The Two Football Man
If you ask any Alabama football fan who the greatest coach of all time is,
they will answer, “Bear Bryant.” Bear Bryant did have great success as
a coach. Coach Bryant used to have a drill designed to show him who
really had what it takes to be a great football player. He would get
all 120 of his players into one end zone and then tell them (I’m
paraphrasing here), “Boys, in the other end zone I have placed five
footballs. I want each one of you to bring me one.”
I confess that I would like to have seen that drill. The chaos that
ensued must have been amazing. One year he pulled this drill and he had
a player named Lee Roy Jordan. Lee Roy was a great football player. He
brought the coach two footballs! I can’t even imagine someone that
fast, strong, or talented. He had the determination to be a “Two
Football Man.” He did not look for an excuse, he looked for a football!
In life there are those who get things done and there are those who
make excuses. Solomon said, “The lazy man says, ‘There is a lion
outside. I shall be slain in the streets.’” (Proverbs 22:13). Of course
there is no lion outside, but when someone does not want to work, they
always can find an excuse. Ben Franklin wisely said, “He that is good
for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
Of course excuse makers usually do not think they are making
excuses. They think they are telling you reasons. People who achieve
things in life, people who get things done realize that giving in to
excuses under the guise of reasons will always stop you from achieving
your goals.
I never had the speed to be a two football person on the football
field, but there are other areas of life where the principle of two
footballs can work in my life. “I’m tired. I want to rest. I deserve a
break. It is someone else’s turn to do the work.” None of these excuses
get in the way of a two football man or woman.
I do realize that sometimes there really are reasons, but make sure
you are not just settling for an excuse. Go get that second football.
Lonnie Davis