Friday Night Lights

Roger Carlson

There’s a sense, it seems to me, that in times like these there are

not very many important things that one does over the course of a day,

that most everything on the regular schedule is pretty trivial.

I’ve thought about that a lot since Tuesday morning, putting together

the various local sporting items for publication, frankly feeling a

little guilty that my attention is directed to these matters, instead of

the overwhelming stories of grief and horror and of the impending

retaliation and, I fear, a never-ending war with insanity and hate.

Despite the knowledge that some would suggest our priorities our

warped ... (just how important is a high school football game on a Friday

night?), there is only one answer to all this and that’s to keep going

wherever it can be accomplished.

Major League baseball, the NFL and virtually all national events have

been put on the back burner. Transportation problems in these circles, at

these moments, forces many of those decisions.

But on the local scene, transportation is not a problem and the games

are going on.

We have Corona del Mar hosting Troy at Newport Harbor tonight, and

Costa Mesa is at Westminster. Estancia is at Aliso Niguel. And Newport

Harbor, which had its game postponed until Saturday, will travel to

Westminster to duel Marina.

Orange Coast College’s 1 p.m. date with visiting LA Harbor on Saturday

goes on, as well.

And well they should.

These games, as well as all of the others - water polo and cross

country, soccer and volleyball, AYSO and Pop Warner football, play a

major part in our lives.

Friday Night Lights are moments that are relished for a lifetime.

The players and fans, the cheerleaders and coaches, the upsets and

setups, scrambling around Saturday morning to read the game accounts, all

play a huge role in the process of life, and terrorists, who managed to

complete their rotten deeds in New York City and Washington, D.C.,

certainly have no right to collateral damage.

We have to keep going the best way we can, and blend it with the

obvious compassion and sympathy for our fallen citizens.

Pilot sports coverage and the sort isn’t going to change now for this,

or anything else, for that matter, in terms of doing what we can do with

what we have.

Buck Johns, a longtime Newport Harbor High supporter, once told me in

a note, “You have the best job in the world.”

I couldn’t agree more, and we’re going to keep doing it the best way

we can.