Thursday, July 12, 2007 | 2:00 AM

Big day for prep showdown

For those of us who live and die for the game of football, the season feels like an eternity away.

Before we all know it, players from four Journal-area high schools will take part in the single biggest football event—next to the state championships at Ford Field in Detroit—of their lives.

The Big Day Prep Showdown, staged at Rynearson Stadium at Eastern Michigan University, offers John Glenn, Belleville, Plymouth and Canton the opportunity to show the rest of the state what they are made of.

I don’t think enough gets said about the event that kicks off the season on Friday, Aug. 24. The Detroit Metro Sports Commission (DMSC) deserves a standing “o” for putting an event like this together.

Formed in 2001 to bring regional, national and international amateur sporting events to metro Detroit, the DMSC continues to bring exciting match-ups to the Big Day Prep Showdown. In its third year, the event has already doubled in size. The now two-day event will consist of four games on Friday and four games on Saturday.

Why is it so important?

First, the players will get a taste of playing on a university field. Unfortunately for most, it will be the only time. Second, regardless of it being the first game of the season when teams are likely to be a bit rusty and out of sync. But these are athletes—the higher the stakes the better the effort. Be prepared for all four Journal teams to bring their “A” game.

There’s nothing like a big game to get the season rolling. The first game of the year is always a big game for high school teams. Add a giant stage like a college stadium and the event becomes monumental. Win or lose, it will set the pace for the rest of the season. Win a big game like that and there’s nothing to hold a team back. Teams in that situation can ride the momentum all the way to the state championship. Losing, although not the end of the world, isn’t really an option.

Losing the first game of the season is like putting your underwear on backwards with both legs in the same leg hole. Once on, it’s hard to move forward let alone turn things around. And when you do the fit is never really right.

So what can the rest of us do to help make sure their teams aren’t found in such a precarious situation? The easiest way is to show up and offer support—no pun intended.

Friends, family members, classmates, teachers, school officials should all be there to cheer their team on.

The players and coaches need to remember that it is the first game of the season and everybody starts out 0-0. Keep in mind that every team puts its pants on one leg at a time, too—no team is better than the other until the final whistle blows.

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