It’s nowhere cold enough to really feel like football weather, but the crash of helmets at practice and the almost audible sound of my nephew’s feet growing out of his cleats tells me that, despite what the thermometer says, it’s that time again.
Weeks of practice and training for the Philipsburg- Osceola Mounties finally will give way to the real thing Friday. No more scrimmages. No more wondering whether this will be a year for the record books or one that we’re just glad the boys tried hard and didn’t give up. Mountie football kicks off at Line Mountain at 7 p.m. That’s when it all gets turned over to kids in blue and white jerseys.
Mountie athletics is nothing to sneeze at. We’ve given players to good colleges. We’ve even seen some break through to professional sports. But maybe more importantly, we’ve seen kids parlay what they learned on the field into tenacity and team-building in later life off the gridiron. And then there’s the pride that comes from knowing you’ve done your best and made your family and friends proud. Trophies and game balls are great, but the sheepish grin on a 6-foot-tall 17- year-old as he walks across the grass with his mom on Senior Night, that’s priceless.
But sometimes, the people who need to learn those lessons about sportsmanship and what’s important aren’t the ones on the field; they’re in the stands. Winning or losing isn’t just their lesson. It’s ours, too. How are we going to handle the season? How are we going to look at the scoreboard? How are we going to measure the other players, the other coaches, the other fans? And maybe even out of the stadium, how will we behave in, for instance, a school board meeting? Years of division and animosity regarding P-O’s administrative leadership has been bubbling over at recent board meetings.
I like to think the P-O community teaches its kids that how you play is as important as the score. I want to believe the lesson is one that coaches teach at practice, that parents reinforce at home, and that fans remember at the games, and that everyone remembers the difference between a high school game and the Steelers taking on the Ravens on “Monday Night Football.”
The football culture of Centre County has been nationally vilified recently. Maybe the best way to reclaim our honor is to build on it from the school districts up. Show up, play fair, celebrate successes, identify weaknesses and work on them as a team, as a community. Let’s play ball.
Lori Falce writes weekly about the Rush Township/Philipsburg area. Send comments to lorifalce@gmail.com.
