Ready for some football

I never really was much of a football guy.

Sure, I liked to play pick-up games with my buddies and even enjoyed a brief stint on the offensive line with my middle school’s football team. I’ve even been to a couple of Chicago Bears games. My first game at Soldier Field was Rex Grossman’s debut – for better or worse. Colts fans, go ahead and keep giggling.

In the end, video games, student journalism and other nerdy things occupied my free time during high school.

But, truth be told, I’m incredibly excited for Mudsock Week to start next Monday, and for the Hamilton Southeastern High School versus Fishers High School football game on August 24.

I’m told the festivities are a bit of a tradition in Fishers.

Being from a modestly-sized town, football games were a common Friday night past-time. My school, Griffith High, was semi-infamous in the Region (Lake County), mostly due to our coach. He was of the classic, tough-as-nails variety. The local media referred to the team as “convicts” in one article previewing the showdown between us and our big rival at the time – Andrean High School.

It bugged some of us enough that when Griffith played Andrean at homecoming the following year, a few students dressed up as convicts for the game. I was told to ditch the costume by the school principal, which was the first time my free speech was chilled by anyone – ironic, considering I already spent two and a half years on the school’s newspaper staff.

But the spirit was there, and that’s what matters.

Being from a small town, football games got crowded – but not to the tune of 18,000 people, which I’m also told is the amount of people typically attending the HSE versus FHS football game.

I’ll be available to chat about community news at the Starbucks off I-69 on 116th Street from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. today. The Starbucks is always hopping with folks, so I often have sit in the Old National Bank side of the building.