WE #beathoover

Let me set the stage for you: two teams face off in the last area game of the season to decide who is area champs. Mountain Brook is fourth in the state, Hoover is second. Hoover was favored, Hoover was twice our size (both in school population and literally football player size), and Hoover had also beaten Mountain Brook every game for 30 years. And on October 21, 2011, I'm so proud to say that the Mountain Brook Spartans ended that streak.


The hype started at the Spain Park game. As Mountain Brook was closing off the win for the night, the student section began chanting, "We want Hoover". In the next two weeks, it was rare to see a tweet that didn't contain #beathoover. The entire community rose to the call, a community that is known for being...ehh less than what you could call spirited. Some senior guys jumped on this opportunity and began mass organization. They planned, organized, and even held a practice for our student section. You heard right, student section practice. And the thing is 60 students showed up. We can't even get 60 seniors to go to a pep rally. 


Stickers were being made that said "Beat Hoover". They were on cars, people, tweets, profile pictures, etc. People who I had known to not care one lick about Mountain Brook Football were rallying behind the cause. As the day approached, the hype only grew. News teams were calling this the game of the century.  Parking and seats in the stadium were starting to be of concern. Paranoia was high. Everyone wanted to give our guys the best chance possible to win. When the day finally came, I honestly have never seen my school anything like the way it was. We did nothing remotely academic that day. All we talked about was Hoover and our own separate plans for the day. Majority of the students didn't even leave the school, and most were back at 5 in the stands ready to go. When I walked in to warm up to cheer, I was pleasantly surprised to see our stands filled two hours before the game. And not only were they filled with students, they were filled with cheering students. Some guys led them all in cheering and were so loud that we couldn't even hear ourselves cheering. 

I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about this game. I have a 6th sense that just tells me the results of football games and this time, I was not getting any signal. But the second I walked down the hill by the football field house and saw the Hoover Bucs logo on their trailor, I knew that we would win. I felt 100% certain that 30 years of tradition was all ending that night.


We began the pregame ritual of the run through sign. Hoover's fell. Our's didn't. That's all there is to it. 

I think we all know who won this one.

As the game went on, I don't think I focused on anything for 2 hours, nor do I think I was responsive. We scored on our first drive to make it 7-0. They kicked a field goal and then scored a TD minus to an extra point to make it 7-9 for the second half. Mountain Brook scored once more and another field goal to finish it out at 17-9. The last play of the game was Hoover throwing a long pass that was picked off by one of our players, who happened to have just recently returned to play his senior year after being out with an injury since the Vestavia game. All the time our student section was LOUD, and even inspiring. Our new battle cry is "I believe that we will win" and I kid you not it took all I could not to break down every time I heard it. 

MASSIVE student section. This is real life.

When the clock ran out and the game ended, all I felt was a happy blur of emotion and utter happiness. The football players ran over and dived into the student section and soon, the entire fan base came out on to the field to celebrate. A whirl wind was an understatement for what that night was. I hugged so many people I don't think I have ever talked to and it didn't even matter. Everyone was sincerely excited and unified, something that I had though impossible for my school to ever achieve. I can honestly say that it was one of the single greatest nights of my life, let alone high school. 

The best part came the next morning, when the news paper covered the story, telling of Mountain Brook's triumphs and night of glory, ended with a small side section called, "Game Ball". Usually it is reserved for the best player or coach of the game. This time, all it read was "Give this one to the Mountain Brook student section. The support it showed their boys all week was something that hasn't been matched by a home crowd at a big Metro football game in quite some time." Wow. I'm so proud to be a Spartan.

This last one is my favorite. All the senior cheerleaders right after we won.

To the moon and back,

Allie

"Mountain Brook was different. Every Spartan wanted it more Friday and they all got just what they wanted." -Jeff Sentell, Birmingham News, Saturday, October 22, 2011

Long Live -Taylor Swift

I said remember this moment, in the back of my mind
The time we stood with our shaking hands
The crowds and stands went wild
We were the Kings and the Queens
And they read off our names
The night you danced like you knew our lives
Would never be the same
You held your head like a hero
On a history book page
It was the end of a decade
But the start of an age

Long live the walls we crashed through
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
One day we will be remembered

I said remember this feeling
I passed the pictures around
Of all the years that we stood there
On the side-lines wishing for right now
We are the Kings and the Queens
You traded your baseball cap for a crown
When they gave us our trophies
And we held them up for our town
And the cynics were outraged
Screaming this is absurd
Cause for a moment a band of thieves
In ripped up jeans got to rule the world

Long live the walls we crashed through
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
I'm not afraid
Long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
I was screaming long live the look on your face
And bring on all the pretenders
One day we will be remembered

Hold on to spinning around
Confetti falls to the ground
May these memories break our fall

Will you take a moment, promise me this
That you'll stand by me forever
But if god forbid fate should step in
And force us into a goodbye
If you have children some day
When they point to the pictures
Please tell them my name
Tell them how the crowds went wild
Tell them how I hope they shine

Long live the walls we crashed through
I had the time of my life with you
Long, long live the walls we crashed through
How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
I was screaming long live all the magic we made
And bring on all the pretenders
I'm not afraid
Singing, long live all the mountains we moved
I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you
I was screaming long live the look on your face
And bring on all the pretenders
One day we will be remembered