Finally, somebody is standing up to complain about the latest trend at high school football games: tractor-trailer rig air horns.
In Lucas, residents took their complaints to the city council about Lovejoy High’s $2,000 air horn system, but apparently the council is packed with football homers. The council didn’t take action, and the football boosters promised not to blow the horn after 10:30 p.m. How generous. More, after the jump:
Let’s get something clear: This isn’t just a horn, it’s actually a set of high-powered horns similar to what you’d find on the top of an 18-wheeler. When they blow, it’s ear-splitting. If you’re anywhere near them, you can feel the vibrations and it can make your heart race. They’re mostly popular with rural schools – or those that still think they’re rural – and boosters have been known to point them directly at the visitor’s stands.
I don’t know how tractor-trailer horns became associated with high school football – TCU’s "Frog Horn" may be the instigator – but it’s an obnoxious, and apparently growing, trend. Wylie, a former district foe of LH, has an air horn setup and blew it at Wildcat-Ram Stadium a couple of years ago. At the time, it made me wonder if they were violating City of Dallas noise ordinances.
Give me the good old Lake Highlands victory bell. My 4-year-old son runs to the front door when he hears the Bell Boys ringing it as they pass by our house on game days. On some nights, you can hear the band and PA from Wildcat-Ram at our house. But if LH ever adopts air horns, I have a feeling the response from the neighborhood will be even louder.
