Every once in a while I'm reminded why I enjoy working at a Division III school like Wabash.

The Little Giant football team rallied Saturday afternoon for a 20-18 victory at Case Western Reserve moments after Spartans quarterback Dan Whalen led his team on two huge scoring drives to take the lead from Wabash.

After the game I †watched members of both teams --- players and coaches --- talking to each other on the field like they were old friends when moments earlier they had both been fighting for a spot in the next round of the tournament.

Monday night I watched the replay of the game on television. At the end of the game a young man that played on last year's Case team was interviewed. You couldn't tell his alma mater had just lost a heart-breaking game. He talked about how great this year's game was as a fan of football in general, how much respect he had for both programs, and what it was like to play against the Little Giants last year.†

Tuesday morning I received a copy of an email Dan Whalen sent to Wabash head coach Erik Raeburn. Keep in mind this young man had done everything possible to lead his team to a victory, only to see Wabash snatch it away with the same type of effort on the Little Giants' final drive. I asked Dan if I could share his email here, and he graciously agreed.

From Dan Whalen to Erik Raeburn:

Coach Raeburn,

I thought it was important that I write this letter because I wanted to let
you know how much respect I've got for your program after facing you guys
for back to back years in the playoffs. It has taken us a while to earn our
stripes here at Case, since there hasn't been a whole lot of winning in the
past, but playing the way we did against a team like yours tells me a lot
about our team, even with a loss. Over the past two seasons we've managed
to turn this thing around. It also speaks volumes about your team to come
back with less than two minutes in the game and put together a few big plays
when you were virtually on life support there for that 4th and 15. I tip my
hat to you.

We came into the playoffs treating Wabash as the team to beat in the
bracket, not only because of the way you beat us last season, but because of
what you accomplished so far this year. And after Saturday, I still believe
that to be true. Your defensive line all across the board is as solid as
I've ever seen or played against and they were the reason for most of our
offensive struggles. They never got flustered and they sure never stopped
coming across the ball. After the game, while I was still pretty pissed off
about the way things ended, and as jacked up as your team was with their
victory, they still managed to be classy in every sense of the word-which
isn't always an easy thing to do. Congratulate Matt Hudson and Darryl
Kennon on their awards, those guys are football players. And best of luck
to you over the next few weeks. I hope to see you guys next year because to
me, football doesn't get much more fun than it was this past weekend.

Dan Whalen, Case Western Reserve

Dan's already a record-setter for Case on the field. Off the field he's proven he's a pretty special person, as well.

Why do we play these games? Certainly one reason is to try and win --- after all we do keep score. Anyone that tells you there is not a more important reason and that lessons learned cannot be taken further in life than just on the football field needs to read Dan's email a few more times. Dan gets it --- Case Western Reserve gets --- and Wabash gets it.

I know Wheaton gets it too. That's why I'm already looking forward to Saturday's game.