For any team, it\u2019s tough to lose at home. At home games, you expect tons of support and energy from the stadium to help you walk away with a win, but this wasn\u2019t the case for the Los Angeles Chargers last Sunday, Oct. 13. The Chargers were defeated 24-17 on their home turf by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a stadium that was filled almost entirely with Steelers fans.
\nTo make matters worse, the person in charge of the music for the stadium played \u201cRenegade\u201d by Styx, which is a popular song played at many Steelers games. The song was interrupted halfway through by the song \u201cNever Gonna Give You Up\u201d by Rick Astley as an attempt at a practical joke on Steelers fans.
\nChargers fans and players were confused as \u201cRenegade\u201d played over the speakers, as they knew this was a song used by the Steelers in their home games. Chargers running back Melvin Gordon said,\u201cI don\u2019t know what that was. Don\u2019t do that at our own stadium \u2026 It already felt like it was their stadium \u2026 I don\u2019t understand that.\u201d
\nThe Steelers felt confident and comfortable, because this was no longer an away game; this was a home game. This is a really extreme example of something that I find important in life. It is so important to be able to feel at home.
\nWhen I was in third grade, I participated in the thrilling sport of little league baseball, and my mom was always my biggest fan. She would scream from the crowd, \u201cThat\u2019s my baby!\u201d and whistle and clap and cheer at the top of her lungs. My face would turn red, and I remember wishing I could change my name and move to an unnamed country when this would happen, but deep down it was nice to have someone cheering for me.
\nAs I participated in so many other things growing up, the thing I loved most was theatre. It was something that I was proud of. My mom was still my biggest fan as she would come to every performance, even if it had been her 14th time seeing the show. She would also always have something to give me after the show, whether it was a rose, a card, a bag of popcorn or a hug. This meant the world to me, because even if I wasn\u2019t the lead role, I knew my performance was appreciated by my mom.
\nA few months after coming to Harding, I landed the role of Clarence in \u201cIt\u2019s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,\u201dand I remember being so excited about it being my first college production. Out of the several show dates we had, my mom was only able to come to one. I really enjoyed getting to see her that first night, but the other nights were really hard for me as other cast members were being greeted by their friends and family, and I awkwardly waved at the occasional person I knew.
\nIt was in moments like those where I felt like I wasn\u2019t playing in my home stadium. However, as more productions were put on, I developed really close friendships with other students at Harding, and they came to my performances. Even though I wasn\u2019t greeted with roses or cards, they were there for me, and they took time to see something I had done. They made me feel at home.
\nHomecoming weekend is such a beautiful experience for so many reasons, and I think the most important thing is found in the word homecoming itself. A home isn\u2019t the place where you live, as there are many people who don\u2019t feel at peace where they live now. Home is the community and the people in your life who are there to support you. Home is where your conversations with friends can last for hours, but you can\u2019t spend more than two hours in a car with your family. Home isn\u2019t a place, it\u2019s a group of people who are truly present in your life.
\nAs you go throughout this Homecoming weekend, watch the musical, attend the football games and meet new family. Let\u2019s make this campus a home field for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For any team, it\u2019s tough to lose at home. At home games, you expect tons of support and energy from the stadium to help you walk away with a win,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":13412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13776,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13775\/revisions\/13776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}