Grid iron wars al wilson
One of the games other inherent virtues, true of all sports is that it is a meritocracy. Vincent ask you that question.Ĭould you be more disciplined in your own pursuits. If you end up watching the game tonight, pause to let St. How about you? This is after all about us. I would probably be a better minister were I more disciplined. In football it is pre-supposed and unquestioned that the effort is worth it,Īnd that the struggle and the goal are worthy. Those words ring true like a ten commandments and list of beatitudes. The difference between a successful person Let’s take a second to let these values wash over you as you listen to a couple gospel like Lombardi quotes.
![grid iron wars al wilson grid iron wars al wilson](https://mdudxa.wdrodzewykladni.pl/templates/57f9e8d318a8c822f6d28974872853fd/img/c24dfe32dd12ac11d1c296758e910964.png)
As the man known simply as “The Coach,” said “Selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” It is so simple that it sounds like it comes like he does, from a simpler time, but he and football is mostly right. In Lombardi’s own words, “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance and competitive drive.” Rushmore, his face would unquestionably be chiseled into the stone.
Grid iron wars al wilson pro#
In the great religious tradition of assigning saints and icons to represent values, we should think of perhaps modern pro football’s patron saint Coach Vince Lombardi. I feel an odd stand up straight pride in delivering them.Īnd, everyone associated with the game knows this.įootball coaches might be able to create a new play,īut if they cannot get their team to absorb the virtues of selflessness, and a commitment to hard work, they will not be good football players, and the team will not win! McCann says that to really achieve anything significant and worthwhile requires sacrifice and a certain selflessness and of course, that practice makes perfect. Mike McCann who played football at Charleston Southern University echoes those values, However, for many American males, it is on that green and white striped, orderly world of the football field that discipline is first learned. I don’t say that pejoratively, I really don’t.īecoming a soldier, an academic, or a dancer also demands and thus instills the values of hard work, listening, and determination, etc. These values can be learned by any focused pursuit where one’s persona, goals, mind, and often their body is shaped into a tool for a purpose. To talk about the lessons of football without first speaking about its capacity to instill discipline, hard work, and a host of surrounding values around teamwork would be to miss the most obvious positive things football offers.įootball is hardly unique as a sport, or as an activity in providing this. Ok, so what does the small R religion of football have to teach us.įIRST LESSON: Hard Work and Discipline are the key to Success This sermon is not a pep rally for the game, it’s a moral examination on what lessons might be available tonight for our lives. Particularly today, and like it or not, if football is going to take over at least a little of the experience in belonging that religion has provided, and it already has, we should see what impact and lessons it has for us. It is probably not coincidental that in America, a rise in loyalty to watching football on Sunday afternoons is correlated almost perfectly with a decline in church attendance.
![grid iron wars al wilson grid iron wars al wilson](https://64.media.tumblr.com/37f64eb45052bd52926a90233ec09268/285c745ef117852e-51/s500x750/7622ac7d16c15881e459f35dfc632173817ca4fd.png)
However, since many in this room care more about what will happen at the super-bowl, than what happens here today, not address football is to miss an important cultural metaphor. You either care about “the big game” or you don’t. This game, the Super-bowl will be watched by about as many American’s as vote in a national election, and by more than attended Christmas Eve services nationwide. Next Sunday evening more than 100 million American’s, many who desperately need some exercise will sit and watch roughly fifty guys who will look like they would love a rest. Sermon: Lessons from the Gridiron: Football as Metaphor, Rev.