Over the past few weeks I’ve made a few comments on social
media about certain football games or teams.
To me, the comments were just simple statements about who I wanted to
see win a game or who I was cheering for at that moment. The comments were never meant as an attack on
a particular person or team but it seems as though this year for some odd
reason even non-descript statements have been taken as a personal affront.
I’m still trying to figure out where I went wrong when I’d
make a statement like “Go X Beat Y.” After a statement like that I was accused
of being disloyal, I had people put statistics of teams and specific players on
my Facebook page and almost lost a friendship over a statement I made about how
I thought the better team lost the game that week.
Please hear me when I say, I’m not attacking any particular
player, team or coach. I’m not willing to lose a friendship over an opinion
about a game or a team. I was simply stating my thoughts and opinions and I’m
trying to figure out when that became wrong of me to do because someone in the
world has a different opinion.
As the wife of a coach I tend to look at football games,
teams and coaches in a different light than the average fan. When I’m cheering
for a team it’s most likely because we have a former player playing in that
game or we know the coach and sometimes his entire family. I cheer for them to succeed.
I cheer for the player to do well. There are times I’ve been known to cheer for
the defense of one team and the offense of the opposing team in the same game because
I know kids on both sides of the ball or we know and respect the coaches of both teams. Sometimes I cheer for a specific team
not because I know someone on that team but because I know that the coach on
the other side of the ball promised a kid the world and then snatched the rug
out from under him moments before signing day or I don’t agree with his ethics
or morals so therefore I’m not really a fan of his so, I cheer for the other
side. It’s not a personal attack on you
and your team. It’s just how I’ve chosen to cheer that particular day.
Somewhere the world took a turn and all of the sudden
difference of opinions in the world of football are no longer accepted or even
tolerated in any longer. I grew up in
Texas. I get that football has its own place in the world and that after Jesus,
it’s the second religion to many but COME ON PEOPLE! Football is game and we
should be teaching those around us that there’s more to life than winning or
losing a game. There are many lessons to be learned on and off the field
through football and we’ve lost sight of that. We used to be able to live in a
house divided. Longhorns and Aggies or Rebels and Bulldogs could be friends off
the field and there was a level of respect among them on and off the turf. I’m not
sure why or where the tide turned but I’d like us all to find our way back to
where you could make a statement about a game without someone retaliating back.
Until that time comes though I promise to keep my comments on social media
strictly related to the score of my husband’s high school game and the effort
put forth by his team. So, in that vein
Go Coppell Cowboys! Can’t wait to see what you do next year!
Cheering you on!
Laurel
Laurel
