Rivers running upstream and Cats chasing Dogs

I have confirmed this story as being true from one person who was at the event, and two others who knew of the event second-hand. But even if it had been just a fable, or myth, it's a principle I'd like to make part of my life. I had a hard time reading it all the way through because my eyes became swollen from crying the more I read. Life would be better if people had the heart of these people. And I will be better if I believe man's heart is capable of this expression. The story shows the 2nd finest demonstration of Christian love I can ever remember reading about. The headline from the paper read:

There are some games

in which cheering

for the other side

feels better than winning

by Rick Reilly

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.
They played the oddest game in high school football history last month

down in Grapevine, Texas.
It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything

about it was upside down.

For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field,

the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.
Did you hear that? The other team's fans?
They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end.

It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.
It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs.

More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side

and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.
"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for

us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah.

"I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids.

But they wanted us to!"
And even though Faith walloped them 33-14,

the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game

they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower

like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath

in history for an 0-9 coach.
But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting

the 14 Gainesville players off the field and

two and two started to make four.

They lined the players up in groups of five

—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—

and marched them to the team bus.

That's because Gainesville is a correctional facility

75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.
This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan,

wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team.

Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score.

After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game,

Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year.

Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment

and involved parents.

Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions

for drugs, assault and robbery

—many of whose families had disowned them—

wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.
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."
Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes

were turning around on their bench to see something

they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!
"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville

lineman (only first names are released by the prison).

"They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball.

I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"
It was a strange experience for boys who most

people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are

a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says

Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years.

"You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us

like we're criminals. But these people, they

were yellin' for us! By our names!"
Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it

had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns.

Of course, this might be because Hogan put his

third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string

cornerback at defensive end. Still after the game, both

teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and

that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead.

"We had no idea what the kid was going

to say," remembers Coach Hogan.

But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened,

so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've

known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."
And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed

because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.
As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard,

they each were handed a bag for the ride home

—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and

an encouraging letter from a Faith player.
The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard

by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your

people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."
And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players

crammed to one side and pressed their hands to

the window, staring at these people they'd never

met before, watching their waves and smiles

disappearing into the night.
Anyway, with the economy six feet under and

Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer,

it's nice to know that one of the best presents

you can give is still absolutely free.
Hope.