Ol’ Saint Nick ~ Not so Quick!!!

 

Nick Sabin is the best college coach in all of college football. Just mark it down y’all, he really is. Whether you’re an Alabama fan or you cringe at the word “Tide” and can’t even bring yourself to use the laundry detergent, one cannot deny his record! Anyone in his or her right mind would be hard pressed to dispute a record like Sabin’s. Period. Take LSU for example, he resurrected their program from the dead, “who” by the way, is still going strong.

This Football Mama is never without a theory. I believe the success of Coach Sabin is mostly because Sabin himself just won’t tolerate monkey business. If a player gets caught with his pants down—meaning in trouble for under-age drinking, drunkenness, rowdiness, scrapes with law-dogs or shady behavior, or maybe literally with his pants down in the wrong place, he’s outta his program. Coach Sabin simply will not give his players any room for screw-ups.

Then again, his players are disciplined to the crux. They eat, sleep, live by the Sabin rules. Even snafus on the field are not stomached by Sabin & Company. Ouch. That’s purdy hard-core for college boys.

Still the record stands and this year was no different, the Tide lost 2 key players and then more to the NFL and yet he pulls off a winning record? Not too shabby!

So, let’s take Georgia for insistence. Why don’t the Dawgs win more? Bring home more championships? Win a national title? Heck, anybody seen one national title in the last ten years under the Richt tutelage? Georgia can compete with Alabama on any given day as far as recruiting, facilities, education, player amenities you name it there is no reason why Georgia cannot compete! You want the real truth? Can you handle the truth?? Answer: Mark Richt coddles his players. Yep, I know, y’all gonna hate me, but the simple truth is, he does. He loves his players and is a stand-up guy for doing so, setting a Christian atmosphere is not a bad thing at all, y’all. It’s quite a great thing if you ask me. But, Georgia has had its chance, and if you really see it from an unbiased perspective, you’ll find that Richt’s players are really not all that well disciplined. Just sayin’. Let’s give ‘em the hurrah however, for winning over Tech in double overtime last night. Yet again, they should’ve eaten Tech alive. Poor Tech.

My real complaint however, stops at Sabin’s throne. Admit it y’all, there was a tinge in those of us who are not die-hard Bama fans who wanted the King’s crown rolled off his head, even if, ever so slightly. Then it happened. Not that Auburn won over Alabama in such a freakish way but in the after game interview with Sabin. To me, it spoke volumes. I do so wish he had had the moral fortitude to give the Tigers the recognition they so deserved instead of recapping what went wrong with Alabama. As if Alabama were the Untouchables!? Helloooo!

Sorry Mister Sabin, that was not your most shining moment. It really comes down to how you conduct yourself after a loss. After adversity. With class? Without class? He should have given Auburn credit, he’d have come off looking like the champion king he really is.

And, Georgia? I’m not advocating that it’s either a Christian atmosphere or not. Remember a guy by the name of Tony Dungy?? You can have both. A winning program and Christian influence. Here’s to all the hard working, saintly coaches who do both!       

 

Super Bowl Twist

Atlanta advanced to the final rounds for Super Bowl 1998, and as a football family from Georgia, we were purdy pumped! Thing is, that same year was the season Brandon would advance from high school to college. In other words, he’d graduate spring of ’99. And, just as the Falcons were in the midst of capturing the NFC Championship—we were hopping from one college campus to another for Brandon’s official visits. College football recruiting season was wide open!

We often missed the NFL Sunday games leading-up to the Super Bowl, either from driving or flying back to Georgia. But the weekend the Super Bowl played, our schedule slapped us smack-dab in New Orleans for the Tulane University visit. After all, his brother Bryson was already there playing for the Green Wave, why not take the little bro too? But by the time Brandon’s recruiting season began, Tommy Bowden’s season at Tulane, was over.

Bryson signs autograph for young Tulane fan

Clemson made Bowden an offer he couldn’t refuse, so he took the head coaching job for the Tigars.  The crew who put the Green Wave on top packed-up and headed for higher ground. That coaching switch left a huge hole. To top it off, the replacements for Bowden’s crew were in the shady character catalog. They did not hold the high esteem of committed Christian like Coach Bowden did. I saw that for myself, up front and very personal. The difference was utterly brusque!

As our visit with Tulane came to a close that Sunday, we were anxious to get to the N.O. airport, catch our plane, head home and watch maybe the last half of the Super Bowl. Garsh by golly, the Falcons were breaking a record too, and we didn’t want to miss out! Teeing-up for a Super Bowl? First time in franchise history!  

Our priority that afternoon? Wishing our plane left on time! If anyone has ever departed from the N.O. airport on time, I’d love to hear from you. We never did. And, we flew in and out of N.O. often. Bryson played as a true freshman so we attended most every home game. But this time, our delay had nothing to do with the N.O. airport and everything to do with severe storms in Atlanta! We were grounded indefinitely before we ever boarded. The three of us, (Gary, Brandon and I) stuck at the N.O. airport, like a chunk of chewed bubble gum on the sole of your shoe. Now if we were lucky, we might catch the last quarter of the 2ad biggest game of the year. For us, the Liberty Bowl ranked #1! Naturally.

Disgusted and disappointed we sat-down at our designated gate, near the end of the corridor. Silence. Complete silence between us. Finally in the distance, I heard a faint familiar sound. It sounded like a bunch of bees buzzing. I followed my perked-up ears back toward the middle of the airport. Right there staring me straight-on was an open expanse of a bar lounge area. Front and center, suspended behind the bar, a huge television set blaring out an extremely familiar sound. It was the Super Bowl game! Yippee-ki-yay! The bar in the airport would solve our problem! It was the first time I ever thought a bar just might be a saving grace.

Brandon sporting a Tulane jersey with his high school number

I went running back down the corridor to fetch the fellas. “Hey guys, game’s on!” Brandon followed me, Gar stayed at our gate to make sure we wouldn’t miss our flight, if and when they announced our departure time.

Brandon and I took a seat in the back of the lounge area and quickly eyed the scoreboard. Denver was ahead 17-0 in the first quarter. Bummer!

A waitress soon came and asked how old Brandon was and what drinks we wanted to order. I smiled sheepishly and shook my head, “Oh no honey, we just want to see the game.” She indicated that we could not be there unless I ordered a drink. “Oh, ok then, we’ll have Coke-cola’s with a twist of lemon—actually make mine a Shirley Temple and his, a Roy Rodgers.” She said it had to have alcohol in it. “You’re kidding, right?” Well, indeed she was not kidding. She asked us to get up. These seats are reserved for those interested in adult drinks. Seriously?

Honestly, the lounge area had maybe four or five people in it at the most, with plenty of empty chairs. I imagined everyone in their right mind was at home, at a Super Bowl party, or either in Miami watching the game live. We got up and walked out to the floor tile area and stood, still in view of the game on the bar TV. No longer in the bar lounge, or on the carpet. This bar lounge had no doors—it had three open sides to the mall or middle areas of the airport, the divide was the carpet for the lounge area, and the tile for the airport area.

Did somebody call security? Apparently they did. One security policeman soon came on the scene. A rather short fellow with a big bouncy belly and a bald head told me we had to move. I tried to explain to him that we were from Atlanta, wanted to see as much of the Super Bowl game as possible because our flight had been delayed, and that my son just visited Tulane, he may play football for them, and that we meant no harm and moved out of the bar area as asked. “Sir, I do not drink and I don’t intend to start now. I ordered Colas.” He got quite burly with me and spouted off something about arresting me.

I gotta say, by that time—big mistake! We had not offended anyone or given him cause for his outrage. At that point my heels smoldered to a fire and honey, I dug in! I thought we just might play the Super Bowl twist right then and there. A twist of strong-wills!! This guy was just itching to throw his weight around. Well, he picked the wrong lady!

He grabbed my arm, I jerked it away and said, “Hey, what’s that?” peering my eyes behind him. He twisted around so fast that his belly needed time to catch up with his chest. Once he turned back around, I didn’t move a mussel and stared him down with daggers so sharp I could have chipped ice with my eyes. I towered over this dude and dared him to touch me again. Somebody wake me up! Surely this is just a bad dream.

I then reached into my purse to get pen and paper. I was going to write down his name and badge number. But, by the time I looked up again, he had turned his badge over so I could not get his information. I’m sure he realized he was really in the wrong and did not want this reported to his superiors.

He told Brandon to get out of here and take his mama with him. Brandon, the ever present force, never said a word up to this point or left my side. He responded, “Sir, she is my Mom and I’m not taking her anywhere.” I was just dumb-founded. I couldn’t believe it escalated to this and I was sober as a preacher passing the collection plate! Gee, what do they do with the drunks?

Finally, out of respect and protection for Brandon I backed-off and bowed-out. I know Brandon would have, could have, taken him, but in the end, who are we!?? We are not the kind of people who go around physically fighting or bullying other people!! I sure didn’t want Brandon to literally fight this ding-bat-dude. We’d never been in a situation like that before, or since, and who I cared about was Brandon.

Law, have mercy! Sometimes ya feel like you’ve just got to stand your ground, especially when the opposing person is apparently, brainless or compensating for some childhood complex which is, in the end, even more reason to back-off. He just didn’t have the capability to do his job in a suitable manner. We all know who really has the stronger will!!

This incident is the most laughable thing that ever happened to us on any recruiting trip! To this day we still chuckle over “Mama’s smack-down, Super Bowl Twist in New Orleans!”

In all seriousness folks, for those of you flying in to New Orleans for this Super Sunday—beware! That poor ol security policeman with the big bouncy belly and baled head just might be lookin’ for all those non-alcoholic drinkers in the bar. Ya sure don’t wanta find out how to implement the Super Bowl Twist and miss the real thing!

The Intangible

In my previous post, I pointed out how the word intangible defies logic in football and how the same intangible spirit can spill into life’s adventures. That undeniably, deeply rooted, pure as the driven snow, emotionally packed triumphal spirit that cannot be demanded, duplicated, pleaded with or produced. Well, this article is a perfect example of just that. So let’s talk about that intangible thang!  I’m very interested to hear your own perspective on it too. So please, by all means if you are led, leave a note.

With all the negative smack-talk vying for our attention these days, blaring voices like—back-biting, demonizing-nastiness, fictional-division, left, right, who can get on top by malicious fabricated gossip—it’s no wonder that we all appear a jaded bunch. Why, that vacant of substance, careless-chitty-chatter sounds more like a heap of yelppin Chihuahas! So, imagine my delighted surprise when a sweet friend posted this article on my Facebook page. How refreshing! Reading about a varsity high school football player who thinks more of another teammate’s emotional feelings, than he did of his own? Running Back Michael Ferns illustrated an unselfish act of courage and conviction. And this kid is a star player.

I am reminded of the scripture; Isaiah 11:6  “…And a little child shall lead them.”

I again sobbed reading this story. What an amazing team and what an amazing coach! Folks, this is the purity of the game at its best. Granted, the teammates were encouraged to grant such a generosity, but that my football friends, goes to the character of Coach Brett McLean. We should all be so lucky to have our children under the tutelage of a leader like him. This team no doubt possesses the intangible.

When I think of the intangible, I ponder the true meaning of the word. For instance; God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit are purdy-much intangible! You cannot see them, touch them or hear an audible voice, though I’m sure some of you, like myself, believed you had at one time or another. However, it really doesn’t get any more intangible than these three. Yet, our beliefs in them are at the very core of our souls. Indeed, how we live our lives depends a lot on how we view our intangible faith. Many of us are driven by the teachings in God’s word and do our best to live our lives according to those Christian principles.

Take for instance, NFL player Pat Tillman. Anybody remember him? He embodies the mere mention of the word intangible! He left a stellar NFL career, his wife, family and friends whom he was very close to, and joined our military after the 9-11 terrorist attack on American soil. Sadly, he died in Afghanistan April 22, 2004 giving the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Yet, no doubt he knew the dangers and still felt the irresistible need to leave a place of privilege to go and serve our country. Again, defies logic.

Many of you may have stories just waiting to be shared that include some intangible circumstances in your life. That unexplainable spirit of courage, generosity, conviction and selflessness—otherwise known as the intangible! The intangible lives within all of us. My prayer is that we would step-up and show a little more it, in the form of kindness to others each day.

Maybe we aren’t all Running Backs like Michael, but we all have a route to run in life. Run it with courage and conviction. And, just every so often, put the other guy first.