WW: Real Talk I

Over the 3.5 years that I've been doing this blog I've had a guideline of sticking to sports. It's been a pretty easy line to follow but on occasion, it needs to be crossed. Part of why it's been easy is that sports are for enjoyment and I have deeply enjoyed going to high school & college games, as well as discussing the nearby professional franchises. Plenty more people enjoy seeing, reading and discussing the same teams & topics but successfully dodging the slings & arrows of negativity is about as likely as finding the pot of gold at the end of a Rainbow. Maybe you're like me and have a minimal interest in the political game. That's one way to avoid all the backbiting & complaining, whichever side of the aisle you may lean to on election day.

But even then there are times like the last 24 hrs.

I didn't know her or even about her but Perham native & nationally successful Gabriele Grunewald passed away at the age of 32 yesterday. It would be wrong of me to comment on anything related to her since I'd never heard her name before yesterday that I can remember but after just a cursory scrolling of tweets, it's evident that she managed to be a voice of impact well beyond her years.

I, like many of you, have hated Cancer for many years now because it seems Hell bent on taking the best of the world while the medical industry bilks 100's of millions of $ from the disease. I'm sure there are some researchers with good conscious & genuine motive seeking to find even just one cure for one of the various forms but all that they've come up with to date are treatments. Sometimes the treatments work, many other times they do not.

It's life & death.

It's importance compared to games played on fields & courts is like one penny compared to the net worth of Amazon. No comparison.

Then there is the other news that broke in the last few hours - the season ending ACL tear to one of the region's best Football players. Nathan Goldade of West Fargo Sheyenne was primed for a senior year to remember. After a 2018 that had him as the most productive rusher in North Dakota, he very well could have run himself into a scholarship at one of the many D2's or D1's in the area. Going off his previous tape that could still happen & in some ways would make for an even better story but we're far from getting any clarity on that. I for one hope he gets an opportunity to suite up for a university because he's quite a player!

For now though, the negativity managed to break through into the "toy" department with two of the major headlines over the past hours. Summer is supposed to be the chill time, the fun at the lakes or over the grill time but reality - balance - is never far away. It's not fair that these two athletes had happen to them what did, but life's not fair. People can continue to try and make everything equal, everything "fair/equal" but it's a losing battle. I'm different from each of you who read this and you are different from each other. That's a good thing...can be a positive. But it's often the hardest things that create the best. The unfair things that develop integrity and the ability to persevere & many more characteristics beyond. We all have that opportunity in common.

So I've mentioned politics and Cancer how about one more hot button topic for good measure? Through all the negativity, all the death & sadness that life can have, there is one constant source of hope. It's regrettably cliche - because of it's Truth - but Jesus can make good on all the bad that can happen. I wish I could tell you how He does it in every circumstance but Faith goes beyond what's known and even beyond what seems possible at times.

That's real talk. You may not agree with all of it but that's all I've got to say, for now - so until the next time, keep going!