26 to 13

Way in the background of this horrible photo is a scoreboard. It reads 26 to 13, left to right. Unfortunately for Jacob and his team, their score is the one on the right. 

Jacob and his team, the Raiders, had a great season. They won 4 and lost 1, and then today, as the number 3 seed in the playoffs, they fell to the Chargers. It was a great game, but the other team had all the advantage: a quarterback who could really throw the football. Third and fourth grade kids can't much defend the pass, and the Chargers quarterback could put the ball on the numbers, downfield.

There's Jacob with his team (Jacob is #8). The coaches are telling them about how proud they are, but Jacob only wanted to win. Pride doesn't carry you very far in the playoffs. But his disappointment is giving way to normal kid happiness, aided tremendously by a big Kansas State football win today over West Virginia (Jacob and I watch all the K-State games together: he's learning some colorful language).

Don't feel bad though. Most of us only got to play 5 years of football. Jacob started in 4th grade. He has 8 more years of football, and I explained to him today how fortunate he is and how much he has to look forward to. I think he understood some of what I said.

And after all, what now? A whole winter season of skiing in Montana? That'll get you over a lot of heartbreak, especially as much as Jacob loves to ski. So tomorrow it's off to the ski shop for new boots (kids and their stupid growing feet) and something to look forward to. It was a big loss today but somehow I think that we'll all recover.