I’ve written about how sports can be a great unifier—indeed, they helped bridge an awkward divide between me and my own father way back when. It can bring communities—even societies—together in a way that few things can.
When the hometown team is in the running for a championship of some sort, people of all races, religions, and backgrounds often come together in a way that we don’t always see otherwise.
Although we’re talking about a ball bouncing around a field, or a puck screaming across the ice, and it can seem silly and unimportant, sports are often a unifying force.
Which is why, even in the face of profound tragedy, Erika Kirk, widow of the slain conservative icon Charlie, brought up the Oregon Ducks in her amazing speech Friday evening.
And my goodness did he [Charlie] love the Oregon Ducks. He’d want me to say, “Go Ducks,” and I have to because they play on Saturday. So, “Go Ducks.”
She said this even as she wiped tears from her eyes in the realization that Charlie will never see another Ducks game again, thanks to a deranged leftist assassin who has torn the country apart.
Sometimes we view coaches as just rah-rah cheerleaders, urging their teams to take it to the next level, but as a father of a one-time high-level athlete (and being a former low-level athlete myself), I know they can be much more than that. They can be mentors, father figures for those whose parents have neglected their duties, role models who can shape lives for the better.
Oregon Ducks head football coach Dan Lanning heard about what Erika said, and I thought his response was meaningful:
“You walk in that locker room, you’ve got guys of different races, guys of different backgrounds, different religions, and you got a team that loves each other. Tons of differences. Where they come from, what they deal with, and ultimately you’ve got a team that loves each other, and I think we’re missing some of that in our country,” Lanning said.
“I recently found out Charlie Kirk was an Oregon fan, right? I didn’t know that. I hurt for his wife, Erika, and their kids. That sort of evil should never exist in our country, and that’s what it is — evil. I remember having to explain that to my family, right? I remember sitting down with my kids and explaining what happened, and they’re talking about people talking about it at school. And it’s just sad, right?” Lanning said.
Watch:
Oregon @CoachDanLanning talked about Charlie Kirk, violence, and how everyone has a right to their opinion in America. Damn this is good. Watch and share: pic.twitter.com/ZTq1F2ZTJd
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 13, 2025
READ MORE: ‘We Will Never Surrender’: Erika Kirk Delivers Powerful Words to America After Her Husband’s Killing
Life matters, he said, and despite our differences, sports is one of the arenas where we have to put all our differences aside. That should be a lesson for the greater world at large:
“But it’s just as sad — every day it seems like we deal with some sort of violence that’s going on in our country, whether it’s school kids in Colorado or kids in Minnesota at churches. I mean, life matters, and I think we’ve lost sight of that. But I just wish the world could learn a little bit of something from our locker room, because we’ve got a bunch of people with differences, and what you’ve got in there is a bunch people there.”
Sometimes, a coach can be a source of great wisdom, and in my opinion, Dan Lanning sounded the tone we all need right now.
