The football team spent hours upon hours training for the season. They prepared in the scorching heat and the freezing cold. They managed to maintain a perfect 16-0 record, which led to them becoming the the 2013 5A State Champions.

You attended one game. Or maybe you didn’t even bother going. You just went to take that cute selfie for Twitter or Instagram. You didn’t even know what was going on during the game half of the time.

Now practically anyone can now buy a commemorative state ring. But the bottom line is: These rings should be earned. Not given.

The commemorative state champion rings cost $299, but the school does not even make a profit off of these rings. What is the point of giving the entire student body the privilege of purchasing one of these beauts if the school doesn’t even make a cent off of them? Pointless. Utterly pointless.

Balfour says that the ring created for the student body is smaller compared to the one the football team receives. This still gives the team enough recognition and the actual state rings will be only available to the football players and coaches. Although the commemorative rings are smaller, this still doesn’t justify the situation. The boys in blue earned this rings. Students in the stand did not.

Some believe that this commemorative ring will create a sense of unity within the high school. Sorry, but this school will never realistically be like a close-knit family. Our unity is created by joining in support of our team, not by a piece of metal.

For the second year in a row, our football team has earned the state title. This isn’t a simple task. The rings symbolically represent the boys’ hard work. This state championship was not given, it was earned, and the symbol of this success should be treated the same way.