Time Out!!!

Since Wednesday night I’ve been served up a endless supply of football games, high school, college, and Pro. Normally this would be a great thing. I will openly admit to being a football
fanatic. I will watch any two teams play, even if I’ve never heard of either one, but in the past five days I’ve come to some conclusion, and I’m calling a “time out.” While I love to see grown men put on a helmet and try to knock the living daylights out of each other, (it’s a guy thing), some of what I watched, and heard makes me wonder how much football has to do with everyday life, especially everyday life as a Christian.

So what has me so worked up about the game I “normally” love? Let’s start with Saturday’s college match ups. Boise State has been the loved and pulled for underdog all season, undefeated and whipping up on every opponent, there was much talk about them maybe getting to play for the national championship. Boise State had hardly lost a single game in three years. Well they lost in the last minutes to Nevada and they have disappeared from the radar. The be all, end all, one day, and of no interest the next day. What kind of a message does it send to kids that if you have one loss, slip up one time, you’re no longer worth talking about. Yes, they played a weaker schedule than many of the other contenders, but “Come On Man”, this is really a brutal wake-up call. The sports media loves a winner, and has no use for anyone that slips and falls, and can’t re-tell the story of that downfall too often.

Another great example of the media’s obsession with kicking someone when their down is Steve Johnson, wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills. (Disclosure; Steve Johnson played his college ball at Kentucky, my alma mater, so I have a somewhat vested interest). So what did Steve do that was so bad. He plays for the Buffalo Bills who have had a bad season, they are 2-8, however the rookie receiver from Kentucky has been a real bright spot for this struggling team. When the Bills took the much higher ranked Pittsburgh Steelers into overtime Sunday, Steve dropped a pass in the end zone, in overtime, that would have given Buffalo the win. Since then it has been one of the most re-run highlights from all the games Sunday. It shows the media loves to show failure, and then offer endless opinions about it. Steve is a young man and he hasn’t helped his case any by tweeting that he praises God constantly and wonders aloud, publicly, where God is now, and what he is suppose to learn from this.?

Let me tell you all what we can learn from all of this: Come On Man! It’s a game, it’s fun, but it’s not the end of the world. If Steve had caught the pass they would have won one more game and would be 3-7 whoopee! They still couldn’t make the playoffs if they paid somebody off! Come on Steve, there “is” something to learn from this; you’re not perfect. You will drop a pass every once in a while, it’s called a bad day, or a cold ball, it’s not called God has abandoned you……. Check the record guys and find me the receiver that never ever dropped a pass, ever, in their entire career. Yes it hurts, yes it would have been a lot better if you had caught it, but that’s life, and football. Boise State, you have a lot to be proud of, think about that instead of not playing for the national championship. Here is a good question for you, who won the National Championship in 2003? See how important it is, I bet only one in a hundred of you knew the answer! I sure don’t……..

O.K. while I’m reading the right act to all these perpetrators, lets thrown one at me as well. Kentucky lost to Tennessee for the 25th or 26th straight time, (not sure anymore how many we’ve lost to them). During the game I acted very poorly when they scored and even worse every time we blew it, which was pretty frequently during the game. Even though I was raised in a home where Tennessee was paramount to the devil, my fathers favorite saying was, “My two favorite teams are Kentucky and whoever is playing Tennessee”. I still know better than to let, “A GAME” get me that worked up. I’m ashamed and repentant.

Come On Man!!!!!!!!!

the pilgrim

If you are not familiar with ESPN NFL coverage they have a segment where people do something stupid and then all the announcers say with great emphasis, Come On Man……..

* Photo note: Shot with the D7000 and the 60mm Micro Nikkor lens. Light from a table
lamp.