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Manuel
There is something special about watching kids you know succeed. That’s where I am now, and it’s been a special few years for me.
I’m from Eunice, born and raised, and will probably be buried here. I love my hometown, and as a result, I love my alma mater.
Don’t hold it against me, but I’m a Eunice Bobcat. Class of 2004. My graduating class has the dubious distinction of fielding one of the worst, if not the worst, football teams of the last 25 years at Eunice High.
We weren’t a very athletic class. We weren’t a very academic class. We frankly, just were.
So, thank God that now that I teach there, we have some kids that we can truly be proud to call Bobcats.
As a parent, it’s an awesome feeling to know that the school you love is being well-represented in public.
The current group of Eunice High seniors are academic, they’re athletic, and they’re good representatives of the community I call home.
It’s with that I prepared to go to Sulphur this weekend. First and foremost, as a working journalist. I’ve got games to cover, and do so to the best of my ability.
But secondly, I get to watch Eunice’s softball team make it to the state tournament for the first time since 1997.
Since I began teaching, I also got to witness kids I taught win a state football championship.
So, what’s the point of this rant? It might even be taken as bragging.
Quite simply, it’s this … as long as I’m the sports editor of this paper, I am hoping and praying to see one of these schools I cover have that same feeling of joy.
There are good people in these communities and I want the best for them.
And there’s optimism surrounding the Sacred Heart and Mamou baseball team.
At the time I’m writing this column, the Trojans’ team is preparing to play a best-of-three series to open the playoffs, and the Demons’ team is preparing for best-of-three series against Iowa.
Both are good teams, with a good amount of talent all over the diamond. There are kids on these teams who are as good as any baseball player I’ve seen this year.
So, without raising false optimism, I’m hoping these towns and other towns around the parish get the opportunity to cheer for a school on a much-bigger stage in the not-too-distant future.
The leaders of each school have the best interests of the kids at heart. Every coach I’ve interacted with has been nothing but accommodating and treated me well.
That’s the sort of magic you get from these small towns, the feeling of hospitality wherever you go.
And with any luck, that hospitality will be repaid with a championship sooner rather than later.
I’ll be rooting for it.
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