Friday Night Lights

Last night I went to the city championship game here in Brunswick. The town's two high schools, Brunswick High and Glynn Academy, square off in a game that always attracts a large crowd. All three of my older brothers went to Brunswick High and played football for the Pirates, so I spent many Friday nights in the fall cheering for their team to win. My father decided I should go to a small "christian" school to keep me away from boys like my brothers, so I did not get a regular high school experience. All of our flag football games were played during the day in towns like Waycross, Jesup and Ludowici. Because I was exposed to the hedonous public school games, I knew there was a major difference between our cheerleaders and the Brunswick High cheerleaders. Our cheerleaders had skirts that went to their ankles and had shirts that were sure not to produce any lust in the hearts of the boys in the stands, well not really stands, the fans just kind of stood around on the grass because we did not have any stands.

I was lucky that my brothers were considered studs and the cheerleaders at Brunswick High always wanted to appear maternal in front of them so they would let me sit on the field and hold some of the small pom-poms. Occasionally they would pick me up after a touchdown and I would look up into the stands and feel like I was the luckiest girl in the world. They were sweet and perky and I wanted to be just like them one day. These kind souls did not realize that my brothers despised me because my dad let me watch Seseame Street any time I wanted too, but Rusty, Tim and Robbie tried to be nice to me in front of strangers so it worked out well for all concerned. It was my greatest desire in the world to be a cheerleader. I learned every cheer, every move and I would stand alone outside during lunch at school and do those cheers imagining that I was at the game on a friday night. I spent many hours in detention because, according to mrs. Partin, I was doing "inappropriate gyrations." I knew I had no chance at Emanuel Christian School of being a real cheerleader. I would never be able to wear those short blue and gold skirts and shake my ass as the band played the Brunswick High fight song. I remember my shame and astonishment when, on our first game at Emanuel, the cheerleaders took the field with pom-poms that were made of trashbags that had been cut into long strips! I know it is unbelievable, but I swear it is true.

Going to the game last night brought back a lot of those memories. The cheerleaders I remember looked so much older. The girls cheering last night looked like babies, but maybe its because I am so much older. I saw people that I knew from high school: the girls who were once so beautiful were still beautiful; they only had a few more lines and a thicker waist. Guys that all the girls used to love were chasing a kid around and underneath their baseball cap was a little less hair. I heard some older people around me comment on how rude kids are nowadays, and I thought about it. I don't think it is rudeness, or lack of manners; I think it is that they live in a world consisting of themselves and their friends. A few wrinkles can make you invisible to them. It is not that they don't care; they just don't care about you. Fifteen years from now, they will return to this game and complain about the rudeness of kids nowadays while they adjust their baseball cap or look across the bleachers to find their teenage son and his friends.