Empty Stadium, Echo of My Name

Lyrics

Gate left open, I walk in alone
Concrete rows where the crowd had grown
Seat two-forty, that's where Pops would sit
Peanut shells gone, but the memory lit
I tie my laces on the fifty-yard line
Nobody watching, but the lights still shine
Every dream that I rehearsed in the dark
Lives in the quiet of an empty park

Say my name in the empty stadium
Let it bounce off the rafters, let it come back to me
Say my name in the empty stadium
Before the roar, before the fame, I was me

Scoreboard sleeping, but I see the clock
Ten seconds left and my heart on lock
Bus ride here with a bag on my knee
Coach said show up, so that's what I be
Grass smells wet from the sprinklers' song
Dreams don't need a crowd to be strong
I run the line like the lights are on
Chasing a version of me that's gone

Say my name in the empty stadium
Let it bounce off the rafters, let it come back to me
Say my name in the empty stadium
Before the roar, before the fame, I was me

Quiet is a teacher, quiet tells the truth
Every empty bleacher is a piece of my youth
When the stands fill up, I'll remember this sound
Just me and my breath on the holy ground

Janitor waves from the tunnel door
Says you're here early, I say I'm here for more
He flicks a switch and the floodlights bloom
One man, one field, and a whole lot of room
I take a knee, then I take a bow
To nobody yet, but I'm rolling now
Whatever comes, I came on my own
Echo of my name, I'm already home

Say my name in the empty stadium
Let it bounce off the rafters, let it come back to me
Say my name in the empty stadium
Before the roar, before the fame, I was me

Empty stadium, echo of my name
I was here before the game