 Me, a high school football coach? Sure, I could see that. Heck, I played a little. I probably wasn't that good, but I paid attention every day in practice and I learned a few things.
But, hey, I'm almost 40 years removed from my high school days. So the idea that I could be a high school football coach ... well, it's a stretch to say the least.
Still, at least one guy must think I look the part. Because when I was patrolling the sidelines for a story I would write about the Los GatosCupertino football game last Thursday night, the side judge thought I looked like a member of the Gatos coaching staff—so much so, in fact, that he almost flagged me with a 15-yard penalty!
It seems that the Los Gatos coaching staff was surging onto the field a bit, and he had cautioned them about straying over the sideline. Then a couple of plays later, there I was over the line and on the field.
"That's it, coach ... I told you no coaches on the field!" screamed the official as he reached to his back pocket for his flag.
"There is no coach on the field," said a bewildered Butch Cattolico, the Los Gatos head coach.
"Well, there was ... I saw him," demanded the official.
"You saw a sports writer!" the coach hollered. "There was no coach on the field, that was a sports writer. He's no coach ... he doesn't even know anything about football!"
Well, that was a first. After more than three decades as a sports writer covering Los Gatos, Saratoga, Westmont and other local schools, after more than 30 years of walking the sidelines of high school football games virtually unnoticed, I was about to get flagged for a penalty ... my first penalty ... ever!
Even as a player I was never guilty of an infraction. Sure, I fumbled a couple of times, missed a tackle or two, probably missed a couple of blocks and ran to the wrong hole a few times. But a penalty? Never.
And here I was about to get my first one on the same Helm Field sideline where I spent a couple of varsity seasons, and it was as a sports writer that I was ...
Hey, wait a minute! Whaddaya mean I don't know anything about football?
You know, I've always fancied myself as a potential football coach. I've second-guessed plenty of coaches in my day. And when it comes to Monday-morning quarterbacking, well, I'm a regular Joe Montana.
And when I see former Wildcats like Brad Sanfilippo and Manny Austin on the Los Gatos staff and former Falcons like Kurt Heinrich and Kevin Tanner at Saratoga, I figure why not me? Heck, I'm a former high school player just like them ... well, maybe not quite just like them. But I'm a former player!
So I'm really a little offended by Cattolico's reaction that an official had mistaken me for a coach. Because while he was playing quarterback at Pittsburg High School in the East Bay back in 1966, I was playing a little fullback right here at good ol' Los Gatos High! (Of course, he was winning a place on the all-North Coast Section team and I was struggling to be all-school.)
But then, he was a little angry at the time ... after all, I did almost cost the Wildcats a 15-yard penalty at a time when they were trying to win a football game against Cupertino. And if I had, they probably wouldn't have appreciated the irony of the situation.
Still, it was nice to know that at least one person thinks I look the part of a high school football coach when I'm walking the sideline. Maybe next week they'll let me call a play!
Want to talk? Call me at 408.354.3110, ext. 31, or drop me a note at dsparrer@svcn.com.
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