Tonight's the night! Let's celebrate those opening kickoffs

Pick a town, any town.

I'll pick the night.

Friday.

Tonight.

Opening Night.

High school football teams throughout Illinois will charge out on the fields tonight to officially kick off the 2007 season.

For a few hours, personal and worldly troubles will be put on hold.

I had a great summer with grandson Mark in Madison, Wis., but Friday, Aug. 24, was circled very prominently on my calendar as far back as May.

It's late summer and the tang of autumn is not yet in the air, but that will not detract from what always is an emotional night as we hear the air sing with the first great clashing of helmets and pads.

Opening Night.

Of course, it's more enjoyable if your favorite school plays at home, but there's a charged atmosphere on both sides of the field even at road games when the new Friday night heroes are unveiled for the first time.

I have been going to these opening nights in high school football since 1946, and although the game has changed, there are some scenes that never change.

In a way, this night always is a kaleidoscope of so many past seasons, with the memories swirling around like dancing leaves.

To say that the fun takes place on Friday or Saturday alone on this opening high school football weekend is, of course, understating the buildup to the game in every school.

The life of the high school game is found not only on the field but in the peripheral activities. The cheerleaders and pompon girls and stirring sounds of the band are all part of the flavor of the game.

Transfer all that to the professional game, for example, and they seem meaningless and unnecessary.

Yes, the pomp creates unmistakable splendor, but the defining moment comes when the fans, young and old, find their seats and gaze out on that striped green field for the first time each season.

Their eyes scan the playing field, the scoreboard, the other fans, and they begin to wonder if this is going to be their year when everything clicks, when that neighbor boy who was rather tentative as a junior lives up to his enormous potential as a senior, when that quarterback matures as a true leader, when the head coach seems to make all the right moves.

Coaches tell the kids to make every play count and to play with pride, passion and enthusiasm. They talk about goals and the colors of the school they represent.

To me, the high school coach embodies the title of coach. They are the nation's true coaches.

However, they never know just how these young men will respond to those demands until they see the first returns on Opening Night.

Coaches can guess, but they also don't know how team chemistry will shake out over the long season. Can they tell by measuring the eyes of the players?

Do the players get along? Can they handle success or adversity as each week grinds inexorably toward its Friday or Saturday pinnacle?

Everybody is loaded with questions on Opening Night.

Wherever the setting, there is nothing quite like the exhilaration that a high school football fan experiences when the stadium comes alive.

High school football still retains the freshness that is lost at the college and pro levels.

No big-time bonus money or inflated egos here. Just a bunch of great kids who love football.

Isn't that the way it was meant to be?

In a way, high school football in many communities remains the scale on which manhood is weighed. In the eyes of some parents and coaches, it is a peculiarly primitive metaphor for life.

For the players as well as the fans, it is still a game, and that's why it continues to flourish and why we wait for it to return every year.

Opening Night.

Finally, it's here.

I hope these young players win as many games as they can in 2007.

I also hope they understand that just by participating and being part of a team they win in ways far more important than what's on the scoreboard.

That sounds nice, but it's also pretty satisfying to have more points when the clock hits 0:00.