A Sea of Red

Joe Porter, Grade 8

He is sacked. You’re doomed. There is no chance of victory. The opposition’s fan base is going crazy. You look around. You see a disgusting red every which way. You are surrounded by the stuff. Your nerves are shot. You were stressing like crazy. It was overtime and your squad had a chance, but they blew it. That terrible kicker, he really is a disgrace and he failed you in such a horrible way. How did he miss that kick so bad! Terrible! Well, get ready to drive home with an angry dad and a lingering feeling of sadness that you will feel for years. There goes the Hawaiian freshman quarterback dropping back to make a useless play. Hold on, there is an open wide receiver heading straight for the end zone, straight toward the place he has to reach to win the game. The quarterback has good blocking. He winds up his arm and then releases the ball. The ball looks on track. It is heading toward the receiver's hands. It is caught and the receiver crosses the line of the end zone! Oh my, it is a touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown? Yes, it is a touchdown, and you again see red everywhere, the right red this time: Crimson Red. 

-Joe Porter’s brain during and after the final moments of the College Football National Championship between Alabama and Georgia on Jan 08, 2018.

If you don’t understand those words and weird sentences above, don’t fret, it is okay. Those are just the string of thoughts that Joe Porter’s brain had on Jan 08, 2018. So, they may not make sense because it was a very crazy moment at the time those thoughts were thought. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you this one important fact. Those thoughts were created by the same brain that is awarding you with this stunning piece of writing. So, Joe Porter’s brain says you’re welcome. Now let me take you back to Jan 08, 2018, at about noon, when the lead up to the great moment started.

A Sea of Red by Joe Porter’s Brain, The Scholarly Scribe

It was noon on Jan 08, 2018, the date of the College Football Championship being held in Atlanta. If you do not live in Alabama there are two things you need to know: first, you are weird for not living here, and second, football is like the most important thing here, second to water. I would say food is more important than football but that would be a straight up lie. So, I told the truth and sometimes the truth can be hard to cope with. But if it is hard for you to understand why football is more important than everything excluding water, then I have the answer for you. The answer is simple. Because it is football! Now that you know the answer there should be no more confusion. Football is more important than other lame things like survival, love, and family because it is football. I mean isn’t that obvious? Sorry, I got a little sidetracked by the idea that some insane people think food is more important than football, but now let’s get back to the story. Football is very important in Alabama, but there are only two main teams, Alabama and Auburn. I know I don’t have to tell you which team is greater; you can just use logic. What type of name is Auburn? Auburn? Really? Auburn? That sounds like a name a person that burned themselves while cooking would accidentally make up. “Ah man it’s a burn.” Just take away the man it’s a and then you have Auburn. 

So, just to summarize the real team from Alabama which is Alabama was in the Championship and they were playing Georgia. And Joe Porter and his dad had tickets to go to the game. Joe’s dad drove up to the Highlands School in his car and a super excited Joe hopped in the car. He had been looking forward to going to this game for weeks and the moment was finally here. The first part of the journey had begun and so has the first part of the story. As the author I recommend that you take some sort of break before reading on. Maybe a popcorn break, bathroom break, or any other sort of break I really don’t care. I just suggest taking a break so you are prepared to continue reading this story that will just continue to get better. It can be very tiring reading a story that is this great. And get this one time someone said that I need to stop bragging about how good my writing is. Where do they get off saying that? I have never bragged about my writing. I have never done that and will never do that even though it is obviously amazing. Well, let’s get back to the story and I would like you to stop sidetracking me.

Joe and his dad had been driving for about one and a quarter hour when they could see the towering skyline in the background. That skyline belonged to the metropolis known as Atlanta. Joe and his dad where extremely excited but they were also a little nervous. The stakes of this game would be massive. The whole football season was at stake and it also seemed like a battle to see which state was better. Both teams were dying to win, the teams where not only representing their school, but they were representing their state. Joe and his dad finally made it to Atlanta, and they found a gameday parking spot. It was then time to enter the stadium. Think of this moment as a fancy dinner: the car drive is the appetizer, the game itself is the meal, and the win is the dessert.

When they entered the stadium, you could already feel the energy even though the game wouldn’t start for another hour. The venue was buzzing with excitement. It became louder and louder the closer it got to game time. The clock continued to tick: one hour, forty-five minutes, thirty minutes, fifteen minutes...then finally it was game time. 

The game started off pretty even just a back-and-forth football game. But then it started to sway in Georgia’s favor and before you knew it Georgia was dominating. Alabama’s star quarterback Jalen Hurts was playing awful, the offense could barely even move up field. Then it was finally halftime Alabama fans were relieved that they would be able to take a break from this beating they were witnessing. 

The halftime break was over, and the teams retook the field. The whole stadium was shocked because Alabama’s coach Nick Saban had put in Tua at quarterback who was a freshman from Hawaii. This was a surprise because over the season Jalen Hurts had been one of the best players in football. But the decision paid off because Alabama scored two touchdowns pretty quickly. It was a game again it could go either way. Alabama was on a roll and they were driving down the field again. The game was currently tied, and Alabama looked threatening as they marched down the field. It looked like they could win the game. They got into kicking distance and their kicker was sent onto the field. The kicker ran up to the goal and kicked it at the goal post. He missed the kick! It was going to overtime! Joe was jumping out of his skin with joy, he loved games that went to overtime. Yet at the same time he was so angry that he wanted to hunt the kicker down. Alabama could have won but they didn’t and that made Joe furious. But he was happy it was going to overtime. He was experiencing a large mixture of emotions. Happy and sad, excited and angry. But life is life, and it continues on no matter what. So, like life the game continued. Alabama took the field again and they were ready to win the game. But Georgia had other plans they sacked Alabama’s quarterback on the first play. It was a huge loss of yards the Alabama faithful were furious. Alabama fans had almost all hope. But then a miracle happened...before you knew it the Alabama quarterback had launched a rocket of a throw. The receiver caught the ball just as he was crossing the goal line. The fans in crimson went crazy. Alabama had won the game! Joe and his dad were going crazy and they were out of their seats cheering. It was truly a great father-son moment. One of the best father-son moments of either of their lives. Joe was overjoyed this was truly one of the best moments of his life. Just the pure joy of all of the Alabama fans around Joe made him so happy. However, even with all of the excitement and emotion Joe’s Brain knew he would turn this moment into a great Creative Writing paper. The sea of red surrounding Joe would leave a lasting impression on him forever.

Pages

1 ~Editor's Note~2The Dragon's Toe3George's 4Exotic Flavor5Paper Cutter 6Masked , Big Fish , A Plant , and Pass, Hit, Set 7The Stories of Colors 8The Lightning Monster9The Rainy Life of the Weather Named Stormy 10Tables, Reflection , Arachnid , and Distant Forest 11Discovery 12Etched Blossoms , Owl, City Scape , and Puppy 13Superior Species 14Those Butterfly Wings , Converse , Tunnel Vison, and A Cloud 15A Sea of Red 16Nebula Metro17Life of a Diary 18Flowers , Swan , Waves , and Grass 19The Dragon's Tooth 20The Girl in a Dress 21Burning Out , Blue Dot , A Southern Feminist's Manifesto , and Silhouette 22The Fire Kindling: Chapter 1 23The Perfect Student , Social Pressures , and The Perfect Student 2 24Patina Nightmare25Eventide26Creative Shutdown, Eye's Through A Looking Glass , Head on Collision , and Writer's Block 27The Road to the Championship 28Reconnecting With Nature , Eos , you were a summer thunderstorm , and Reconnecting With Self 29Senior Spotlight: Ava Muller, Photography, The Landing , Tranquil , One-eyed Flyer , Grief , Dreamer , Fractured , Breakin', Lost Lives , and Lilypads 30Senior Spotlight: Maggie Huffman, Digital Illustration , Nice to Meet You!, Exploration of "Circe", Surfs Up! , The Return of Morales , Companionship , Mandalorian , Ambush , Just Hangin', and The High Priestess 31Senior Spotlight: Jolie Stumpff, Poetry , Don't, Muse, Being a Boy , In Search of a Cosmos, Overstimulation , Wheels , and Final Moments32Playing Time Struggles, Head in the Game , Sky High , and Moment of Glory 33Pollination , Azure Afternoon , Creator of Color, and Elegant Emu 34One , Fido , Heart Handles , and Early Birds35Dedication: Katherine Berdy