COMMENTARY: I wouuld like more 300-pound linemen–please

I am asking Santa Claus for some 300-pound linemen for Christmas for Pahrump Valley High.

Last week I talked about football and how the coach was doing a good job. I am sticking with that and going on to another topic -- how many players do we need on the football team?

This has been a small issue. We are a school of nearly 1,300 students and yet we have a problem fielding a team.

We had roughly 25 on the team this season, when we should have nearly 50.

This needs to change.

Injuries happen and we need to have good players on the bench that can jump in and play.

Where are all the big guys?

Did you know we once had a few 300-pound linemen? Yes indeed. They did well to anchor the line, especially during a goal line defense stand, it's always good to have a good elephant squad on the line when the other team is running a power run play to get into the end zone.

The big guys are needed more than ever now.

Football is work and yes, we have a lot of kids that are afraid to go out of the their comfort zone.

Oh my, the coach might yell at me.

Yes princess, football is a tough sport and you need to learn to hit other people. Shoot, back in my day, big guys came out in droves. Why? BECAUSE they loved the sport. At my school though I also think they just loved to hit other people!

Now the big guys at school are too immersed in electronics. After all, if I play football I might have to give up all the videogames I play. Ooohhh noooo. Gosh forbid some kids play less video games.

You laugh, but I actually met a player that was like that. He is long gone and graduated now and he never became the star he could have been because -- that's right, those video games got in the way. He didn't want to sacrifice and work hard.

I think it's easy to make fun of this current generation. In fact, it's too easy.

This generation can get all its thrills from electronics and yes, our generation was different. We come from the generation that needed to make its own thrills. That meant going outside for us and using our imaginations. Most of us didn't grow up with a lot of toys so we used sticks and those became our guns. We went outside and pretended the trees in the backyard were a jungle or we got a bat and ball and played three flies up or got a football and played tackle football.

Do you ever see kids at the park playing a pick-up game?

I am not sure what kids are doing in their off time but it's not going outside to play.

Why risk injury today and actually sweat when you can go into a virtual reality and get all that without sweating.

If the kids do make it outside, I certainly think the obesity rate would be lower in the country.

Then there is this thing about praying before a game. A football coach got suspended from coaching for having the team pray before they played. What is this country coming to? I personally believe we need more God in the schools, not less, but that's my opinion.

The coach was a Seattle-area assistant high school football coach that has been placed on paid leave for continuing to pray on the field after games -- by himself.

The suspension came a day before the regular season ended and he can't resume his job until he agrees not to pray while on duty as a coach. So he stopped the on field post-game prayers but continued to pray by himself on the field and that's what got him suspended. He said he had been praying since 2008. Who cares if he prays by himself? Apparently the school is violating his right to freedom of religion.

My hat is off to you coach Joe Kennedy of Washington and I pray you get your way.

-Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com