Friday Night Lights

I've previously mentioned (in great detail) the strain my social calendar is under due to football season; however, due to my previous whining (it just never stops, does it?), I wanted to 'fess up and let you know that I am actually enjoying myself.

A great deal, friends. A great deal.

Last Thursday my girl had to stay home from school and make an unscheduled trip to the doctor as she woke with a fever. Turns out her allergies weren't satisfied with occupying her sinuses but had instead moved into her lungs.

Verdict: Bronchitis

She made a quick turnaround (see, Dave, that's what happens when you actually seek medical attention - the irony is that he is actually a medical provider) and was must better by late that afternoon. So she walked out to the mailbox and returned with an envelope that contained an invitation to a birthday party the next evening.

If an upcoming party won't make a 'tween girl feel better immediately, I simply do not know what will. She asked that I still make her Homecoming mum (of course she did)  but really wanted to go to the party instead of the game.

You're only 10 once so of course we said that was fine. And it had NOTHING to do with the fact that I could watch the game in peace. Not one iota.

She did, however, request that I take pictures. It's like she knows my love language...

So I pulled out my camera as soon as we pulled up to the stadium.

This is Midway ISD's new stadium and, in fact, it just opened this season. It is, in my opinion, quite impressive. Also, I feel the need to let anyone reading this who's not from Texas know that, yes, this is in fact a HIGH SCHOOL stadium.

Just watch a few episodes of Friday Night Lights and dial the drama down .25 percent and you'll have a very accurate representative of pigskin in the Lone Star State.

Which, I must admit, is ironic for a girl from a very small town in Louisiana that didn't even have football. It was all basketball there...but I digress...

The band was making its way into the stadium sporting their spiffy new uniforms. I was ecstatic to see the feathered plumes because, well, we all know how I feel about feathers.

Because it was Homecoming, they did their show 30 minutes before kickoff. As a former color guard girl, I find that to be an absolutely fantastic idea.

Funny side note: because Tay wasn't with us and the folks who sit next to us had brought a friend, I ended up sitting next to the "dad" of the group. He has a daughter who plays clarinet in the band. As I was furiously snapping pictures, he asked whether we were supporting a band or color guard member. 

My reply of "neither - I just love a good band" was met was amusement. Turns out he's an ex football player. Who's just as shy as my husband.

From there I believe you can glean the entertainment factor (for me anyway) of this particular evening.

Soon it was time for the team to arrive onto the field. Apparently it's a rule these days that players run through the mouth of an inflatable version of their mascot. This has me chuckling because I could just see my high school classmates running through the helmet of a Trojan.

Ok, so I thought it was time but those poor drill team members ended up having to stand there for a 

L-O-N-G time with no players to fluff their pom poms at...

Then the massive scoreboard caught my attention. Anything that lights up does that to me, honestly, but you have to admit that it's pretty impressive for a high school game. What is kind of odd, though, is that they've actually sold spots to run on that video board so it was sort of like watching television in living color during timeouts...

This group is called the Panther Patrol and Dave's cousin, Bree, is second from the left on the front row. He has an uncle, Ernie, who is his age so he has a 16-year-old cousin. They are a delightful family but we keep showing up at all of the same places (including zumba) so it's possible I've been dubbed the stalked of the family in recent days.

I couldn't rightly say...

Finally it was time for the team to hit the field...

...and this is where I got sad...

Why, you ask? 

Because look at the fans for the other team. Rather, look at the LACK of fans for the other team. Their band didn't even get there until after the game started. I felt bad for them, friends. Not bad enough that I actually wanted them to score any points but still...

It was a rather odd first half but we were up at the break and it was time for more glitz and glamour (aka crowning of the Homecoming Queen) so I pulled out my camera again.

There were 12 - yes, TWELVE - nominees, which the man next to me informed me was "way too much" because they only have four when he was at Midway and there are only 600 more students now than there were back then.

So there you have it...

I was perfectly delighted at the pageantry...

...and have absolutely no idea who won, to be frank, but everyone cheered so I did too...

Toward the end of the third quarter, Dave and I decided to leave and get Taylor as the party was over at 10pm. Turns out we were 15 minutes early, which was not appreciated by my daughter very much, but she got over it with a late night run to Taco Bell.

Apparently some things truly are genetic.

And, yes, Midway won. We're undefeated. Woo hoo!

Now please excuse me while I figure out what type of football food I should consume at the next game. Because we all know that concession stands mean one thing - a bona fide excuse to cheat on one's diet.

The end.