TODD vs. FOOTBALL...the inside scoop!

Why Todd Really Hates Football
by Todd Wright

Alright, this whole football thing tends to really upset folks. While I do play up the whole I-hate-football thing a good bit, it is a fact that I do not enjoy the sport. I don't like watching it, playing it or talking about it.

But my aversion to the game is two-fold and I thought it would be interesting to try to put into words what's really going on with me and football. Check this out...

THE SIMPLE TRUTH
I don't like football. At the most basic, honest level, I just don't enjoy the game at all. Under this "simple truth" I would place both professional and college football. There's no real hate here - I'm just not gonna' enjoy a game all that much.

Now, this would be okay. This would not be that big of a deal. Lots of folks don't like football, right? But when it comes to high school football, that's where I get into trouble. That's where it takes on a whole new level.

WHAT LIES BENEATH
I grew up in Lufkin, Texas. This is a town that idolizes high school football. I've known this my whole life and I've dealt with it. As a kid, I went to games and enjoyed hanging out with my friends and celebrating our school's victory over somebody else. Even then, I wasn't nuts about the game, but it was fine.

And then, the Panthers won the State Championship.

It was the event of the year. Business closed down to attend the playoffs. People painted themselves and took off work and drove for hours to see their boys battle it out on the Gridiron.

That was okay, I guess. I mean, I thought it was a little overboard, but I was smart enough to realize that for the players and their families and friends, this was a huge accomplishment. They had done something great. Something rare and unique and memorable.

And then, they made the phone book. And that's what changed me.

A few months after the champions returned home, the new Lufkin phonebook made arrived. And there on the cover were the coaches and students who had won the big trophy and got their names in the record books.

And I tried to remember the last time I'd seen actual people on the cover of our phone book. Usually, every year included some lovely landscape photo of some historical spot downtown or a mural of Lufkin through the ages or something like that. I couldn't remember seeing any other pictures on our phone book ever.

It started to bug me that we'd cover our phonebook with the football team but no one else. What about the countless teachers in the Lufkin area who, for years, have worked themselves to death to improve thousands of minds and lives and careers throughout the years?

What about the men from one of the three huge factories in Lufkin who were responsible for a robust local economy and workmanship that was respected all over the country?

What about pictures of our sons and daughters serving in the military?

I didn't make me mad that the team made the cover. It made me mad that no one else ever had.

That's when I realized that my mind ran contrary to the crowd when it came to the Panthers. I wasn't mad at them. I was mad at us. It bugged me...so much so that I think it burned into me a disgust for anything that looked remotely like hero worship when it came to high school football.

And in some really weird sense, thinking about high school football tonight reminds me that I am just guilty of idolatry as the next guy. I'm convicted because I know that even though I have no problem with high school football, I'm still really good at giving things priority far beyond what they deserve.

So the next time I rail against the Panthers or the Bearcats or Lobos or Tornadoes, give me some room...because sooner or later I'm going to realize that I'm the chief of sinners.