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| Korey Stringer |
As hard as it is to believe, it’s been a dozen years since NFL player Korey Stringer passed away.
Many of you will remember Stringer. He played offensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings for six seasons after he was named an All-American during his college days at Ohio State. Some of his college teammates included Orlando Pace and Eddie George.
Unfortunately, Stringer is probably best known for the way he died. On Aug. 1, 2001, Stringer overheated during a practice, passed out and died from a heat stroke. The 6-foot-4, 335-pound Stringer was a big man, but this was reportedly the lightest he’d ever been during his playing career.
Stringer’s death and the resulting bad publicity surrounding the tragic incident had a huge impact on the way high school, college and professional football teams deal with hot weather and player safety. Most pro teams now have doctors at all of their practices, and most teams have now gone to practicing in light-colored uniforms, which are cooler than dark uniforms. The consumption of water is also heavily emphasized during practice nowadays.
I’m told that when it comes to football practice much has changed over the years. A former Evergreen High School player once told me that in the late 1960s and early 1970s, coaches actually withheld water from their players at practice under the mistaken belief that it made them tougher. This former player told me that he got so thirsty during a game once that, as unsanitary as it sounds, he sucked the sweat out of a dirty towel. Whether that actually happened or not, I don’t know, but a fellow would have to get mighty thirsty for that to even come across his mind.
As of today (Thursday), the start of the high school season is just 29 days away, that is, a little over four weeks from now. Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy will both kick off their 2013 seasons on Fri., Aug. 30, in Evergreen. Hillcrest will play Washington County High School at Brooks Memorial Stadium, and Sparta will play Pickens Academy at Stuart-McGehee Field.
Alabama and Auburn will kick off their respective seasons the following day, on Sat., Aug. 31. Alabama will play Virginia Tech in Atlanta, and Auburn will face Washington State in Auburn. Alabama will kick off at 4:30 p.m., and the Tigers will start play at 6 p.m.
The big game that everybody is talking about is Alabama’s Sept. 14 meeting with Texas A&M. I suspect that since Texas A&M’s upset win over the top-ranked Tide last year that Nick Saban and his assistants have made the Aggies and “Johnny Football” their special project. The Tide will have a week off between their opener against Virginia Tech and their game against A&M, which should only boost their chances against the Aggies.
A&M will play Rice and Sam Houston State to open the season before they face Alabama. Neither of those teams are juggernauts in my book, but I would think that A&M could ill afford to overlook them. A slip against one or both of those teams would likely take some of the luster off of the Alabama-Texas A&M game.
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