It’s late August. It’s the first week of football practice and it’s time for the nutcracker. The sweat-drenched players lie on their backs about five feet apart with their helmets pointing toward each other. At the whistle, they get up and slam into each other as hard as they can. One of the players gets twisted and corkscrewed into the ground. He lies there for an anxious moment, two, three - finally, he rises gingerly, rubbing his back and crying just a little, he goes to the end of the line. All coaches breath a sigh of relief.

Jerry Kramer, an All-Pro guard for the Green Bay Packers during the ‘60s, author of the best selling diary Instant Replay and my dad, says the nutcracker is the ultimate test of manhood.

“Everybody was watching you,” he says during a Houston-to-Idaho phone call. “It was the one time on the practice field when everybody was watching you. The backs, quarterbacks, the coaches, all your teammates were there. So there was a fairly significant pressure to do well.”

Manliness is important in Texas and this ultimate test of manhood is starting earlier than ever.
Take Joshua Hughes, right guard for the Trojans of the Spring Branch Memorial Sports Association.

“I like football cause you get to hit people,” he says in a barely audible voice while looking at his cleats. “You get to drive people back until you make them fall down.” He pauses and his dad asks him what we call that: “pancake them” Josh replies.

Joshua is 6 years old.