Student column: Ready for some football?

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When school starts, sports fans know what is just around the corner: football season.

Most kids don’t look forward to going back to school, but they often find themselves looking forward to the time when the football season starts, which is just a few weeks after school begins. Not only does football give some of us our favorite sport to watch, it can also make you excited and give you hope when your team clinches a win. And when your team loses and you feel the sting of defeat, it gives you adrenaline and anxiety for the next game when your team has a chance to gain its redemption.

Whether you are in the stadium cheering on your team or cheering from the comfort of your couch, watching your team play is an enjoyable experience. One of my personal favorite NFL segments to watch on TV “C’mon Man,” which airs on Monday nights. When you are watching the game live, you mostly pay close attention to the calls the refs make and how many yards the players get, but on “C’mon Man,” you can just relax and enjoy the funny things you may have missed while paying such close attention to the game.

Some of the things these NFL players do you won’t believe. One play from “C’mon Man” pops into my head whenever I watch the segment on TV. It was a game last year — the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Arizona Cardinals — and Jerome Simpson, a wide receiver for the Bengals, front flips over a defender into the end zone to score a touchdown. Whoever would have thought that a tall, lanky football player could be so nimble to flip completely over the top of another person?

That just proves that there are many surprises that come with the NFL. The football season can either unite us with our fellow sports lovers, or make us turn against our closest friends. For a little while at least. For the most part, if you are a fan of a sports team that your friends or relatives are a fan of too, you will most likely connect with each other to add to the fun of the NFL season. But if you and your friends are fans of different teams, you may have a little conflict during the NFL season.

For example, I was riding in a car with my friend and her dad was driving, and when I mentioned I was a Vikings fan, he actually pulled to the side of the road and told me to get out of the car, since he was a Packers fan. Fortunately, he didn’t make me get out, but it just proves that some people are diehard fans of their team. In the midst of school starting, I hope you have a chance to take a break and relax while watching your favorite team start out their football season.

Becca Opp is a freshman at Farmington High School. Her column will appear every other week in the Independent.

Tags: high school, opinion, farmington, commentaries