The locker rooms at Miami University under Fred C. Yager Stadium, in the bowels of Goggin Ice Center and in the tunnels of John D. Millett Hall have housed rosters of defeated players during the 2016-17 sports season. They’ve become familiar with tired bodies, raised voices and bruised confidence. They welcome dreams of championships while they retain the sting of consecutive losing seasons.
But they’ve also hosted hundreds of football players who have been playing the game since kindergarten, hockey players who have been skating since they could stand and basketball players who don’t know a childhood without travel teams and rec leagues.