Registered nurses Vicki Lynn and Becky Walker took off work at Emory's Eastside Hospital on Oct. 1 to prepare for a high school football game. They got to the stadium early to cheer on their sons after having spent the week supporting the team in other ways, from feeding the boys spaghetti to decorating their lockers.
But these friends didn't sit together at the yearly clash between Gwinnett County powerhouses Parkview and Brookwood, which was won by Parkview 10-0.
You see, Lynn is a Parkview mom and Walker is a Brookwood mom.
"Our main focus is just to do things for our sons," said Lynn, president of the Parkview Mother's Club. "Someone told me the other day, ‘You know, this is so cool because the only thing these women have in common is their sons.' You have 60, 75 women that come together once a month and all they're interested in is decorating lockers and acting silly."
The Parkview moms do everything from serving Chick-fil-A biscuits to players on Wednesday mornings to decorating the team's locker room on Thursday nights, a tradition different from other schools where the cheerleaders often are in charge. It's serious business: Even the orange-and-white streamers have to be twisted and taped on the lockers a certain way.
The moms go all out, especially during rivalry week. To go along with their "Barbecue the Broncos" theme this season, the moms decorated the locker room with stuffed horses hanging from the ceiling and a horse with skewers drilled through it and candy tied to it.
The "Spaghetti Moms" serve pasta to the team every Thursday before a game, using the same menu and same pot passed down since the ritual began in 1988. Several moms pre-cook pounds of spaghetti, others make the sauce, and others bring dessert.
"It's tradition," said Walker, whose son Ross is a senior wide receiver and member of the special teams.
"I'm a noodle mom."
As with other fans, the moms at each school start thinking about the Brookwood-Parkview game at the beginning of the season.
At Emory's Eastside Hospital, Lynn and Walker start picking on each other early. They bring in game programs and pictures. If Lynn works late, she'll write notes like "Go Panthers" on a wipeboard for Walker to see the next day.
"They get erased very quickly," Walker said. Walker said although the rivalry is deep, it's friendly among co-workers. With the game at Brookwood this year, Walker let Lynn park in her driveway since she lives near the stadium, under one condition: nothing blue or orange on the car or near her house.