Monday, April 20, 2015

Musical Memories - Queen & "We Will Rock You"


My theme is Musical Memories:  The Memories that music brings rushing back.


So, I'll be the first to admit I was never really a big "Queen" fan.  I don't even have a song of theirs on any of my playlists.  But I did grow up and go to high school in Texas.  And here, high school football is king.  And "We Will Rock You" made an awesome anthem at games...especially if you were seated in aluminum bleachers.  Hundreds of feet stomping on the metal in time with the music made for a sound that would rout any army!




As a six year old, I watched football with my daddy on TV.  I saw Johnny Unitas play.  I witnessed O.J. when he killed them, instead of being a killer.  I saw Roger Staubach execute the shotgun on many occasions.  You get the picture.  I was raised to be a staunch football fan.  

So, when Jr. High came and we had a school team, I was there every game, A and B strings.  I met friends there.  Sat with "boyfriends" there.  I cheered. And a part of me wished I could be out on the field with them.

High school rolled round.  By now, Mama was buying season tickets every year.  Many games, me or me and a friend would sit with her.  Her seats were very close to the student section in the Old Kirby Memorial Stadium.  But more and more often the older I got, I sat in the student section with my buddies.  My "besties" were in the band...so we never could be together.  But there were always plenty of other girlfriends to hang out with.  And always and often there was Randy A. popping up.  To aggravate, tease, and share a snip from the Crown Royal bottle he always had tucked in his FFA jacket.  

We went to state while I was in High School!  Playoff was in the Astrodome, and I was there.  We didn't win, but that doesn't mean there weren't some very talented guys among the ranks.  

Some of my fondest memories of French class was Derrick Shelton, Artie Shankle, William Graham and others staring a rhythm and singing.  I kept a scrap book of the year we went to state that had every newspaper clipping.  It was beautifully done, all old school.  On the black paper.  Comments made in white liquid embroidery.

My senior year, Mary Lou had graduated and married and we made all the out of town games.  We were there no matter how cold or no matter how much rain fell.  I screamed and cheered until my voice was hoarse on many a Friday night.



Then college came and I just didn't find the game as exciting there as I did in high school.  The Lumberjacks never excited me the way the Tigers did.  Though I did clean up the stadium after home football games one year with my sorority, Gamma Sigma Sigma. 

Back in high school, I'd miss dances and evenings out with my friends to stay at home and watch football games.  Mama would let me have the living room, and I'd talk out loud and comment on the games like Daddy was still right there.  It made me feel closer to him.  

Then at college, I'd watch games as well.  But they started messing with the rules and changing them. It frustrated me and made me mad.  The last player I followed closely was Willie "White Shoes" Johnson. At first I adored him.  Then I came to despise him for grandstanding.  

When I came home from college in 1981, I stopped watching football.  The game had changed.  Daddy was gone.  And it was time to move on and use all that time for other things.

Were you, or are you, a football fanatic?
What is your favorite level, high school, college or pro?
Do you remember any traditions from you high school football games?


36 comments:

  1. Never played sports, ended up being a nerd/geek and I am proud of it. As this song is our anthem too as it played in the end of Revenge of the Nerds, I am proud to be a queen fan and thank you.

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    1. Good movie! Great revenge! My daughter says "Nerds rule, geeks drool."

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  2. I was a Queen fan in my young days, though I'm more into heavy metal. I had some Queen albums on vinyl, but some years ago, I donated all my vinyl records to the Salvation Army 2nd hand stores.

    I'm from Europe, where football means soccer. However, we lived in Colorado for a year when I was a graduate student, at the time when John Elway and the Broncos won two back-to-back Superbowls. Then I learnt to enjoy American football too. I watched the Sunday night football every week.

    Cold As Heaven

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  3. I guess I prefer high school or college. And yes, that song played at almost every game. Loved it.

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  4. What an interesting theme. Music can be very powerful in terms of memories. Can't say I'm football fan, though. More of a track and field kind of gal. ;)

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  5. I wasn't a huge football fan, but I did enjoy the games I went to in high school. I went to a few college games as well. A bigger fan of Queen, I suppose. My fifth grader is going to play Bohemian Rhapsody next month in concert. I can't wait.

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  6. I've never really considered myself a Queen fan either, but I do have to listen to the Highlander and Flash Gordon soundtracks at least once a year.

    As for football, I've never been a fan. I don't hate it like I do basketball, I've just never found an appreciation for it.

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    1. Then, I suppose you are not a Texas native. But that's okay.

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  7. Loved Queen - Killer Queen, You're My Best Friend. Such great song. I was never a football fanatic. But your story was great.

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  8. Not a Queen fan either, but I am a huge football fan. Went to every game in high school and college. Had to - I was in the band.

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  9. Enjoy football off and on these days; used to like professional football more in my early 20s. I did like to go to the high school football games, but honestly I don't think I ever watched the game, LOL; social time I think it was more of!

    betty

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    1. Oh, I was the girl trying to get my friends to sit down so I could see the next play.

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  10. I've got Queen on my radar today, too!

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  11. I love Queen!! I have several of their songs on my playlist. I also love football!! I love high school, college and pro but I guess if I had to choose - I am a diehard Cowboys fan! Through and through. No fair weathered fan here, I love them win or lose. I was in drill team in both high school and college so my life was centered around performing during the games.

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    1. That's neat Holli! The Cowboys deliver often enough to deserve fans like you.

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  12. "We Will Rock You" always brings back sports memories for me too, both real life games and sports movies.

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    1. Good, I don't want to be the only cuckoo out on this ledge!

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  13. Love that song! I guess I'd have to say I like college football games the best. The athletes really try hard. It's not just a job.

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    1. That is true. Suppose high school stayed my favorite as ANYTHING can happen in a high school game. Plus, just knowing more of the players off the field makes it more interesting.

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  14. I quite like Queen since, yes, that was played at all the football games. I'm a huge football fan when my son is in the games. He plays defensive end. So yeah!

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  15. Oh man...what an all-time great anthem! I've been listening to Queen on and off since I was a kid - Freddie Mercury was such an amazing vocalist and performer. It's too bad your school didn't get to hear "We Are The Champions" at the Astrodome.

    I only ever went to one high school game - and our school lost to the wealthy prep school kids on a phantom penalty call, so that was the end of that! I watch pro football now and then, used to be a huge Green Bay Packers fan until Brett Favre retired. But I have to admit my interest in the sport has soured with all the criminals and cheaters who play it (says the Favre fan) and the way that football players are treated like gods on campus. I know, I know...shouldn't judge them all just because of a few bad apples ...but maybe I don't love the sport enough to join the masses anymore.

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    1. Thanks for sharing all those memories, Chris! There has always been some bad weeds in pro sports, but seems these days they are a bumper crop.

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  16. I don't know about queen, just learnt about them over at Michael Abayomi's blog today. Not a football fan either. And by football I mean soccer. Sometimes, I think I jinx the game by watching.

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    1. See, you are a football fan in hiding! On a true fan would think they could jinx the game.

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  17. I was never into football. I was in my high school marching band, so I did go to all the home games. Never watched them, though. I remember we always got 3rd quarter off.

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    1. Third quarter break! When all the band kids could come out of the stands and eat and visit. We had that, too!

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  18. Oh my goodness! The memories! I was in the band but we yelled and hollered with the rest of the crowd. Sometimes I got carried away and got into trouble for cheering instead of playing. Ha! I was in Texas as well.
    http://enchantedfantasies.blogspot.com/

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  19. Oh, great memories, Thea! Thanks for sharing them!

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