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Message: [QUOTE="leftytg, post: 705112, member: 2651"] I moved to Texas a little over 3 years ago and had these visions in my head of how all encompassing and over the top Texas high school football would be. Going into it with those really high expectations fueled by shows and movies, I can say that my experience is that it isn't quite like that. I'd echo the previous response that says it may be different in small cities/towns. I live in Austin and I haven't found that high school filters into my life at all unless I seek it out. It's a big deal if you have a kid in one of the high schools, but I see very little involvement with folks unaffiliated with a school. But even in smaller cities/towns I'm not sure it is as nuts as it is on tv. I went to see Temple play last year (in Temple) because of Zach Allen's commitment to Syracuse. They were playing Westlake, an Austin powerhouse (and alma mater of Drew Brees). It was a big game for Temple with a marquee opponent, and the folks there that I talked to were incredibly excited, but I doubt the stadium was 75% full. My first autumn in Texas I couldn't wait to see a high school football game. A few weeks into the season there was a huge match up between Aledo (starring future Gatorade player of the year and current UT running back Johnathan Gray) and Lake Travis, a local powerhouse who was in the midst of 5 straight state championships and had a 30 something game home winning streak. I was able to walk up and get tickets near game time and the stadium did not sell out, which surprised me as this was a game mentioned by espn.com as one of the top 10 high school games in the nation. On the other hand, impressively, Aledo (which is four hours away) brought down a few thousand fans and 4 tractor trailors worth of supplies and equipment for the team and the full 100ish person marching band. I ended up sitting next to a guy who was the adopted son of the real coach of Permian high from the FNL book. He was a cool guy. His son was a guard on the 8th grade team. I talked to him at length about the high school football system in Texas, which is, truly, nuts. These bigger schools (4A and 5A) have 3 or 4 freshmen squads and 2 or 3 JV squads. The high school coach coordinates with the youth leagues to run the same systems and line up on what attributes they look for certain positions, so kids get slotted early. They maintain these A/B/C level teams to allow for growth spurts and such. Teams raise money (or the rich schools have rich parents who'll pay) for speed coaches in the off season. The advent of the 7 on 7 competitions in the summer have made it more year round as well. I think that is what impressed me more than anything. It isn't so much that high school football has this massive grip on the entire community. What is incredible is the number of resources that are devoted to the sport. As was mentioned, some schools have facilities that rival smaller colleges. These bigger high schools really do run programs and have 8 or 9 person football staffs. The people who are into it are REALLY into it, and it is all encompassing and serious. [/QUOTE]

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