“Our eyes have seen the tremors and travails of all journey. The crooked path they know, the rocky cliffs they’ve climbed, the loves of heart they’ve engraved. Our eyes exhort eternally our joys and our deaths.” --- Ann Longshire
Good Afternoon!
I’ve seen coaches cry…
I’ve seen them cry in glory and I’ve seen them cry in sorrow…
I’ve seen the same in players…at victory (see Tra Sumler Rosemead semifinals circa 2008)…and I’ve seen them cry at defeat (see Bonita CIF Finals circa 2010)…
But the most interesting eyes are the ones caught between Heaven and Hell…To un-blur the separation between church and sport, the ones caught between winning and losing.
The draw about the eyes?…Is all they have seen.
I kept watching Monrovia assistant Mike Minter’s eyes during the Mid-Valley championship against Whittier Christian last December. If anybody has seen things it’s this man.
Forget about trying to match his eyes with his mouth or body language…Minter’s always selling the “Mr. Cool” & “Just Folks” image…And I’ll buy it because I like him…But it was his eyes (which poured like Niagara falls four Jay Henderson touchdowns later)..that reflected every previous hurt, pain, and disappointment M-Town experienced over the last 15 years.
When you see Arroyo’s Steven Rivera this year look close at his eyes…and you might see that missed extra-point that bounced the Knights from the first round in 2008.
When you look at Rivera’s eyes you might see shimmering back the failed kicking game in 2009 which played a huge part in Arroyo’s collapse against Whittier Christian.
When you look at Rivera’s eyes you might see the build up from 2010’s final play when one foot on a gadget play was the difference between a season’s life and death.
I’m not saying he’s thinking about them, I’m not saying he’s dwelling on them, I’m not saying they will effect his next pass…but that scar tissue is there if you look close enough.
My recent visit to the eye doctor revealed a problem with my right eye. Some of it the Doc said was age (how could that be?), the other he said was a result of sunburn to the white of my eye.
“When you’re skin burns in the sun, it will eventually peel off,” he said. “When your eyes suffer burns, they don’t peel off but build up scale-like.”
The day back in July I turned purple going from the Santa Fe Tourney to the SGV Shootout is hardly much more than a memory now, but my eyes have kept it.
The eyes of these coaches and players keep much more than they’ll ever let us know…but if you want a better appreciation for what they feel, have felt, and still experience study their eyes.
It may not be “The thousand mile stare” a soldier has coming out of or going into battle…but in their eyes you’ll see everything that makes football…and sport for that matter…absolutely, drop dead gorgeous.
In this case…‘The Eyes’ have it…
The Dude abides…
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Fanview Lite appears most days Monday through Saturday
Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com
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