Monday 1-14

On Friday night I witnessed everything that is great about sports. I had the call of the Oshkosh North--Oshkosh West basketball games from the Kolf Sports Center.

Several thousand fans turned out for the games--getting there early to make sure they had good seats. It's a good thing too--because the boys game turned out to be a classic. A great hard-fought battle between two evenly matched teams. The score see-sawed back and forth and it went into double overtime following one of those bolt of lightning moments that no "reality show" can match.

Everybody involved showed great sportsmanship. Was the officiating great--no--but the refs didn't have to run for their lives after the game was done. The kids on both teams learned some great lessons that night. That nothing is impossible if you try...that nothing is over until the clock runs out...that sometimes your best effort just isn't good enough...that winning is great, that losing sucks and despite what happened that night the sun still came up the next day--and life went on.

The positives went beyond just the game itself. Dance teams, bands and drumlines from the schools also got their time in the spotlight--showing everyone that talent in the high schools extend beyond just the athletic field. I'm sure there are some school board members wishing that kind of enthusiasm for school activities will extend to a potential referendum in the future. Maybe they should threaten to cut those programs--that usually gets people fired up.

My wife always gets on my case about being too "obsessed with sports". But is seems better than some other people's obsessions. Maybe if we could get militant Muslims to become sports fans--and decide their grudges on the field instead of blowing each other up in the streets--we might have a more peaceful world.