A day to remember

It was my pleasure (on Sept. 19) to watch a revamped Idaho Vandals football team defeat San Diego State.

My days of being an Idaho Vandal go all the way back to the ’50s when I was just a kid in Moscow collecting pop bottles at the stadium for 3 cents each. The stands emptied at Neal Stadium for the famous fifth quarter when the student riots followed the famous Vandals-WSU games. After the game, it was usually the Idaho students who got to make the walk to Pullman (the losers made the walk).

As the San Diego game commenced, I got a thrill as the Vandals entered through the fog at the tunnel into the stadium. But then I saw something different. Usually the players go to their side of the field and begin warming up. Instead, one by one, many of the players went into the end zone and knelt on one knee to pray to the God of their understanding. Yes, these huge, macho players were confessing their belief before this crowd. Tears spread in my eyes.

I was so proud of the Vandals. The Bible says, if you confess your belief in God before man, then Christ will confess his belief in us before God. They did that.

A flag was also presented in memory of Sept. 11 and student inductees were presented for the military. It was a fall day to remember.

Steve Bell

Coeur d’Alene