I'm Now an Avid Huskers Fan!

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”

~ Anne Frank

You might have seen this clip already but I’m posting it anyway because it reduces me to tears no matter how many times I view it:

I don’t care if the cynics among you find it cloying or cheesy. I’m not interested in knowing why you don’t love this video because I do.

I love how seven-year-old Jack Hoffman runs not five or ten but 69 yards to score a touchdown at the end of the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ spring game.

I love that this happened in front of 60,174 cheering fans at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

I love how both squads pretend to play hard, blocking and running, so that the play feels real for young Jack.

I love how all the players flood the end zone after he scores, mobbing him and lifting him up as the crowd roars.

I love how this video has gone viral and has been seen by more than two million people.

I love how ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Huffington Post, USA Today and countless other media outlets have made Jack an international celebrity.

I love how when he was interviewed by ESPN after the game, Jack – who was diagnosed with cancer in April 2011, has had two surgeries and is currently receiving chemotherapy – declared the experience “awesome.”

Jack Hoffman

Mostly I love how it reminds me that there is still beauty in the world, incredible beauty and kindness and goodness.

I get so bogged down in challenge and disappointment sometimes that it takes people like Huskers running back Rex Burkhead, fullback C.J. Zimmerer, quarterback Taylor Martinez, Coach Bo Pelini, football operations director Jeff Jamrog and everybody associated with this awesome moment to remind me how, as Anne Frank said almost 70 years ago, in spite of everything people are really good at heart.


To like the “Corn Nation” Facebook group, click here. To visit the “Team Jack Foundation” page, click here and to like Team Jack’s Facebook page, click here.

Sources: USA Today, ESPN, Team Jack Foundation.