Friday Night Lights 2013: Week 8
A pair of gloves and a coat were required attire at Bates Field tonight because it was COLD — and I was loving it. Woo HOOO! Before leaving for the game, I put on my Triclimate, zipped it up, and thought, “Wow. It has been forever since I wore this.”
My grandma is visiting for her birthday, so after dinner and cake and ice cream my dad and I headed to the Linn-Mar–City High game and arrived late in the first quarter. The game was scoreless as we walked down First Avenue, but we watched, through the fence, as City High notched a touchdown with 35.4 seconds left. My dad got tied into a never ending conversation with one of the ticket booth workers, so by the time we paid at the gate, bought a program, and started walking toward the home stand, the second quarter had started and Linn-Mar tied the game at 7–7 with a long run down the sideline.
As I stood waiting impatiently for my dad (they were apparently talking about the steel the city uses for basins), one of the City High students passing out programs started a conversation with me. She told me she was cold. “I only have one glove,” she said. The other girl giving out programs said, “I have the other one.” They both held up their gloved hands, their other hands hidden inside their sleeves. After they laughed about that, the first girl asked if I had graduated from City High. I told her I had and she asked when.
“Oh one,” I said.
“Oh one,” she repeated, slowly. “That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, it was.”
And I supposed it was a long time ago — relatively speaking. But, more than anything, her comment relates to something I have been turning over in my mind every time I have gone to Bates Field this season: I am on the cusp of thirty-one and here I am, in Iowa City, attending City High football games — much as I was thirteen, fifteen, twenty years ago. The thought delivers a nagging sense of shame.
Why? Because I am my own worst critic, way too self-conscious for my own good, and I feel like I should be doing something else, should be elsewhere, shooting for the stars or whatnot. When I lived in California, I felt proud of having left, of having taken a deep, determined breath to make a life for myself. I gladly returned to Iowa City and am greatly enjoying myself. I am writing, I have a great job, and I get to hang out with the people I love. But there is a nagging sense of underachievement, a sense that I am not taking full advantage of my abilities, a sense that it is demeaning to be thirty and still attending City High football games. I feel like I should be doing more. Part of it is because, back in high school, I did not think too highly of the alums in their twenties and thirties who were still going to City High games. I assumed they were clinging to the past, never had the balls to reach for their dreams, or were lazy and aimless. There are people out there who are like that, but I am not one of them. Plus, life is much more complicated than naïve categorizations. Yet it still bothers me; I still feel a self-imposed twinge of shame whenever I go to a City High game. It is definitely something will need to wrestle and conquer.
ANYWAY. After Linn-Mar tied the game, City High regained the lead on a 69-yard touchdown run. On Linn-Mar’s next possession, the Lions ran the ball across the goal line. However, the score was negated by a holding penalty and the Lions eventually tried a field goal, which sailed wide left. The Little Hawks then extended their lead, 21-7, on a 28-yard run from a pitch play. The Little Hawks pitched the ball quite a bit tonight, which added a much needed extra element to the offense.
After the band did its annual Halloween/senior night show, things got interesting. Linn-Mar faked a punt to keep their first drive of the second half alive and scored a TD on the ground to tighten the score, 21–14. City High answered with their versatile TE, who ran the ball (yes, ran the ball) for an eight-yard touchdown run.
The Little Hawk defense was quite leaky tonight, especially on third down. City High could not hold and the Lions continued to convert. However, the Little Hawks stopped a drive with an interception. On the ensuing drive, though, City High’s QB fumbled on third down and one of the Lions chased the ball down to scoop and score. If the Lions could keep it close, they had a chance to steal a win.
The Little Hawks responded with another touchdown on the ground that was set-up by a 60-yard run. Linn-Mar answered, again, with a 41-yard pass after the QB sat in the pocket and looked, and looked, and looked for someone to throw to before finding an open receiver. The back-and-forth scoring ended, however, when City High punched the ball in for a 2-yarder to make the score 42-28, which was the final.
My grandma is visiting for her birthday, so after dinner and cake and ice cream my dad and I headed to the Linn-Mar–City High game and arrived late in the first quarter. The game was scoreless as we walked down First Avenue, but we watched, through the fence, as City High notched a touchdown with 35.4 seconds left. My dad got tied into a never ending conversation with one of the ticket booth workers, so by the time we paid at the gate, bought a program, and started walking toward the home stand, the second quarter had started and Linn-Mar tied the game at 7–7 with a long run down the sideline.
As I stood waiting impatiently for my dad (they were apparently talking about the steel the city uses for basins), one of the City High students passing out programs started a conversation with me. She told me she was cold. “I only have one glove,” she said. The other girl giving out programs said, “I have the other one.” They both held up their gloved hands, their other hands hidden inside their sleeves. After they laughed about that, the first girl asked if I had graduated from City High. I told her I had and she asked when.
“Oh one,” I said.
“Oh one,” she repeated, slowly. “That was a long time ago.”
“Yeah, it was.”
And I supposed it was a long time ago — relatively speaking. But, more than anything, her comment relates to something I have been turning over in my mind every time I have gone to Bates Field this season: I am on the cusp of thirty-one and here I am, in Iowa City, attending City High football games — much as I was thirteen, fifteen, twenty years ago. The thought delivers a nagging sense of shame.
Why? Because I am my own worst critic, way too self-conscious for my own good, and I feel like I should be doing something else, should be elsewhere, shooting for the stars or whatnot. When I lived in California, I felt proud of having left, of having taken a deep, determined breath to make a life for myself. I gladly returned to Iowa City and am greatly enjoying myself. I am writing, I have a great job, and I get to hang out with the people I love. But there is a nagging sense of underachievement, a sense that I am not taking full advantage of my abilities, a sense that it is demeaning to be thirty and still attending City High football games. I feel like I should be doing more. Part of it is because, back in high school, I did not think too highly of the alums in their twenties and thirties who were still going to City High games. I assumed they were clinging to the past, never had the balls to reach for their dreams, or were lazy and aimless. There are people out there who are like that, but I am not one of them. Plus, life is much more complicated than naïve categorizations. Yet it still bothers me; I still feel a self-imposed twinge of shame whenever I go to a City High game. It is definitely something will need to wrestle and conquer.
ANYWAY. After Linn-Mar tied the game, City High regained the lead on a 69-yard touchdown run. On Linn-Mar’s next possession, the Lions ran the ball across the goal line. However, the score was negated by a holding penalty and the Lions eventually tried a field goal, which sailed wide left. The Little Hawks then extended their lead, 21-7, on a 28-yard run from a pitch play. The Little Hawks pitched the ball quite a bit tonight, which added a much needed extra element to the offense.
After the band did its annual Halloween/senior night show, things got interesting. Linn-Mar faked a punt to keep their first drive of the second half alive and scored a TD on the ground to tighten the score, 21–14. City High answered with their versatile TE, who ran the ball (yes, ran the ball) for an eight-yard touchdown run.
The Little Hawk defense was quite leaky tonight, especially on third down. City High could not hold and the Lions continued to convert. However, the Little Hawks stopped a drive with an interception. On the ensuing drive, though, City High’s QB fumbled on third down and one of the Lions chased the ball down to scoop and score. If the Lions could keep it close, they had a chance to steal a win.
The Little Hawks responded with another touchdown on the ground that was set-up by a 60-yard run. Linn-Mar answered, again, with a 41-yard pass after the QB sat in the pocket and looked, and looked, and looked for someone to throw to before finding an open receiver. The back-and-forth scoring ended, however, when City High punched the ball in for a 2-yarder to make the score 42-28, which was the final.
