PeeWee Recap 30-7 Loss, Not Really Recap, Rant-sTylez

I write this after a couple pints of cheap American ale. I went out with some buddies after my JV team finished up our last real test of the season. A team we sorta stacked up against. But really the game was defined by a single play. We busted a 40 yard run down the sideline. As the ball carrier was forced to the sideline by a free safety, a linebacker blindsided him on the right shoulder. Helmets hit and our guy and their guy fell down. Their guy hopped up and high-fived his teammates for a touchdown saving tackle. Our guy started moaning in agony. But I say "guy" like he's this chess piece or interchangeable lug nut. He's a 12 or 13 year old ninth grader. He's a kid. I kinda realized that I had dehumanized the players ingame. I had considered everyone to be a little warrior capable of making every play and incapable of mistakes. Every mistake capable of fixing with simple ingame coaching.

I didn't really think, "This is a kid. This is someone else's kid. We're running him against 11 kids that are 20 pounds heavier than him and most of them are faster than him." That never crossed my mind until we put him up on the stretcher.

He turned out to be "okay." He had a stinger at the base of his neck that temporarily NUMBED HIS EXTREMITIES.

I kinda wanted to write about it just 'cause we get so caught up in this epic conflict on the battlefield. This blood sport. We forget the kids fighting the battle. We forget the actual muscles that are being used and supplant the kids bodies with our own psyche. It's like we're the ones out there and the failures and victories are more our own than the actual kids playing the game. Beats me.

It's a weird thing to see your quarterback cry when his best friend is carted off the field. You don't see that on ESPN or FSN or Raycom. They start talking about the conference or the head coach when there's an injury. Or the backup suddenly becomes important. The injury is dehumanized. It's odd, to me. But anyways, let's get fired up about GT-VT. WOOOHOOO!!! Game on, right?

Sorry for the rant. Just wanted to talk about the fact that injuries are such an overlooked and un-fascinating topic in football particularly college athletics.