Football players have long been associated with superstitions, from wearing the same underwear, to eating the same food before every game. These rituals are a part of football. At Elder, our players have their own pregame rituals they partake in to get them ready for the game. I sat down with Louis Faillace and got the inside scoop of his pregame routine. “My game day starts with me waking up and listening to “Courtesy of Red White and Blue” by Toby Keith, That song gets me going.” We all love Toby, but who knew he could get Faillace’s blood pumping? “Every morning, I eat some of my mom’s world famous lamb chops and a big glass of cookies n’ cream protein, made with 100% soy milk.” Now I’m not a fan of pork chops but I guess they are power food for Mr. Faillace “The first thing I do when I get into the locker room is walk into the third stall. I never flush it, don’t ask me why, it’s just something I do.” Now I’m not one to rag on another man’s rituals, but that one seems a little strange to me. “As the game draws closer and we take the field, I start to hum Beethoven’s Ode to Joy just to calm my nerves. We all have our pump up songs, I guess Faillace just likes to stick to the classics. “My final ritual is to quote Dumb and Dumber as we begin our stretches.” Now Louis’s pregame rituals may be a little odd, but I guess the routine seems to be works Not only do the players have their rituals, but the students in the cheering section have their own as well. Most of the time it’s just a group of friends hanging out and someone’s house, getting ready for the game. Wrists are taped, eye black is slapped on, and the boys are ready for the game. I asked senior Brady Schultz what he does before the game. “Well it’s usually just a bunch of dudes, doing dude stuff, getting weird and doing cheers. It is a common occurrence for local neighborhoods to be echoed with the rowdy spirit of Elders Twelfth man.” I hope your neighbors don’t mind, because the closer it gets to game time, the louder the boys get. “We usually play some games to get us really in the mood. Corn hole, backyard football, maybe a little ping pong, you know, that sort of stuff.” There is no doubt that the competitiveness of these games really get the boys ready to lead the cheering section, and cheer on our panthers.

I talked to Mr. Ruffing to see if he had any rituals that he took part in before the games. I figured the man in charge of making sure none of us screw up had to do something interesting. I was wrong. “My family and I go to skyline before every game,” Ruffing said. I told him that that wasn’t very exciting, he insured me, that he doesn’t need a ritual, that he just needed to show up and watch our boys kick some a**. I couldn’t have said it better myself. It doesn’t matter what we do before the game, as long as we make it in and let our boys on the field know we are there.