A New Era

This is an interesting piece concerning high school football and the risks inherent in games between mismatched teams.

Folks pay attention these days, but that certainly wasn't the case when I played high school football in the sixties. I played at a very small school in a league with schools three and four times larger than mine. My school might have a couple of big guys each year, but too few to make an impact on the overall competitive level of our squad. We were often thumped hard by teams with a lot of big players. Nobody cared that we were getting our heads bashed in by 6-6 280 pounders and losing by 60 points every game.

We were told it built character to be bulled so badly.

States now attempt to classify schools by their enrollments. Oregon now fields Classes 6 through 1 in descending order.

I wasn't really good enough to play big time college ball, but I played against many who were. I tried to survive in the main, and I was lucky to not get seriously hurt at various times.

Times have changed. Fear now rules--of injuries, lawsuits, etc. Maybe there is some good sense in there, too.


TS