Romantic about football

Can you feel it? The crispness in the morning air. The sound of pads hitting in the distance. It’s football season, baby.

That crack of the pads is a sound that rivals that of a wooden bat connecting on a baseball or the swish of a basketball going through the net. The sights and sounds of the season gets me excited for the six months of football that lies ahead. I enjoy all levels of football.

I love watching and rooting for the Packers, Badgers and whatever team is playing the Vikings.

Who can forget about the great teams we have in our backyard? I was lucky enough to run the live stream for a majority of Colby’s home football games and even got to follow them to state as they took down St. Mary’s Springs at Camp Randall. They will look to replicate that success this season. Abbotsford brings a stout rushing attack year after year and keeps stacking successful seasons. I’m excited to see what both teams do this year. Plus, who can beat a Friday night under the lights?

I remember as a kid watching the Colby teams of the early 2000s play under the lights and thinking to myself, “I could be there one day.” Then reality hit and the 130-pound high schooler that I was decided cross country was going to be where I spent my fall sports seasons.

Fantasy football is another aspect of the sport that I thoroughly enjoy. Watching football on Sundays (and not just the Packers) to see if your fantasy player does well enough to carry your team to a win that week adds an element to the game that other sports don’t have.

Yet another aspect that I love about football is the history that encompasses it. You hear about the Packers playing at Lambeau Field while trying to win the big game and attempting to earn the Lombardi Trophy. The Badgers play their home games at Camp Randall Stadium which used to serve as a training base for Wisconsin military regiments before being converted to a fully-functioning football stadium in 1917.

Even here in Colby, there is a brand new press box that dons the name of Denis Woik who was the longtime voice of the Hornets. Football has a way of honoring those that were around the game before the current generation that other sports and communities fail to match.

My irrational love for sports and football comes from my inner addiction to competition. I didn’t play the game long enough to fully understand how an offense or defense works. I do know one thing. Football is back.

SPEEDING

THROUGH

L

IFE

NEAL H OGDEN EDITOR