the America we’re building is every bit as bright as those Friday night lights.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising three boys in Nolensville, Tennessee, with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: High school football games in the South showcase the best of America
