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Rick Reilly: Gainesville State high school football gets the best gift of all: hope - ESPN The Magazine


Stashed in: Football, #kindness, Hope, Compassion, Restore your faith in humanity.

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THIS. People NEED to do things like this more often for each other, and maybe we can fix our broken little planet.

Such a great idea:

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

That is a great, great sentiment.

Hope costs nothing but is worth so much.

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