Up By 8 points, with 31 seconds left, with the ball...

And lost. It’s not a typo. Up 8, with 31 seconds remaining, and lost the game in double overtime. There were banked in 3’s, a 5-second call, missed free throws, and anything else that would need to happen for a basketball team to squander that big of a lead. I remember a lot from that night, but mostly remember the fans right behind me who claimed the loss was my fault, the coach. It was a great group of kids - kids whom I loved - who had a rough night in a very difficult season.

The date was January 3, 2003, and if you’re an Ohio State football fan, you’ll quickly remember that on that same night, the Buckeyes defeated the Miami Hurricanes in overtime to win the National Championship. If you remember...the Buckeyes lost that game, when out of nowhere, on 4th down...a late flag came flying out of the endzone which gave Buckeye fans new hope.They went on to score and eventually win - after they had apparently lost.

Same night...but vastly different emotions in Copley, Ohio at about 6:30 pm vs. the ones I experienced much later in the evening while watching the events from Tempe, Arizona. A game that was won was lost, and a game that was lost was won. The two events will be forever tied together in my mind, but the feelings of the results couldn’t be more different.

Ultimately - probably not that night but later - I learned something from January 3, 2003 that has come back consistently and often, but especially during this tumultuous year of 2020. What’s the simple lesson? You just have to keep going. There’s really no stopping. When you lose a game you should have won, failed a test you should have passed, missed an opportunity that was right in front of you, have to teach kids in front of you and at their homes, you just have to keep going. Oh, there’s much learning on the way that must combine with your effort in order to produce different results, but it’s as simple as going to bed, getting up the next morning, and heading back out there more prepared in search of results you want.

We are getting back to work in a second semester in the most unique educational year in many of our lives. There’s talk of another “dark month” being spoken at the same exact time as limited spread in schools, much less quarantine, and a vaccine distribution being made available to get our kids back in full force. There’s a fear that’s still present at the same time as more hope and excitement as many have had in quite some time. It’s similar to losing a game you should have won only to, hours later, winning a National Championship unexpectedly when you thought you had lost.

Many emotions are in play right now, but similarly to many other moments in life, we simply have to keep working, do what is needed to move forward, and know that the hard work will - at some point - pay off. Let’s unite in our desire to simply keep going and discover, together, how good things can become in our schools once again. Be motivated...keep going.