Gleason talks before the game
COUGARS
Sorry this is so late but there is a very good reason. Read on.
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• We spent some of our pregame time listening to former Cougar linebacker Steve Gleason talk about his fight with ALS and the Team Gleason group he and his close friends have formed. Talk about inspiring, heartbreaking, life-affirming, Gleason's 30 minutes with a few of us media members was all those things. The former Gonzaga Prep, WSU and New Orleans Saints linebacker spoke eloquently despite his debilitating disease, covering subjects as varied as his time here at WSU, his memories of football and snow, his diagnosis and what he is trying to do. Our John Blanchette will share with you Gleason's message in his column for tomorrow's S-R but I want to share this. Dignity is a rare commodity these days and Steve Gleason has more than his share. ... Gleason did address the team before the game. He said he talked about life and how winning and losing is important, but how you treat people is even more so. He said he shared some of his philosophy about life and football. And he told them he came up to support them, he believes in them. ... The weather is cool tonight in more way than one. It's cool temperature-wise, with snow ringing the field, having been shoved off the playing surface before the team's got out here. It's cool, because it's night, the light's are on and the players are out there in weather football was designed for. ... The Sun Devil players are pretty bundled up, except quarterback Brock Osweiler, who is in shirt sleeves. Of course, Osweiler grew up in Montana and played his high school football at Flathead High in Kalispell. Bo Moos is in shirt sleeves, as are a few other ASU players. ... I hope you are enjoying the Oregon game with Stanford. We can't watch it here, the press box isn't getting ABC right now. Nice.
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• That's it for now. It's a late game and we have a bunch of items to get down for the paper, so we'll be tweeting some, but not as much as usual. We'll have our story up as soon as we can after the game. Until then ...
