I read an article the other day about Mike Rozier reminiscing about his days with the Cornhuskers. All of this was part of his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Reading that took me back to what were for me the golden days. When Mike was running over defenders on his way to the Heisman Trophy, I was in college myself, albeit not on a football field (unless you count those sloppy pickup games where we all demonstrated exactly WHY we were running around on a field at a very very small college and not playing for some NCAA powerhouse).
As a football fan, they were golden days indeed. Nebraska was in the midst of its time of dominance, and for one year had what I think was still the most incredible offense ever put together on a college football field. I cheered them on with an incredible enthusiasm. And even though they never captured the national championship, for me it was a more passionate time to be a Husker fan than even the mid 90's when Nebraska won or shared the title 3 out of 4 years. Maybe it was the energy of youth. Maybe it was just a time of more passion in general, I don't know.
I know that even aside from football, it was a time I really didn't want to leave behind. When I got out of college, I don't think I ever wanted to leave. The best friends I ever had made were made in college, and for a number of years I think I thought I could go back to those times and have it all be the way it was before. Of course, all my friends had graduated too, and thus were gone. This was a very difficult reality.
There are times we want to go back in time to those special moments. As a football fan it's watching this amazing comeback against the number one defense in the nation in a quest for a sure National Championship, sitting with your nose inches from the television scared to death because your beloved coach has decided to go for two, to go for the win even when a tie would have gotten him the championship... sitting with your nose inches away from the television knowing Mike Rozier was going to pound it in for the win, and then sitting in stunned silence as Turner Gill's pass bounced off Irving Fryar's shoulder pads. To this day I remember the feeling, and even though my team lost, I often wish I could go back to the thrill of watching one of the most dramatic moments in sports.
Life has those moments. It can be a great success. Or knowing true love for the first time. I think we all have those times we want so badly to go back to.
But we can't. That's probably a good thing.... though sometimes it doesn't seem like it. It's a good thing because in reality, we actually can go back.
Okay, how's that for circular logic at its finest? What I mean is... as I wrote this, for a few moments I was back in my folks' living room being told to get out of the way so everyone else could see the play too... Somehow God has given us this amazing ability to relive those most amazing times in our lives. And savor them.
But what I mean about how it's good that we can't go back because we can go back (I know, you're still scratching your head over that) is just that life is better lived in forward mode. I think the reason we can relive those moments isn't just to relive them, but take them with us, to use them to live life to the best we can live it.
If we go back, we also have to go back to the stuff that wasn't so great but that we forgot all about because we romanticized those moments too much. If I go back to those days, yeah, the Huskers were incredible (not to mention my beloved Orioles were still a good baseball team) but I have to go back then to the consequences of poor studying and the utter futility that was my dating life of those days.
Come to think of it, maybe there was a connection there? Overly passionate about football and baseball teams... no dating life....
Nah!!!!!!
Anyway, I digress. The thing about going back is, the stuff that was there in those days that made us long for the days ahead would still be there. And even if it wasn't all that bad, there's so much ahead that I just don't want to miss. Because in the end, we don't end up moving forward. If we stay back there, then we rob ourselves of the chance to have more of those moments.
Because we can have them. Just because something was special in the past, doesn't mean it can't be as special or more so. Maybe we can take what was special, hang on to it, or let it spark us on to the kind of life we know we're meant for, to the point that what lies ahead is far more exciting than anything in the past that we cling to. And I guess I'd rather not go back in time so much as take what was special, hang on to that for dear life, and then try to figure out what can be done about life that can allow us to have that magic again and again.
So, Mike, Irving, Turner, and all the rest of you Huskers from those days, thanks for the magic and the thrill. Thanks Coach for daring to go for it all. But more than anything thank you for those times because of the way that that was a time that helped me focus on what was amazing about life, and I pray that it can be turned into something that can be amazing again.