Mike,

I wish I would have been thinking when I poked into the web site while at the library with my daughter this afternoon. I saw another update on Tyler and I should have known better. Sitting in a public place holding my daughter tight and sobbing. No one around me knew what I was emotional about.

Thanks Mike for keeping us grounded. I do appreciate all you've done.

This state tourney should be a time of celebration. We should be celebrating the life of a young boy that most of us (me included) have never met, but prayed for every day because in our hearts we knew God needed to hear our call. This past season has put many things into perspective for me, mostly because I've read all of the posts on this young man. Look what this young man has done for us as a community.

He's brought us closer together and made us realize that there's more to life than Saturday and practice.

We've had a group of high school athletes come together and create something pretty darn cool in hopes to help out the family the best they could. I'm really looking forward to the exhibition because right there is living testimony on how we want our teens to be. I encourage everyone to watch the matches. Does your kid need a role model? There will be plenty on the mat during the exhibition.

Most importantly, it's reaffirmed for many their religious convictions. I'm saddened by our loss, but most important - I can see the work of God through the ordeal and what he's done for us. It's easy for us to question why such a young boy. When we step back from the situation for a moment and truly realize what this has done to each and every one of us as we check the updates with saddened hearts - wow, pretty amazing if you ask me.

Mike, I know that it would be difficult to pull off, but if there was any way possible, I think the best closure we could have as a state body would be to formally retire those shoes at the state tournament.

Just a thought.

Jeremy Gibson