1. I grew up in
a family of 49ers fans. I've never cared about football on television.
2. When I was
ten I liked the looks of flag football.
My brother played on a city team and I loved the flags flapping and the
heroic running across the grass. I
asked my parents if I could be on a team too. On the first day of practice I kicked the coach’s hand instead
of the ball by mistake. He cursed at me and that was the first and last day of
my football career.
3. When I was ten I liked the looks of the Dallas Cowboy
Cheerleaders that I saw on a poster. I thought they were the epitome of
womanhood and if that was what puberty had in store for me, I was really
looking forward to it.
4. That wasn’t what
puberty had in store for me.
5. I attended
Carondelet High School, the across-the-street sister school of football
powerhouse De La Salle High School. I went to a few football games because my
friends were going but I watched exactly zero seconds of any play.
6. After
teaching at all-girls high schools for eight years I started watching Friday
Night Lights on television. Perhaps I chose to take a job at Sac Charter High
mostly because of the show Friday Night Lights. Perhaps.
7. One of the
deans and assistant football coaches at my school was a former college and NFL
player. He told me that playing for the NFL was a dream come true. He had a
rough childhood in the same hometown as me, and sometimes brought groups of
kids to see where he grew up to show them what was possible through hard work
and commitment.
8. I have known students who play football with
the power and grace of Achilles on the fields of war.
9. I have known coaches who drive students to school who otherwise don't have rides.
Who show up at a classroom within five minutes of a call that a student
athlete is having a bad day and turn that student’s outlook around with a
single conversation. Who bring food for students who don't have enough
at home. Who sit for hours counseling a student who is having a hard
time. You think Coach Taylor of Friday
Night Lights is great? Well he is, but real life asks so much more and the
coaches I’ve known are heroes. They are the reason I wrote How to Be Manly.
10. When the school where I used to teach went against the
school where I currently teach in a playoff game, I escaped by driving out to
the middle of Death Valley and camping there for four days. It was a confusing
time.
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| When this happened, I went to the desert. |
