The Clay Bowl - End of an Era

The Clay Bowl...the annual meeting of the Ashland Panthers and the Lineville Aggies...comes down to a final meeting this year - and the end of the rivalry.  Unless you've been under a rock, you've heard that the two schools are combining into one high school located between the two towns.

Now I'm not gonna sit here and spew facts about the games.  You can look that up somewhere else.  I want to talk about change.  The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said, "There is nothing constant but change."  We are in the midst of a prime example of this.  I dare say there are friends of mine who thought they would never see the day when Lineville didn't play Ashland in football.  There are friends of mine who are so mad about the consolidation that they could spit nails.  But, guess what?  Things change...

So what do you do?  Well, if you're wise, you embrace it.  Accept it for what it is and move on.  Remember the Glory Days each team had and how it affected your Senior year in high school.  Talk about it with your buddies at class reunions.  Then go and support the new Volunteers football team and root for them against whoever our new rival turns out to be,

Change, itself, is inevitable.  But your attitude towards it is entirely up to you.  And there is a whole generation waiting and watching to see how you handle it.