Sports. Because Sports

That time that Newtown (right) won the hockey title.

You probably know it is Dec 14. There are 17 days left in this year.

We woke up on Dec 14 in 2012 and went about our business.

By the end of that day, we learned of the horror of Sandy Hook and Newtown.

Since then, the Newtown High School sports teams have met different levels of success. In 2014, the Nighthawks won a state title in hockey.

I had the honor of calling that one.

Today, on the seventh anniversary of the awful day at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Nighthawks went up against Darien for the state championship in football at Trumbull High School. There was talk of moving the game to Sunday to avoid playing on Dec 14, and the media were told to not ask the athletes about the anniversary.

Those athletes wouldn't hear of it.

Play the game on the 14th. Scriptwriters need work. There are angels standing by.

Magic in the air.

Whatever you like.

Final score: Newtown 13, Darien 7.

Darien held the lead for the bulk of the game in a defensive battle. But Newtown found a little something on a long touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. Then they got the ball back with little time left.

Then? How do you explain it?

There's video, and honestly co-conspirator John Nash has the best shot of all of the angles I've seen. But that's John's story to tell, so I will leave it to him.

Quarterback Jack Street took the snap at the Darien 36 with under four seconds to play. Riley Ward somehow got open and Street hit him in stride near the four.

He could have kept running through the end zone into Stratford.

In a game dominated by defense, just...how?

We love great stories. We love things like this. I followed on Twitter and was astounded.

Enjoy it, Newtown. You have 26 -- and a lot more -- reasons to celebrate.

*****
The Army/Navy game was also today.

My father was (briefly) in the Army, so I was raised to love the Black Knights. Plus West Point is only about an hour away.

Navy was a far better team today.

They call it "American's Game" now because everything has to have a fancy name and a title sponsor and so on.

I love everything about Army/Navy. The tradition and the spectacle and the pomp and circumstance and even the style of football.

I realize it's cliche to run multiple option and minimal passing in 2019 but it just works.

I went to the game once, at Giants Stadium, and it was one of the best experiences in sports I've ever had.

The trite part of all of this is few, if any, will ever play in the NFL. They'll likely be in the service. They may go to war.

And then? Who knows?

But for this one day, all of it gets put aside. There's literally nothing more important that that game to them.

And, for those who invest in it, to us.

*****

This picture means so much to me.

Aidan Martin was one of Sean's first best friends. They were together every day at Pine Grove Country Day School in Mahopac.

Eventually, life pulled them apart. Would they have stayed that close had Sean stayed at Mahopac High School?

We'll never know. Sean had minimal interest in sports. Aidan loved hockey.

Aidan is now the captain of the Mahopac High School ice hockey team and is an outstanding player.

Finally, Friday night, after a bunch of years, Sean and Aidan got together again. It was only for a few minutes. They didn't exchange phone numbers or anything like that.

But it was just tremendous to see them together again, following the game that Aidan played in and that I broadcast.

It was sports that brought them back together.