Mondays after a loss are tough. Probably the hardest one of all was November 25, 2002. The previous Friday we had lost to Russell in the state quarterfinals, 11-8.Earlier in the season, Russell had defeated us for the district championship 12-7. Our 2002 Royals only lost those two games and had defeated 3A Finalist Rockcastle County in the Bob Allen Pigskin Bowl. We had been ranked #1 for the first time in school history. The 2002 Royals were very good and we were devastated that our season was over.
That morning in class I received an email from my good friend Chris Mason. Chris was a football coach and history teacher at Boyle County HS. Chris's email said he needed some good open response questions and could I send him one. I wasn't sure what to think, but I found one and send it. A few minutes later, another email. Chris says, "that was a good one, can you send me another one?" I dig up one more and send it to him.
About 5 minutes later, my classroom phone rings.... it is CHRIS MASON. He says, "Are you OK?" I say, "No, I am not. We got beat 11-8 Friday night. What do you think??" He says, "Well, I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were all right."
As it turned out, the open response emails were just his way of checking on me. He knew I would not handle that loss well.
Tonight, Chris Mason and his 7 state title rings get inducted into the Boyle County Rebel Hall of Fame. He had a GREAT career coaching at Boyle and now does a super job as the Principal of Bullitt East HS. All of that is great, and I am certainly very proud of him. But, most of all, I am thankful for a great friend that has been keeping an eye on me for a long time.
Congratulations Chris!
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