Go Rockets!

Tonight was the first game for Castle Rock Football Season. It was a PERFECT night for football. Warm at kick off and gradually cooled down - very little breeze. Lots of people (over 2800 in fact) people attended the game. (Officially, CR has a population of a little over 2,100 so it was a pretty good turn out in reality. However football is HUGE in this town so it was on the smallish side for opening home game...probably due to opening archery elk season starting tomorrow and the opposing team was from Rochester which is a couple hours away.) The next three games will be much bigger. I expect the homecoming and the game against Kalama -our district rivals will easily be double this gate attendance.

I will have to sometime try and describe the absolute "rightness" of a Castle Rock home game. I fell in love with it right after we moved here. Every time I've sat in the stands, I've been struck with the thought that this perfectly captures and personifies the traditional American Spirit and pride. ~ You know everything that is good and right with this country. It a snapshot of "small town America." The pep band playing, cheerleaders and pep squads doing their rah rah thing, crowds cheering, great plays being made on the fields under the bright lights and in cute a little old fashioned wooden stadium. I wish I could capture the crispness of the air, the smell of the burgers cooking on the grill outside, the roar of the crowd and all the people laughing joking and having a good time catching up with one another.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to experience very much of the social and game aspects. I am working the concession stand again this year, because the school will give our nonprofit group (Cub Scout Pack) 50% of the profits for the season. This will hopefully pay most of what it will take to send my son to scout camp this summer. (He wants to go to with the pack to two 4-day camps and a week long day camp - which will be about $500.) Plus his sister, wants to be a venture scout and do the 9-day, 150-mile horse riding "camp" (horse trek) which is about $400. So since money doesn't grow on trees, I'm hustling up hamburgers, pizza sticks, nachos, bags of pop corn, candy bars and lots of soda pop for hungry fans. It's a lot of work, but is a lot fun too.