This is a bit late in coming, but I wanted to talk about how I spent Halloween night. Photos of both the game and Halloween are on my flickr site.
In the earlier part of the evening, I went to the Austin High vs. Westlake High game at House Park Field in Austin. House Park is in the center of town, and just had a renovation and the installation of a new artificial turf field, so it looked better than I've seen it in years. I hadn't been to a high school football game since the 2000 State 5-A championship game of Midland Lee vs. Westlake, in which Cedric Benson basically ran over Westlake and beat them singlehandedly. I especially remember Club Ced running over Huston Street, who was then an undersized safety but of course now is a multi-millionaire relief pitcher (just traded to the Colorado Rockies). In 1995 and 1996, my cousin Jimmy, who at the time was head coach of Crosby High School, let me watch their games from the sidelines, and ever since then it just hasn't been the same watching games from the stands.
Until a couple of years ago, this had been a long decaying rivalry. Westlake of course has been one of the pre-eminent Texas high school football programs for many years, but Austin High, which has not, had beaten Westlake the last two years in a row. So there was definitely a revenge factor at work. For those not familiar with Austin, this was an interesting matchup for reasons going beyond football. Westlake is one of the power football programs in the power football state. The town of Westlake is a mostly affluent, homogeneous, suburban area just outside of Austin. Although Texas has tried over the past 20 years to even out school district funding, Westlake always seems to have the best facilities, teachers, and resources. Austin High is a little more proletarian. Although by no means an "inner city school," Austin High is the original high school in Austin, going back to 1881. It draws students from diverse areas in the city, and has a more middle to lower-middle class student body. This all was very evident at the game. I spent the first half in the Austin stands, and the second half on the Westlake side. The Austin side had a lot more fans attending, and they seemed to be having a lot more fun. People generally seemed happier than on the Westlake side. They cheered louder for their team, and no one was booing or yelling, despite the fact that Westlake basically blew out Austin. The Westlake fans seemed like Dallas Cowboys fans--nothing was good enough. There weren't a whole lot of proud, contented parents or interested students. Just a lot of white folks upset when their boys got a 15 yard pass completion instead of 25, or gave up a touchdown in the 4th quarter when they were already up by about 3 touchdowns. I even heard the Westlake band director dressing down his kids for some unnoticeable offense. Basically, if I weren't watching the game, I'd have sworn the score was the other way around (i.e. Westlake was losing and Austin was winning). The Austin High side seemed to have a lot of teachers, administrators, and other security types, while the Westlake side seemed more self-regulated. The Westlake side also seemed to have a lot more resources. The band had a lot nicer uniforms, the football team had more and nicer equipment, the Westlake drill team was about three times the size of their Austin counterparts (as was the band), and even the Westlake mascot costume was fancier. I'm sure there's some great socio-economic lesson to be drawn from this game, or to put it another way, perhaps the game was a microcosm of our city and maybe even the state. I leave it for you to ponder.
From the wholesome environment of Texas high school athletics, I went to the decadence that is Halloween on 6th Street in Austin, Texas. I don't have much to add from the last time I wrote about this. Just wanted to restate the three essential truths about Halloween that you need to know. First, Halloween is a chance for otherwise nice girls to skank it up. Roll with it. Second, far too many guys than I'm comfortable with find this a perfect time to pull out their drag wear. If they absolutely insist on doing that, I just wish they wouldn't look so much like Ethel Merman. Finally, for the love of God, can you parents please leave your little children at home when you come to Sixth Street for Halloween? Sixth Street is no place for little kids ever, not at noon on a Wednesday, and certainly not after dark. It certainly isn't somewhere you should take your kid in a stroller at 11 p.m., and really beyond question isn't where you should take them on a Friday Halloween night after 11 when thousands of people hitting bars are jammed into one street.
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