By Andrew Cyr, HockomockSports.com Contributor
Now that all the turkey and apple pie have fully digested, it’s time to reflect on arguably the biggest day of the year for all Massachusetts natives. I’m not talking about the feasts we indulged with our families and friends yesterday or recapping the NFL games we watched from our couches. I’m talking about the games that took place at ten in the morning across the state Thursday morning.
A lot has changed in my life since last Thanksgiving when I wore my helmet and shoulder pads for the last time of my life. But coming back to watch my alma mater, Franklin High School, take on King Phillip I realized something spectacular that can only be understood by the ones who have been apart of the Thanksgiving tradition. And that is just how special this game means to the seniors who will be graduating.
The sights and sounds were still the same. About 30 minutes before kickoff you see the senior players and cheerleaders form both teams stand along the sidelines with their parents waiting to get their picture taken. You hear each pep band play their schools fight song and you see the familiar faces of other alumni and teachers in the stands and along the fences cheering on their schools. The mid-morning sun illuminates the field and surrounding trees with the same tint that it had in year’s prior. Its almost as if that snap-shot of the field replays itself every year as the boys of fall take the field for one last time.
Kickoff happens and the game is underway. Both teams drive down the field, score some points, force some turnovers, and make some incredible hits that make you wish your were back on the field. But with the new playoff system the MIAA implemented for the first time this year, this game has a much different meaning. Before, Thanksgiving football meant a trip to the playoffs for some teams and heartbreak for others. Now there are only two things that matter on this morning: pride and memories.
After the final seconds tick off the clock, the emotions hit you harder than any other emotions have hit you in your life. You get in the handshake line to congratulate the other team, only for some reason the emotions get worse as you shake the hands and hug your opponents. The tears start flowing more and more the closer you get to the end of the line; you don’t want to accept the fact that your football days are finally over.
After the awards are given out, family and friends are now on the field waiting to greet the players. By now almost every senior has broken down into a steady flow of tears. This is about the only time you will see some of the toughest kids in the entire school crying. It’s an unusual sight and you almost don’t want to believe what you’re seeing. It’s a painful sight that you can’t help but get worked up seeing these kids so devastated.
There I stood around midfield greeting some of my former teammates. It seemed like just yesterday I was playing along side some of my closest friends and now they were in the same shoes I was just one year ago. I hugged a bunch of them, knowing just how devastated they really were. It brought back so many painful memories, but it made me realize something: just how much this moment means to these seniors.
Regardless of how many snaps you played in this game, this day will last with you for the rest of your life. The sounds, the sights, the lights, and the memories with your teammates sit in the back of your mind. Sure you can play some pickup games in the yard with your friends, but nothing will ever come close to the times your played in-between the hash marks looking through your facemask. It’s an emotion that only those who have played this great game before will ever experience.
So now what? For the majority of seniors - those who won’t be playing football in college - it’s all over. It hasn’t quite hit you yet, you are still in shock that it’s finally over. And it won’t fully hit you until the first Friday night after Thanksgiving. It’s the first time in four years you realize there isn’t another opportunity to play under those lights ever again. It’s at that exact moment when reality finally hits you that it really is over.
It takes a while to appreciate these memories. I’m one year removed from the Thanksgiving tradition and I’m finally starting to appreciate everything that happened during my football career. And to the seniors someday you will fully understand just how important these memories are. Right now, it’s just a pileup of emotions that you don’t know how to respond to. But as time goes on and you move on with your lives you start to separate the bad memories from the good ones. And for those that have played this magnificent game, it’s the good memories from the gridiron that you are truly thankful for.
Andrew Cyr is a 2013 graduate of Franklin High School. Feedback for him can be sent to [email protected].