The little engine that wept
August 29th, 2007, 7:24 pm · Post a Comment · posted by webster
“I wouldn’t want to be Jacksonville right now!” — an SHG fan.
“Please have mercy on our young Crimsons this week.” — a JHS fan.
This is sad, folks. I don’t know which is more odious: The SHG fans who deem Jacksonville High football their whipping boy, to take out the Cyclones’ frustrations after having a long winning streak snapped … or the JHS fan, meekly simpering up to the SHG crowd on the SHG Web site.
Oh, Crimson fans. Are ye not men too?
Yeah, yeah. SHG lost a game. Somebody has to pay for that. Whatever. I’ve no doubt that head coach Ken Leonard will have his boys prepared, hungry and focused this week. Not because SHG lost, but because he ALWAYS has them prepared, hungry and focused. That’s the stuff back-to-back state titles are made of.
Do you know what state titles AREN’T made of? “Oh, please have mercy on us …”
There’s a too-easy perception in high school sports that the fans speak for the players and coaches. It’s not true. Fans — and, OK, the media too — have the luxury of saying whatever they want, because they don’t have to get in the arena and fight for it. Nobody on the SHG football team is going to take Jacksonville lightly until victory is at hand. Nobody on the JHS squad or coaching staff is going to ask the Cyclones to “go easy” on them. In fact, they’d probably be mad as hell if anyone else did, on their behalf.
Three weeks ago, I ate lunch with a few of the Crimsons’ team leaders and we talked about the possibility that SHG could be 0-1 when the two teams play in Week Two. Do you know what the JHS players said? They hoped the Cyclones would beat Lombard Montini, not because they were worried about incurring SHG’s wrath, but because the Crimsons wanted the opportunity themselves to break the Cyclones’ long winning streaks, which stopped at 28 overall and 46 in the regular season.
As for that other comment, “I wouldn’t want to be Jacksonville right now,” that’s just fan talk, missing the whole point. I cannot speak for all the Crimson football players, but I know that head coach Mark Grounds LOVES to play SHG. Win or lose, Grounds counts on the SHG game to sharpen and toughen up his players. The earlier, the better.
He says it every year, “Whether we win or lose, we feel like we are a better football team after playing SHG than we were before playing them.”
One more thing: Jacksonville football doesn’t plan on losing to SHG, unless the Cyclones themselves impose that on the Crimsons. It’s called competition. SHG might be the class of the CS8, but JHS would like to be considered one of the programs in the league that makes sure the Cyclones keep earning that distinction.
It doesn’t come with the uniform.
