Saturday August 7

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!

Bought 4 new tires this morning. I probably needed them. If I was going to attempt driving to the Arctic Circle I didn’t need any surprises. They are way better than the ones I had on there and I felt a lot safer just driving around. They had much thicker sidewalls to better support the weight of the camper as well. The kid that sold ‘em was maybe the best salesman I’ve ever encountered.

It was my goal today to visit two very different high schools and watch the first two high school football games in America for the 2010 season. By October in Alaska the place is inhospitable so they start the season way early. The first day of double sessions is the 3^rd week of July and the first game of the season is the first weekend in August. The students still have 2 more weeks of summer vacation.

Game one pitted the Kodiak High Bears against the Eilson Air Force Base Ravens. The game was on the Air Force base and the players were from the families of soldiers based there. I had to actually go into this office and get cleared to enter the base to watch the game. For the record, most states out here require you to carry proof of vehicle insurance card. Massachusetts has this wacky system where you can’t register your car without proving that you have insurance. As you know, it says the name of your insurance company right on the registration. This was a considerable curveball for the guy at the desk. He doesn’t get many visitors with Mass plates and he had to call in some higher up to get the a-ok………all for a high school football game.

The game was pretty good. Kodiak dominated and were lead by a group of huge Samoan kids. They pretty much trampled all over the field making plays both on offense as well as defense. Kodiak is an island about 800 miles south of Fairbanks. (Imagine Nashoba playing say, some team as far away as Georgia every season) The teams in Alaska are very used to long airplane flights and nights spent sleeping on the home team’s gym floor. Visiting teams are limited to the amount of players they bring as costs add up quick. Today Kodiak came with about 18 players and crushed them.

The crowd was small but enthusiastic. There were 5 cheerleaders who were great. There was even a guy from Kodiak doing play by play in the stands using his cell phone to deliver the signal back to the island. He was super talented and smooth. He sat there and called every play, using all the players names, interjected interesting historical Alaskan football facts, and even did the sponsors announcements before and after the commercial breaks….all on his phone.

Game two was held at a more traditional setting, West Valley Public High School across town in Fairbanks. The West Valley Wolf Pack were host to the East Anchorage Thunderbirds. The stands were packed and the game was a thriller. West had an unbelievably potent offence but was bogged down again and again by penalties. Had they been able to cut back on the penalties they would have won. West Valley made a few spectacular plays, both long passes and long runs to score enough points to hold off East. As seen in the photo, one old Eskimo guy could have cared less about the game. He spent the afternoon coloring in his grandson's coloring book.

It was a brilliantly sunny day. For 30 minutes there was a torrential downpour in the middle of the second game, but the sun was out again by games end.

A few interesting Alaska high school football tid bits.

-Way more passing then home. Lots of long effective passes.

-The sportsmanship was impeccable. Strangely better than I’d ever seen at a high school sporting event……….players helping each other up, pats on the back from opponents, hugs and handshakes at games end.

-Every players name was announced at the beginning of the game.

- When the players from Both teams leave the field the parents and fans of Both teams together, make 2 lines that the players have to walk through. More hugs and high fives for players from both teams.

-The prices to get into the games were the same as Nashoba’s.

- The players were big, fast, and rugged. All four teams would have beat Nashoba. West Valley and East Anchorage would kill them…and Leominster too.

By the end of the day I was toast……totally exhausted.