Last night, after the wrestling meet, as usual, we gave a ride to several of Mijo's friends, this time we added a girl whose parents were not showing up, she was the last one sitting there outside the school, and everyone was ready to leave. I offered her a ride, since we do it all the time. She called her mom and told coach who said it was fine with him, he probably just wanted to go home. Since we were going to Whataburger I offered her dinner, and she said it was fine, she called her mom after I told her to, so nobody would be getting mad we were taking too long. Last year a boy's parents got upset enough that they grounded him a for a week from even going to a wrestling meet, which I thought was dumb, but whatever. Now, we just have anybody we give rides to, to check in before they get in our vehicle.
All was fine, she sat with the other girl, the twin sister of Mijo's closest friend who we give a ride to most nights. Everyone ordered their burger combo, and we sat down to eat. While sitting, Mijo was going on and on about wrestling but after a while, I asked her if she was in band, I was going in the direction that there is a clear divide between the "jocks" and the band kids that are wrestling, and that I find it interesting that so many band kids joined wrestling this year. She said she was in softball, so I guess that makes her a jock and then she went on about doing lacrosse, which sounds interesting but does it outside of school. Then the convo went off road when she said she was going to play football next year, that got my attention, and both Mijo and his friend about dropped their fries, but we kept going. She said she had played in peewee league, and she was the starting quarterback, which I can believe (several girls played in junior high against Mijo's teams), but then she said she was going to come out as a linebacker and really that made me worry for her.
I said that was great and we will definitely be around to see her if she plays, I want to see how the team does next season, I think they will be even better than this year. I told her that football is a vicious sport, and both these boys will tell you, they have spent too many days on the sideline injured and concussed, the friend's sister adding "yeah, my brother is on like his 7th concussion." I know there is a beauty to football and here in Texas especially, we love the sport, but I will be the first to admit you are going to get hurt if you play any significant time, everyone takes a turn.
I did not feel like I was being a male chauvinist or an asshole, but in the same way that Mijo wanted his sophomore friend on varsity, I was the first to say "no, the kid weighs 170, he is too small to be an effective lineman, he is going to get hurt." This girl weighs probably 150 and does not look like she is fast, a collision between her and even our starting QB who is probably 190 but all muscle might leave her concussed or worse, never mind a pulling guard like Mijo coming at you, all 250 pounds of crazy and looking to clear a path, that is just too dangerous, but go ahead, it is a free country.
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