Friday football fever
Today's Sports front article on how high schools choose homecoming opponents is fascinating. It not only confirmed what I had always thought -- that many schools purposely schedule homecoming when they are hosting an easy opponent -- it indicated that the players of the anticipated patsy get inspired by the disrespect.
And then there's the matter of the indignity of waiting through the extra long halftime crowning of the opposition's homecoming court.
Not everyone was as fascinated as I. One faculty member at Northwest wrote:
It is a travesty that this article and picture appeared in this context. We, along with Smith and Atkins, have a lot of outstanding kids who work very hard every day, overcoming the negative people (like your staff) and perceptions (News and Record) every day that they are faced with. Imagine being a player on any of these teams this morning and picking up the newspaper, excited about the game tonight and the ensuing Friday high school newspaper coverage, and yet the entire region reads and visualizes about the perceived weakness of your team. What you may think is good, thought provoking journalism and art have damaged the self esteem of a group of high school kids, who also have to walk in the halls with their peers and hear constant negative comments as well has having to answer to comments about the article and picture.
I expect that the teams at Northwest, Smith, and Atkins can use this as motivation, however these kids prove to our communities on a daily basis that they are indeed not weak and feeble like they have been depicted in the News and Record. These kids are all winners, regardless of how your paper decides to depict them or what the score at the end of the game is. We who work with these fine young men every day know this. I invite all of you to come to any of these schools and see how outstanding these kids are, and what character and determination they display on a daily basis.
I'm not a proponent of snarkiness in the paper. It is a cheap laugh and the laugh is rarely worth the hurt it causes. But this wasn't a snarky story. It was a straight-on depiction of what seems to be a truism in high school. And one that everyone seems to know exists. (For the record, I'm pretty sure we didn't depict the students as weak and feeble, or make any comment about their character or determination. I have no doubt that they are all fine young men.)
Joe Sirera, our sports editor, explained the thinking in his response:
As we were looking at homecoming games, we noticed that a few schools seemed to be the homecoming opponent for an inordinate number of other schools. We then looked at the records of the frequent homecoming opponents and it became obvious why these schools, including Northwest Guilford, were scheduled for homecoming: They lose their games much more frequently than they win.
The coaches at the two Guilford County schools cited in the article (Smith and Northwest) were told what the subject of the article would be and chose to speak to Robert Bell. (Coach Woodruff spoke at great length about the strategy of scheduling an opponent perceived to be weak as a homecoming foe. "Anyone who tells you they don't go looking for a team to beat up on is lying," he said.) That was their decision. A Smith player, who also was told what the article would be about, spoke to Robert and was quoted in the story as saying that being a homecoming opponent provided motivation and helped him play better. It also was noted that Northwest defeated a very strong Mount Tabor team, 21-20, last Friday to send a message that the Vikings were nobody's "patsy," as it were.
Truth be told, I hope Northwest plasters East Forsyth and Smith smacks around Page tonight.