Sports fans relish opportunities when their favorites sport or team can take on a meaning beyond just the game. As the political environment grows increasingly toxic, the division has spread to the sports world in recent weeks.
With the nation fractured in a million pieces on the subject of anthem protests and perceived entitlement by those who pay on Saturdays and Sundays.
That’s part of the reason why Iowa’s newest gameday tradition is so touching.
That, and because the very nature of what they are doing.
At home games played in Iowa, the Hawkeyes, along with all of 70,000 fans in the stands and the opposing team turn away from the field and wave to the children hospital across the street. ESPN spotlighted the tradition itself, and what it means to a the sick kids who find themselves battling for their lives only a few hundred feet away.
Even though the Hawkeyes are playing a road game against Michigan State this week, ESPN’s College GameDay still wanted the kids to know they were in everyone’s thoughts.
For all the kids at Iowa Children’s Hospital … pic.twitter.com/kxsF7NtD7X
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 30, 2017
The tradition at Iowa is one that will hopefully remain in place for years to come. While most gameday traditions have little meaning beyond pageantry and school pride, this one is about something even greater than football. The Iowa fans have taken it to it with open arms, and it appears the rest of the country is doing so as well.
Class move by College GameDay to wave to the kids all the way from Blacksburg, Virginia.
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