... Everything stopped.
Everything, of course, except the civilian Samaritans who were first to the fan’s side, and then the paramedics who worked with a fixed and fierce determination. And the prayers and tears and more prayers that always attend a private crisis in a public venue.
...
They watched as John Rodgers was loaded into the ambulance and Jake and other family members climbed in beside him. And before they resumed the business of football they kneeled for one more prayer, as the siren wailed away on Washington Street.
By mid-evening, word had come down that John Rodgers was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
...
There were many allowances afterward how the scary circumstances of the day’s end put the game of football in “perspective,” though frankly if we need such reminders our perspective is forever skewed. But surely everyone left Roos Field with a good thought for the Rodgers family, and not consumed by the disappointment – or in ISU’s case, the triumph – of the final score.
We wrote it down here somewhere. But it doesn’t seem to be that important now.