By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor

On June 10, the Port Aransas Independent School District Board decided not to consider adding football to its athletic program, leaving the island hamlet without a team. ….

Gather ‘round, children,

for there’s a tale I have to tell

of a beachfront Texas town

that you should remember well.

 

It’s a story not for the faint of heart, 

nor for football coaches seeking a job,  

For it explores the sandy streets of a lonely burg,

where the hopes for high school football have been robbed.

 

On Fridays in the fall, 

the lights dim on the island town of Port A.

The natives wander with dreams unfulfilled, 

hopes of pep rallies and pompoms gone astray.

 

By a twist of fate and vote of a board,

young men miss a Texas rite of passage.

They don’t know the camaraderie of a huddle, 

or a knee shredded like a head of cabbage.

 

Neither spread formations nor shotgun snaps 

will interfere with the daily haul,

and oysters-by-the dozens

matter more than a fourth-down call.

 

When folks talk catch, they think of red snapper

rather than a grab on third-and-long.

When chants of “de-fense” ring through the air,

they refer to protecting only a lawn.

 

A coach may never ride across the turf,

on a wave of shoulder pads.

The ocean, however, produces its own crop

of state titles for the local lads.

 

With bodies spared bruises,

the boys take to the sea

and flash the championship form in surfing

that they can’t show while wearing a mouthpiece.

 

No Homecoming king will ever wear cleats,

no linebackers lug the tuba,

but don’t pity the town for its choice. 

Compared to Austin, it’s Aruba.