Tom King

There’s nothing more polarizing than any debate about the future of the Nashua High School North-South Turkey Bowl.

Simply put, there’s a faction that wants to continue it if and when most of the public health concerns go away, and there’s one that doesn’t.

Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras was correct last week, after the announcement that the game won’t be played again this year due to the pandemic, in saying her thinking that the players don’t want it was “a generalization.”

That’s because some do want it. For example, Nashua South’s Josh Compoh just over a week ago called this year’s cancellation “heartbreaking” and told Telegraph correspondent Hector Longo “That’s a tradition that we’ve had. We put a lot of time and effort into preparing for the Turkey Bowl. It’s just a sad thing to lose.”

Sounds like he’s a player who wants it in the future. It had to be hard for seniors this year, but we fully understand and agree that the game shouldn’t be played this year. With public health still very much a concern – a pandemic still very much a concern – it makes sense not to have the Turkey Bowl this year, not to play what is an exhibition game just for tradition’s sake.

But let’s fast forward and say in a year or two – hey, it could take that long – that COVID is no longer a factor.

Here’s a suggestion: If opinion is split, and the discussion of the game’s future reaches a point where it’s yay or nay, how about polling the players at both schools? After all, it’s really their game, right?

Let’s let them decide – or, at least let them have an official voice in the decision. And they probably do already to some extent; this is an athletic administration that does all it can to put kids first in terms of safety.

This can be done annually, right? And also take into account if it’s a year like this year and both teams aren’t in the playoffs (likely, though not officially) and would have too much down time.

If one school doesn’t want to take part, or both don’t, then invite Bishop Guertin to be involved.

The Cardinals were unceremoniously frozen out of the game when the schools split and it became a North-South game exclusively back in 2004.

Of course, this is all just thinking (or writing) out loud. Surely it’s a lot to ask to keep kids engaged and practicing for three-plus weeks without a game after they went through that three months earlier with training camp.

So we get it. The practical nature of the game has to be examined. The best way is to probably make it a three-way deal if BG is interested and go from there.

Of course, this is all down the road. If the game is scrapped, you can probably bet that years later someone will try to revive it.

In the meantime, the decision to not play this year is fine, and discussion of its future will take place down the road, maybe in the spring or early next fall.

But Gingras was right when she said that a lot of people that want the game and to maintain its tradition simply don’t go, be it Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

All discussion for a later time. But for now, after two vacant years, the Turkey Bowl’s future is certainly in serious doubt.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.