It is the first football game of the season and the stands are filled with High School Football fanatics! They are cheering on their kids, their friends, their Alma Mater… GO DARBY GO! GO DARBY GO! … The clock is stopped at 30 seconds with the score tied at 14 apiece, its fourth down and inches for Darby on the defenses 20-yard line… This is what football is all about! The teams break from their huddles and meet at the line muttering inaudible profanities and threats of ‘taking you down’ to the opposition.
Meanwhile… in the stands, a Hilliard-Darby student was showing his school spirit by passing out colored pieces of paper announcing to all that it read ‘GO DARBY!’ and should be held above their heads as they cheered!
The quarterback on the field is completely concentrated on the tail end of his center before calling out the play followed by the meanest sounding hike his puberty cracking vocal chords could muster. He grabs the cool leather and finds the laces while looking back and forth on his line, no opening… gotta throw. He finds a receiver running down the home side of the field and chooses his target. He is about to launch the ball for a touchdown and the nearly guaranteed win, when he sees the crowd lift brightly color signs above their heads and start cheering him on.
‘… what’s that say? … WE SUCK! … huh?…’
And no sooner than a cat passes gas after eating corn… he was pummeled to the ground by a 300 pound freight train with cleats senior, letting the football fall loose where then the opposing team picks it up and runs for an 80 yard touchdown, sealing their victory!
An interesting story, eh? I found this story on NPR today. Basically… the only truth in the story I told you was that a high school student went around handing out colored pieces of paper telling them it read ‘GO DARBY!’ when in all actuality it read ‘WE SUCK!’ Haha… you have to admit… that is pretty funny. On the downside for the kid, he barely made it into the school year without being suspended. But as the NPR commentator points out, at least now he has plenty of time to bask in full heat of his YouTube glory!
This story caught my attention because it is a high school in Ohio, up near Columbus. In fact, I actually think one of my roommates went to this high school. I’ll have to forward the story to him; he might get a kick out of it.
The question that comes to my mind though, is… didn’t people look at the signs before they started holding them up? Rarely does anyone hand me anything and I just start using it without first giving it a once over. Maybe the football attendants to the Hilliard-Darby football games should share a little bit of the blame.
Why of course I’ll use your blowtorch that has a giant ‘DO NOT USE’ sticker on it… Who cares if the flame appears to be going back into its own fuel tank?
I also think that being suspended is a little harsh. Yes it was extremely anti-school spirit… but really, getting suspended by handing out paper? That’s pretty crazy if you ask me.
I wonder what would happen if I went to a University of Cincinnati football game and handed out pieces of paper and told people to cheer with them raised high above their heads… but on the pieces of paper I told them read ‘GO UC!’ it actually read ‘I LOVE MY MOM!’? You think I’d make ESPN Sports Center? I don’t know… I’ll have to ponder this and figure out a good plan of action.
I’m out… Have a great long weekend!