Monday, October 13, 2008

How could you?


I was watching some NFL this weekend. The St. Louis Rams were on and since they had not won a game I was going to turn them off and watch something else. They have been horrible... but when I saw the score, they were in the game. So I was compelled to see if they could finish it. Well they played brillantly and well enough to win making just enough plays and then found themselves down a couple points with little time left to go in the game. I thought what a shame, they played so much better, but then they started driving the ball down the field and with very little time on the clock were setting up for a 34 yard field goal. Now nothing is a gimme in the NFL but a 34 yarder is a good percentage chance. So they are getting the kicker out there and their right guard, Incognito ceased to be incognito. He was barking at an official about something. The commentators mentioned that he had been barking at a lot of people during the game but he went too far and drew a 15 yard unsportmanslike penalty. I was thinking, oh no he just made that field goal now a 49 yarder... not so automatic.

I drew a lesson from that. 1) know you surroundings, when you are about to win a game, and even more when you have lost so many in a row, be smart. Too many times we loose sight of our surroundings and our actions can have horrible impacts on the people around us. 2) Sieze the opportunities you are given. I wonder if they had missed that kick what the feeling of the team would have been toward Mr. Incognito. I am sure some would have been outright mad becuase he allowed an opportunity to be missed. The opportunities don't come along all that often so we ned to make sure we grab onto them and hang on. 3) Be considerate of those around you. Those other players worked too hard to loose that game, but becuase one player was being inconsiderate and not thinking about the others they almost lost.

Part of me is glad they won, I would have hated to be in his shoes and in his coaches shoes had that field goal missed... I hate to see anyone loose a job.

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