This is my heart in words:
Here's what I wrote to the Salem Football Fans Facebook page
Some of the players I've been blessed to get pictures with this year. Talking with and getting pictures with the players is huge for me. It makes me feel special and it is really the highlight of my week.
I'm going to be honest with you, because I'm in a wheelchair I'm not going to bother for the expense of renting a van, fight NOVA traffic and drive to MD to see the "Washington" Redskins with 90,000 drunk annoying fans.
I grew up in Rustburg, just south of Lynchburg, and when I started watching football UVA was at least bowl eligible every year and Va Tech in 1987 or so was probably I'm guessing a 2 win team in Blacksburg a bit further away than Charlottesville from where I was sitting.
I'm also a big history lover and imo Thomas Jefferson was the most amazingly smart man in the history of our country. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, an original founder of this country, who helped frame the Constitution by which we still live by today, used principles he pulled from Rome, Paris, Athens, etc... to develop his own eclectic style of architecture (of which I'm also a big enthusiast of) which to this day is called Jeffersonian Architecture, he founded this amazingly beautiful university which is generally regarded as one of the Top schools in this country, Managed to buy at least 1/3 or more of this country for the amazingly best Black Friday price of $15 million, Oh and BTW he was also the 3rd POTUS with which he didn't even feel was one of his 3 biggest accomplishments and therefore didn't even have it listed on his headstone.
Anyway despite my awe of UVA and this really good football team to the West of us, who happens to have developed into a very well respected school in its own right with amazing degree programs in Engineering, Business, and more recently a well respected school of Research, Design, and Innovation even more recently even in the medical field. I choose not to bother with the expense and trouble of fighting traffic on I-81 or I-64.
I choose to spend my time and effort in this amazingly gifted HS program which I will always maintain is more appropriately known for being a Community Football team.
Here's the thing I live in the community of Salem and have been blessed to do so for the last 13 years. Salem is technically a city of approximately 25,000 residents, but after living here a few years you realize that this "city" is actually just a small hometown.
When I go out to these football games on Friday night this is my NFL team, this is my NCAA team, so when I have Noah Beckley come up to me after fighting hard to get another hard fought Salem "W" he may as well be Aaron Rodgers, or last year when Viante Martese Tucker comes up to me at a baseball game and introduces himself to me he may as well have been Odell Beckham knowing who I am, or just one last example Riley Oscar Fox coming over to me after a game and shaking my hand like I was out there giving my blood, sweat, and tears for the last 2 ÷ hrs is the equivalent of Luke Kuechly coming up to me.
So if you are still reading this exhaustive explanation as to why I love this team, these hard working players and coaches (Who also comes over shakes your hand, thanks you for being there, and for your support) It's like having Nick Saban or an extremely nice, personable, outgoing Bill Bellicheck (sp?) talking to ME. It's because to me this community football team that bears the name of my "city" is my pinnacle of football. I live right with these people, I am overjoyed when they get good news, and I cry those big old tears sometimes from joy, and sometimes from a loss, an injury, or someone in my community has loss, grief, pain, or heartbreak. I feel for them, I feel with them. Idk how much longer I'll get to say I live in Salem, and even though I wasn't Salem born and bred, and even if my Zip code changes, I WILL ALWAYS BE A SALEMITE! & for those that read, post on VaPreps I will forever remain mike salem! My heart may be heavy at times, my shoulders might be weighed down by the seemingly overwhelming weight of this world, my pain level might be at a level that 10 doesn't even describe, but I will always bleed maroon, and my heart is VERY, VERY FULL!!!❤❤
Here's what I wrote to the Salem Football Fans Facebook page
Some of the players I've been blessed to get pictures with this year. Talking with and getting pictures with the players is huge for me. It makes me feel special and it is really the highlight of my week.
I'm going to be honest with you, because I'm in a wheelchair I'm not going to bother for the expense of renting a van, fight NOVA traffic and drive to MD to see the "Washington" Redskins with 90,000 drunk annoying fans.
I grew up in Rustburg, just south of Lynchburg, and when I started watching football UVA was at least bowl eligible every year and Va Tech in 1987 or so was probably I'm guessing a 2 win team in Blacksburg a bit further away than Charlottesville from where I was sitting.
I'm also a big history lover and imo Thomas Jefferson was the most amazingly smart man in the history of our country. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, an original founder of this country, who helped frame the Constitution by which we still live by today, used principles he pulled from Rome, Paris, Athens, etc... to develop his own eclectic style of architecture (of which I'm also a big enthusiast of) which to this day is called Jeffersonian Architecture, he founded this amazingly beautiful university which is generally regarded as one of the Top schools in this country, Managed to buy at least 1/3 or more of this country for the amazingly best Black Friday price of $15 million, Oh and BTW he was also the 3rd POTUS with which he didn't even feel was one of his 3 biggest accomplishments and therefore didn't even have it listed on his headstone.
Anyway despite my awe of UVA and this really good football team to the West of us, who happens to have developed into a very well respected school in its own right with amazing degree programs in Engineering, Business, and more recently a well respected school of Research, Design, and Innovation even more recently even in the medical field. I choose not to bother with the expense and trouble of fighting traffic on I-81 or I-64.
I choose to spend my time and effort in this amazingly gifted HS program which I will always maintain is more appropriately known for being a Community Football team.
Here's the thing I live in the community of Salem and have been blessed to do so for the last 13 years. Salem is technically a city of approximately 25,000 residents, but after living here a few years you realize that this "city" is actually just a small hometown.
When I go out to these football games on Friday night this is my NFL team, this is my NCAA team, so when I have Noah Beckley come up to me after fighting hard to get another hard fought Salem "W" he may as well be Aaron Rodgers, or last year when Viante Martese Tucker comes up to me at a baseball game and introduces himself to me he may as well have been Odell Beckham knowing who I am, or just one last example Riley Oscar Fox coming over to me after a game and shaking my hand like I was out there giving my blood, sweat, and tears for the last 2 ÷ hrs is the equivalent of Luke Kuechly coming up to me.
So if you are still reading this exhaustive explanation as to why I love this team, these hard working players and coaches (Who also comes over shakes your hand, thanks you for being there, and for your support) It's like having Nick Saban or an extremely nice, personable, outgoing Bill Bellicheck (sp?) talking to ME. It's because to me this community football team that bears the name of my "city" is my pinnacle of football. I live right with these people, I am overjoyed when they get good news, and I cry those big old tears sometimes from joy, and sometimes from a loss, an injury, or someone in my community has loss, grief, pain, or heartbreak. I feel for them, I feel with them. Idk how much longer I'll get to say I live in Salem, and even though I wasn't Salem born and bred, and even if my Zip code changes, I WILL ALWAYS BE A SALEMITE! & for those that read, post on VaPreps I will forever remain mike salem! My heart may be heavy at times, my shoulders might be weighed down by the seemingly overwhelming weight of this world, my pain level might be at a level that 10 doesn't even describe, but I will always bleed maroon, and my heart is VERY, VERY FULL!!!❤❤
