Lee - Permian

Here I was 1 year ago on Friday October 11, 2013.  Unbeknownst to me that Friday would end up being "Fun Day" at LI.  While being a big supporter of Fun Day I was also concerned that our players would not handle the event responsibly and would ruin their legs playing flag football, frisbee, or one of the many other Fun Day activities offered to them as students at LI.  That being the case and with the football team having a game in Woodstock that Friday, I told Mrs. Smith that I would be taking the team to the gym to watch a movie when the Fun Day announcement was made.  The movie I chose to show the kids was "Friday Night Lights", the Permian Panthers taking center stage.  I could not possibly have imagined that exactly one year later I would be coaching in the Lee - Permian game.  Even now it seems ridiculous.

Unfortunately, we lost 45-28.  Tremendous credit to Permian as they obviously prepared their kids very well and were able to keep us at bay and win the game after building a 14-0 lead. 

As for how it compares to SJA-LI, there is no comparison. My guess is that there were maybe 8,000 in attendance at the game, which makes it number 2 on the list of most attended games I have ever coached in  - second only to the Shrine Game in 2004 but well below what I expected for Lee - Permian game.  Considering that Caledonia County has a population of approximately 30,000 and the attendance at The Game generally exceeds 3,000, it was a stark comparison.  Midland and Ector County (Odessa) have a combined population of over 300,000 people, although they have  4 high schools to divide the kids and fans amongst.  Nearly 10 percent of the county's population attend the game EVERY YEAR, and often many more.  Here, its just not that way with the Permian game.  As a matter of fact, I asked the kids in my class how many of them cared about the Permian game and almost no one raised their hand.  You would not have known that we were playing anyone different based on the hallways or the students. 

All that having been said, I can say with certainty that Permian has joined the ranks of the HATED enemies.... 
#1 - Academy
#2 - Academy
#3 - Academy
#4 -  Permian
#5 - Patriots

In the end, I am the ultimate JAG this week.