I took a job at an elite private high school this year, and I also work for the football team as well. Because we are an elite private school, we only play other elite private schools in football (*see note at end of post*). Also, if you decide to research and find out where I work, please refer to it only by the school's initials - the school is really particular about its branding. Last night we played a school that at least four members of the football team had dad's who played in the NFL, two are names you are probably familiar with, one should probably be a first ballot HoF'er except his off field exploits will probably have him wait a few years, and one currently works for FOX as a broadcaster and was only on an NFL practice squad.
We played a road game, and it was Dad's night at the game, so all the player's fathers were on or near the sideline for the entire game. If you're going to throwdown $20,000 per year per kid for your children to go to HS, you should get some perks. If any of you have been to Florida, you know that the state is basically a huge lighting rod, and we had about a 90 minute delay before the game. During the delay, the coaching staffs of both teams and these well known former players were milling around, and because these are hoity-toity schools, the atmosphere was very friendly and everyone was having a good time - basically the opposite of a Raiders-Chargers game where assault with a deadly weapon is a normal day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auzzqw7UVAY.
Here are two of the fellows I'm talking about (I took it from LS's twitter feed).
I'm sure you can recognize one of those guys - the future HoF'er. When I heard he was around, my mind immediately went to why we was recently fired...but as soon as he flashed that smile and started talking, those thoughts went out the window and he honestly comes off as a genuinely nice guy. The other guy in the picture, LS, was a gentleman as well, especially since I identified myself as a Steelers fan.
The one guy I will mention by name is the sports caster, Charles Davis. He was by far the most social and outgoing people at the game, and he seemed to be on a first name basis with everybody, and I mean everybody. But he's on TV, you would think that is just part of the job. After the game, and after briefly talking to his son who was the starting QB, he started talking to the other kids on the team and it became quite clear that he actually knew who they were and it wasn't the first time they met him. There was nothing fake about the interaction, and it wasn't a quick glad-handing like a politician, he was just being a damn fine person. Maybe I am a little jaded when it comes to rich people and celebrities, but last night everyone was treating Mr. Davis like a celebrity except Mr. Davis.
We got wailed on, on the field. But that was the first time I ever played or coached in a game that we lost by 40 points and still had warm and fuzzy feelings afterwards.
*Endnote: When it comes to "inner city" sports like football and basketball, we only schedule other private schools to compete with. But when it comes to the "rich kid" sports like Volleyball, Lacrosse, golf, swimming, soccer, and baseball we don't mind pounding the local riff-raff it seems. I guess the parents want to keep those nice rich kids away from those brutish poor kids.
Topic: I met four NFL players last night... (Read 1114 times)