As we stood in the stands after losing the game to Steubenville, my child remarked that the Big Red fans don’t even seem to care. It was true, more than half of their fans were gone by the end of the game and those remaining seemed rather indifferent.
However on the Aurora side of the field, the players showed their appreciation to the fans, as the fans stood and cheered. We cheered the band, we cheered the cheerleaders, we cheered the coaches and players. They had been there through some lousy weather and through the whole season. We appreciated their efforts.
The whole town seemed to be there at the game. Well at least several thousand. Lots of families, teens, lots of empty nesters. And at the beginning, it looked like it would be quite a game, the team held in ther through the middle of the second quarter. Then, well you know the rest.
But anyway, here were still were at the end of the game, still cheering. My child said, “It looks like we’re the real winners here tonight. I mean, we’re still proud and still cheering our team, even though they got creamed.” I replied “whoever raised you did a good job kiddo.”
That brings me to “where do we, as a city go from here? Sure, a winning football team get people (like me) jumping on the bandwagon, and it was exciting for us and our kids too. 
Take a look at the photos of fans lining W. Pioneer Trail as the busses left, it looked like the 4th of July parade!
We believed. Believed in what? That the football team would win the state championship? Or that we as a city, believe in our kids in general, all of them not just the jocks on the teams. And that we belive in them win or loose or tie.
So, there was a great crowd at the game. If we believe, then there should be crowds at the theatre performances, art shows, the band and orchestra concerts too. These kids work hard too. The other teams– boys’ and girls’ should have crowds there at the end when they lose too. Too often I’ve seen half empty auditoriums and gymnasiums in Aurora. It’s a lot more exciting for them and you when there is an appreciative crown cheering for you at the end. It would be a shame if this city will only believe in a select group of kids.
Belief– the condition of placing convictions and trust in another. The confidence in something that is not immediately suseptible to proof.
