Okay so today I went down this rabbit hole trying to find out when the big games are for Frederick Douglass High’s football team this season. Got this text asking about key dates, figured it’d be simple, right? Man, was I wrong.

The Frustrating Search Begins
First thing, popped open my laptop. Headed straight to what I thought was the obvious spot: the official school district website. Clicked around forever. Found the school page eventually, but under “Athletics”? Nada. Just some general info about sportsmanship and needing physicals. Seriously useless.
Decided maybe the school has its own site separate from the district. Google to the rescue? Typed in “Frederick Douglass High School football schedule 2023”. Loads of hits popped up, most looking sketchy or just generic news sites mentioning the team exists. Annoying.
- Clicked one promising link saying “Official Athletics Site.” Landed on something called “[Generic Sports Platform Name]” or whatever.
- Saw Frederick Douglass listed! Felt a win coming… clicked… and nothing. Blank page or an error.
- Tried another site. Same damn thing. Just links to other schools or asking me to “Claim” the team’s schedule. Yeah, no thanks.
Digging Deeper (Getting Desperate)
Alright, fine. Back to the school district site. Went deeper into their site map. Found a “School News” section buried under “Community.” Still no schedule. Scrolled through posts about bake sales and parking permits. Found an old post from last year about football tryouts. Progress? Not really.
Remembered some schools post schedules on their social media. Hopped over to [Big Social Media Site], searched Frederick Douglass High Football. Found the team page! Jackpot…? Scrolled through posts. Tons of hype videos for players, pictures of gear, announcements about summer practice starting… but still no official schedule listed anywhere. Saw a comment asking “when’s the first game?” with no reply. Felt that guy’s pain.
Got stubborn. Checked the school’s actual website again. Found a “School Spirit” page. There was a link labeled “Bronco Football”! Heart raced… clicked it… redirected back to that useless “[Generic Sports Platform Name]” page. Almost threw the laptop. Why link it if it DOESN’T WORK?
The Actual (Ridiculous) Solution
By this point, I was maybe an hour deep in pure frustration. Ready to give up. Then thought, maybe I know someone? Texted my buddy Mike, whose kid plays baseball at another school in the district. “Hey man, any idea where they post the Douglass football schedule? Been searching forever.”
He texts back: “Lol, good luck. Try the booster club page.“
Booster club? Seriously? Googled “Frederick Douglass High Football Boosters.” Found their [Specific Social Media Page] page. Scrolled… mostly fundraising stuff, sponsor thank yous… BAM! Pinned post! “2023 Frederick Douglass Varsity Football Schedule!” Finally! It was just a simple image someone made listing all the dates, opponents, and locations. Highlighted key games like the rivalry matchup and playoffs.
- Tried to be thorough, clicked the school district link in the booster club’s bio, hoping maybe I missed it. Nope. Nothing there.
- Noticed they also mentioned the schedule would be posted outside the Athletic Director’s office. Not helpful for anyone not at the school!
Recording the Find (And The Lesson)
So, how did I “record” this glorious find? Took screenshots of both the booster club’s pinned image schedule and the dead-end district page side-by-side. Plopped them into my notes app for later reference. That was it. No fancy download option, no official PDF (though I tried a link buried elsewhere that 404’d). Just a simple picture shared by parents.
Wrap up? The official channels were absolutely useless. Finding something as basic as a high school football schedule shouldn’t be an epic quest requiring insider knowledge. Ended up sharing the image with the person who asked me, along with a rant about how needlessly hidden this public info was. Pretty sure I muttered “booster club runs the show” a few times. Total time wasted: way too much for what should be a 30-second lookup. Next time someone asks? I’m texting Mike first.