Who played football?

[McC]

Kudos for the great thread.

Started playing football at about ten. Grew up in a small town where every Sunday morning in the fall, the men in town played tackle football at an elementary school. Believe me, they played for blood.

The kids in town would go watch and have a little game of their own on the sidelines. One Sunday, when I was 14, the older guys needed a guy. Before I knew what happened, I was out there with grown men.

I'm out there on the opening kickoff, knees knocking with fear, and damned if it doesn't come to me. One thing I had as an athlete was very quick feet.

I don't know if it was all the fear or what, but I ran it back for a td. After that, I played every week. I was pretty good at not taking bit hits when I ran the ball but there were times when there was no avoiding it. The phrase clock cleaned comes to mind.

But what playing against these way bigger guys without pads did was make me pretty tough. By the time I got to organized football and put pads on, I was utterly fearless. Played one year of JV and three years of varsity--RB and CB, blew out a knee the third game of the year and that was that.

It's something you never forget, being on a team. It's where humans do their best work. There's nothing like a shared endeavor to bond people together and it often lasts for life.

Football, sports in general, is where you learn about what you get out has everything to do with what you put in.