Phil Major

Tim Buchanan is one of the most successful and well-respected high school football coaches in Texas.

And that’s saying a lot, because that is a fraternity filled with great men.

It’s one thing to have a successful program, and Buchanan has one of the most successful all-time and probably the best one going in Texas right now, and that’s also saying a lot.

The record speaks for itself.

In the past 11 years the Aledo Bearcats have been in nine state championship games, won eight of them, and just missed out one other time, making the semifinals.

They are the first 11-man football program to win nine state titles. The last time they lost a district game, the current players were not yet in school.

As has been said before, they don’t rebuild, they reload.

It’s quite another thing to have earned the respect of your peers and your community.

During the couple years I had the privilege to work with Buchanan, I learned why he is so well respected. He is straight-forward, analytical, likable and flat out knows football, from the X’s and O’s to the intricacies of managing a modern athletic program.

So when he speaks, it’s best to listen, and learn.

When he spoke up recently about what parents were doing that could ruin Aledo’s shot at another state title (and three-peat), it was not too surprising just how blunt he was about that.

You can imagine that the Bearcat program is set up as well as any in the state to lessen the impacts of COVID-19.

So when Buchanan got word that some district parents had been holding large Halloween and homecoming parties, you can bet he was not happy.

He went so far as to go on the record saying that “knuckle-headed” parents were jeopardizing the season for his players.

He also said that if he found out any of his players was attending such parties, they would find their locker cleaned out and be handed a bag with their stuff in it. No questions asked.

We say we are tired of the way our lives have been disrupted, yet so many refuse to do what it takes to get past this.

Many claim it infringes on their freedoms yet are unwilling to take steps to allow all of us to remain free from even more restrictions. Does anyone else see the irony?

We’re all in this together, as the saying goes, but too many are acting as if it’s just about them.

It is truly a sad testimony about our country that we cannot follow measures to lead the world in fighting COVID instead of having one of the worst records. So much for American exceptionalism.

If we had the attitudes during World War Two that we are seeing now, we might be speaking another language today. Many things we take for granted had to be rationed to support the war effort (we had a small taste of that with paper and cleaning goods in the spring). War bonds were sold to help finance it (would you invest to fight COVID?). Folks grew “victory gardens” to supplement the food supply. I see a few more folks doing that but not on such a mass scale.

The next round of shut downs appears to be on the horizon. Can we all get together (not literally of course) and do something about that, rather than be knuckleheads?

Mr. Buchanan wants a chance to win his 10th ring. But it’s not about him, it’s about the kids. Let’s do it for them.