The Game Plan

By Charles Prince

The North Jefferson News



This Friday night’s meeting between Gardendale and Mortimer Jordan high schools on the football field is not the culmination of the Rockets vs. Blue Devils rivalry it’s just another high point of the year-round battle.

Fans on both sides can hardly wait each year to see the two clubs square off on the football field, but the rivalry is a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 52-weeks-a-year marathon.

The rivalry is alive and well during each and every sport season, whether it be basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball or football season.

Even in the off season, the rivalry refuses to go away.

I learned that fact this summer while our paper was working on a 12-part series on area seniors-to-be, and I found out how intense the rivalry can be.

When a article in the series would appear featuring an athlete from either school, I’d soon get e-mails from supporters of the other school questioning whether that particular athlete should have been profiled. To say some of those e-mails had a snide tone to them would be a major understatement.

The majority of supporters on both sides are civil, but there is a small percentage that carry the rivalry a bit too far. When a person verbally attacks the student athletes on either side, I think a line has been crossed that people shouldn’t even be close to in the first place.

Hopefully, that small group will restrain themselves this Friday and let the play of both teams have the final say.

The game between the lines should be an outstanding one. Whichever team is fortunate enough to win will have a head start on a region title.

Last year’s game proved to the be difference in the final Region 6 standings, as Gardendale won the region title and Mortimer Jordan was the runner-up. The one-two finish allowed both clubs to host first round playoff games.

I’m expecting the winner of this year’s game to go onto the region title, but I don’t think the loser will be out of the hunt just yet. After the first week of region play, it appears Erwin and Cullman should be two teams to compete with Gardendale and Mortimer Jordan for the region crown.

As a reminder, particularly to that small percentage to take the Rocket-Blue Devil rivalry too far, I’ll be on both sidelines during the game. I’ll start on the home side of the field in the first quarter, then I’ll switch to the Gardendale sideline in the second quarter, move back to the Jordan sideline in the third quarter and finish up on the Gardendale sideline.

In addition, where my wife Susan decides to sit, doesn’t indicate that she’s for one school or the other.

At this year’s Jordan-Gardendale sub-state softball playoff series, Susan positioned her lawn chair closer to one school’s dugout than the other, not because she hoped to see that school win, but because it was the first place she saw to sit.

For those of you who sent e-mails after that series telling me you were displeased that she was supporting one school over the other, don’t bother to contact me after Friday night. Your assumptions just aren’t correct. I don’t know which side of the stadium she’ll sit on this week, but it won’t be chosen because she hopes one school wins and that the other doesn’t.

I also don’t care who wins, I just hope we have a great game to enjoy.