By JON WEBB
GLASGOW — While taking pictures of a Barren County football practice in July, a Trojan player walked past me, noticed I was with the paper and in a Paul Revere-ish voice said to me: “you should write a story called ‘Glasgow, look out!’.”
I laughed and told him I probably couldn’t (and shouldn’t) do that, since I’m supposed to be completely impartial and fair toward both teams. His return gaze was one of puzzlement, but not because he didn’t understand the meaning of what I said.
He just didn’t understand how it could possibly work as an answer.
I got the feeling the comment wasn’t a light-hearted jab at the Scotties to let me know his team was ready. To him, the comment was an actual warning: the Scotties really should “look out!” because 58 Trojans were possibly having fervent dreams of utterly destroying their down-the-road rivals in a way that would not only embarrass Glasgow players, but shake their emotional core so deeply that future Scottie children would years from now awake saturated in sweat, barely remembering a hazy nightmare in which their fathers wept openly in a large, numbered field.
And after talking with the Barren player, I couldn’t help but think Glasgow’s players had circled the game on their calendar as well, maybe even with their own blood.
Perhaps I’ve overstated.
Nevertheless, this exchange was my first true exposure to the Barren County/Glasgow rivalry: a rivalry which will peak Friday night when the schools’ football teams face off at BCHS.
Maybe it’s because I’m not from the area or because my hometown had only one high school, but I don’t fully understand why the two schools are so competitive.
I get the whole idea of “bragging rights.”
If you’re a fan (or member) of a team, you want to beat your closest-in-distance competition just so you can chide those around you who root (or play) for the other team.
Example: I once made Allison Hawkins, a Purdue-fan former classmate of mine, cry after a particularly wonderful IU/Purdue blowout in third grade. I did so several times throughout the day, and it never got old until I lost a week’s worth of recess.
But unlike the IU/Purdue game, a BCHS/GHS showdown has no divisional ramifications.
The two aren’t even in the same district or class, which means the game is no more special than, say, Glasgow’s recent showdown with Herrin, Ill.
They will only play two mutual opponents this season (Monroe and Metcalfe). Both are coached by capable men, rendering their records not a reflection of which team has more talent, but of which team played an easier schedule.
I’ve met followers of both schools, and know Trojans can be friendly toward Scotties and vice-versa. I know the coaches of each school have a general interest in the well-being of the other.
So why all the seething hostility? Why will the BCHS stadium be louder this week than any other week? Shouldn’t, when not embroiled in competition, Glasgow and Barren loyalists root for one another? After all, they share the same grocery stores, police force, gas stations, golf course and town.
Why, then?
I guess because it would make for a really boring game come Friday.
