When only print will do! October 27, 2015 10:35

Just one week ago today my son finished his freshman year of football. It was an exciting overtime win that finished off a season with three wins and four losses. A great team of young men that were outsized and definitely outnumbered most of the year worked hard for every win. After the game, in the end zone where the winning touchdown was scored in overtime, the team gathered and photos of the win and season were being taken to remember and record the year, the event and the moment.

Wait, wait…remember and record?!?! Umm, how do we do that now?

Before I could walk out of the end zone from taking photos my phone buzzed and I was tagged in a great photo of the team, sweaty, bruised, battered and smiling all on social media. Dang, somebody beat me to it! The team caught a quick shower and off to celebrate with a steak with my son, grandparents and my wife. Sitting down at the restaurant the social media buzz about the win had come to an end and once again my Facebook feed rolled back to the life advice, memes, and the usual banter.

Wait, wait…I have been cheated?!?! Our 15 minutes of fame was only 15 seconds?!?!?

Five days later a friend of mine approached me at a lunch meeting and mentioned he saw an article about the game and the season in the newspaper. I had also read the article and knew what he was referencing, so that was not a surprise to me, what surprised me was that he pulled the article out of his wallet and handed it to me and told me he clipped it out for me. “I thought you may want a copy for a keep sake.” One day later I received a copy of the article in the mail, for those that don't know that is an envelope and stamp, from a relative.

Wait, wait…this memory was destined to disappear in a Facebook flash!?!?! Print came to my rescue!!!

This freshman football season is not a historic event. It did take place in the Internet Age, was fully covered first by parents on social media. The events of this football game are recorded on social media and may be out there somewhere on Facebook or Twitter, but if so, it is lost to posterity. For memory, for detail, for posterity, we turn to print! When 25 young men spent a season working, grinding and improving to beat the same team in overtime that beat them by 20 points last year, a “Like” on Facebook doesn’t cut it. Only print will do!