Josh Ouellette
By Josh Ouellette
At the end of the movie “Friday Night Lights” Billy Bob Thornton takes the placards with his senior player’s names and throws them in a box, of course in slow motion. Every coach has the unfortunate task in doing this in some way, maybe just a little less Hollywood.
The day of triple “1’s” will never happen again. And with the end of the football season a common realization will hit many players. For the lucky ones in the Mid Valley and Southeast divisions who will continue their careers at the next level, good luck to all of you. But of the 95% of the players remaining, life has to move on, in some way, shape or form at least.
The world after football can be a painful one. Some will cope by moving on to other sports.
Some will enjoy going home an hour earlier everyday when the roll taking of the “P.E.” class consisting of football players has been completed.
Most will realize after the holidays the actuality of what is the truth. Organized football is over. Let the Turkey Tussles begin.
School continues onward and graduation comes before anyone can blink. And then the players who dazzled us on the field are gone. The memories they implant into us will linger on, but that is all they become.
But for the players leaving the end of the season signifies what the moments become. The memories will live with the players forever. The friendship’s created, the locker room interactions, the long practices, the weightlifting, but most importantly the games. The games are where everything all happened.
In the game is where a culmination of all of these facets plays out like Mozart’s Fifth on a 100-yard field of grass with two uprights. The two half’s of play, the halftime speeches, the bus rides home.
But for the players who will never play again, the Gatorade squirt bottles have finally run dry. Life moves on, but football is something that will somehow always be a mainstay.
Sophomores and junior’s who will be returning get to quench their playing thirst again. They’ll be there soon enough though. Then the cycle starts all over again. The placards move up a spot. The position battles begin before the senior’s lockers have a chance to become cold. Football is a beautiful and vicious circle. Would you want it any other way?
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