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9/26/2005 I was 11 years old when I went to my first High School Varsity Football game, between Huntington Beach and Marina. There must’ve been 8,000 people there and it was larger than life. I’ll never forget it. It was a glorious event. And in the 4th quarter, a kid named Toby Bonwell returned a punt 85 yards for a TD, and for 10 seconds the crowd was mesmerized, screaming and cheering and the noise was overwhelming. I looked up behind me and I saw an older man in tears. I asked if that was his dad, and someone said, “no, he’s just a big fan that loves to come to games, he has no connection to the school whatsoever.” Clearly, as a member of the human race that moment had put him in a better place and he was overcome with emotion. If you can, for a moment, set aside Novi’s tough loss at Brighton Friday night, you realize a larger dynamic at play. If young kids that play a game can galvanize a community, create positive energy and true emotion that takes thousands of people to a higher place, even if for a moment, therein lies the true glory. People can say sports are insignificant, and a 10 second play is but a blip on the radar screen of life, but what happens in those 10 seconds can live in your heart forever. I saw what that punt return did to the collective mood of an entire community. From then on, I wanted to play football, I wanted to participate in sports, I wanted to be a part of something larger, and I wanted to talk about it. For the record, Toby Bonwell’s team lost that night 36-7, but if I replay those 10 exciting seconds in my mind, I can capture that same feeling anytime I want. That’s the beauty of sport. Take heart Novi football, everyone knows you fought to the end, and there’s true glory in that. In your collective effort you provided an experience for your friends and family that money can’t buy. And the best part is, you get to do it again next week. That’s pretty damn glorious if you ask me… (c) 2005 Novi
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