Day 9 - Someone You Wish You Could Meet

There are countless people who I want to meet: my great-grandmother after whom I'm named after, my great-grandfather who played baseball both for U of M as well as for the Detroit Tigers. But after thinking about it for a while, I've decided that as much as I would love to meet these people, there's someone who I think could teach me things that are directly applicable to my life right now:

Dear Coach Bryant,

I'm a Northerner. I'm telling you right now that I don't know a tenth of what a six-year-old Southern girl knows about football. In fact, there are times when I wonder why people would even want to play such a game: a game that used to be so ruthless that people died on the field.

Nevertheless, I think you have a lot to offer. I've read your biographies, and it seems as if I could use your life philosophy right now: I need to be able to not only give everything that I have, but then give even more when the situation makes it necessary. There is nothing more that I want than to channel a little bit of your work ethic and passion into my own life.

As strange as this sounds, though, I would want to meet you when you were older. It's not to say that the younger Bear wasn't spectacular as well, but I'd love to see the spark in your eyes describing your boys, the vivacity that football gives you, and the intensity of which you try to instill your ideals on others. I think that out of all your accomplishments, the most profound is the fact that you kept coaching, even when times were tough. You kept your personal issues quiet, and made sure everyone knew that the team was your life - that football was your life.

I guess this goes back to my dreams: I want nothing more than to feel the passion for something that you felt for football. I want to be remembered for something, just like you were for all of your accomplishments, whether it was the most coaching victories or your humility when talking about your successes.

Though I realize that it would be impossible to meet, I'm going to try to "see" you in a different way. I'm hoping to go to Tuscaloosa this summer and see where you spent your life, and see where you lay. Maybe I'll be able to feel your spirit, and maybe that will be enough.