Proud of Our ‘Dogs…

Well, that’s the kind of day you don’t want to have too many of. It certainly hurts enough to have your season come to an end. It also hurts like crazy to get a beat down by your neighbor and rival. It’s obviously the worst to have it all happen at once. We obviously saw a whole lot of pain in the eyes of everyone in maroon jerseys, and especially the seniors.

It’s tough to know what to say after that. There isn’t much you can say. Those days happen. It happens that sometimes you dig yourself a hole. It happens that sometimes 1 or 2 parts of your game just don’t work. And it happens that sometime the team lining up across from you plays a near flawless game. And sometimes it’s the perfect storm where they all happen at once. We’ve made it happen to them on a couple occasions….now we know how it feels unfortunately.

Sometimes I think I’m crazy. Five kids and a wife. A 75 mile one-way commute 4 times per week. I’ve been in 14 countries, 31 states, and 64 airports. I ask myself why in the world I’ve gone to 176 Delhi games in a row, and why I do this website.

I guess the answer is that, for a great variety of reasons, I love football. This isn’t a casual thing like the way I like the Yankees. I’m the type that all the Yankee haters love to hate on – I’m a fair weather fan if there ever was one. If the Yanks stop winning, I stop paying attention. And I don’t feel bad about it. After a stressful day I can pull up Gameday on my computer (I actually watch very few games on TV, I’d go crazy watching baseball all the time with how slowly it moves!) and keep track of how things are going, and it helps to lower my blood pressure. I have no desire to get emotionally involved to a high level. These guys are paid many millions of dollars to entertain me, so I don’t feel bad about my approach to the game.

My approach to HS football is obviously different. I very highly doubt there is a day out of the 365 that I don’t put a good amount of thought into it. It’s pathetic, I know. But for some reason I am just connected to the game of football, and the high school game is obviously my favorite expression of it. My Creator just gave me that connection. When I’m doing something with the game, I’m riding a wave of how I was created. Interesting that I wasn’t blessed with more physical skill to go with my love for the game, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I just love the thought of 11 guys working together to move a ball down the field. I love the hitting. I love seeing an O-line coming off together. I love seeing a back squirt through a hole. I love seeing an LB step up and very quickly change the direction of a back. I love the mastery of a coach playing chess out there. I love seeing kids work together. I love seeing kids willing to spend time in preparation for success. I love seeing the gradual transition of boys becoming men with all the many lessons learned through training, practice, gametime, and reflecting on what happened.

I guess that includes days like Saturday. It is just awful seeing faces with those expressions. I can’t imagine the day when I have to see that look on one of my own kids’ faces. The thing is, so much positive can come from it. Sure, the seniors will not play high school ball again. But, as much as I love the game, there are about a bijillion things in this world that are more important. And this nasty feeling they just had has potential to motivate them as they go out and fight the battles that have much further implications than another round of Delhi/Walton football. I want these guys to have a fierceness on the field. I even more want them to have a certain fierceness as they face all the stuff out there. They could be a part of a state champion and “learn” that things will just come together in the end. Or they might fall hard in their final game, and they’ll know they’re in a battle tougher than they thought, which means a stronger or different approach may be needed for their next go at something. For my kids, I don’t want to go the entitlement route.

God bless all you seniors, and thanks for the great memories of watching you in 2010.

As for offseason coverage, maybe (no guarantees) I’ll do a bit more this offseason. I’d like to get back to doing career stats for the players, so maybe I can work on that. I feel like I kept up with stuff a bit better this year, so I feel more motivated. I still hope to do a text writeup of the Walton game….I know it’s old news by now, but it would be nice to have it to read a few years from now. I still like going back and looking at some of the stuff I wrote in previous seasons. Thanks to all for reading!

I got 3 of the 4 picks on the finals correct, missing only Chenango Valley beating Owego. So, I close out the season at a very mediocre 149-43 (0.776). I’ll do one more set of “exhibition picks”, not to be counted against my average! After coming something like 8 yards from a clean sweep of Section III in 2008 (Waverly lost by 6 to Oneida after finishing the game at the Oneida 8 yard line), we struggled a bit more in 2009, going 2-3. I’m hoping for a slightly better performance this year, as I’m picking us with a 3-2 advantage. I like Corning over Baldwinsville 32-22; Whitesboro over Maine-Endwell 12-0 (ME has scored one offensive TD in the last 2 weeks); Cazenovia over Chenango Valley 21-14 (Forks’ former playoff rival takes a bit of revenge on Forks’ regular season rival); Forks over General Brown 27-0 (same score as last year); Walton over Onondaga 30-12 (probably quite evenly matched, but Walton’s too tough to prepare for).