A fellow parishioner from St. Tom’s (and a former college coach) shared this article this morning.  It’s titled “The Day Athletics Stood Still” written by Becky Carlson.  You’ll find it here.  There’s a paragraph in the article that really hit me in the heart …

 

We are all feeling what it truly means to cherish, to regret, and to bitterly watch the opportunity to see our teams compete just one more time, slip through our hands. This is a loss for all of us. Own this feeling and this outcome. You are human.

I recently spoke with a co-worker about those seniors who thought they had one more game, one more chance to put an exclamation point on a collegiate career.

It made me think about how many of them are going to go pro … and the flipside of that, how many will not go pro either because there’s no professional league for them or because they are an excellent athlete who just short of some skill rating that a scout looks for. Or because they have decided to go into a different career (teaching, medicine, business, etc.).

It’s more than just giving folks another year of eligibility because that will create a difficulty for that sophomore who is ready to step up into the starting lineup. There really is no solution that makes sense that will fill the hole losing this opportunity creates.

Only thing I can do is to say this to the senior college athletes of 2020: Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you for allowing me to live vicariously through you. Thank you for following your dreams and putting it all out there to not just win, but to lead us all by the example of your hard work, training, and dedication.

I’m sorry that you won’t get that one more shot. I wish I could give it to you. But for now, know that everytime you hear your fight song, whether it’s about the banks of the Red Cedar, the Champions of the West, Marching Down the Field, Reigning Over All, whatever it is … you have much to be proud of and that song will forever be about you.

God Bless You, Seniors.