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11/7/03 There’s no doubt in my mind there will be mistakes made, we are dealing with human beings, and their time on earth has been short. And there’s no doubt we’ll recover from those mistakes, and if they other guys make a few faux paus, we’ll take advantage. I know in my heart the thing that will stick with us forever will be how our sons represented the school, the city, and of course their friends and family. That’s what we’ll remember most. And, I’m absolutely convinced that we’ll be awed by our boys. Grantland Rice is perhaps the greatest sportswriter of all time, and his quote about how you played the game was part of a famous poem he wrote entitled “Alumnus Football.” 25 years ago in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a 10-hour bus ride, an old coach told me, “son, if you’re going to wear a jock in this life you have to realize you can game-plan everything but the outcome.” That’s why how playing the game becomes the larger issue and the score ends up just being the byproduct or result. Every once in a while a situation arises, and as you look at a group of people you just know in the back of your mind they simply refuse to lose. That group of baby-faced men just might be living in our homes. Willy Wonka once said, “We are the makers of music and dreamers of dreams.” Everyone knows and believes that going to the Dome would be a dream, but the 2003 Novi Wildcats have approached their collective jobs in such a businesslike manner that you can’t help but notice that the way the play the game is so much more significant than what the final scores have been. Grantland Rice wrote those words in 1941, and they ring just as true today. And when it comes to blocking and tackling, knowing your assignments, having to make a play, or doing whatever it takes to help the team, our boys play the game the way it was meant to be played. And so far, the music they’ve orchestrated is like a symphony. Strike up the band…
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