Our Neighborhood Football Team

Our neighborhood had a football team when we were growing up. We were the Chestnut Street Cowboys. Our name came from the fact that Teddy and John were both very big Cowboys fans. I know we practiced in the backyard for our games, but I can’t remember what teams we actually played. Only one team comes to mind…the Cumberland Street Colts.

The Cumberland Street Colts didn’t have Payton Manning or Andrew Luck, but they did have kids that were about two heads taller than we were. They also looked at least five years older than us. And they, unlike us, wore full equipment…helmets, shoulder pads, etc. I don’t know if we were naïve or just got our signals crossed, because we were there for a friendly little game of football. We sure didn’t think we were in the Super Bowl!

I ended up leaving that game early after I took a hit square in the eye from some Colt’s helmet. That probably would have drawn a flag if we had referees back then. Anyway, I walked home, put some ice on it, and went to school the next day with quite a shiner.

I can’t remember if our season ended with that game. I do think it was the last time we encountered the Colts! We wised up and decided we needed to play kids our own age and size. We continued to practice in the backyard and enjoyed playing and being kids!