A Palace?

I am going to take a few minutes and write on something that matters to very few people outside a few square miles in Oklahoma.

My high school alma mater, Tecumseh High School in Tecumseh, Oklahoma, is in the process of building a new football stadium. A bond issue was passed last year, and they are building a 3,000 seat stadium immediately north of the high school. This stadium is sorely needed, as they are currently playing on a 70-year old field that now holds maybe 1500 people, and has very little parking, forcing fans to park in the surrounding neighborhood. The current field also only has a small dressing room, barely big enough for one team. The home team buses from the practice field at the school, where they dress for games. The teams cram into the small building at halftime for adjustments. I apologize for not having pictures, but it's really just three square blocks in a neighborhood with a football field on it.

The school has been on the cusp of moving to a higher classification for years, and now expects to move up in the next realignment. Therefore, the urgency has been demonstrated for a new facility, 30 years in the making/dreaming.

This isn't a really huge deal to most, but they are doing some things right with this stadium. First, some of the bleachers on the home side will have chairbacks. This is standard fare at a lot of high schools, but is something foreign to Tecumseh. Also, there will be Field Turf at the new stadium, as purchased by the school board last night. That is somewhat normal for a lot of schools in Texas (even some one-high school towns in classes 3A & 4A), but it is still unusual in Oklahoma. Schools there don't spend quite the bucks on football like they do in Texas. There are probably only a handful of schools in Oklahoma with artificial turf, and probably none of Tecumseh's size. Initially, I don't see the use, as they don't have a soccer team, nor do they have a second high school with which to share the stadium. But, it's a nice feature, well-deserved for a school which has had sub-par facilities for so long. And, the coach or maintenance workers will be glad to not have to mow grass in the summer.

My hat is off to them. They are building a facility they can be proud of. It is long-awaited and well-deserved.

Update: A video preview of the new facility is posted above.

Patrick Cobbs Update

Patrick Cobbs, of Tecumseh High School and the University of North Texas, has been traded by the New England Patriots to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

From this corner, it looks like he's going to make the team, as the Steelers would be silly to trade a low-round draft pick on someone only to put them on the practice squad.

From the black and gold of Tecumseh to the black and gold of Pittsburgh...

The Fun of Preseason Football

I got a chance to watch a little bit of tonight's preseason game between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. I tuned in after the starters had already gone to the sidelines, but CBS showed Tom Brady on the bench every time they had a chance. I think they would have hired him as a sideline reporter if they could have gotten away with it. Back to the title of the post: A lot of the fun of watching preseason games is watching guys try to live their dream and make an NFL team.

I was particularly interested in watching Patrick Cobbs. Patrick lived around the corner from my parents when he was in high school, and is, to my knowledge, the first and only graduate of Tecumseh High School to sign an NFL contract. He went undrafted, but the Patriots signed him as a free agent, after he finished his college career as the all-time leading rusher for the Mean Green of North Texas. Well, I'm sitting there watching the game, and, on his first play from scrimmage, he catches a 3-yard screen pass, and turns it into a 57 yard touchdown pass. Awesome!

I don't know if he'll make the Patriots' roster, but I hope other teams are watching. It would be really cool to have someone from Tecumseh in the NFL.