December 1, 1999
DOWN HOME:
Like I've said all along,
'we' had a great season
___My friend Dan says he can tell I'm a full-fledged Texan again.
___I grew up in Texas, of course. Way, way up in the Panhandle. After we graduated from Hardin-Simmons University, the Lord led Joanna and me on a long journey through various and sundry parts of the Southeast.
___We never thought we'd move back home. But like the Children of Israel, we returnedto the Promised Land, a little more than four years ago.
MARV KNOX
Editor
___Dan says I sound as if I never left.
___"You insist on saying 'we' when you're talking about a sport played by 16-, 17- and 18-year-old boys," he observed, and I thought I noticed the slightest twinge of a smirk turn the corners of his mouth.
___He was talking about football, of course--high school football.
___And he was right.
___During our sojourn to other "lands," one of the things I missed most about Texas was Friday night high school football. People from other states never understood what I was talking about. The closest were Kentuckians, who feel the same way about basketball. (I always told them I grew up thinking basketball was what football players played to stay in shape until track season started.)
___For me, high school football always has been about more than what 22 guys do with a leather pumpkin. It's about the game, of course. But it's also about communities gathered in a common place. It's about loud band music and cheers and cowbells and school colors and little boys' dreams of state championship trophies.
___So, I felt like I was back home the first time I bought season tickets. Maybe Dan's right. Maybe I live a little vicariously through the exploits of teenage boys who butt heads with guys from the other schools every weekend.
___Sure, I yell for the football team, but I also cheer for the band and embarrass my family screaming for the drill team. I also cheer for the other school's band and pray for any kid who gets hurt, no matter what the color of his jersey.
___Through the course of this season, I also realized I learned many of the boys' names and found myself yelling for them by name, because I like to see hard-working kids do well.
___So, yeah, I'm guilty as charged. "We" had a fun season. "We" won't win a state championship, but that's not why boys don pads and take to the turf. Championships are great, but community spirit and camaraderie are better. "Wait 'til next year" is a fitting benediction for a season of cheers.
___If we could promote that kind of community spirit and fervor in all Texas Baptists, we'd win this state for Christ. And that would be the greatest championship of all time.
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