Boston College Athletics
From the Desk of the AD: Emotion Explosion
September 17, 2014 | Boston College Athletics
We've all gone into situations unprepared and fallen flat on our faces; this is called failure.
We've come up just short even when we've given it our best shot; this is disappointment.
And then there are times when everything goes just right; when dreaming, planning, preparation and desire collide with support, opportunity and execution. An emotion explosion.
We experienced such an explosion last Saturday night, and our emotions are still floating somewhere in the atmosphere. When the stars align and your coaches prepare - and your players execute - an exceptional game plan in harmony with our staff's scripted "Service Day" with red bandanna uniforms, the inspiring Pete Frates, Wounded Warriors, the Crowther family and BC football alums, you showcase our university to the entire nation through a three-and-a-half hour infomercial! So dramatic was the win that it was selected by the United States Sports Academy as the Game of the Week, which makes ours one of 12 games to be considered for the College Football Game of the Year (last year's selection was Auburn-Alabama).
But rather than catching lightning in a bottle and sticking it on a shelf, we now have the opportunity to do it again. And again. And again. Coach Addazio told the team after a particularly hard practice in August, "each year you are only guaranteed 12 opportunities to play a football game; don't waste one of them with a poor performance because you will never get it back."
We come to home games because they only occur seven times; because we want to experience the pageantry, the emotional roller coaster, the sounds and smells, to see old friends and meet new ones, to engage our passions in meaningful ways. We want to see our Eagles walk down the steps and to jump on the field after a big win. Ultimately, we are part of the Eagle family and through thick and thin, sun and rain, adversity and success, a part of our identities is formed by the common bond of Boston College.
We have five more opportunities this year; though the opponents will vary, guess what - Boston College plays in all five games! While the logistics of a game such as USC present challenges (and certainly we can improve administratively in many ways), ultimately it is easy to get excited about attending a game when we're playing the No. 9 team in the nation. But all the other enjoyable ingredients of a home game are unchanged - the emotions, passions, energy, fight song, food and drinks, families and friends, excitement and music.
We look forward to seeing you experience another rare and wonderful home game this weekend. Let's hope all those ingredients collide to provide another explosion of happy emotions, for here all are one.
