The Brevity Of Defeat

"Things are rarely as good or as bad as they seem." - Anonymous

The scoreboard hanging from the ceiling might read zeroes on the clock and show the other team with more points, but as your eyes descend they fall upon a thousand seats decorated with black-and-orange fans holding signs, screaming and waving their support. Continuing downward you see television cameras and bright lights signifying that something important has happened, something that was hard-earned. Off to the side is a table decked out in medallions and a trophy proclaiming status as the 4th best team out of 172 schools that entered the tournament, many of which were larger than yours. Your gymnasium will finally hoist a banner of accomplishment as a state finalist. At last they rest on the coaches and players who have mixed intensity with hilarity all season long, and drawn comment from the tourney host as the best-mannered team he's ever been around in his many years of hosting others at these finals.

There will be a somberness in the locker room and lingering anguish on the bus about what feels lost. But years from now when the men are asked on the job or in church or around the breakfast table in retirement about the best team they were ever part of, this is where their mind will go. Those memories will be with fondness about a squad that came from modest expectation to go farther than anyone dreamed, farther than anyone had ever gone in school history. And by the end of the night, munching on an impromptu 10:30 p.m. team meal at a gracious Cracker Barrel in Morton, laughter has already drowned regret with the first waves in an ocean of spirit and promise of a limitless and blessed future.