HAVE YOU CONSIDERED...

Dr. French O'Shields It is Saturday. I am watching a football game on TV as I write this column. Strange arrangement? Not really. I needed to write this column today, but since retiring, watching football on Saturday is what I do in the Fall. Except for church and home Panther games, it is what I do on Sunday also. I watch six to seven games on a weekend. When my remote overheats from flipping from game to game, I get two TVs.

Yes, some people do not understand this kind of investment of time. A friend told me it is foolish. Pity the man. Obviously he does not like football. I did not inquire how he wastes his time but shared these words of wisdom: "Well, whatever floats your boat."

Normally how I spend my Fall weekends may be grounds for divorce. But the Lord blessed me with a wife who likes football nearly as much as I do, so we enjoy it together.

A few members of my family may feel I have an obsession with football and hope it is fanaticism rather than mental illness. Being kind and loving, they accept it for whatever it is. They schedule any Fall weekend family activities with a TV nearby for their dad.

I could not attend the Gaffney vs. Byrnes nationally televised game, but I was excited to watch it on TV. I e-mailed family and friends across the U.S. to watch the game. What an exciting game! The caliber of play and win by the Indians made me so very proud. My congratulations to the coaches, players and fans for your accomplishments.

Actually, I have myself wondered why I love football and spend so much time watching it. As a student of Gaffney High with its level of football, it would have been a death threat for one as small as I was to try to play. At Davidson College, USC and even Erskine Seminary, however, I enjoyed playing on intramural flag football teams.

Still, I never felt this was the answer. I recently read with appreciation The Gaffney Ledger's special section on The Reservation. So many of Gaffney's former gridiron greats commented on the experience of running through the tunnel onto the field, how this experience did something to their innermost being that impacted their lives forever.

Suddenly the light dawned. The answer came. For 40 years my dad was paymaster for Hamrick Mills. On Saturday mornings as a young boy, I enjoyed going to the Limestone Mill company store with my mom where she bought all our groceries and occasionally a new pair of overalls or shoes for me. Mainly I looked forward to seeing my adult friends: the men who worked there and the young men who hung out there. Because they all knew my dad and I was a little boy, they gave me lots of attention.

Two of my friends were Billy Lavender and S.B. Strain. They were co-captains of the Indians football team and two of my heroes. They decided, with the approval of the coaches and team, to make me their first team mascot. They got me a uniform just like their uniforms: black and gold jersey, pants and helmet. With Billy and S.B. holding both my hands, I ran through the tunnel of the newly completed stadium and onto the field. I say "ran." Actually with my 8-year-old short legs, my small feet hardly ever touched the ground. I sat on the bench with the players through most of the game.

Finally, I understood the reason for my fascination with football. Evidently the same mystique and life-impacting experience of running through the tunnel at The Reservation that the big boys speak of, happened to a little 8-year-old boy also.

So as I view it, it is neither fanaticism nor mental illness. It is an injection of PASSION FOR FOOTBALL which happened to an 8- year-old boy while running through the famous Reservation tunnel. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

(Dr. French O'Shields is a Gaffney native and a retired Presbyterian minister.)