The Yankee Goes to A Football Game

Yes, I went to a high school football game for the first time since... Well since I was in high school.

My friends Kellee and Bob are big sports fans. All of their kids participated in sports, and they follow college and professional teams in a number of sports. Their youngest is a freshman at a small college that is fielding it's first football team since 1929. So when Kellee asked me earlier in the week if I'd like to go to a high school football game with them last night, I figured why not. I'd spend some time with friends, and I'd have some time off the Hill (more about that at a later time).

An unexpected late afternoon meeting threw a wrench into my plans to run some errands for the Guest Houses and then head over to Kellee's and Bob's before the worst of the rush hour traffic. Instead, I hit the road at about 4:50 and took the local roads route. I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of navigating Alexandria and points west. Traffic wasn't as bad as it could have been, so I arrived in plenty of time. We went to dinner and then headed over to Annandale High School for the game.

The Annandale Atoms third game of the season was against the Jeb Stuart (tell me again that we're not in the South) Raiders. I actually had a good time. It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the game when you're sitting in the stands among parents and students. There were times when it seemed like the Atoms were scoring in spite of themselves. In the end, however, they won 32-27.

Another part of the whole game experience is the band. I played in the band during high school and freshman year of college. Things haven't changed much. I recognized a lot of the music and marching routines--or at least the steps involved. They did a much better job at halftime than I remember our high school band doing. There's a picture in one of my high school yearbooks that shows one of the lines during a halftime show. No two of the kids in the picture are in step with each other. But I do know the work involved in even a simple routine. One of the kids in the color guard was clearly knew and still learning, but he had the smile piece down.

Of course, as flutist, I looked for the flutes. No flutes. Three piccolos. We had no piccolo player during my years at DHS. The first flutes usually ended up with the piccolo parts in the Sousa marches.

All in all I had a good time. I might even go again, if I'm invited.