The first home game

I went to the first home game of the season for my alma mater, Gilroy High School. Of course, I don't know anything about football. I just chat with my family and visit with people I run into, including former high school classmates. I just cheer along when everyone else in the crowd does, and watch for player No. 78.

No. 78 is my cousin and I'm told he's a pretty good player, though I couldn't really say why. He's a varsity starter this year, but had to sit out the first game due to an injury. I went to most of the games last year, but then he was JV so we'd get to the stadium around 5 p.m., buy a pepper steak sandwich for dinner (the GHS boosters make an amazing tri-tip sandwich) and watch the game.

The JV games were nice because they were earlier in the day, so it wasn't so cold. And they are less crowded since a lot of people show up just for the varsity game. But I guess I will have to invest some warmer outerwear because even in this week that had triple digit weather for several days, it got quite chilly by 8 p.m., when the game started. In fact, I gave up at half-time - and the Mustangs were up 30 to 0 against the Morgan Hill/Live Oak Acorns - and went home.


Things seem to have changed since I was in high school. Our dress code prohibited tank tops and shorts, but now that seems to be all the girls wear. And the comment I've gotten from teenage girls is that if you wear two tanks tops then it's not so slutty - regardless of how much cleavage is showing. But what gets me more is the skinny jean trend for boys. I just don't understand. Of course, today I tried to explain the hypercolor T-shirt trend to a coworker who is a decade older and I found myself just ending the conversation with "yeah, I guess now that I think about it T-shirts that change color with body heat were kind of a bad idea. Think about what our armpits looked like at the end of the day."

And the kids don't actually sit and watch the games anymore. They just walk back and forth between the bleachers and the snack bar or the bathroom, checking their cell phones and texting each other. They run into each other and scream and giggly and cheer as though they haven't seen each other in years when they probably last saw each other in fifth period. I am sure my friends and I were just like that, but I'm old enough that I've blocked it all out.

It's going to be a long football season of cold nights and fashion-forward teenagers.