Of grandchildren, football, and non-marching bands

And also a bit of "From the Pressbox."

Friday evening I took my 6 year old grandson, Ben, to the Rittman-Norwayne football game. Ben likes watching the band, but also cheers the Rittman team. Ben is becoming very observant as he sits in the stands. He also feels that he could go in and do the job, but then again, Ben is six. He feels that he can do everything including most fix it jobs. Oh to have that kind of confidence in yourself. More on that in a later post.

The game was played in Norwayne's stadium, in Creston, Ohio. It had been raining all day and some of the benches in the stands had puddles in them. One of the band parents had to take care of a nail sticking up through one of the seats. A better use for these bleachers would be firewood.

The game itself was close during the first half, Norwayne leading 7-6 going into halftime.

Instead of marching during the halftime show, both bands performed on the track in front of the home crowd. Rittman performed the "James Bond Theme", Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll", "(I can't get no)Satisfaction, and the Wild Cherry hit "Play That Funky Music."

The second half saw Rittman go ahead by a 14-7 score. then the tide turned turned as Rittman was hit with an illegal block penalty, coupled with unsportsmanlike conduct. This changed the complexion of the game. Norwayne then scored twice and the final score was Norwayne 21, Rittman 14.

Saturday morning I took all three grandkids, along with their dad, to the junior varsity game, which was played at Rittman. Ben enjoyed sitting and watching most of the game, which ended in a 12-12 tie. There were some mistakes made during this contest which you can only attribute to inexperienced coaching.

Rittman's head coach was an assistant coach for several years at nearby Smithville. The Smithville program for many years had produced winning teams. Along with periennal winners come benefits such as favorable calls from the game officials. A program in developmental stages has to execute the fundamentals along with following the rules very closely. There have been some penalties called during this season that have either negated some big plays, or given the opposition much better field advantage. I know that a developing team will make mistakes, but there have been things called that should have been addressed suring the "two a day's" in August. And the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties committed during both games are inexcuseable. That is a negative reflection on leadership.

Despite all this I did have a good time with the grand kids.