Great Escape: Calling All Sports Fans

I am a big fan of the television show “Friday Night Lights.”  Aside from great storylines and quality acting, I love the way the show portrays the southern tradition of supporting the local high school football team.

In the show, the high school football players are local celebrities, and the residents of the town spend their weeks dissecting the upcoming opponents—quoting stats of teenagers like they are professional athletes.  This all leads up to the game on Friday night, when the entire town is there cheering on the home team.

Obviously, this type of fervent support is more prevalent in small towns with smaller populations, but with each episode, I find myself yearning to have that kind of community camaraderie and support for our local teams.

Each week, when I inspect the Patch events calendar, I skim over the T.C. Williams athletic events, subconsciously thinking that those events are for high school students and parents of athletes. But this week I started thinking about how nice it would be to show more community support for our local teams.

Taking a night out to cheer on a home team is a great way to do something different from the usual dinner and a movie, support our local players, and connect with the community—maybe even a way to relive your high school or college glory days.

At this point in the year, there are only a few games and matches left for T.C. Williams athletes, since the school year ends in a little over a month. But the events that are left are most likely regional tournaments, where championships are on the line and support is even more meaningful. 

To find the T.C. Williams spring sports schedule, go to www.tcwilliamsathletics.org

So how do we get our local sports fix when T.C. Williams breaks for the summer?  In Alexandria, we are lucky enough to have a collegiate-level summer baseball team to fill the void. 

The Alexandria Aces play at Frank E. Mann field at Four Mile Run Park, which is located next to Cora Kelly School. The location is walkable from Del Ray and a short drive from Old Town.

The Aces play their first game on June 3 and play at least three home games per week through the end of July when the playoffs begin. It’s an inexpensive way to enjoy a night of quality baseball while supporting the home team.

For those who want to become more involved with the Aces, the team is looking for host families to house their players for the season. The only necessities the host family needs to provide are a bed and access to a washer and dryer. For more information about hosting a player or to find the summer schedule, see the Aces website.

While it may not be possible to replicate the tight-knit community support of the local team that is portrayed on “Friday Night Lights," I do think that Alexandria has the community dedication to come close. 

I will be at my fair share of Aces games this summer, and I hope we can rally a big crowd to cheer for our team.

And in the fall, maybe we can keep it going in our own Alexandria version of "Friday Night Lights" by rooting on the Titans.