High School level Football

[Brandon Kincer]

Which state takes its football the most serious at the high school level?

[JRutledge]

Texas, hands down. (I went to high school there for a year).

Peace

[TOPCITY]

Yes texas takes it high school football serious

[mbyron]

Golly, that was easy.

Let's keep this thread going. What's the capital of Mali?

[jaybird]

All you have to do is drive through most any small town in Texas. A town of say 2000 people may very well have a football stadium that will seat 5000 and the stadium could be the nicest, best maintained structure in the community.

The bigger cities will have stadiums better than most small colleges in other states.

[With_Two_Flakes]

Bamako.

Lets see how many fans of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency there are out there.....
Capital of Botswana?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by With_Two_Flakes

Bamako.

Lets see how many fans of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency there are out there.....
Capital of Botswana?

Love that show. I have no idea what the capital of Botswana, but I might go next year if the right things happen.

Peace

[Welpe]

Football is more than a sport in Texas...I think it qualifies as its own religion!

[Jim D.]

I've officiated football (college) in nine states. The farther south you go, the bigger the games seem to be. I would agree that Texas is where HS football is biggest.

I was always jealous - the Texas guys would tell me how much they made working a high school game. They have a set up down there were the officals get a cut of the gate.

Originally Posted by Jim D.

I've officiated football (college) in nine states. The farther south you go, the bigger the games seem to be. I would agree that Texas is where HS football is biggest.

I was always jealous - the Texas guys would tell me how much they made working a high school game. They have a set up down there were the officals get a cut of the gate.

And that cut of the gate just isn't in football. I understand they do that in basketball. Matter of fact, I think the game fees are based on how much was earned at the gate.

[Brandon Kincer]

lol I gotta say that the response to this question doesn't surprise me at all after seeing the movie "Friday Night Lights". If you watch that movie you will notice that even businesses close early to go to the game.

[Welpe]

The book is even better.

[Texas Aggie]

Its hard to argue that Texas is the King of fall Friday nights. I don't think a lot of folks that haven't lived down here AND traveled around the state realize how big it (the state) is. Yet in every corner of the state, football is huge.

Just some examples:

-- By and large, head football coaches are not teachers, they are an administrator so they can earn a higher salary than the teacher. 6 figures is now the standard at the top schools and there are likely districts where the HFC earns more than anyone in the district outside of the superintendent. Basketball coaches are almost always teachers.

-- I've worked basketball and volleyball in Texas over the past 20 years in addition to football. Its night and day how we are treated at football venues vs. the other ones. I can go in to the smallest school 1A game (1A is smallest public class) and they are there waiting for our crew. They take us to a dressing area, get us food, have drinks out, have our paperwork ready, and everything else. I'll go work a 5A (largest school class) district basketball game where the stands are filled where we have to ask for bottled water, or don't get anything at all. Plus, they also act at basketball games like they've never had one there before and say, "I'm not sure where we are putting the officials tonight; coach, do you know???"

-- This may not be totally unusual, but they pay for the entire chain crew at most Friday night games. We use first and second year officials on those crews and all of our crews have what we call a "6th man." He goes with us to all games and works the down box.

-- Spring games (intraschool) start up in a couple of weeks and most 4A/5A schools play them. This culminates 3 weeks of spring practice. The joke is that there are 2 sports in Texas: football and spring football. Honestly, spring football isn't all that big, as lower level schools don't participate in it, but the joke is pretty funny.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Ref Ump Welsch

And that cut of the gate just isn't in football. I understand they do that in basketball. Matter of fact, I think the game fees are based on how much was earned at the gate.

What justifies that? Do the officials do magic tricks and tell jokes at half time?

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

What justifies that?

My guess is that the thought is the bigger the game, the better compensated the officials, the better the officials. Just a guess though, maybe one of our resident Texans can give you a better answer.