It's funny, actually. I was bored one day and surfing the web. I went to Yahoo and typed in "Steve Wojciechowski" just for the heck of it. I didn't think anything would actually come up. Much to my surprise, there was one website ~ The Wojo Fan Page. I couldn't believe it. I went to the site, and I couldn't believe it even more! Pages and pages of Wojo ~ pictures, quotes, articles, stats, a profile, links ~ everything a die hard Wojo fan could ever want. I went to everything on that site, and I was moved to tears several times. Then, I went to one of the links ~ Kilby's "Wojo's Joint." I clicked on a button that said "Proposition 12." An explanation came on my screen. The author of the site was on a crusade to get Wojo's jersey retired. She had asked for everyone to sign her guestbook and explain why Wojo was important to them and why his jersey should be retired. Your comments could be as long as you wanted. So I viewed the guestbook. There were 5 very nice entries. So I decided to add to it with my entry. I wrote several paragraphs. Then I went back to read what I had said. It was then that I realized that there were a lot more than 5 nice entries. There were 10 pages of nice entries from people as far as Quebec, Canada and Mexico, from people that live in Park City,Utah and Wichita, Kansas. Young and old, male and female. All of these people had been inspired by Wojo like I had been. All of them had written heartfelt entries. I stayed up until 5 AM reading every last entry. I cried, I smiled, I laughed, I reminisced. The next day I went back to "The Wojo Fan Page." I realized that it, too had a guestbook, not one to write a long entry in, just to say that you appreciated Wojo and you thought the site was cool. There were 114 pages of entries, over 560 entries. I was amazed.
I have liked Wojo since I first saw him. Heck, he was a cute little point guard. But after I saw him play, I realized there was a heck of a lot more to him than an adorable face. There was a huge heart, a passion for the game, a fire, a fiestiness that I had never seen before. Wojo played basketball at Duke with more love than anyone who has playedor will ever play there, or anywhere else. He didn't score 20 points a game, didn't pull down 15 rebounds, didn't dunk, wasn't even particularily fast. He probably tallied more floor burns in his career than points. The 5'11" point guard just played with gut and NEVER quit. He has inspired me in more ways than I can list. His words are brilliant, sometimes heart-wrenching. His heart could be shared by us all. He is the epitome of role model, of never say die attitude, of sportsmanship, of grace. To go to these websites and realize that he has inspired hundreds more left me speechless. What other athlete has ever done that?
I could never do justice to Wojo in words. I could write my entire life and not come close. But I can work to spread his magic to other people. I encourage you to visit the sites below. If you are a devout Wojo fan, you will be brought to tears. If you are not, you just might become one. And if you hate Wojo, know that your boos are what made him tick, and that you just might gain respect for him by visiting these sites. Enjoy them, and contribute to them. Thank you, Wojo. |
