OP/ED
Football season is here with college football Week Zero games starting this Saturday and high school football games starting next Thursday.
Of course, no one takes their football more seriously than the Lone Star State. Texas’ relationship with the sport has grown so deep that the two are nearly inseparable.
It is not hard to see why. For over 100 years, towns and cities have built their identity over high school football. You don’t have to go too far to hear stories about some players who played at the same high school as their dad and their dad before them. Some coaches have taught generations of the same family members.
Elementary kids go to the pep-rallies to see the players and to represent the school only to find themselves walking the same gym floor years down the road with the next generation of students looking up at them.
Football in Texas is a tight-knit community that cannot be broken.
In my years of covering both San Marcos and Wimberley, the one thing the two schools share is that their own communities care deeply about the programs.
Even through the rough 2023 season, the support of the Rattlers was still strong despite what the record showed.
The support is so strong that the school built the palace that is Toyota Rattler Stadium, which is in its tenth year, and puts several college football stadiums to shame.
While San Marcos will back the Rattlers no matter what, when the Rattlers get on a roll is when the community shows up in force.
Between the famous 1998 San Marcos-Hays game, the 2000 district title winning team in the 2017 season, San Marcos will pull all the stops.
Then of course comes Saturday.
Unique to Texas is how fall weekends are built around football. Thursday is for junior high and junior varsity games, Friday is for high school football, Saturday is for college football and Sunday is for the professionals.
Being in San Marcos, Friday is for the Rattlers and Saturday for the Texas State Bobcats.
The first years of covering the Bobcats from 2019 to 2022 were, to put it lightly, rough.
There was no energy from the stadium, and the rules for tailgating at the time curtailed one of the best parts of the football games.
But in 2023, everything changed for the better. The tailgating rules were improved upon, people actually came and stayed at the games and the Bobcats started winning.
Much like in high school, Texas State is built on community. Being able to see your friends from college, making new ones and everyone’s ties to Texas State.
My favorite part about going to the tailgates is getting to learn more from the older alumni about the “Good Ole Days” and learning why they became students and supporters of Texas State. Getting to know the history, their past experiences and of course great food.
So here is to another great season of football and enjoy it while it lasts. Because in a ten game and 12 game season, one blink and it’s over before you know it.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
