Centerfield

Football The Way I Like It: Smart Football

When I was going to Seneca Valley High School, in Maryland (suburban Washington), I often went to the football games, but to encourage my friends in the band. The games themselves were pretty boring to me. Same deal with the powerful Redskins of the era. And until I came to Austin, I only got interested in occasional playoffs.

When I moved to Austin, I discovered a largely different kind of football. Smart football. Both the coaches and the players are alot smarter than they were back in Maryland. Back in my high school, there was just one, lonely, smart football player; otherwise it was classic jocks vs. geeks. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, that makes all the difference. The play is much more interesting, because it's more thoughful, and they put more passion into it. Plus, it makes for more wins, and let's face it, a winning football team is more fun than a losing one.

That's how I became a Texas Longhorn fan. Of course, there are other schools like that: Berkeley, Stanford, UW, etc. Plus, others when they have smart coaches. Even the University of Maryland is like that at the moment due to a new, smart coach who understands about smart football.

Right now, the place where the Profesora teaches is also fortunate to have a coach with a smart football style. His first year was uneven, because he had to get the idea of thinking across, but last year they made it to the third playoff game in the NCAA-1A tournament. Watching was lots of fun, because everybody was in it. It hardly seemed like the same game as they played the first time I went to one of their games, the year before the new coach.

I only find NFL games interesting if there's something of that element on at least one side.