Our pastor challenged us to be a church that is involved in a community in a positive way. Our church has developed a unique relationship with Roosevelt, and we wanted to respond in a tangible way to cheer the team on and show our support for the Rough Riders. The response was overwhelming, we had an estimated 400 people from our our church attended along with other groups rooting for the Rough Riders. We screamed, whistled, yelled, clapped, waved, cheered, stomped our feet and generally behaved like high schoolers ourselves!
Although Roosevelt did not win the game, they lost by only one basket. It was awesome. As columnist Steve Duin wrote:
For one night, the stands were full and the playing field was level. For one night, the fans -- "We have fans?" the Roosevelt girls were surely thinking -- convinced a winless basketball team that it could do no wrong.
For one glorious night, the community laid hands on a high school that has been left by far too many for dead.
At the end of the loneliest of seasons, 1,600 cheerleaders packed the Roosevelt gym Tuesday for the Rough Riders' final home game, then spent two hours applauding Ahoefa Ananouko on the boards, Ericca Ducre on the break and Ilena Allen at the three-point arc.
Lest you think that I left my ego at home, I suppose I should point out that I was in a picture not only on the Oregon Live website, but also on the front page of the Oregonian newspaper. Where's Dave you might ask? He's above the guy in the yellow shirt.
