It’s not difficult to identify the
most important contribution of the 
Jaguars on our community. It’s the reason
I wake up at seven for home games with
the giddiness of a ten-year old on Christmas.

No, I’m not speaking of the anticipation
of a slab of hickory-grilled babybacks with
ood friends or tossing a football with youngsters
in the parking lot. No, not even the satisfaction
and pride of watching our well-coached team of
hard-nosed young players growing in 
confidence and accomplishment.

I refer to the feeling of harmony and fellowship
prevalent among fans. It becomes a tangible
phenomena as even the most dour-faced pessimists
shelvetheir cynicism for a time.

Indeed, in no other place do so many diverse
people come so close to shedding their social
accouterments and realizing their common humanity.

For a space-in-time, gender, racial
and socio-economic differences are pushed to the
back burner and we all become,quite simply,
just Jaguar Fans.

And more importantly, just people.

It is this realization that offers the only
potentially effective foundation for conquering the
greatest plague of our city, and the world-
prejudice.

We must conclude, as observed by that great
sage, Edith Bunker, that "all people are my
superior in that I may learn from them."

Such a mentality will allow us, as individuals
and as a society, to begin to take responsibility
for our actions and the condition of the world in
which we live.

I’m not suggesting that professional football
is the answer to all of our society’s problems.
Simply that we’ve been given the rare gift of
looking at our world through common eyes.

And perhaps this seed of common humanity
will evolve someday into an acceptance that
we are all leaves of the same family tree.

So thanks to the whole Weaver family
for your commitment of time, emotion and
money. The intermediate and long-term structural
benefits to our city from the Jaguars will be
substantial, yet are dwarfed by the potential
for change in the way we feel about ourselves
and each other.

Those who consider this a pipe-dream of
a lifetime football fan, intoxicated by the
splendor of a home-town team, are cordially
invited to our tailgate party in Parking Lot R.

As you nibble on babybacks, steak or
10-pepper chili, you’ll be able to test your
cynicism against the euphoria of Wayne’s World.