I”m not a sports fan, but I can”t wait to see the Kelseyville Knights in action this fall.
For me, the most important thing about high school football is community building. It is an important part of American culture and serves a purpose much greater than “developing school pride” or “teaching teamwork”.
In a community like Kelseyville, high school football gives people a sense of place, a town they can call home and a history in which they can take part. Everybody out at the games, rooting for the home team, and coming together for a common cause, in a way, is one of the most beautiful things that human beings can do together.
What”s not as important is whether the team is called the Cougars, the Bears, the Banana Slugs or the Knights. No matter what the team”s name is, proud parents will still cut clippings from the Record-Bee sports section to save for posterity. Young people will still remember Kelseyville High games as some of the best times of their life.
Kelseyville has proven itself to be a forward-thinking California community and we should all be proud. I think that our tribal neighbors will take satisfaction in knowing that in addition to being citizens of their own sovereign nations they also are citizens of the United States and, at least in this case, our mutual system of government worked for them.
I hope that rancheria residents will join us in the stands as we cheer the Knights to victory this fall, and I also hope that some of the husky Indian boys that I”ve seen out by the casinos will try out for linebacker. We might just have one of the toughest teams in California.
Go Knights!
Richard J. Martin Jr.
Lakeport
