The most unique thing about one's life is that they hardly know where their future travels will take them. For me, my travels took me to Huntington, West Virginia, a small town tucked away on the Ohio River, nearly 300 miles from Pittsburgh.
On Saturday afternoon, I attended to a live, big-time sporting event, the first of its kind for myself, since March 10. The contest, a Week 1 college football matchup between the Eastern Kentucky Colonels and Marshall Thundering Herd, ended a 179-day mandatory hiatus from attending games.
The game was the furthest thing from competitive. Marshall, favored by approximately 24 points, clobbered the lower-level Colonels by a 59-0 mark. It was never close. Not for a second. And of the Eastern Kentucky faithful (and there were a few) that made the 2-hour trip from Richmond, Kentucky to Huntington, I'm sure a few were disgusted with the outcome. But I can bet you the majority of those fans, just like the Marshall home crowd, felt the same way I did about the whole day.
One key word can be used to describe the game, its atmosphere and being able to attend the contest: try 'surreal.'
Now, you're probably wondering how sports can be surreal in the era of COVID-19. And that's a fair question.
Masks were worn at all times. Crowd size was limited. A distance of six feet was encouraged. Marshall fulfilled the requirements of opening their business in this once in a lifetime circumstance.
But when you unify people around one thing and they all come together, the environment's tendency is typically prone to become surreal. In this case, football was the unifier, and the inhabitants of Huntington and travelers (such as myself and those from Richmond) were the unified.
Like I said, the game wasn't close. For the Marshall faithful, I'd be ecstatic if I had a quarterback like Grant Wells, a redshirt freshman who threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns in the season opener. For Eastern Kentucky, you take what you can get it, which was a nice paycheck to play the Conference USA foe and the ability to grow from this loss.
I'm not too sure when I will return to another game. For the time being, it depends on the areas of the country that safely allow fans to return and those that don't.
For now, I will cherish the memories I made in Huntington, West Virginia. It was one heck of a trip. A trip that allowed me wake up in Kentucky, watch a football game in West Virginia and reminisce about it in Pennsylvania, all in a day's work, is something I'll never forget.
If there's one thing that the last six months without being able to attend sports has taught me, it's that you must never take anything for granted. Soak in every opportunity presented to you, and you won't have a regret in that instance.
Thank you to the Ohio River Valley for your hospitality. I will never forget it.
Welcome back, sports. For real this time.
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