The scrimmage between McIntosh and Pike County on Thursday, August 10 was supposed to last as long as a regular football game, which meant not coming home from school until 11:30 on a Thursday night. Both the marching band and the cheerleading teams were asked by administration to attend and perform. Many students, myself included, had homework, quizzes, and tests that would take up some time once we had gotten back home, not to mention showering and eating dinner. On top of that, the game was only a scrimmage, so it didn’t count for the football season.

Regardless of the weather issues, Thursday was going to be a frustrating day.

As soon as we had moved the expensive, heavy, not-waterproof instruments down to the football field, it began to sprinkle rain. The threat of rain was cause to bring the instruments back up the steep hill to the courtyard, and from there to the band room. Once everyone was inside, we were informed that there would be a 15 minute rain delay, causing the game to start at 7:15 rather than 7:00.

The rain, however, did not stop and had only just begun. Rather than letting us leave and cancelling the scrimmage, we stayed at the school for an additional hour and a half. The band members were able to rehearse their music in the band room, but the color guard was unable to really practice as we couldn’t move our flags very well in the hallways due to the low and breakable ceiling. Instead, we used swing flag poles to imitate our work, but swing flag poles are only thin pvc pipes, so the length and weight is incredibly different from the regular, metal poles. The swing flags allowed practice in technique, but overall it was not an outstandingly useful practice, especially when there were other obligations that were more important.

The marching band was not allowed to leave the school until about 8:30, and by then the rain was coming down so fast and heavy that it was incredibly difficult to see. There was no warning, and many students left in cars or golf carts to drive home in such hazardous conditions. Once the worst of the rain had passed, the football team continued with the game.

Personally, I found the whole situation ridiculous. Though the rain had passed and the game had been delayed by over an hour and a half, students continued to play a football game that wouldn’t even count for the upcoming season. The scrimmage did not progress very far, as lightning was spotted and they had to delay the game again. After the scrimmage had gone on long enough with enough delays, it was called off early and the football players were released.

The football scrimmage on Thursday, August 10 was an exercise in futility for everyone. The football team did not gain very much experience playing other teams, the marching band rehearsed the exact same thing they would in class the next day, the color guard ¨practice¨ was not as progressive as a performance on the field would have been. Furthermore, all students had homework and classes the next day. The scrimmage only served to create frustration and a lack of sleep for McIntosh students.

In the future, the game should be called off earlier. The sky was extraordinarily gray, with the rain obviously not going to clear up any time soon. Rather than forcing us all to wait for a game that wouldn’t happen, administration should have just let us leave and reschedule. Furthermore, the scrimmage should not have been scheduled for a Thursday. There have been actual games scheduled on Thursday nights in the past, and they have resulted in terrible sleep and poor performance on homework and quizzes the next day. The scrimmage was no different. Despite being let off ¨early¨, students were still up far too late doing homework on a school night. In addition to that point, the game was supposed to last much longer, which would have been even worse for students. If the scrimmage had been scheduled for Friday, more students would have been able to come to the scrimmage and watch, there would have been an opportunity to catch up on sleep the next morning, and students would have the weekend to finish any homework from Friday.