To the Band of Brothers: October 15, 2020
Good morning,
In the 1970s, NFL Films produced various film shorts on the game of football. They would concentrate on aspects of the game, positions, and teams. Of all the shorts they produced, the one I loved most was about the Raiders.
Narrated by the incomparable John Facenda, boldly nicknamed “The Voice of God,” it focused on the fierceness of the Oakland Raiders (now they’re in Las Vegas). The whole of it was a poem that started like this, “The autumn wind is a pirate...” It then went on to list in rhyme a series of characteristics of the team that made them sound more like professional hitmen than football players.
This is what came to mind on Tuesday when I stood on the sideline of our football field watching the first game of the sixth-grade football team. It was impressive to see the youngest of the Wolverine nation suited up and running with eyes wide open onto the turf, nervous but ready for the attack.
They played great, considering that some of these guys have never played an organized game of football in their lives. I’ve never heard so many coaches screaming and barking orders at once in all my life. I was nervous for them, but they performed well and beat Westminster 12 to 0. After their victory, their older Belen brothers in the junior varsity and varsity football teams stood in two lines with arms raised and had them walk through with cheers and applause.
It was beautiful and led me to believe the autumn wind is not a pirate. It’s a Wolverine.
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.