What it was, was football

The football team at my son's high school made it to the state championship this year and Joan and I took the kids down to the Old Gray Lady to watch the game.

Legion Field had an upper deck the last time I went to a game there but the ravages of time and the fear of liability has changed that. (This photo was obviously taken before the upperdeckectomy.) Still it is an imposing place and it has a charged atmosphere for the biggest game of the highest classification in the state. It could use a coat of paint, though. And some serious parking lot work. Maybe when Mayor Langford finishes his demolition of downtown he'll get to that. Or not.

I have fond memories of Legion Field. My parents took me to a World Football League game there back in 1974. Our team, the Birmingham Americans, went on to win the first and only World Bowl later that year. The next year the team was renamed the Birmingham Vulcans and the league folded before the end of the season. Not the last time that would happen to us. (Another highlight of that evening was the pregame meal at Ollie's Barbecue. Alas, Ollie's too has folded, but it survived a much longer and successful run than the WFL. And the CFL. And the XFL. And the USFL. And the WLAF. Combined.)

A few years later, when I was in middle school, my future high school made it to the state championship, the Walker Vikings vs. the Berry Buccaneers. "We" lost, 21-0. Berry had a tight end named Bart Kraut, who later played for Alabama, who was twice as big as "our" guys, and he literally ran all over "us". Even the great Linnie Patrick couldn't help.

In 1981, I went to an Alabama-Tennessee game with a high school friend who was a girl. She drove, and we sat in the upper deck. Alabama won. That's all I have to say about that.

Unfortunately for my son, his high school team didn't fare any better than mine. I may have jinxed it. I've been to two state championship games and neither team I've rooted for has even scored. Hopefully it won't take his team as long to get back to the top as it has mine (and after 30 years, I'm still waiting).

Anyway, it is a great excuse to listen to this classic from Andy Griffith. Enjoy.