By Joe Angelino

In the hot August dog-days all over Upstate New York, young men are sweating under the load of protective football gear preparing for their first game of the 2017 gridiron season. Each school district has other fall sports teams, boys, girls and co-ed, sharing in the same August heat. All of high school sports are important for the teenage learning process, but football is the only organized sport I played and feel scantily qualified to comment upon. My football skills were mediocre at best. Given my skill set, heavy and slow, my aspiration was to be an offensive tackle. But there was no way I was going to play with any regularity because of the luck of being a classmate with the late Tim Conron who also played that position with great talent. I did get some time on the defensive line, again my skill set worked well at plugging holes.