We miss high school football. Sure the high schools here in Kentucky play football, but you have to go further south to “get” the whole high school football experience. I’m talking 5-10,000 people in the big stadium and the community-wide interest in the game. I’m reminded of this when I read in the Atlanta paper that my old high school is playing its bitter rival up the road tonight. Such neighborhood rivalries are a dime a dozen throughout the Deep South, but this is one of the better ones. Both Brookwood and Parkview are perennial top-10 teams and have won state championships in the past decade (Parkview has actually won 4, including a victory in the championship game against Brookwood a few years ago. That was a big game.) 10-15,000 people will be on hand when they face off tonight. They had that many in the rain a couple years ago.
People here just don’t get into it really. There is one big game a year (between the two catholic boys’ high schools), but that’s it. Otherwise the stadiums are really small (even at the bigger schools) and the crowds are small too. Maybe it’s because this is basketball country. I guess that the kind of high school football I’m talking about is only found in the Deep South. But we miss it.