All those long nights and weeks worth of practice during the hot nights of August have all lead up to this moment where Friday Night transforms itself into something magical. Something so great that it’s limited to just a few weeks of the year.
On this night family members and community spectators will travel miles after a long work week to experience and be a part of the magic.
It is a night where young men and women across this great country of ours will meet on a field of green and do battle against each other. One team will leave the field with their spirits high and victory flowing in their blood. While the other will leave the field filled with the sadness of a loss, though hopefully will be reminded of a quote from one of the games greatest people to ever walk on the field.
Vince Lombardi – “We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.”
For our boys, this years season starts with a Friday Night Home game for the oldest followed by an away game on Saturday for the youngest.
Both boys are new to the game this year.
The oldest finally reaching a physical size and desire to play the game while the youngest finally reaching the minimum age requirement that he has been aware of since about the age of 3.
For myself this is that time of year where I now am permitted to encourage the boys to be aggressive, be angry, go tackle that other player and do it as hard as you can. I encourage them to feel no fear and to confront their opponents with as much speed and force as a locomotive.
I do this because much like Zeus in the movie Clash of the Titans I am hoping to “Release the Crackin”. Though what I am looking to release is not the mythical beast controlled by Zeus working under the guide of Poseidon (Kraken).
Rather mine is a beautiful event seen and heard only in football when two bodies traveling in opposing directions hit each other with such force that the sound of their helmets and pads meeting lets out a sound making those nearby cringe in excitement. For those not familiar with the sound the best description would be to send you to a local hardware store and to have you smack 2 pieces of a 2×4 together on their flat surface as hard as you can.
I think everyone who watches football has seen the visual effects of when the “Crackin” appears. It is that play where people in the room curl their body into a quick and partial fetal position accompanied with an expressive “oooohhhhh” and “ahhhhh” to somehow show that they can actually feel the pain the players themselves must have gone through.
It is this event that I now find myself describing to the boys as those rarest of plays in football where lovers of the game will stand and holler.
It is my opinion that in a football game there are two plays that everyone will remember.
The one where someone scored and then the other which is in my opinion the best and most exciting play.
The one where the “Crackin” is released!!!
Dennis White (person extraordinaire) 