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All across America, millions of men and women have become consumed by the sport of football.
The game is their life. Household chores or taking the “little lady” out on a date can wait *til Tuesday or Wednesday because football is a full-time job.
Thursday night they plop down on the couch for an ESPN game. Friday it’s off to the local high school. Saturday’s a full day of college excitement. And after church on Sunday, it’s back to the couch for the NFL. And we all know what Monday night brings.
In the fall, it’s all football, all the time.
But it’s times like this when we take a step back and realize that football is just a game.
I applaud Dr. Chappell and the Rappahannock County Public School system for taking a stand against staph infections. Closing school and cancelling Saturday’s football game after a football player was diagnosed with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Auras (MRSA) — a contagious staph infection — is a small price to pay.
I’ve seen first hand the power of MRS A.
As a college student in upstate New York, I volunteered as an assistant football coach at Oxford Academy, a small school slightly larger than Rappahannock County High School!
That year, the varsity football team was unbeatable. They’d won their first nine football games and had made it to the conference championship game.
Two days before the championship football game, Stevie Loomis, the Blackhawks leading rusher — who would later be named to the all-state team — was diagnosed with a staph infection. The doctors didn’t believe the infection was too serious, so they gave Loomis the go ahead to play in Saturday’s championship game.
The Blackhawks were playing Delhi, a New York State.football powerhouse. Earlier in the year, the two teams had played and Loomis scored four touchdowns to lead Oxford to a 28-22 win.
Loomis was a vital part of the Blackhawks offense and there was no way he was going to miss the championship game in his senior year.
Saturday morning, Loomis showed up to catch the bus and his arm was red, swollen, and puffy. The infection was starting to spread.
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