Tonight the South Medford Panthers will play Summit, a school from Central Oregon,
at Fred Spiegelberg Stadium in Medford.It's their first game of the season. My kids have long since graduated from South High but my wife and I will be there tonight cheering on the Panthers. There is nothing quite like small town high school football on a Friday night. If you have read the book or seen the movie or TV show "Friday Night Lights" you know what I mean. I will have my usual Hot Dog and soda for dinner in the stands as I watch the teams warm up. The Portland Oregonian Newspaper some time ago had an article on the best Football League in Oregon and talked about the Southern Oregon Conference ( name has now been changed to South West Conference) which has the major high schools in Southern Oregon. After picking the Southern Oregon Conference as the best in the state, the news story talks about the passion of football in Southern Oregon. With intangibles such as Spiegelberg Stadium and the unique small-town passion of schools such as Grants Pass and Roseburg. It talks about this part of the state being the "hotbed of the state community fan-wise. If you go to Grants Pass, you'll see a packed house. If you go to Spiegelberg Stadium, you'll see a packed house. "The support and passion from the fans is amazing..." It ends with the following quote: "when someone heard me say the other day that we're playing at Medford, they said,'Whoa, that's like Texas down there." Well, it may not be like Texas, but it's as close to Texas as you're gona get in the state of Oregon." (I wrote this post several years ago and it is a rewrite with a few changes such as who South is playing tonight but it is still true.) Go Panthers.
