As you should have expected, I watched a football game last night. I enjoy watching and studying football. But last night was not enjoyable. It wasn’t because my team lost and was embarrassing though. It was because they didn’t seem to mind that they were being humiliated.
I hate to lose, but it happens. I refuse to ever be humiliated without a fight. Yet the team I was watching didn’t seem to care how they were being humiliated. That is what made it un-enjoyable.
I participated in sports of all types. Only once was I in a situation where an attempt was made to humiliate me and my team.
After my freshman season in High School, I was immediately brought up to the varsity team. In February I had the collision that ruined my leg. I was told I would not be able to participate in sports for over a year. But I had a brace made for my leg so that six months later I was on the field again, starting as a sophomore.
We had a very abusive coach. He physically beat us on a regular basis. He had us work out while depriving us of fluids. He gave us a cup of drugs to take before every game. He devised “drills” which mirrored the training I received later in life. And he is the one that demanded I take “Health shots”, which turned me from a 165 pound guy that could bench press 200 pounds and ran a 4.8 second 40-yeard dash into a 205 pound guy that bench pressed 350 pounds and ran a 4.6 second 40-yard dash.
After our first game, the senior class as a group all quit the team. Without them we went from a poor team to the worst team in the city. I’ve never played on a team with a losing record until that team, and we lost them all. I was in our last game of the season, and it was against our biggest rival. We were behind 42 to 0 with seconds left in the game. They threw a long pass to the other side of the field from where I was playing and scored another touchdown.
As if that wasn’t enough, then they tried for a two point conversion so that they could beat us 50 to 0. I was having none of that and destroyed their quarterback. Then I took on the entire opposing team in a large brawl. Yes I was penalized, but I didn’t care. I had too much heart to accept this behavior.
As soon as the next year’s schedule was released, I circled the date that I would get to play these guys again. My mission in life for that entire year was to beat the hell out of those guys.
The abusive coach was caught and fired. We got a new coach. The night before the game against that team, we were instructed to be at the field house at 8:00 pm for a meeting. When we arrived, we were taken to the film room. A projector with a reel of film was waiting. The coach walked in without saying a word and started the projector. It was the previous year’s game film of that horrible game. He left the room without a word and we sat and watched as this team beat the heck out of us, taunted us, and led to the final brawl.
While the film was unwinding I noticed that there was no catch reel. The film was feeding into a large trash can. Once the film was over, the coach returned and lifted the trash can, and then left the room. I followed as I had no idea what was happening. The rest of the team followed me. We walked out to the middle of our practice field where the coach poured gasoline into the trash can. He then struck a match and threw the match into the trash can.
As we watched that film burn, he gave a speech.
“When I was hired to coach this team I was told that you men were just a bunch of lazy, heartless nothings. I was told that there was no way you men would ever win a game. Yet so far this year you have won 7 out of 8 games. In my opinion, you are the meanest and toughest sons of bitches I ever met. This film is destroyed. No one will ever see you play that bad or get beat like this again. Tomorrow night there is no mercy. I don’t want just a win, I want a massacre.”
That team was the number one team in the state, and undefeated. They had only been scored on twice all year.
The next night when the dust had settled, I had three interceptions and a touchdown. We beat the best team in the state 50 to 0. And yes, we went for the two point conversion and got it.
Every now and then in life, you will be up against a wall. You will not know what to do or how to do it. But if you have heart, you will find a way. I can never quit. I can’t say die.
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