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6/25/07 About this time of year, every year, Tab Kellepourey can tell you exactly how many days until the football team kicks off in their season opener. This year it’s against Ann Arbor Pioneer, at home. The only downside of summer is the drought between high school sporting events. High school sports are fantastic and they can galvanize a community for all the right reasons. I was 11 years old when I went to my first high school varsity football game, between Huntington Beach and Marina, and their must’ve been 8,000 people there. It was larger than life and I’ll never forget it. 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. Frankly, the noise from the cheering and screaming was overwhelming. Clearly the people in attendance… living human beings with bills to pay and challenges to conquer in their lives, were collectively and individually uplifted to a better place temporarily, and they were overcome with emotion. If young people can play a game and galvanize a community while creating positive energy and true emotion that takes thousands of people to a higher place for even just a moment, then 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 for the emotional state of the community and from then on, I wanted to play football, participate in sports and be a part of something larger. And, I wanted to be able to talk about it. Ironically, for the record, Toby Bonwell’s team lost that night 36-7, but if I replay that punt return in my mind, the exciting feeling those 10 seconds created, can be accessed anytime I want. That’s the beauty of sport. For the record, Novi’s first football game is in 61 days. The thought of that is pretty damn glorious if you ask me… (c) 2007 Novi
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