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Before November 14, 1970, sports at Marshall University was just like it is anywhere else. It's not about being a good sport. It's not about how you play the game. No. The only thing that counts is winning. Winning is everything, and nothing else matters. Any sport. Any school. Any time. The only thing that counts is winning.
Well, that all changed.
What matters is that we have a football team that plays with integrity. They take the field with pride in their team and their school and play to honor themselves, their coaches, their team, their school, and (unique to Marshall) their legacy.
In the movie "We Are Marshall," Matthew McConaughey said that someday, not today or tomorrow, but someday, the only thing that will matter is winning and nothing else will matter. He said that reaching that goal is when the 1970 airplane crash victims will be honored.
Well, here we are 47 years later, and winning is not everything at Marshall. However, I sincerely believe that Marshall does the right things to remember and honor those victims. Every football player watches that movie to make sure he knows what he's playing for. At the conclusion of summer practice the entire team runs from the stadium to the memorial at the cemetery. The entire team goes to the ceremonies at the memorial fountain. The ways they have remembered the event every year at the game closest to the anniversary of the tragedy have been creative and tasteful, but every year they have been different so that there is a new appreciation of the legacy every year.
Here is a YouTube video of the scene from "We Are Marshall" that I referred to above:
I don't think the day will ever come when winning is the only thing that counts at Marshall, the way it is at every other school in the country. That is what make Marshall different and unique. Most people around Marshall and Huntington understand. Maybe this will help a few more to know what makes Marshall special.
I thought that November 14 would be an appropriate day to start a thread about Marshall sports. Feel free to post anything about Thundering Herd sports, not just football. Schedules, events, media coverage, etc. Don't forget the women's teams either. The softball team was a winner last year, as well as several others.
This HerdZone article details which upcoming basketball games are going to be broadcast in local viewing areas. There will undoubtedly be others that are broadcast on the usual sports networks.
Marshall announced today that the start time for the basketball game on the 16th has been changed to 8:00 PM so that the fans don't have to make a choice between watching football or basketball.
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