I played in Jr High but got sick of the jock mentality and quit playing. I became the school photographer. I would stick vodka in empty film canisters and mix drinks on the sidelines during games. I also found it a lot more fun to hang out with cheerleaders and college PT students (working as trainers) than to get all dirty and have to ride home in a bus.
NP: Def Leppard - Pyromania
I was forced to play football in P.E. in elementary school. Hated it. (I’ve never liked anything that made me sweat and didn’t see the point of strenuous outdoor exercise on hot days when the library had a perfectly functional air conditioner.)
Growing up, I knew generally how the Redskins were doing because there was no way to avoid it; game results were always the first item on the evening news. In my sophomore year of HS, just before the Skins played in the Super Bowl, a couple of morons cornered me in the school hallway and demanded to know which team I was rooting for. I truthfully said I had no opinion and they acted like that was the funniest/stupidest thing they had ever heard.
I couldn’t have cared less about football - or any other sport - as a kid, but I never felt any pressure, peer or otherwise. No one liked me enough to give a rat’s about what I did.
Now, however, I find it relaxing and cathartic to sit my fat ass down in my La-Z-Boy and watch these ridculously huge guys beat the crap out of each other.
Must agree with everyone. I have to give a rousing “RIGHT ON!” to Grendel, who hit the nail on the head with his commentary on football fever in Texas and Oklahoma…I moved to Oklahoma from upstate New York a while back, and the --well, all the football I encountered was staggering. Sure, I played a few pick-up games growing up, but never seriously; it was mainly to fit in and not be considered a “fag”, “wussy”, etc. I find hockey to be a much better game IMHO, and even with the sudden fan base that developed with the re-introduction of minor league hockey in this neck of the woods a few years back, no-one really cares…I’d rather play pool, bowl, golf, etc.
As a kid I played a lot of touch football with children of all ages in the neighborhood. Very scrawny but fast as hell, I wasn’t worth much on defense but scored a touchdown almost every time I eluded my defender off the line.
I played one year of “Pop Warner” football and hated it.
Still scrawny but fast as hell in high school, My dad, who had played minor college football, insisted that if I went out for the HS football team I would be broken into small pieces and that was pretty much the end of that conversation. In hindsight, given all the lifelong nagging injuries (and worse) suffered by HS football players, I’m thankful I didn’t play HS football.
I followed the NFL throughout my HS days and had an encyclopedic knowldege of the game, the teams, the players, etc, but pretty much lost interest in the NFL in college and have no interest whatsoever today.
The last time I played football must have been nearly 20 years ago. I was holding the man I was trying to defend and he grabbed me and threw me to the ground like a rag doll. He lost his balance and wound up on the ground next to me where he eye-gouged me. That was the end of my football playing career.
What is this “football” of which you speak?
I actually didn’t see the point to it in high school, since I knew that precious few of them would make it in college. Same there, really. It being a Catholic HS, they apparently felt it to be a sin to not play. I seriously believe that they had a prayer just for the games. Does Jesus care about touchdowns?
You non-football fans think you have it tough? Tell people you watch pro wrestling. Nowthere’s an invitation to abuse.