Friday night lights

Finally we get to tick this box . It’s been in the making for a while , but we’ve had to wait on the calendar opening up . High School football , or as we call It ,gridiron. A 7 pm start had Emma , Leroy , his mate Wesley and myself entering just as the school band started it’s street march into the stadium with police escort .Ohh yeah , Emma and I looked at each other and laughed , this is great . The police blocking the road off for a high school band on their way into a teenagers game of football !!! It happens here , and I must admit it raised the excitement level .Shit this is Americana at its best and we,re not even inside .Leroy and Wesley are dancing , strutting and whooping it up as we march in sync with the band to the entry point . Our Mornington mate Tim is already inside sitting right under the announcers box on the terraces of a pretty reasonable sized grandstand for high school sport . Once inside ($30 for the 4 of us ) it’s straight to the canteen for some oily pepperoni pizza and root beer ( sarspiralla) , and then it’s intro time . A minutes silence for the passing of a beloved sport coach and a rousing rendition of the national anthem by the school band had the hairs on the back of the neck standing up . The Yanks do this so well , when it comes to show time , they know how to build the atmosphere , no matter the age and level . Cheerleaders chanting , dancing and building pyramids had us all in wonder . This is hilarious , are we not in some high school movie ? Emma loves this stuff , Tim too . Ok , so do I . Come game time , the stands are pretty full , and impressive crowd on a cool Fall evening . The game itself isn’t a great spectacle , at times following the ball is difficult in the light but fortunately we had Tim and Wesley . Wesley’s commentary and high fiving kept us entertained . Normally you can’t get boo out of him . And then there was Tim ; verbally replaying moments with his beautiful fake American accent , standing up slapping high Fives and playful sledges that had the crowd around us laughing . Sledging has to be done with extreme caution over here , Tim had it down pat , relying on Aussie innocence and lines from the many American films he recites . By nights end Mira Costa had a good win ;there was nearly a scrap on field that had Tim and I straight on our feet , I looked around and nearly everyone was still seated , we had a laugh as Tim commentated to the crowd on how the event unfolded .At half time the field was converted into a giant stage ,with fake trees , giant moon , dancers and performers putting on a show for the crowd . From finish to end there is non stop entertainment,this is the American way . The jocks playing , the girls dancing , musos playing , drama kids acting and cheerleaders cheering . Nearly every kid has a chance to be centre stage , which is something I admire . It builds a great school camaraderie . We ate some horribly shit food , and that had me wondering how a hot Aussie meat pie would fare here . I say it’d sell for sure . Alcohol is a no go , but judging by the men lined up to hit the bathroom ( dunnies) it must come in by flask or other means , shit I missed that one .By 930 it’s over , and I must say I was glad for that , not for the spectacle but more the game itself . This is a game Aussie kids can excel at , but that’s another story . High School Football …. we enjoyed that , it’s something I’d recommend any Aussie tourist try and squeeze in