Just A Little Pressure On These Guys

I guess this week is the week that I reveal I watch some of the worst programs on television. Earlier I admitted that I watch the atrocity that is Laguna Beach and now I am going to admit I have watched the new MTV show ‘Two-a-days’ which chronicles the alleged number one high school football team in the nation, Hoover High, its players and the events surrounding their lives.

The show isn’t that great but you wouldn’t really expect it to be very good. There are many things wrong with doing a show like this and broadcasting the team’s games on ESPN but many have already covered those topics. I just want to say how utterly crazy the parents, coaches and community are about this team.

In one brief period, the family of one of the best players on the team had its dinner interrupted by a call from the coach who bitched to the step-dad about how the player had sucked at practice, the step-dad told the player he had to step it up and then said the player couldn’t have any pressure on him since he was only 18. Uh? Let’s see, coach calls to interrupt dinner about a few weak practices and has to get the step-dad to lean on the kid; there are cameras following around the kid recording his every move; his high school team will be playing on ESPN; and, the kid is probably trying to get a scholarship to pay for college. Nope, no pressure here.

I grew up in a football crazy community and my high school team was ‘ranked’ in the top 25 nationally but none of the players I knew ever faced the kind of pressure this team faces. I can’t imagine how these kids handle it and for their parents, or at least this one kid’s step-dad, to not realize the pressure is ridiculous.