Who will I be cheering for?
The early 19th century English poet John Keats once observed a street brawl outside his home. He wrote about the event to his brother, where he observed, “Though a quarrel in the streets is a thing to be hated, the energies displayed in it are fine; the commonest man shows a grace in his quarrel.”
What Keats meant is that while he hated violence, there was something one had to admire about struggle, that battle can lead to acts of heroism, valor and stunning feats of strength and athleticism.
In its own way, a football field so often serves as a battleground and testing place for young men all across the country. It’s in moments like that where a simple game becomes elevated to a place equal to any human drama or tragedy.
As much as I love my job, and as much as I love covering sports for multiple school districts in central Wisconsin, sometimes there are downsides that come with the profession.
Take last week for example. One of the most hypedgamesinwhoknowshowmanyyearstook place in Colby as the number one ranked team in D-7 took a short trip from Edgar to Colby, to take on the Hornets. The Colby Hornets are ranked second in D-6, and have looked every inch the part of a state contender this season.
There was some drama behind the scenes, but that story is told elsewhere in this paper. For me, the drama I care about is the one that took place on the football field on Friday night.
Fans turned out by the hundreds, packing the stands and even the grassy hills and walkways surrounding Colby’s football field. Edgar and Colby dueled it out, trading big plays, before Colby’s Brent Jeske seemingly willed his team to victory, breaking tackles, and the collective hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere, after he scored two fourth quarter touchdowns to seal the victory for the Hornets.
As the reporter for the Tribune-Phonograph, Colby and Abbotsford are my main beat, but I also know a lot of student-athletes from Edgar as I often supply coverage to our sister paper, The Record-Review.
That means it’s hard to see young men and women that I know lose a game they so badly wanted to win. In a way, I experience both the ecstasy and agony of winning and losing. It’s going to be even harder this coming Friday when Colby takes the two mile drive up to Abbotsford to square off with the Falcons.
Like Colby, Abbotsford is also a ranked team, and is playing on a high level now that injuries and COVID aren’t running rampant through Abby’s players. Since I cover both of those teams, it’s a contest I am both looking forward to and dreading.
In some ways, I look at it as a proud father who has two sons who are prize fighters, and in the same weight class, who now have to fight for the title. The father is proud of his sons, proud of their achievements and athletic prowess, but the father also knows that one of his children will taste bitter defeat, and the other will taste victory.
I am hoping Abby and Colby play a close game, and that both teams acquit themselves well. I will be approaching Friday’s game much like Keats viewed fighting. I hate to see my teams battle each other, but the energy displayed in it is fine, and I will admire those feats of athleticism as both teams battle for the win, in pursuit of gridiron glory. M USINGS AND G RUMBLINGS
ROSS PATTERMANN R EPORTER
