Category: High School Football

I remember listening to a journalist who emphasized the importance of relentlessly making phone calls. Keep digging. Report, report, report. Exhaust all resources. Then, those friends and family encouraging me to take as long as needed.  Don’t rush it.  Get the entire story. It will be ready when it’s ready.  This was all good guidance backed by the best of intentions. But countered by a self-imposed yet undefinable deadline.  That deadline related to my mom’s declining health.

In the early years of implementing the FAMILY concept, Coach Nelson decided to rally his athletes around the nobility of helping families move from one home to another. What was the deep-seated motivation for choosing that option? Honestly, I never asked him. It didn’t seem like a big deal.

Fifteen months after writing my first sentence, I made one final phone call. During that call, the pathway for Dot A to connect with Dot B, then Dot C became clear. I didn’t know I was missing a piece of the FAMILY puzzle. I accidentally found it. Everything finally made sense.

You’ll understand later in this story.

Hundreds of people arrive at football fields on Friday nights. They will see the same game, but no two will have the same experience. Few, if any, come in the same state of mind with the same hopes, expectations, and worries. They don’t carry the same things in. They won’t carry the same stuff home. We don’t pack the same gear. For some, it’s cushioned stadium chairs—many pack blankets, mittens, or rain ponchos. Others pack flags. This excerpt is about our veterans.

Brooklyn is a member of the Two Harbors High School graduating class of 2026. It’s an understatement to confess that I’m no art critic. But, here goes. Here’s what I see in that painting:

Some days are better than others. My visit to Canadian, Texas on October 27, 2023 was one of the best days of my life.