Sports fans in southern California have a national reputation for arriving late and leaving early.That is how they are perceived throughout the country, and it is a fairly accurate assessment of the hoardes of fans that claim the Lakers, the Dodgers, and/or USC Trojans football as their favorite.
However, I had no idea the epidemic was spread all the way down to the high school level until attending the battle between Crenshaw and Culver City -- two undefeated teams, each with Division I-caliber prospects.
While the play on the field was similar, it was like a completely different culture than a marquee game in the South where I am originally from.
On a gorgeous night if the No. 1 ranked team in Atlanta (Crenshaw is the top City Section team according to the Los Angeles Times) played another team that was undefeated and had put up over 40 points in each of the first three contests of the season as Culver City had, fans would have to be there at least an hour early if they were even entertaining the idea of getting a seat.
Sure, there were fans lined up to get in 30 minutes before the game at Culver City...
But there were also people
lined up outside the ticket booth window all the way up to halftime.
The action on the field looked the same...
From stretching:
...to warmups...
...to the blur that is the banner run through...
...to lining up as the sun sets...
...because football is football, and the game hasn't seen a drastic change since the inception of the forward pass. Very good teams win more often than not as Crenshaw did on this night with a 48-7 victory thanks in part to Geno Hall's four touchdown receptions.
But in the stands it was almost a passive, non-attentive gathering.
Instead of the stands overflowing, packed to the brim with rabid high schoolers ready to shout anything that comes to their mind (much of which probably shouldn't be uttered), it was merely the parents sitting in the stands clapping for positive plays and sighing at the negative ones.
The students appeared like they couldn't care less about the game itself. Instead, they congregated in hip attire (maybe they just had a night on the town planned afterwards) far from the action where cameras were not welcomed by the faces or the dim lighting.
Just like a lot of Los Angeles, it appears people only go to high school football for the social aspect rather than for the event itself.
A completely different culture for this Southern boy.
Shotgun Spratling
By Patrick Crawley
October 4, 2009 6:08 PM
Shotgun, good read. I'm embarrassed to say that my high school had the same atmosphere as the Crenshaw High game. Except we weren't any good at football...
By Stephanie Guzman
October 5, 2009 10:25 PM
Shotgun these are great photos! Good job!