7 Days of Manly Superbowl Stuff – Day 5
Be a responsible man. Take responsibility for your actions. Sometimes, men (and women too, but men definitely take the cake in this category) like to blame other people for their mistakes, poor choices and general bad judgment. This is not good. This is not something you want to adopt as a characteristic to live by. Taking ownership and being responsible for what you say and do is a key to living a life of a True Man. Your witness, success, happiness and future will be much brighter if you “man up” and “bite the bullet” when you do something less than your best.
How is he going to relate this to football? Easy. Imagine that you’re watching a game on Sunday. How often (I’d say just about every time) do we see a player throw his hands up in unbridled disagreement to the referee’s call of a penalty?
Why can’t they just admit that the face-masking call is legitimate and that the holding penalty occurred and that the pass interference wasn’t a figment of any body’s imagination?
7 Days of Manly Superbowl Stuff – Day 4 (Kurt Warner Day)
Although I’m a HUGE Steelers fan, I’m going to be “ecumenical” today and give up a big shout out to Kurt Warner, the QB for the Arizona Cardinals. This guy’s got one amazing story. We might be familiar with the part of the story that includes his going from the grocery store stockboy to Superbowl MVP, but most of us aren’t familiar with the side of the story that goes like this…
Kurt grew up in an abusive home. He worked hard throughout his youth to overcome those odds and eventually made it to training camp with the Green Bay Packers, but was later released from the team. While working as a stock boy at the local Hy-Vee grocery store, he noticed Brenda, the checkout girl. He stayed after his shift one day and offered her a ride home; as he dropped her off, he asked if he could see her again, outside of work. She said it wasn’t possible. See, Brenda was a divorcee with two kids from an abusive previous marriage. Most men run to the hills at the sound of a story like that. Kurt was different, he wanted to take the kids with them on their date. She said it wasn’t possible. See, Brenda’s son was born a paraplegic and was in a wheelchair. No man would possibly want that situation to enter his seemingly normal life. Kurt was different, he wanted to help Brenda and her kids. Within a year of their first date, Kurt and Brenda were married. Kurt adopted Brenda’s son and daughter and together they have two additional children. Kurt went on to be signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Rams and was named 1999 League MVP as well as MVP of Superbowl XXXIV. (Only Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young achieved that honor before him. They are all Hall of Famers!) Kurt attributes his success in the NFL and in life to his personal Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
See, Kurt manned up. He took struggle, hardships and seeming defeat and worked harder than they could. He continued to be faithful to Jesus and never let anything get in the way of his dreams. He found a woman that he loved and did whatever he could to win her heart. (He pursued her without end.) He treats her as his queen and loves every child, even a paraplegic. (Our society would suggest that a paraplegic is sub-human and should be aborted in the womb.) Kurt sets a great example for us about being a husband, father and dreamer. Thanks Kurt!
Man up!
7 Days of Manly Superbowl Stuff – DAY 1
The countdown has begun; t-minus 7 days and counting until the big game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals – Superbowl 43 on February 1, 2009 in Tampa, Florida. This game is especially exciting for me this year because I’m a huge Steelers fan.
It’s easy for us to get into the stereotypical (“dumb ox”) mindset when it comes to football… “ugh… me like football. mmm, smash, kill, score, win… arghh”. It’s easy to yell at the television, even though we know they can’t hear us and that the play we’re yelling about is already history. It’s easy to stuff our faces full of greasy food during any given game. It’s easy to become involved, in an unhealthy way, in the fantasy of the game. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing intrinsically evil about football, and in the right context, is perfectly normal and healthy, however, we should guard against a few tendencies.
- We must realize that football is a game and has zero positive bearing on what should be our goal in life – getting to Heaven.
- We shouldn’t try to live (vicariously, or otherwise) through our favorite team or all-star players.
- We should never allow football to take precedence over family time.
- We should never allow football to take precedence over our responsilibities.
- We should “consume” football in reasonable amounts.
LOOKING AHEAD. Monday’s post: How a real life football star stays grounded as a family man and philanthropist.
