First off take the players. For 99.9% of them this game was the pinnacle of their sports career. Despite most of the players growing up as a child having dreams of playing sports in college or professionally, by the time they reach high school most of them are smart enough to realize that they will never play on an organized team beyond high school. (Sorry college intramurals and church softball don't count!) So the opportunity that these young men had to play for a state championship in a college stadium, that is 10-15 times bigger than any stadium they had ever played in previously, is something they will never forget. Once the game began the passion they played with was unmatched! Guys were flying all over the field making tackles, breaking up passes, diving full out for catches, and using every ounce of strength they had to break a tackle. Every yard and every play mattered. This was the epitome of laying it all on the line! Then as the game ended, there was such a dichotomy of emotions. The winning team was dogpiling and congratulating their teammates, coaches, and fans on the victory of a lifetime. While the losing team was in tears as they tried to console each other on a gutwrenching defeat.
Next lets take the fans. Nowhere else would you see an entire town, or county for that matter that would support a team like this. Literally the towns must have been empty, everyone was at the game to cheer on their local boys. Homemade signs and noisemakers littered the stands. Former letter winners were there with their letter jackets on, living vicariously a dream that they wished for decades ago. These football teams had united a town and a community. People who would never be seen together, were standing next to year other cheering, and total strangers were hugging in celebration of a great play. It reminded me of watching the movie "Remember the Titans" where a racially divided community was brought together by a football team that continued to win in spite of adversity. That's not just Hollywood, sports can draw a community together perhaps better than any of the most thought out policies or initiatives. Once the game ended the emotions of the fans were equally as strong as those of the players, the jubilation of victory and the agony of defeat were just as commonplace in the stands as on the field.
This passion is what makes high school sports so special if you ask me. Sure the quality of the game isn't great, it's not often flashy with highlight reel plays, in fact high school games can be somewhat brutal to watch at times, but you get kids that are living a dream. When they put that jersey on and run out of the locker room, they are the pride of the school and of the town and that's what makes it special! They don't play for money or for fame, they play for the love of the game! When they win it's elating, when they lose it hurts and they cry.
Lastly you have the seniors who after their last game of the year take that jersey off for one last time. Those of you who have experienced it yourself know how painful that feeling is, you just sit in the locker room as long as you possibly can savoring every last minute, knowing that you'll never strap 'em on ever again. Then unless you were one of the lucky few to win a state championship you replay those pivotal moments over and over again thinking of all the things you would do differently if you just had one more chance.
That passion is the joy of sports!
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