I attended my first ever Texas high school football game last Friday night. Does it surprise you that I had a really good time? 'Cause it surprised the heck out of me.
I went to the game to watch the marching band perform--my roomate Grassy is in the color guard and performs at all the games. But I stayed the whole time and watched the game. And you know what, it was fun.
It's not the very first football game of my life. I watched a good deal of Redskins football with my folks back in the 1980s (we lived outside of DC in those days) and I even attend a few 'Skins games at the old RFK stadium. I always liked yelling "Get him!" to the defense. But to be honest with you I only get about half of the rules of football. And I don't know the names of most of the positions. The only current pro players I know are Peyton Manning and Brett Favre (he's still playing football right?). So it really did surprise me that I had such a pleasant experience watching a whole live game without benefit of replays, loads of graphics, or announcers to explain the game progress.
That being said, I have to confess that I felt like a fraud sitting at the game. I felt like an observer in disguise to study the rites of another culture. Or like a guest at the religious service of an unfamiliar and slightly confusing church. Please don't misunderstand--I don't dislike football fans; some of my best friends are ardent football lovers. I just feel like an outsider to the whole activity. I guess its too late in my life for that to really change. I plan to go back to all the home games--my girl will be performing at them and I can't resister her!--and I hope to develop greater knowledge of the game. But I suspect this will always be a slightly odd experience for me.
