The aura of Friday football

High school football should be its own holiday season. Or, at least, all of the Fridays during football season should be anyway.

On Friday afternoons, anytime past noon, everyone, including those who do not play football, is checked out for the weekend. Forget tests, quizzes, homework and responsibilities. There's a football game.

I don't know if it has the same aura that surrounded football games years ago, but now there's an electric buzz of energy that surrounds the field, the players, the bleachers and the superfans (a mix of face painting, costumes, cardboard cutouts and chanting organized, not by cheerleaders, but by seniors wielding chalkboards with cheers scribbled on them).

Football games that our school wins are the best part of a weekend. Losses, on the other hand, can ruin it. This week, much to the dismay of our cheering section, my school lost to our rival; they won't let us forget it.