Bright light to the football weekend

If you're like me your Saturday ended something like this: Wet, cold and surrounded by more Penn State fans than Michigan fans as they chanted "We are Penn State!" (apparently it's easy to lose track) and, even worse, "This is our house!" (which was painful b/c it was a bit true at that moment). On Friday, though, I went to a high school game to watch the grandson of someone who works in my organization. The young man has grown up without a lot of things, as I've been told, but he works really hard and, according to one of my best friends, is just about the most humble and thoughtful 18 year old you're going to meet...As a player, he's really athletic but lacks size. He also isn't helped by the school he goes to, which doesn't offer much in resources. The friend I mentioned (who is a rabid OSU fan who follows Ohio recruiting really closely) thinks he'd have a number of scholarship offers right now if he went to a high-level Ohio program. Instead he's talked to often by a few MAC coaches (and a D-II coach) but has no offer as of yet. We think he'll end up with an offer from at least one particular MAC school...I'm telling this kid's story because it reminds me of what is great about college football. This kid would, I think, be the first person in his family to go to college. He likely won't get any post-high-school education without football. Thanks to football, he may be able earn his way through school with his hard work and talent. We can talk a lot about deficiencies in our educational system but, things being what they are, that's something to appreciate...Saturday sucked, to be sure, but the fact that Michigan football makes it possible for kids like this one to get an education from a high-level unversity ought, I think, to be seen as medicine that heals at least a little the worst blow-out-induced wound.