A Doug's Life: Are You Ready for Some Football?

In case I never mentioned it before, I used to be a sports writer.

"Wow," people would say to me. "They pay you to go to games?"

Well, that's pretty much how it worked. Teams would give me a media credential, a seat in the press box and access to the athletes. Unfortunately, my editor also gave me a deadline that often arrived minutes after the game ended.

Oh yeah, that's loads of fun. Just as you're sending your first lead saying the Dodgers beat the Giants 5-4, some jerk hits a two-out home run in the top of the ninth for the Giants, who now lead 6-5, and just two minutes before your deadline. You're darn right I got paid to go to games. Just not enough.

OK, so maybe it wasn't such a bad career. I got to travel across the country, see a lot of exciting games and meet many interesting people. Although I started by covering baseball, which remains my favorite sport, I finished by covering football, which in many ways was the most fun of all.

For one thing, football usually is played during the day, which sure eases the deadline pressure. Besides that, there's nothing else in sports quite like game day at a football stadium.

If you're talking pro football, you've got the tailgate parties, traditional rivalries and unparalleled displays of skill. In college football, you've got the pep rallies, school bands and unpredictability of bowl matchups.

And at the high school level, you've got hometown pride at stake. After all, who doesn't want their local prep football team to do well?

So here we are again -- already into the NFL exhibition season, less than two weeks from the college football season and just five days away from the return of high school football to Menifee. Whether you're heading down the road to watch the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium, cheering on your favorite college team on the big screen at The Beer Hunter, following Mt. San Jacinto College's Eagles or cheering for Heritage High and Paloma Valley, it's football time here in Menifee.

Now that I'm back in the business of writing for publication every day, I think we'll throw some football at you here at Menifee 24/7.

In our ongoing efforts to look for things the good folks of Menifee are interested in, it certainly seems that high school football qualifies. How many of you agree? I would expect every proud parent to add their supporting comment below, but what about the rest of you? Who wants to see a writeup and photos of Heritage and Paloma Valley football games on this site each Saturday morning? Speak up now.

If you're a fan of the Heritage High Patriots, you surely remember last season, when the team won the Sunbelt League title, finished 12-2 and advanced all the way to the CIF championship game. If your team is the Paloma Valley Warriors, you're probably looking forward to the chance to improve upon last year's 2-9 record. Either way, it all starts Friday night.

Paloma Valley opens its season at home against San Bernardino at 7 p.m. Heritage opens on the road, vs. San Jacinto at Hemet High School, also at 7 p.m.

As they say in the big leagues, good seats are available. But whether you're there in the stands or not, Menifee 24/7 can provide you with highlights -- if you want them.

You tell us. Are you ready for some football?