When a tragedy like last week’s Oxford High School shooting takes place, it’s a heavy-hearted moment for all Americans. But it was especially painful for the people of Michigan. These painful moments always hit harder when they happen close to home.
With the entire state still mourning, two of Michigan’s biggest sports teams, the Michigan Wolverines and the Detroit Lions, came away with big victories over the weekend. The Wolverines’ win came on Saturday in the Big Ten Championship, while the Lions were captures their first victory of the NFL season on Sunday.
After the Lions’ victory over the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Jared Goff took to the podium to speak about how the team was inspired to go out and get the win for the state of Michigan and the people who were affected by the tragedy at Oxford.
“Sometimes special things happen, special circumstances. I think you saw yesterday what Michigan did against Iowa. And then us today, getting out first win… You never hope for a tragedy like this but you hope to be a light for those people and a positive, in that they can have fun watching it. And I hope they were all watching today, and were able to enjoy that win and we can take their minds off of it for maybe three hours. I think that any time we can do that, it’s a lot bigger than sports. It’s a lot bigger than us. And I thought today was one of those special circumstances that we were able to rise to the occasion and make something special happen.”
This win certainly won’t make up for the loss that Oxford High School experienced this week. Nothing will. But, as Goff said, hopefully it can help bring at least a bit of light to a state that sure could use it right now.
