Noah Lemas on School

Well, I never, I mean never, thought I’d be that parent.  But I guess I just might be.

Here’s the scoop:

Last Thursday was the “Civil War” game.  Nobody really cares about it outside of Oregon, but here in Oregon it is as big as sporting events get.  University of Oregon vs. Oregon State University for those of you outside of Oregon.  And this year’s game determined the PAC-10 representative in the Rose Bowl, so the stakes were higher than most years.  In fact, sports pundits, of which there are far too many, confidently claimed that this was the biggest sporting event in the history of Oregon.  Now, in my opinion, the biggest game in the history of this state would have to be Game 6 of the 1977 NBA Finals…but I digress.

Having lived in Oregon for more than 16 years now, I’m apparently the lone holdout when it comes to the opinion that these Civil War games, and college sports in general, are overrated.  This opinion comes, mind you, from a rather obsessive sports fan, so I realize there’s a certain degree of hypocrisy involved on my part. Oh well…just can’t seem to get all that excited about these two schools.  I don’t really get all that excited about the sports teams from my own alma mater (of course it helps that UCSB is best known for success in soccer, volleyball, and ultimate Frisbee….don’t ask), so it should come as no surprise that I don’t get all that excited about these games.

But back to hypocrisy for just a moment…

My son’s teacher (second grade) is one of those folks for whom these games mean the world.  Okay, fine; she was purportedly a cheerleader at one of the two schools (tough to care which one…sorry).  Well, for this year’s game she left school early so that she could drive over to Eugene to see the game in person.  The uptight parent in me couldn’t help but think that it was somehow inappropriate to put on display for your second graders that a football game should be prioritized over education (not to mention career).  I got over it pretty quickly, though…no big deal, really…or at least that’s what I tried to think.

While watching the game that night, my son got so excited about a play that he had seen, that he tried to re-enact it (a great play in a great game, by the way, even from the perspective of this humbugger).  Normally a coordinated kid, he somehow managed to sprain his foot.  Ouch.

The next morning, he wanted to stay home from school because his foot hurt.  It took some effort on my part to convince him that we don’t miss school or work for something as minor as a foot sprain.  Our obligations, I explained, using my best parental logic (not always easy), were to school and work.  I shuttled my son to school and then proudly watched him limp through the front doors.

But a funny thing happened.  When I went to meet him for lunch, I discovered that he had a substitute teacher.  Hmmm.  I inquired with the substitute as to whether subbing on account of a college football game seemed at all strange to her.  Since she was old enough to have been my second grade teacher, I expected her to pine for the old days.  No such luck.  “We get two personal days per year,” she said rather defensively, in a tone that reminded me of why I was never a big fan of most elementary school teachers.

Curious, I inquired with friends and family, who mostly seemed to agree with the sub; teachers get days off too.  Yes, they do….the entire summer, and winter break, and spring break, and every obscure holiday known to this country.  I’m in the minority, here, but it seems to me that college football is just college football, even if it’s a great game and you used to be a cheerleader.  Oh well, I might be wrong about this one…but I’m still not entirely convinced.