Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By LAUREN SEXTON | Sports Reporter

Thursday, Sept. 22 marked the first official day of the fall season. Although the Alabama weather is far from anything remotely fall related with temperatures being in the 90s, the return of homecoming is here to help kick start the official fall season. 

Normally, I tend to make these columns more sports-related since this is a sports column, but what is football without homecoming? Now that the fall sports season is about to enter into its second full month of sports, homecoming is the perfect mid-way point of the football season. It is almost like homecoming comes at the point in the season when it needs to be rejuvenated. For the past six weeks, student-athletes have tirelessly taken the field and have fought their way up in the rankings. Homecoming is the perfect point of the season for both athletes, coaches and fans to remember why they’re there in the first place, for the love of football.

The mid-way point of the season can always be challenging because the season is no longer new. Homecoming comes in at a time when not just the student body and community need school spirit but the athletes as well. Being a student-athlete is an exhausting task and can be a lot when players are constantly critiqued like they’re a pro. Homecoming is the staple of being in high school, these players get to experience and just get to be reminded that they’re just a kid. Homecoming is part of a childhood that most people are fortunate enough to experience.

Rivalries are everywhere. Schools have their sister school rival, their revenge rival, and their homecoming rival. Homecoming rivals are a different breed because they can be schools that your team has never played before to one of your county rivals. It’s just special because there’s typically no bad blood between the schools, it’s just fun. If your school is anything like my alma mater, your school can develop bad blood post-homecoming games.

I’d like to believe that the homecoming season was originally intended for the fans and the alumni. It is hard to ignore the homecoming call that beckons its alums. For some, it feels just like yesterday that they were once on the field as a student playing in their own homecoming game. It is what the season was met for in a weird way, to remind people of home. Happy Homecoming.