Speaking of band, does the football team ever attend cheerleading or band competitions? Do the players ever don their uniforms and lug all of their equipment to one of these to support the students and teachers who support them under the Friday night lights? It just doesn't happen. Do the patrons attend basketball and soccer contests as they do football? Do they equally cheer for the girls' teams as they do for the boys? Are elementary and middle school functions equally important? |
I'm not just asking; I know the answers to these questions as much as the next guy.
Yeah, I know the answers, and I get it. It's just like our economy: it's survival of the fittest, supply and demand. If you brought in as much money, community support, interest, and excitement as the football program, you would get the same love the football team gets. If there was more demand for your non-football program, you would get more supply in return. Yeah, I get it.
But that doesn't mean I like it. I'm just saying that the underdogs need some attention, too, and we just don't give it to them. Other programs need accolades, too. Other kids need to feel like winners when they are winners, too. I could go off on sports in general, but that's not what this is. In a world where self-esteem is supposedly so important, how are successful kids with different skill sets supposed to feel when it is only the big guy with the shoulder pads who gets lifted on the team's shoulders?
We should do better.