Protime’s Pigskin Ponderings – Flannel Sheets and Some High School Football Dos and Don’ts
Tagged under: News, pfn, Protime Predictions
Phil Myers | October 1, 2026
With cold weather on the horizon, Protime approached the lovely Mrs. P about putting flannel sheets on their bed. Protime has been freezing at night and wearing sweatshirts and sweatpants to sleep in. Mrs. P has turned the heat on for Protime, but he is getting older and colder.
To Protime’s surprise Mrs. P agreed to put flannels on the bed. ‘Oh, how sweet it is,’ Protime said to himself. Whether winter comes early or not, Protime has a foot up on keeping warm at night with flannel sheets on the bed. Now, he just has to convince her to leave them on till next July!
Listen up all you players and coaches out there. Protime is pondering a couple things that happened over the weekend in college football that should not happen. Protime knows football is a physical and emotional game. He also knows that in today’s world of football, there are attempts by some players to intimidate their opponent’s players.
But purposely trying to injure an opponent and purposely making lewd and obscene gestures after making a play are totally uncalled for. Please, please, please have more respect for the game you are playing and at least some respect for your opponent. Protime’s thought is how would you feel if someone tried and succeeded in injuring you or a teammate. If the answer is what Protime thinks it is, then why would you try to do it to your opponent? Why?
Or what if the other team made a big play and then started making obscene gestures in front of you, your fans, or even your mother? Again, if you feel what Protime thinks you’d feel, then don’t do it. Kids have respect for the game and all the others playing the game!! Maybe you are better than your opposition or maybe you are not. It doesn’t really matter. Show respect!!
Protime is old-fashioned, so maybe things are different today. After making a tackle, walk back to the huddle like you made tackles before, don’t taunt the other guy or make obscene gestures! How would it make you feel if they constantly taunted you? Right, protime thought so. After scoring a touchdown or making a nice play on offense, hand the ball to the referee, hug your teammates, and go back to the huddle. Act like you’ve done it before too. Don’t be a horse’s patoot.
And coaches, don’t condone this behavior. Put a stop to it. The one thing Protime has noticed over the years of covering high school football is that the ‘best’ coaches do not condone this behavior. In fact, they abhor it and the kids who do it have to pay the consequences. Protime knows it is hard to pull one of your better kids out for awhile, but in talking with a few of these coaches, it sends a message that this behavior is not going to be tolerated. And it shouldn’t.
The problem though, is that many coaches are rah-rah guys or tend to overlook this kind of conduct. In other words, it is okay with them. And believe Protime, it is NOT acceptable behavior. It may seem funny to some out there, it is not. One more time, put yourself on the other side of the coin and see how funny it is when someone purposely injures your teammate or makes obscene gestures in front of your bench, fans, or mother.
One final thought. If you are in high school and do stuff like those two incidents Protime has talked about, you are not endearing yourself to most college coaches, especially if you have a history of similar nonsensical actions. If you are in college, NFL teams are not looking for trouble makers to be on their roster either.
To summarize, guys, HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR THE GAME YOU PLAY AND ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT!!! And HAVE AT LEAST SOME RESPECT FOR YOUR OPPONENT WHO ALSO HAS WORKED HARD IN THE OFFSEASON AND IS PLAYING A GAME THEY LOVE TOO!!!
Until next week’s pondering, Protime says have a great week of football. Play hard, play with heart, but be that guy that the other team has nice things to say about after the contest is over.
