RENTON — A week ago we saw humanity at its very worst. A high school, a troubled kid, a gun, and young, promising lives cut short.
In the week that has followed the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School, however, we have seen so much good in the wake of tragedy, and some of the best moments have been provided by sports.
Hours after the shooting occurred, I was one of several reporters at Seahawks practice, and nothing could have felt more trivial, more useless, than asking Pete Carroll about Bryan Walters’ concussion or Bobby Wagner’s toe or Derrick Coleman’s surgically-repaired foot. Sports didn’t matter on a day when teenagers were dying.
But sports also can mean everything, which is what we have seen in so many wonderful acts, and which we will see tonight when the Tomahawks host Meadowdale in a game that isn’t just about playoff seeding, but about a community coming together to heal.
In times of tragedy, you’ll sometimes hear a phrase along the lines of “games don’t matter at time like this.” And that’s true; sports shouldn’t be played when kids are still grieving, or when their school is still an active crime scene. But sports can and frequently are an important part of the process of returning to some semblance of normal, or in the short term, they can provide a needed distraction.
We saw all of these things in play Friday night when the Oak Harbor football team, in an incredible act of sportsmanship, offered to forfeit its Wesco 3A North deciding game against the Tomahawks rather than making them try to reschedule last weeks’ game. We saw the beauty of sports again a few days later when the Marysville Pilchuck football team practiced at Seahawks headquarters, a day that included visits from Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and several of the team’s star players. And we saw it again Wednesday when the Tomahawks surprised Oak Harbor with a visit, bringing not just a pizza dinner, but the Wesco 3A North trophy the Wildcats voluntarily gave up last week.
All of those smiles, all of those goose-bump-inducing moments that made you feel just a little bit better about this often troubling world we live in, they happened because of sports.
“It does speak to the power of sport and how it is such a unifying element in our culture, and you can just see it in this local community,” Carroll said. “I know that (the Tomahawks) will be a big factor in how everybody comes back to normal life and all. It was very powerful.
“They have a lot of responsibility on them in that they’re kind of carrying the spirit for their area. They’re somewhat of a rallying point, I would think, and they’re really up for the challenge.”
A football game or a trip to Seahawks headquarters certainly won’t undo the tragedy that occurred, nor can it make whole the individuals or the community affected by such a terrible act, but those couple of hours with the Seahawks or tonight’s game can provide a temporary reprieve, which is so, so important in times like this.
“They seemed like, for a moment in time, they forgot about everything that happened and everything that was going on, and were able to enjoy the moment and take pictures and smile and laugh and have a good time,” Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said. “Obviously the reality of the situation is what it is, and it’s going to be a tough road getting back to normality for them, but I’m glad we could take a little bit of stress off of them.”
To their credit, the Seahawks fully understand just what they mean in their community. These players who brought a region its first major professional championship in decades realizes their duty goes beyond winning games on Sunday, which is why they were more than happy help bring a little joy to a high school team going through so much.
“I’ve had deaths in my life, and if I would have had somebody who could have taken my thoughts off of what I was going through, that would have been great,” Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner said. “So I’m just trying to provide what I didn’t have.
“Seeing them smile, man, seeing them get excited about practice and go out there with a lot of energy, and just helping them take their mind off of something so tragic, for however long it was, was a great feeling.”
A great feeling, just days after smiles and laughter seemed impossible. That is sports at their very best; it’s when “just a game” can be so much more.
Herald Columnist John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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