[BrentCrude]

I wouldn't blame a kid at all for not wanting to play high school football today.The kids are bigger and faster and it's almost a certainty that if you go all out that you will suffer some sort of either short term injury or long term disability.The ra ra,cheerleader coach isn't going to give a damn about your bad knees or bad ankles when you are 26 and can't pass a physical to get hired by a company.

Even though in the mid to later 70's when I played,steroids were around and there were no real barriers in getting and using them,no one I knew used them.We suspected a guy on another team that went on to play as an offensive lineman for the Bucs did.Lots of kids I knew that I played with popped speed before games.I think back then they used to sell it in Playboy magazine.Not sure if it was the real thing or if they bought it from dealers.So many nicknames like greenies etc.that I can't remember them all.


When you come right down to it,the whole high school football experience is just a dog and pony show to impress people and get in some cheerleaders panties.It might do a few kids good but the bad far outweighs the good.If someone likes you just because you were a temporary stud and got lucky in a few games recovering a few fumbles and getting a few sacks you didn't deserve because the guy on their line was a creampuff,it's pretty pathetic.

The big stigma for a kid was if he had potential and either didn't want to play or else quit because he didn't like it.Being called a quitter was like the supreme insult of all time.

Hockey where I live is the big Al Bundy sport where it's pathetic that alot of guys have playing high school hockey as their best memory in life.Even the best of the best of them that had a whiff at maybe playing some sort of pro hockey either were injured or else got disgarded because they weren't Canadian at the time so what good did it do them.We have a couple guys that are around 80 where it's their whole life each and every day talking about how they won the state tournament and made a name for themselves up to the point of not making a red cent from the game because something went wrong.What good wa sit to even play in the Olympics.

[MartinBlank]

Huh? I don't really think that is accurate. I coached high school football for 7 years, and I think the kids today love the game just as much as we did 20 years ago. There is something you can learn from team sports--football in particular--that you can't buy or simulate while playing Madden, or from joining the band.

We played in Quad A in Pennsylvania, losing twice in the state semi's. And of the roughly 500 kids who played for me, not a one had such a disabling injury that he couldn't pass a work physical in his mid-20's. 32 of them were fortunate enough to continue to play ball into college--either at 1A-, D2, or 1-AA level.

Again, I think kids just love the game and what comes with being on a team.

[Fishhead]

Tough question.........

I had a great time playing high school football.........and we challenged for the state title in two of my four years.

Having said, I still have pains in my neck and back due to playing...............I CAN'T IMAGINE PLAYING FOUR YEARS OF CFB AND THEN PUTTING IN A FEW YEARS PLAYING IN THE NFL.

[aszzzbrokerman]

I'm sure your grandparents didn't feel the same way about hs football in the 70s as compared to when they played. Its called nostalgia. It leads us to believe that things were better/easier when we were young.

I played in the 90s.

This is what I remember about my hs football days.
*Public school memories
1. Being confronted by angry fans with guns on our team bus(ok that was basketball but still)
2. Team fights after someone spit on someone in the shake hands line.
3. Kids having pencils in their socks and stabbing other kids.
4. Teammate losing a game of russian roulette
*Private school memories
1. Rampant steroid use

In another 20 or so years I will probably lament about how those were days because I will be reminded of a time when my 40 time was below 6 and I could perform a bench press without taking out my dentures.

[pico]

risking serious injury. no thank you. i remember the black rbs at my hs looks like they could start for college teams.

[armyoflovers]

i shouldve, starting at age 8, punted 200 footballs a day....professional punter is easiest job on the planet...