Our entry into the world of football

I guess this is misleading...after all, I LOVE football, and my husband coached at the high school level for a decade. However, tonight is our entry into the world of football parents. I'll be honest, I've got some serious reservations about this. Not because it can be such a dangerous sport, although I certainly know there are risks. There are also risks walking to school every day but we do that too. No, my concern is the mental side. This town is a football town. We are a small, very small town, and our school won three state football titles in the 1990's. The stores/shops shut down on football Friday nights and it's pretty much expected that is where everyone will be. I'm less than thrilled by the attitude towards football in this town. Having been a sub in the schools, I'm aware that many of the players behave as though they are untouchable with discipline just because they play football. While I don't tolerate that and neither do many of the teachers, so many parents feed into that mindset. To be a football player in this town is "where it's at". I've had some concerns that JR is playing just because he wants to fit in "the crowd". I'm not entirely sure exactly what his motivation is, but tonight the practices/conditioning start. He's going to miss quite a bit the first two weeks because of previously planned trips and that's just the way it goes. I'm grateful that my husband volunteered to be an assistant coach because a) he knows just as much as anyone there and b) he can keep an eye on how things are going for JR. I'm sure this is going to interesting, but more importantly, I hope it's fun!