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I attended my high school Homecoming football game yesterday. There was no particular reason for me to go, other than that my mother called and invited me, and I had no other plans for the day. The last time I had been to a football game at my old high school was probably about fifteen years ago.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, only a couple hours drive from the metropolitan areas of Philadelphia and Baltimore, in a rural school district that still has a healthy dose of farm families. The population has not changed much since I moved away some 30 years ago.

The Saturday afternoon crowd at the football game was largely a mix of the general residents of the town and surrounding countryside that make up the school district — students, parents and children, grandparents, and just plain folk who enjoy watching local sports. To be clear, our little public school is not a football hotbed by any stretch of the imagination. It’s nothing like the fanatical high school football programs like you may have heard about in the South and Midwest. High school football and basketball games are social events, win or lose. My parents no longer have any grandchildren at this school, but they still attend high school sports together, and they still cheer for our alma mater. Sitting next to us on Saturday was a man and wife, around my parents’ age. When my dad introduced me, I realized that the man had been one of my Little League baseball coaches, and their son had been a teammate and classmate of mine.

But what really struck me was the appearance of the students at the game. Remarkably, that hasn’t changed much, either. Teeshirt and jeans or shorts was the normal attire. I didn’t see one student with spiked hair. I didn’t see any non-human hair colors. I didn’t see any body piercings. I didn’t see any exposed boxer shorts. I didn’t see any baggy black trousers with chains and zippers. Admittedly, a football game may not be completely representative of the student body at large, but it was certainly different from the variety of high school students I see in my daily life.

And in case you’re wondering… our team lost the game, 46-0. So the placekicker never made it onto the field, except at halftime, when she was escorted by her father as part of the Homecoming court.

Tags: Opinion //