The term “fitting” comes immediately to mind when you reflect on the first touchdown of the University of Missouri football season, but it doesn’t fully capture the range of emotion wrapped up in one 49-yard first-quarter post pattern by Marquis Johnson.
You can easily get jaded about athletes referring to their teams as families. Even in college sports, it can ring a little hollow as everything about those competitions and organizations become more professionalized, players change teams regularly, and the money becomes more prevalent and prominent.
Then, every so often, you get a reminder that bonds form and relationship establish behind the scenes that turn a team into something more than just a group of individuals pursuing victory on the field.