THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 Page 3 High school players, fans going cold turkey with no Thanksgiving Day Football tomorrow COVID-19 has cancelled the entire HS slate this fall, including traditional holiday matchups By Steve Freker C old turkey’s going to take on a whole diff erent meaning in less than 24 hours, when people arise from their holiday slumber tomorrow morning and realize there is no high school football game to attend. When the reality sets in, that high-pitched wail you hear emanating from the greater Boston and North Shore region, particularly from such high school football strongholds as Everett, Malden, Revere and Saugus, will be the sound of the thousands of folks who suddenly realize they have absolutely nothing to do until the mashed potatoes and gravy gets here. This is serious stuff here, folks. Everyone was well aware that there was not going to be a Thanksgiving football feast to complement the turkey and fi xings this year – we all got plenty of advance notice. But when reality really, truly arrives, sometime around 8 o’clock or so tomorrow morning, it is all over, close the curtains. There really, really is no Thanksgiving football game this year! In Malden, it means no game for the fi rst time since 1888! Their game with Medford is the second-oldest continuous rivalry in the nation, for goodness’ sake! Game #133 was supposed to be tomorrow. “Was” is the operative word. Not happening now, kids. How about in Revere? Tomorrow the Patriots were supposed to be meeting traditional rival Winthrop for the 92nd time. Oh, what a glorious day it will be in 2028 for the Centennial 100th meeting! Uh, wait a minute. That will be delayed a year, now. At least. And in Saugus? It would have been the 74th meeting with Peabody between the longtime Turkey Day foes. Last year the fi nal game in storied Sachem history was played at good old Stackpole Field as the new Saugus High includes a new football fi eld as well. Will this game now be played sometime next March? Will Saugus still get a home game to open its new fi eld in the fall of 2021? You need Agatha Christie to write the next chapter of this mystery. The pain in Everett will not be quite as severe, as the Crimson Tide was looking at a year without a Thanksgiving Day game anyway, as Masconomet, which had played Everett on Turkey Day the past couple of years, including a game at Fenway Park in fabled coach John DiBiaso’s fi nale, had pulled out of the relationship after three years. Not having any football all this fall season stung just as sharply as at the other schools, though. There will be the regular NFL games fl ooding the TVs tomorrow, of course, but it will not be even close to the same. High school football on Thanksgiving is oh, so much more than just going to the game – seeing old teammates, renewing friendships with former classmates and just getting out there and soaking it all in, whether your team wins or does not. How many of us see people at Thanksgiving football games and that is the only time we see them all year! Most of us? All of us? We cherish those moments so much and we look forward to them all year. Thanksgiving Day football matters. It really does, and now it is simply not going to happen because of COVID-19, a sinister thief over which we have no control. This is going to be a very tough loss in a year in which we have already lost so much. Now we know exactly how Charlie Brown feels the second after Lucy pulls the ball away. Thankful. Grateful. Inspired. At Members Plus, we feel truly blessed to be part of such a great community of hard working, real people. We are proud and honored to be your community credit union. Happy Thanksgiving! Local & Trusted memberspluscu.org BETTER RATES FREE CHECKING LARGE ATM NETWORK MOBILE APP SM
4 Publizr Home