Why is high school football taken so seriously in Texas?

[JohnnySic]

I dont get it.

[Shade8780]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R5A0pg4oN8

[sweggeh]

They dont watch the biggest most entertaining sport on Earth but they watch low level kids that arent even their own play American football.

Dat Murican logic :facepalm

[JohnnySic]

I mean, how do you "follow" a high school football team anyway?

"We got this amazing class coming up from 8th grade this year!" :whatever:

Not trying to be a jerk, I just dont get it.

[sweggeh]

I mean, how do you "follow" a high school football team anyway?

"We got this amazing class coming up from 8th grade this year!" :whatever:

Not trying to be a jerk, I just dont get it.

:roll:

[Heavincent]

They dont watch the biggest most entertaining sport on Earth but they watch low level kids that arent even their own play American football.

Dat Murican logic :facepalm

I love how butthurt Europeans get about Americans not giving two shits about their precious sport. Don't like American football? Cool, we don't really give a shit. Enjoy your soccer.

[cuad]

They don't take nothin' serious in Texas 'cept eatin'.

[sweggeh]

I love how butthurt Europeans get about Americans not giving two shits about their precious sport. Don't like American football? Cool, we don't really give a shit. Enjoy your soccer.

Your post is the perfect definition of how to accuse someone of being butthurt and all the while coming across as devastatingly butthurt yourself.

[JohnnySic]

Sat next to a lady from a small town called Bangs, Texas on my flight home from China in July and asked her the same question.

Basically the rural areas are filled with a bunch of small towns with those sort of tight-knit communities where everyone knows each other. People there are born and grown up there and only usually leave to go to college nearby or if they leave for someplace far they inevitably come back. Since they were toddlers they were dragged to football games, played on or cheered on their high school teams, raised children who were the same, and still attend the games well into their 60s and retired.

In this way their hometown means a lot more to them than if they were raised elsewhere and the football team is the one unifying constant that symbolizes the pride and joy of the town, the rest of their life is just farms and boring manual labor and day jobs they go through the motion of for a lifetime. Of course many people growing up in towns like these end up moving out and becoming things like pro athletes, movie stars, scholars, scientists, etc but more so than other places these towns stay the same over the decades.

Friday Night Lights portrays this superbly.
OK, good answer.

[DonDadda59]

It's part of their culture. Why do Brazilians take soccer so seriously (people were crying like they lost a close family member during that Germany ass whooping :lol )? Why do Indians take Cricket so seriously?

Same reason.

[christian1923]

:roll:
People follow the varsity team team dude, not freshman and JV football teams.:coleman:

[KingBeasley08]

I love how butthurt Europeans get about Americans not giving two shits about their precious sport. Don't like American football? Cool, we don't really give a shit. Enjoy your soccer.
:applause: :applause: :applause:

[christian1923]

I love how butthurt Europeans get about Americans not giving two shits about their precious sport. Don't like American football? Cool, we don't really give a shit. Enjoy your soccer.
:applause:

[Myth]

I think it could be a good community event for small towns that creates a lot of connections. The problem is they end up taking it so seriously that they will worship the players and turn a blind eye to any wrong doings they do.

[~primetime~]

Not really like that in Dallas...we watch the Cowboys here, no one really gives a shit about my high school's football team. It's just the rural areas.

also, not sure if you guys are aware of this but there are other states that also love High School football :/

[L.Kizzle]

It gets real down here.

[ace23]

Sat next to a lady from a small town called Bangs, Texas on my flight home from China in July and asked her the same question.

Basically the rural areas are filled with a bunch of small towns with those sort of tight-knit communities where everyone knows each other. People there are born and grown up there and only usually leave to go to college nearby or if they leave for someplace far they inevitably come back. Since they were toddlers they were dragged to football games, played on or cheered on their high school teams, raised children who were the same, and still attend the games well into their 60s and retired.

In this way their hometown means a lot more to them than if they were raised elsewhere and the football team is the one unifying constant that symbolizes the pride and joy of the town, the rest of their life is just farms and boring manual labor and day jobs they go through the motion of for a lifetime. Of course many people growing up in towns like these end up moving out and becoming things like pro athletes, movie stars, scholars, scientists, etc but more so than other places these towns stay the same over the decades.

Friday Night Lights portrays this superbly.
Crazy, I coincidentally met someone from Bangs yesterday. Town has a population of 1.6K :biggums:

[qrich]

Nothing else to do?

[NBAplayoffs2001]

I dont get it.

It just happens to be like that :confusedshrug:. Some of their football teams have state of the art training and insane football stadiums. If you were a good Texas football player, you probably could get any girl you want. Truth :rockon:

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Not really like that in Dallas...we watch the Cowboys here, no one really gives a shit about my high school's football team. It's just the rural areas.

also, not sure if you guys are aware of this but there are other states that also love High School football :/

Being a New Yorker, anywhere around NYC don't take it seriously at all. Upstate kids that I know took high school very serious. NYC is all about making your high school basketball team which was near impossible at some schools unless you were a future D2/D3 athlete.

[SCdac]

It's just a popular sport in this state and school districts pour uber amounts of money into it. Ball players try for scholarships, etc. Having said that, I went all 4 years of high school without attending a football game and still don't give a shit about local football. As others mentioned, it's more of a big deal in rural areas. San Antonio is generally Spurs-country but football is popular too. Last football game I attended was at the superdome UT vs. Tulane.. pre-Katrina. Football seems popular through the US

[~primetime~]

best high school football states in the country (http://www.maxpreps.com/news/6trP5t2zy0WYPX1S2zE7EQ/texas-tops-the-list-of-the-best-high-school-football-states-in-the-country.htm)

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Ohio
5. Georgia
6. Pennsylvania
7. Illinois
8. Mississippi
9. Tennessee
10. Alabama

[qrich]

best high school football states in the country (http://www.maxpreps.com/news/6trP5t2zy0WYPX1S2zE7EQ/texas-tops-the-list-of-the-best-high-school-football-states-in-the-country.htm)

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Ohio
5. Georgia
6. Pennsylvania
7. Illinois
8. Mississippi
9. Tennessee
10. Alabama

Gimme St. John Bosco and Alemany over all Texas teams :rockon:

[imdaman99]

I miss Friday Night Lights. Such a great show :(

[NBAplayoffs2001]

best high school football states in the country (http://www.maxpreps.com/news/6trP5t2zy0WYPX1S2zE7EQ/texas-tops-the-list-of-the-best-high-school-football-states-in-the-country.htm)

1. Texas
2. California
3. Florida
4. Ohio
5. Georgia
6. Pennsylvania
7. Illinois
8. Mississippi
9. Tennessee
10. Alabama

Agreed Pennsylvania and Ohio from college friends I know have said high school football is pretty crazy there. Southern Cali for football/basketball. Cousin plays ball in North Cali for a private school. :applause:

[TheMan]

It's just a popular sport in this state and school districts pour uber amounts of money into it. Ball players try for scholarships, etc. Having said that, I went all 4 years of high school without attending a football game and still don't give a shit about local football. As others mentioned, it's more of a big deal in rural areas. San Antonio is generally Spurs-country but football is popular too. Last football game I attended was at the superdome UT vs. Tulane.. pre-Katrina. Football seems popular through the US
This

I've been living in San Antonio a few months and basketball, particularly the Spurs, are huge here. I haven't seen football craze as much as basketball but then they did just whooped Miami not too long ago.

[rezznor]

Not really like that in Dallas...we watch the Cowboys here, no one really gives a shit about my high school's football team. It's just the rural areas.

also, not sure if you guys are aware of this but there are other states that also love High School football :/

i disagree

[QUOTE]ALLEN, Texas

[bdreason]

It's not just Texas. The Californian town I'm from took HS football pretty serious as well. This wasn't some rural hick town either.

[~primetime~]

i disagree
ehhh...Allen is a decent distance outside of Dallas...it isn't really "rural" I guess but if you go any further it is

I also don't think big stadiums are a good gauge...and I don't think any of those are in Dallas county either, Frisco and Allen are close I suppose but they are still on the outskirts

Don't get me wrong high school football here isn't snoozed at...but it isn't followed religiously like the OP is saying, it's not like everyone in Dallas is familiar with their local high school football stars.

[Lakers Legend#32]

Rural Texas is full of rubes.

[ihoopallday]

Get on Netflix and watch Friday Night Lights. Great show that portrays football in the rural parts of Texas.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Get on Netflix and watch Friday Night Lights. Great show that portrays football in the rural parts of Texas.

I'll check this out too.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

ehhh...Allen is a decent distance outside of Dallas...it isn't really "rural" I guess but if you go any further it is

I also don't think big stadiums are a good gauge...and I don't think any of those are in Dallas county either, Frisco and Allen are close I suppose but they are still on the outskirts

Don't get me wrong high school football here isn't snoozed at...but it isn't followed religiously like the OP is saying, it's not like everyone in Dallas is familiar with their local high school football stars.

I've heard Odessa, Texas is absolutely crazy.

[hateraid]

HS Football is big in small communities despite where the city is. Where there is a family lineage that commits to the same program. I've driven through places in Wisconsin that shuts down towns when a big HS game is on and couldn't fill up for gas until the next morning.

[MadeFromDust]

i disagree


10 high school stadiums in Texas with capacities of 16,000 or more

Source: TexasBob.com

1. Alamo Stadium, San Antonio: 23,000

2. FC Dallas Stadium, Frisco: 21,193

3. Mesquite Memorial Stadium, Mesquite: 20,000

4. Farrington Field, Fort Worth: 18,500

5. Eagle Stadium, Allen: 18,000

6. Buccaneer Stadium, Corpus Christi: 18,000

7. Ratliff Stadium, Odessa: 17,931

8. San Angelo Stadium, San Angelo: 17,500

9. Veteran's Memorial Stadium, Pasadena: 16,800

10. Stallworth Stadium, Baytown: 16,500
Alamo Stadium has expanded capacity because of various pro teams that played there over the decades, but couldn't fill up or afford the AlamoDome. It's not that big because the San Antonio Independent School Disctrict can fill it up :oldlol:

[Timmy D for MVP]

What is whatever is popular near you taken so seriously in wherever you're from?

I don't get it.

Well of course not I don't live there. I'm sure it would make tons of sense if you were from these towns.