Being in the Marching Band, I go to every game to support the Riverside Fighting Panther Football team and preform at the halftime show. And this Friday’s match with the New Brighton Lions, which would decide if we had a spot in the playoffs, has shown the lack of respect humans can have for each other.
Fourth Quarter, 7 minutes left (or 5, I can’t remember). Teams are tied 21-21. Jordan Matiko is hit hard. What seemed like a minor injury turned out to be ten grueling long minutes of silence as the ambulance came on the field with a stretcher to transport Matiko to the hospital. His fate is still unknown to me. During the entire time, the New Brighton “Fans” and Football players shouted curses and told us to “Hurry up”. As if the game was life or death for them. Matiko was not only one of our best players, but he was also a senior and this was, after all, Senior Night.
But, wait, there’s more.
A couple minutes later, another player from our team (the name is unknown) broke his leg and we had another five minutes (it felt like 5 hours) of silence as they evacuated him from the field. and, of course, the “Fans” are yelling curses and quite literally “Tooting their horn”.
After Matiko’s accident, we had one flag against us for “Unsportsman-like Actions” (Which I can’t blame whoever did it).
The game went into Overtime and we lost, 34-28.
I appreciate if you read this rant, and sorry for doing so.
It just seems like you guys actually listen to me.