Pack It Up

My college cut its football program mid-term in the winter of my junior year. The team had been struggling for a long time. (Forever?) Football is simply not a sport for an itty bitty school. Too much money, not enough bodies. And yet there were some bodies.

A guy I went to Japan with played because, I think, he played in high school. Another guy in my dorm played a sport every term, and football was his fall choice, I suppose. I think some guys played because the coach asked and why not? But one guy in my grade chose our college TO play football. I suspect his grades or athletic skills were not strong enough for any other school. So here we was. I think he had one friend. I didn't see him at social events. I certainly didn't see him at church. I noticed he ate all his meals early, before other students filled the dining room. No clue what his major was.

When we got the campus-wide email the team has been cut, he packed up his dorm, threw the boxes in his car, and drove home. He failed all his classes and no one ever saw him again.