Kerrville is riding a wave of enthusiasm over Johnny Manziel, who is the freshman quarterback for Texas A&M that’s sweeping the nation with Johnny Football Fever.
Johnny moved to Kerrville with his family when he was in middle school, and played quarterback for Tivy High (my alma mater, and the only high school in town).
Dick is a HUGE sports fan, and particularly enjoys following high school athletics. Says it’s pure heart. College games are his second favorite, and professional sports come in third place. He will try to watch every local team/every sport early in the season, to “see what they’ve got.”
When Johnny Manziel was a high school freshman, he caught Dick’s eye, and Dick didn’t miss a Tivy football game after that, even going to all the out-of-town and playoff games. When the games were in Kerrville, I would go with him.
Johnny can scramble, loves to play keep-away with the defense, and will sometimes zigzag backwards from the line of scrimmage, and when he has the defense spread out and winded, he sprints forward and strolls into the end zone. He doesn’t get set before passing the ball; he may be running in one direction and pass the ball across his body the “wrong way” and find a receiver open. In high school he was also on the kicking team.
One time Dick and Deen were at a game, and Johnny was running toward the endzone. Out of nowhere came a tackler who couldn’t be avoided. Johnny dove over him, came out of the flip on the other side, and landed on his feet for a touchdown.
I have to confess that I’m a good-times fan. I love following a team when there is something fun to keep an eye out for. I’m not so much on watching the heartbreaks. Been there, done that. I used to hate “fans” like me, but I’m just not up for the disappointment anymore.
So we’ve been keeping an eye on A&M all summer to see which QB would be chosen to start. When it turned out to be Johnny, we made sure to watch every game on television. We are not surprised to see his success and a growing number of followers.
This can be a challenge, because we don’t have TV. There is a TV in the Playroom, so we could watch it there, but mostly we venture into town and watch either at the Wing King or Chili’s. Everybody is starting to catch on about “Johnny Football,” so lately there has been a large and loud crowd to cheer on the Aggies.
It’s been a lot of fun, and I almost hate to see the regular college football season coming to an end.
About the Author
