"We may be down, but we're not out" by Jack Harrold
The 2014 NACBs have come and gone, not necessarily with the outcome we in the MHC were hoping for. 35-94 - the zombie-trance mantra chanted by the shell-shocked players coming back from Boston; this was the total difference in score of all three games played.
It is very easy to allow that number to become a depressing statistic. We set the bar high for ourselves in the Milwaukee Hurling Club with good reason. We boast back-to-back Junior B championships, multiple Camogie championships, and last year, a Junior C championship. We have a tradition of winning in Milwaukee, often against the odds. And that is what makes the losses in Boston that much more difficult to stomach.
Lop-sided defeat is not what should be taken away from the NACBs this year. Concentrating on the hard numbers is easy and futile. It is also blinding to the gains and victories (if only moral) that the MHC Traveling Team players have earned.
Forgotten is time spent throughout the year training for the NACB tournament in Boston. The individual personal gains in skills, goals and camaraderie fall by the wayside - and they shouldn't. These are very real accomplishments.
Forgotten, likewise, are the MHC family members that have retired throughout the years. The ones whose hard work and grit have built our tough, winning tradition. Without them, we would not be able to field the teams we do, and in losing them, we also lose the wisdom of their experience to pass onto the next generation. We must remember the struggles they went through to earn what has become MHC tradition and standards.