Huddle Together

Roselle Park's Junior Varsity basketball team played Hillside tonight. Right from the jump, the score was close: 5-6, then tied: 10-10, 12-12, 14-14, evenly matched: 20-20, 22-22 until the huddle. RP pulled ahead with a purpose, executing their plays with determination and finesse. 28-27, 32-29, 37-30, 39-32, 42-32, we held our collective breath as the seconds ticked down: RP 44 Hillside 34.


I found myself embracing my son's opening season game tonight, perhaps due to the horrific tragedy that occured in Newtown, Connecticut today.

A male walked into the Sandy Hook elementary school this morning and killed 20 children in two first grade classes. He had first shot his mother in their home. He killed six more adults at the school, then turned one of the three guns he carried on himself. He was twenty years old.

He was carrying his older brother's identification and the media broadcast that Ryan Lanza was the shooter. Ryan lives in Hoboken, NJ. Ryan Lanza's Facebook account was up until it disappeared this afternoon but he was actively tweeting on his twitter acount soon afterward saying that he didn't do it, his "developmentally challenged" brother did it. He was *lol*ing about the fact that his followers had grown from 20 to 4,500. I tweeted to him "It's a sad day in America, man."

The reality of what had happened to the community of Newtown and his mother hadn't seemed to impact him yet. His concern was that the haters were spamming his account. Maybe it will sink in as the police talk to him about his brother and his mother.

This is a monumentally shocking and sorrowful day.