Whenever I'm watching a TV show or movie that revolves around high school football, I'm instantly taken on a trip down Memory Lane. If you're in the same boat, you likely lived for that Friday night feeling when you met up with your best friends on the bleachers to watch the game. The bright lights lit up the field, you had French fries and a soda in-hand, and you were decked out in your school's colors. There are just some nostalgic things about Friday night football games that'll always make every millennial say, "same."
I'm the first person to admit that I'm constantly filled with nostalgia. It's the reason I still have old mix CDs from high school in my car. I can relive the good old days by wearing overalls and neon fanny packs while listening to Yellowcard and Blink-182 whenever I want, but the one thing I miss the most that's hard to recreate are those Friday nights showing off my school spirit on the bleachers.
Going over to my best friend's house to get ready was just the beginning. If I could, I'd want to experience these nine things all over again. Until then, I guess I'll settle for watching all my favorite teen rom-coms on repeat, and looking back on #TBTs with friends. Though, maybe one day I can travel back in time and see it all myself once more.
I can't tell you how many black and gold outfits I had ready for Friday night football games. I loved getting into the school spirit. Sometimes, my friends and I even painted our faces to show off how much we loved our team.
Your squad may have had that one friend in the group whose house was the go-to spot to meet up. You'd order pizza to eat before you all headed over to the game. This is when you also put the finishing touches on your spirited look, so you all matched. (Pictures were, of course, necessary.)
Meeting under the bleachers during halftime was when you and your best friend could gossip about all the things. You were able to dish on where your crush was sitting, so that you could make a game plan of your own to casually "run into" them that night.
Whenever I hear a drum line, it takes me back. I don't think I appreciated just how much I loved hearing our marching band play when I was in high school. It was fun listening to all the usual pump-up songs, and some marching bands even took on top pop songs at the time.
Catch me at a game, and I am all in. I remember the whole crowd cheering on our team with the cheerleaders. You might even still remember all the hand movements and words to your favorite cheers.
One of the things you may have wished for most when you hit up the weekly football game was to run into your crush. The minute you spotted them sitting on the bleachers, you got major butterflies. You knew that it was a sign that you just had to go over and talk to them, or at least give them a smile.
The best was also seeing everyone else from school outside of class. You may have talked to people who weren't in your classes, and caught up with some of your best friends who you didn't get to see much during the school day.
Whether your team won or lost, you may have gone out afterwards to your local diner to make the night last even longer. It was your go-to place that always felt like home sweet home.
Friday night football games were just the beginning. It was the best way to kick off (Pun intended.) the fun weekend ahead. If Friday was any indication of how the rest of the weekend would go, you knew you were in for the best time ever.
