Caring on a certain level is expected, but we all know those people that care just a little bit too much, right? The guy who's depressed and moping like his dog just died for about two weeks after whatever heart-wrenching playoff or Super Bowl loss just took place. It forces all of us to sit back and think 'A little perspective, please.' Doesn't it? At least for me it does.
I prefer to think of it this way: Professional and major college teams could give a rip whether you root for them or not. They exist primarily to make money. Oh, and win games. Which gets them more money. If you stop rooting today or tomorrow, plenty of others will continue to support your team or drop off the map, and nobody will really care. This isn't an argument that you should cease all rooting immediately for your teams, but simply to draw attention to the fact that it's primarily a one-sided relationship.
But when you can trace a rooting interest in something as far back as your earliest memories and your instrumental formative years, that's when emotional investment becomes so much more real and tangible.
To wit, my alma mater, Southern Columbia Area High School, residing on the outskirts of Catawissa, Pa., in east central Pennsylvania, will attempt to make history tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Hersheypark Stadium by becoming the first Pennsylvania scholastic football team to win a seventh state championship.
Now THIS is something to get behind in terms of a sports-related rooting interest, primarily for us proud alumni of what has transformed into one of the truly well-recognized statewide powers in Pennsylvania football. Especially for those of us who witnessed that transformation firsthand from a barely competitive program (1960s and 70s), to a district-wide competitive program (1980s and early 1990s) to the present standard by which all other Class A football teams in Pa. are held.
Even when the Tigers don't make the championship game - they have been to the big dance 13 times in the past 18 seasons - their presence looms large over the proceedings. It's usually worth noting whenever SCA isn't there simply because, they aren't there.
There are a myriad of components for why the program has become so successful, many of which are well known by several folks reading this piece. For some quick bullet-points, they include tons of hard work (in the offseason too), strength training, superb conditioning, high football IQ, talented players that learn the value of hard work from an early age onward, a dedicated coaching staff that molds young men into respectable people in addition to teaching the Xs and Os of the game, and probably a dozen other reasons.
But I like to think, more than anything else, it's about the stuff that transcends learning the proper gap protections or anticipating where the ball is headed. It goes beyond knowing the playbook.
It's about the blood, sweat and tears, baby. It's about having no doubt you can accomplish anything. It's also about trust, camaraderie among teammates, and doing anything in your power to not let people down.
This is all from the perspective of someone who didn't actually wear the uniform, but was as close to the program as one can be without doing so. Having that vantage point allows for the sort of observations that could seemingly never otherwise be gleaned.
Watching a year-by-year transformation of a district champion, to a state playoff qualifier, back to a district champion that could advance no further due to an outdated, wacky points system and then finally culminating in the school's first gold trophy (1994) was an indescribable experience I will always have with me.
No loss by a pro or college team could possibly match the disappointment I felt from the stands in 1995 and 1996 when SCA came up short against Farrell (6-0 and 14-12, respectively). I can't even imagine how the players felt. Another four gut-wrenching losses would have to be endured over the next 5 seasons before that glorious string of five consecutive championships took place from 2002-2006.
And as a lot of athletes will probably tell you, the toughest of losses stays with you longer than the most thrilling of triumphs. I used to think this was B.S. But now, I actually kind of understand it.
No matter what happens tomorrow in Hershey, head coach Jim Roth, his staff and his players will come out prepared and give everything they've got against unbeaten and two-time defending state champion Clairton. But anyone who knows anything knows better than to count the Tigers out.
Finally, the games play out year after year, and the graduates move on with their lives. But regardless of what the scoreboard said when it was over, what's most important is how inspiring the program is to current and former members. We see it in the results on the field, and the fact that for the first time ever this year, an SCA alumni is playing in the NFL (congrats, Henry Hynoski). Great things are only possible through hard work and determination.
At the time, it seems like you're only learning the game of football and pulling for victories on the field, above all else.
Then you learn more as you get older.
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