Robert Rosenthal, writing on his IlliniBoard.com site, talks about what it’s like to root for Illinois athletics and to root for the players. If you don’t understand college athletics or University of Illinois sports, you might be itching to scroll past this post and story. I would urge you to not do that here.

Rosenthal loves Illinois football and his guys. With the news of Bobby Roundtree’s terrible spinal injury, his essay is a both a love letter to fans and a plea to the football gods that Bobby can live a normal life.

I don’t pray much, but I might give it a shot for this young man. Maybe you can do the same?