SHP's 13-0 football season is certainly worth celebrating

For the record, you give more coverage to how the coach of a private school in Menlo Park feels about not being invited to play in the post season than you give the entire 12 game season of Gunn of Palo Alto football. There are ten times more Palo Altans who follow Gunn football even in a losing season than live in Palo Alto and root for Sacred Heart.

This is a good story, but it should not displace Gunn.

The fact that there are no comments five days after publishing reinforces my point.

Congrats to Sacred Heart on your championship season.

Yes. Great season for Sacred Heart Prep football. They might have beaten Grant but would have been mauled by Folsom or De La Salle which finished in the top five in the entire country. The most interesting story is that the CCS scheduled consolation games ( evidently to make more money for the organization) and the De LA Salle football graduate who served as head coach for last year's CCS open division champion, Serra of San Mateo, forfeited the final consolation bracket game rather than play Milpitas and risk INJURIES for no glory. Injuries. That is what newspapers should report - even if the subject might reduce the size of sports sections.

By the way. Gunn footballers played a weak schedule and finished 1-9. Maybe the Gunn player who posted could give us the inside scoop on injuries. How many Gunn varsity players were injured badly enough to miss a practice and how many does he think sustained permanent injuries? If he is suffering from concussions and has no clue, oh well, maybe we have seen his last post.

The OP is an adult. He ran for city council this year.

No need to put down Gunn or get personal.

I know this has been said before, but it needs to be repeated.
Why does a civilized community praise this institutionalized violence?
Watching oversized, bloated, grown men run around attacking one another to capture imaginary territory is truly strange.
For years there was the pretense that there was no harm until finally admitting they are often damaging their brains.
You have only to read the newspapers to know that violence is very much part of professional football and it spills over into the real world, beating up women and children.

The last comment contends that football injures players and teaches them violence. It also prepares some young men to join the military and put their "boots on the ground" in foreign lands. If troops are sent to protect corporate interests, soldiers are sacrificed unjustifiably. But what about taking on the IS terrorists in the Middle East? Let's hear from Sacred Heart Prep football players. Are you going to join the United States military and be hailed as real hero's in the years ahead? Or are you going to just pretend to be heroic playing a game called football?

Wow - this is crazy. The story was about a school with 300 boys that played a successful football season ending with a victory over Bellarmine, a school with 1,600 boys. The first comment was from Mark Weiss who complained that Gunn High school was unjustly overlooked in coverage. What? Really? Unless you had a son on the team no one from San Mateo to Los Altos cares about a 1-9 Gunn squad.

Then "Tom" chimes in and says that SHP would have been "mauled" by Folsom. Thus my name " I didn't know that" Many folks gave SHP no chance in the open division at all. The fact that they won 3 games in the open division and captured the title is lost on Tom. He somehow knows the outcome of high school football games before they or played. "tom" then jumps up on his soapbox and discusses injuries using coach Walsh's decision to forfeit their game against Milpitas as a sort of badge of courage. Whatever your feelings about the new consolation brackets and coach Walsh's decision it's wrong to join a playoff competition hoping to win and then taking your ball and going home when the results don't go your way. It just is.

"Tom" then got sort of personal and I won't comment on that.

Next we have Crescent Park Dad with a reference to OP. I don't know what that refers to so I will refrain from comment on CPD too.

Close to the end we have "Culture of Violence" who has a clear hatred of Football. I immediately am reminded of the famous quote " the battles of Britain are won on the playing fields of Eton" or one of the variations. Yes, football is a physical game. I think the lessons learned on the High School football field during practice and games trump the injury factor by a good margin. Would love to see "culture of violence's" supporting statistics on the beating of women and children by NFL players as compared to the general population but I'm betting those won't be presented.

Finally there is "Frank" with his ridiculous 'throw down' to a group of young boys challenging them to join the US Military to justify the press given them for success on the athletic field. It's as if the boys playing High School sports are in control of the press and the coverage the teams receive. Don't know what to say about that "Frank" but I will ask this, are you a veteran? Do you have children that have served? If so you should be proud. Local high school athletes may serve too but they shouldn't be pressured to do so because their sports team were successful

Merry Christmas everyone - the best strategy is to pat the winning teams on the back while continuing to support all the other athletes.

OP = original poster