It's time to take supporting Eagles to a higher level

It’s September and you know what that means?

Cooler nights and days, that fall crispness beginning to hang in the air. Leaves changing splashing the landscape with paint pallets of color. The daily ritual of the school bus processionals transporting students to and from school.

Yes, it means it’s time for fall sports. We’ve already begun the annual custom with Eastern Washington team swinging into action on the gridiron, the soccer pitch and the volleyball court.

And in that regards — especially with Eagle football — I’m going to tell a story. In 2009 I made my first trip to Missoula, Mont. to watch an EWU-UM game.

When we landed in Grizzly land Friday night we first checked into our room at the C’Mon Inn motel on Reserve Avenue. Great place to stay, by the way. Highly recommended despite where it’s located.

The front desk staff were all wearing some kind of Montana or Grizzly apparel, decked out in their maroon and silver finery. There were “Go Griz” signs around the lobby and central atrium.

We decided we needed to get some food and drink for tailgating the next day, so we drove down Reserve to the Albertsons supermarket. Everyone single staff member, from checkout cashier to stock clerks to the shift manager was wearing maroon and silver shirts with “Montana,” or “Griz” or some other form of intimidating without being too unfriendly to any potential out of town customers language.

Heck, we stopped to get gas — more Grizzly attire. Even after the game while having dinner at MacKenzie River Pizza, let alone just about every Montana fan wearing their colors at the game.

Made a person feel a little uncomfortable. I kept thinking how cool it would be to reciprocate that same feeling in Cheney during Eagles’ game weekends.

We’re getting close I think. The excitement for Eastern football, and sports all around, is building. We just need a little more, so we here at the Free Press are challenging every business in this town to “get your red on” Fridays and Saturdays during football season, especially if the Eagles are home.

To add to that incentive, Free Press editorial staff will get out and about on Fridays to see who is decked out, painting the town red as it were, and we’ll grab a photo of the business staff and feature on the next issue’s front page. So, get your red on.

Also kicking off this weekend will be both Cheney and Medical Lake high school’s football squads. The Blackhawks, under new coach Bobby Byrd, have a tough schedule this season, playing their first five games on the road in places like Colville, Rathdrum and Sunnyside before finishing with three of their last four games at home, starting with an Oct. 10 match-up with Moscow.

Girls’ soccer, cross country, volleyball and swimming action isn’t far behind, getting started next week. As always we strive to provide the best coverage possible of our local high school student-athletes through weekly chats with coaches and as much game coverage as possible.

It’s a lot of work, much of it under tight deadline so occasionally there may be mistakes. We try our best to avoid these, but if a name is misspelled, or position or class standing incorrect, please contact us immediately so we can make it correct for the future. We may be the media, but we’re still human and want to provide the best for our students in all endeavors.

So, good luck Eagles, Blackhawks and Cardinals! And get your red on!

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.