Teammates

It’s pitch black there is a still calm in the air, you feel as if you are the only one on the entire campus up at this hour, then you see someone far off in the distance a faint shadow lurking toward you, and another walking right behind you, you say nothing, but you know that they are there to face the same destiny that you are. They are not an enemy, you look at them as friends, partners, someone to lean on or even a teammate, yes that’s it a teammate that’s what they are. As your slow walk begins to end you have only started what will certainly be a journey. Then it hits you, you begin with only slight movements nothing to vigorous, but you know that it is only the beginning. Your body is telling you that it can’t, it doesn’t want to, but you must, you have to go on. You are now beginning to slightly glisten, only the beginning of what will soon look like you have jumped under a water fall. The pace starts to increase and with it your heart begins to beat faster, you are still feeling as if you are half asleep, longing to lay back down in your bed, that in any other circumstance would be nothing but a hard uncomfortable mattress, but now it seems as if it would be like jumping into a marshmallow. Your legs are being stretched back and forth, back and forth. You can feel the agitation and pain from the pervious encounter. Now it’s your arms being twisted and pulled in all different directions and reliving the exhaustion from only a day ago. Now it really begins there is no going back now, your heart is pounding, you can feel it beating against your chest, screaming to jump out. You are sweating profusely, dripping from head to toe not a dry spot left on your shirt. It is almost over now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel just starting to creep in. Every muscle in your body has turned to mush. And with the rush that it started it is over. You gather with these what were once strangers, arranging in a circle bringing your hands in and hollering as if you enjoyed every minute of it. And with that you are gone, you re-step your walk back once again with what are maybe soldiers, maybe partners, maybe friends, but certainly a teammate.

Bob Devanie Sports Center

This weekend I was walking around down by memorial stadium enjoying the festivities of the Cornhusker game that would later take place that night. After I had been wondering for awhile I found myself down near the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Bob Devaney Sports Center is where NU plays all of their men’s and women’s basketball games and is host to many other athletic events. As I was walking by here my mind was jostled into remembering many memories that I have from previous years at Devaney. While growing up me and my fellow classmates would journey to Lincoln for the highlight of our young basketball careers, we would come down and play in the MIT (Midwest Invitational Tournament). It was the biggest tournament we would play in each year, but the best part about it was that it was on the same weekend as the High School State Basketball Tournament. I loved it we made so many memories. We met so many different people through that week and had so many good times sitting in the bleachers of Devaney. As we grew older we started to come closer and closer to the moment when we would be in high school and hopefully make different memories at Devaney by playing there. Two years later our dreams had come true we were once again in Devaney for the State Tournament, but this time wearing a jersey instead of street clothes. It was amazing to play in front of all the people at a place that I had been going to ever since I was a little kid. It was an amazing feeling to know that some little kid was sitting up in the same section that we always used to sit in and he was looking down at us making new memories for themselves. It was such a rush to walk by a simple building, but be hit by so many memories and emotions.