GLORY DAYS

I have been reading alot lately about Joe Hamilton. He is GA. Tech's talented, junior-year quarterback. With every word I read, I get sicker and sicker. I should be proud because I played football at the same high school as Joe did. I get sick because I am finally admitting the fact that I played high school football with his father.

Am I that old? When I played football we had face masks on the helmets. Gatorade had been invented. We didn't run plays called the "statue of liberty" or the "flying wedge." Yet, I am sure by today's standards, the football I played would be considered primitive. To show my age, I have to admit I played both ways. This means I played on offense and defense. This is simply not done anymore. In today's society "Going both ways" means something entirely different.

Football players today come in larger packages. When I played. I was the biggest guy on our team. I was 6'2" and weighed 240 pounds. Today I could hardly make it as a running back. We didn't have weight rooms when I played football either. Being pumped up meant your bike didn't have a flat. It's ironic though; we used to ride our bikes to practice. Today, football players drive their cars to practice and then go in the gym and ride the lifecycle.

I don't think we were quite as competitive as coaches and schools make things today. Today, kids break the rules by shooting up with steroids. The worst I ever got in trouble for was wearing my watch out on the field during a game. I remember once, my twin and I skipped practice to go fishing but the coach found out. He came and picked us up in his car and took us to practice to be laughed at by the rest of the team. We both played first string, and my brother played quarterback. And this was a year in which we went undefeated until the playoffs. We just didn't take it all so serious. Our football way back then was all about the primitive concept of "fun."

Time to stop here and give my riff on my glory days of playing: "I played tailback... when I ran out on the field the coach said, 'get you're tailback.'" Here is another: "One time coach sent me into the game and told me to get ferocious... I ran out on the field and came running back and said, 'Coach, what number is he?'" How fast was I you ask? "I could cut out the lights and be in bed before it got dark." And the time-honored favorite: "I played end, guard and tackle.. I sat on the end of the bench, guarded the water bucket and tackled anybody who got near it."

Joe Hamilton is gonna be a great quarterback for GA Tech. His dad, I am sure, is very proud of him. Heck, I am very proud, but couldn't he have waited maybe like 10 more years so I could have been a little more prepared to deal with my mortality? I wish I could say I at least left my mark in the history books of Macedonia High School Football. But, the only thing I ever became even semi-famous for was, "the football player who could tell you what time it was."

Billy Murphy -- 7/24/98