Torres Tackles: Rivalries in sports

When I stepped into Gonzales’ head coach Kodi Crane’s office for our weekly pre-game meeting, one of the first things I said was, “it’s Cuero.”

His reply back, “it’s Cuero.”

It was an interesting interaction because as a supporter of the four schools I cover (it’s allowed, I promise), I have grown to dislike all of their rivals. Whether it’s Moulton (for the Waelder Wildcats), Hallettsville Sacred Heart (for the Shiner St. Paul Cardinals) or especially the Gobblers, it brings me joy to see my schools do better.

But I’m not from here. This is my third year working for the paper and yet I get fired up to cover these games.

The same goes for second-year Apaches coach Crane. Most of the coaching staff that he’s brought along has been here either one or two years. So how do they wake up this morning with that same “beat Cuero” mentality that Gonzales natives have?

Crane explained it.

“We come to a town that people are born here, raised here, grew up here and lived here their whole life,” he began. “This is their high school, this is their school district, this is their town and then all off of a sudden a coaching change happens.”

Coming in from Groesbeck, Crane understands that he too is an outsider coming into this Apache environment, but the amount of hours he and the coaching staff have logged in and invested into not only the program but the community itself makes it so that they too feel a part of Apache nation.

“It doesn’t take long for this to be our school too,” Crane said. “We go eat out in this town, we go to the Come and Take It festival, the [Summer Concert Series], we’re around these kids all the time.”

“So yes, we haven’t been a part of the rivalry back in 10 years ago, 20 years ago, whenever this happened or that happened but how quick you take that on is hard to explain until you do it because of how much you immerse yourself in the community.”

I’ve written about it before, but I’ll quickly remind you that I’m a big Philadelphia Eagles fan. I can say without hesitation that the NFC East, the division the Eagles are in, along with the Washington professional football team, the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, is considered one of the most heated rivalries in all of football. Just read up on past game stories involving any team in the division. As they say, “they plain don’t like each other.”

That makes sports fun. When fans turn it to an us-against-them mentality.

With this being my third season covering Apache football, I consider myself part of the “us” team with Gonzales. Again, not that me rooting for the team affects my way of writing. Sure the main focus is on the home teams in the county but I feel as though I’ve done a good job of being objective and fair to everybody involved.

But being around this team so much and working in this city for the years I have so far, how could I not pickup on the rivalries involving Gonzales?

“You just take on [the rivalries] because you immerse yourself into a place so much,” Crane said, “and all your time and investment is into Gonzales and Gonzales athletics, so yeah this is a big rivalry for us even though this is the second year we’ve played them”

“We don’t have to get the motivation through the kids or anybody else,” he continued. “It is on our plate and we fill it every single day.”

The plate will be filled all right with Cuero’s stout team. But know that they’re up and ready for this game. I am too.

You won’t read me write “Beat Cuero” in the game story because I know how to balance fandom with non-bias reporting. But heck, this is a column about rivalries where I’m allowed to lean whichever way I please.

That being said…Go Apaches.  Beat Cuero.