By: Jennifer Richardson Holt
I didn’t expect it to have the impact on me that it did. Yes, I knew it was a big deal. It has been a big deal for the better part of my life, but I just wasn’t ready for how deeply and emotionally powerful it would hit me at the most random time. In a place I’ve been before, doing things I’ve done before, yet somehow the weight of it all just hit me differently this time. The entire atmosphere was charged with a special intensity for which I was not prepared. And I know some of you will possibly roll your eyes when I tell you what I am referring to. I can almost guarantee that at least one or two of you will. The meaningful event that I attended was a college football game of my favorite team and from start to finish every aspect stuck deep within me.
Just walking from where we parked to the stadium amongst throngs of people heading to the same place was meaningful. Perhaps I should explain. You see, as of late, this team has not been doing so well. We seem to be full of potential and ability yet seem to have frustratingly mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. We’ve won some easier matchups but a competition of any significance at all seems to turn out just beyond our reach. But still, we love this team, and we come with hope. We know we could possibly, if not likely get hurt by the outcome but still these crowds of people were filling a stadium that is not small by any sense of the imagination. Watching those huge crowds piled up to get in the gates to show their loyalty warmed me from the inside on a very cold night. I knew how they felt. They were hesitant since another letdown could be on the way, but then again, just maybe victory was possible, and they were bound and determined to show that they hadn’t lost faith.
More meaning poured on as the band played God Bless America and The Star-Spangled Banner. To see vets giving a salute, to see hats held over chests and hands over hearts while roughly ninety thousand voices sing along is something any decent patriot would be hard pressed to witness and not feel something. I couldn’t help but smile even bigger when I noticed the glistening pools in my veteran husband’s eyes as a Blackhawk military helicopter flew over our heads right as the song ended. Here, yet again, is another love that everyone in this place shares. How lucky are we to be able to crowd into such a production simply for a game? What a glorious experience to revel in.
There were more factors that added to the atmosphere of the evening. There were smells of stadium food that lent themselves to the ambience. Some sort of delicacy from the concession stand that for some reason smelled of freshly baked biscuits almost ended me. It wasn’t biscuits but it smelled like it and the fragrance was abject torture. I didn’t even know I was hungry until the air was perfumed with the smell of baked goods. A family nearby was eating caramel popcorn and the aroma of that mingled in the air as well. Mix the fragrances with the sounds. My husband has the regular announcement of “Attababy” if our team does anything positive. This was more entertaining than usual since I had just heard ample of these exclamations the night before at a local high school playoff game. I look at him with a smirk each time. Interestingly enough, here in this stadium, he wasn’t even the only source of these utterances and when we’d hear them, we would shoot a glance at each other and chuckle. Add the deafening roar of the crowd, the excitement of hype videos and the band fueling the energy with music and everything was electric. All these people with so much passion, for all intents and purposes willing their team on.
The game proved to be worth the agonizing amount of time that it lasted. It took four overtimes, but our team pulled it out. It was our first significant victory in a long time and the hope this renewed in all those who saw it is not something that I feel I am capable of putting into words. I will admit that seeing as the game progressed that our archrival, who we play next, (and we will have already played by the time this posts), lost quite significantly that very evening. That added fuel to our fire and the victory was won. It was just so beautiful. We never gave up. We sat, well actually stood, there just knowing that we could pull off what no one thought we could. And then came one of my most favorite things to see. To watch people who have never laid eyes on each other before high five and hug was something that I didn’t anticipate bringing tears to my eyes. It was all just a game, yes. Did it nearly burst the hearts of tens of thousands of people? Also, yes. Was mine one of them? Absolutely.
Prose and Possibilities 