The past 2 years have brought an entirely different
perspective on bowls. As a University of
Tennessee fan, there was always 1 bowl that I cared about. Since we have not been bowl eligible, I have
observed other teams and fans in a different light. A lot of this observation has wrought great
irritation in me. Today, it occurred to
me all of the life lessons my children and students could learn from this year’s
Bowl Season.
Before I begin, I’ll give my disclaimer: I am not a football expert. I am not declaring my view correct in all
areas. So don’t take it personally if
you resemble any of my examples below.
- You are not too good for your opponent or your
bowl game
I can think of 3 games that I watched this
bowl season where some version of the above appeared obvious. In all 3 cases, the team with this attitude
lost the game. Life is no different –
when you have an opportunity in your life, you should take full advantage and
work at it with your whole heart. Any
other action is squandering your gifts, talents, and opportunities.
2. Talent does not win ball games.
2. Talent does not win ball games.
The commentators in some games had the
audacity to say that all a team had to do was show up and they would win. They were shown to be very wrong in most
cases. Talent opens doors and gives you
opportunity. But hard work and perseverance
are much better indicators of actual success on the field (and in life).
3. Disrespect is always ugly
3. Disrespect is always ugly
Whether it is announcers (see #2), coaches,
players or fans, people are made in the image of God and should be treated with
respect. I do not care if you made a
good tackle, threw a great pass, or your team just won – this always
applies.
4. Rankings may not be fair, but it’s the best we can do now – get over it!
4. Rankings may not be fair, but it’s the best we can do now – get over it!
Any time someone brings up the word “fair”,
it gets under my skin. Life is not fair
and it never will be. The sooner a
person understands this reality, the better off they will be. I don’t mean to say that we should always
accept this state. Much of the time (in
life, especially) we should work to rectify wrongs. But even then, we will never be able to make
things truly fair.
I may later go into the ultimate of example
of things not being fair that we benefit from, but this is not the time or
place.
5. Basing your fanhood and life’s happiness of the performance of 18 to 22 year olds (pre-adults) is not fair to the players and makes you look ridiculous.
5. Basing your fanhood and life’s happiness of the performance of 18 to 22 year olds (pre-adults) is not fair to the players and makes you look ridiculous.
Its easy to forget that the players you see
on TV are basically kids. Would you have
wanted nasty emails and public ridicule for the mistakes you made at this
age? Most of us are lucky enough that
those mistakes were private or at least seen by only a few people. Imagine having your mistake viewed by 80,000
people live and then re-lived on ESPN for the next week (or more). No wonder so many of these kids turn to
unhealthy and destructive behaviors.
1 comment:
Well said.
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