Highschool Football

My high school, Maggie Walker, is much too small, and unathletically inclined, to have a football team. Marching bands, cheerleaders, and Friday night football games, to me, are something out of a movie. My school's homecoming game is field hockey...granted, the team is really good, however, field hockey doesn't have the same hype factor as Football. Sorry, girls. Tonight, I went to my third highschool football team in my high school career, I have been to one Benedictine game, and two Clover Hill games, and everytime is just as unbelievable as the last. The school spirit that these games produce is unlike anything I have seen at MW. Sure we have pep rallies and a student cheering section at games, but nothing like what I saw tonight. The stadium was roaring, the grills were fired up, the cheerleaders were pumping up the crowd, and the football players were playing strong. (and winning!!) Teachers, parents, students and friends were there all decked out in the school colors.
I have never gone to my zone public school, so the notion that, like movies, these kids have been going to school together since elementary school, and that they all are neighbors as well is unreal to me. It seems like such a perfect reality that I wonder if I really would like that better. Hollywood films have drilled the idea into my head that that is what a typical high school experience is. But, what is typical? Nothing. No one can really describe typical. And would going to a high school of 1100 people really be better than a school of 600 or 700. That's really just 400 more people that I can dislike. Or, maybe, like. Who knows? The odds of liking  or disliking people are probably the same at any school. Annoying is relative. And at least at a small school it is much easier to get to know most of the people there, or at least recognize faces. Everyone eats lunch at the same time, and teachers and students have more time to get to know each other. Clover Hill's football team was awesome. And I'm definitely going to more games this season, and I will still probably leave each game wishing that that could become my reality. But, in the end, it isn't. And there is no point in dwelling in that. Sure it would be fantastic if the city could improve it's local schools. And maybe one day it will. But it hasn't yet. And, despite the fact that I would love a "typical" high school experience, would it really be worth it if I'd had to have been raised in the county???