When I was going to
Seneca Valley High School, in Maryland (suburban Washington), I
often went to the football games, but to encourage my friends in the
band. The games themselves were pretty boring to me. Same deal with
the powerful Redskins of the era. And until I came to Austin, I only
got interested in occasional playoffs.
When I moved to Austin, I discovered a largely different kind of football.
Smart football. Both the coaches and the players are alot smarter
than they were back in Maryland. Back in my high school, there was
just one, lonely, smart football player; otherwise it was classic
jocks vs. geeks. Anyway, as far as I’m concerned, that makes all
the difference. The play is much more interesting, because it’s more
thoughful, and they put more passion into it. Plus, it makes for
more wins, and let’s face it, a winning football team is more fun than
a losing one.
That’s how I became a Texas Longhorn fan. Of course, there are other
schools like that: Berkeley, Stanford, UW, etc. Plus, others when
they have smart coaches. Even the University of Maryland is like that
at the moment due to a new, smart coach who understands about smart
football.
Right now, the place where the Profesora teaches is also fortunate
to have a coach with a smart football style. His first year was
uneven, because he had to get the idea of thinking across, but
last year they made it to the third playoff game in the NCAA-1A
tournament. Watching was lots of fun, because everybody was in it.
It hardly seemed like the same game as they played the first time
I went to one of their games, the year before the new coach.
I only find NFL games interesting if there’s something of that element
on at least one side.