The crowd gathers at the Red Bank Community Field "Lions Den." The 2009
season is about to start. The excitement builds. The Red Bank Lions are going through their warm up exercises. Coach Daniels walks through the crowd of players.

The biggest test of the season was Soddy-Daisy. Red Bank played messy
and un-team like. They could not stop Soddy-Daisy's stars. It seemed to be Soddy-Daisy's night. They went up by 16 points. Red Bank could not get on track. The Trojans seemed to have Red Bank on its heels.

The faithful crowd of Red Bank seemed in shock. They had not seen
this side of the Lions football team. Coach stood there in shock. It
seemed that arch rival Soddy-Daisy was about to give the Lions a
crushing blow. The Trojans could feel it in their grasp. The crowd was
behind them. Their band was pumped.

The 4th quarter is slipping away. Something happens. Red Bank comes
alive and hungry. They put on the comeback that will be talked
about. It seemed they were on a mission. The shocked Red Bank crowd
starts to go nuts.The comeback was fast and furious. Andy Christopher
and company took it to the Trojans. The final on the scoreboard was
not somewhat accurate. One would think that the Lions had SD on the
ropes all night. That was not the case. The Trojan team was a very
physical team. Red Bank took home a victory that was hard fought. They
did not give up. They dug in and did not give in.

The rest of the season was in preparation for the upcoming state
playoffs. The crowd support grew as the season went along. The support
base was torn apart when half of the student body went to Signal
Mountain. Stands were strangely empty. Only the alumni and players'
parents filled the stadium. The crowd brought their cow bells and other noise makers.

I want to thank the coaches and players for a great season. All of you
played with great strength and heart. The seniors- good luck on your
future adventures. You can take the guys out of Red Bank but you
cannot take Red Bank pride out of the guys. The rest of the
team-cannot wait till next year.Go Lions forever.

Laura Crane
Red Bank, Tennessee
ToBSketching@aol.com

* * *

Laura, thanks for your letter and thanks for seeing that parents need
to spend time with their kids and get them involved in the community
and things that keep them off the streets. Thanks for showing kids
that their parents can watch them play sports, be a part of their
lives, and be a family. That is what is important, my friend.

Mr. Howard, you must be one heck of a dad. I hope you aren't so angry with your children if God has blessed you with any. I hope they don't have all that political mumbo jumbo constantly barked at them.

You are right, our priorities are screwed up. I am glad I had mine
right and spent as much time as possible raising a good son into a
good man. I did that by spending time with him in a positive way.

Linda Weathers