This fall, for the first time in nine years, I haven’t been spending my Friday evenings watching high school football games.
And the lack of Friday Night Lights in my life this fall has really made me appreciate how much those games – with the electricity of excitement crackling in the air, the atmosphere of the crowds filling the stadiums and the players creating jaw-dropping moments that draw oohs and ahhs from the fans – had become an important part of my life.
For the past five years, I’ve spent those Friday evenings hustling up-and-down the sidelines with a camera in one hand ready to shoot and my other hand desperately attempting to Tweet out game updates at the same time.
The four years prior to me becoming a sports writer, I was in the stands of those high school games back home in Pennsylvania as a student, cheering on my classmates and trying to make it to the concession stand and back with a cup of steaming hot chocolate before halftime ran out.
This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic having taken away North Carolina’s fall football, things just feel wrong on Friday nights, as I’m sure it does for the players, coaches and fans who are used to spending these evenings on the field or in the stands.
Even during the week, as the weather continues to cool, I keep thinking to myself, “This weather feels like high school football season.”
It doesn’t help that many of the high school sports writers that I know in the industry and located in states where football is being played, which means that on Friday nights, my Twitter feed is full of football highlights that add salt to the wound that is already sore.
I’m glad that our student athletes are going to have the chance to play out their perspective seasons this year and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the fans – along with myself – will be able to witness those games in person.
But, man, what I would do for the chance to cover some Friday Night Lights.
Noah Shatzer is the sports writer for the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; or email, sports@cherokeescout.com.