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Hockey Chat: “He was yelling pretty urgently. There’s different pitches of yell and he was screaming.” - Jarome Iginla on Sidney Crosby calling for the puck prior to scoring the game-winner in OT of the gold medal game on February 28th 2010.
When you are playing a sport, teammates are the most important people with you on the court or field. Sometimes it’s hard to love them, and it can be even harder to stand up for what you believe in when you are around them. The devil is always around, wearing a disguise, making it harder for you to stand up for your beliefs. He can even be wearing the same jersey as you.
I learned this lesson during my basketball season. I was the newbie, the one no one knew. On the day of tryouts I only knew one other girl. Yes, I saw the others in the hall, but I didn’t talk to them. It was hard to start a new season with only a couple real friends.
April 13, 2008, was a day that marked a historic change for one man. Trevor Immelman walked up the 18th fairway and, with one final putt, forever altered his life. Before he hit that putt he was known as Trevor Immelman, PGA Tour player. After the putt, he earned the title Trevor Immelman, Masters Champion. That is a worthy goal to which all golfers aspire. Only a few days prior, Immelman had been a virtual unknown, but now he is a household name all over country.
Hockey Chat: Have you ever tried to skate with your hockey pants around your ankles. It doesn’t work. It’s happened before to Marc Savard when during a game in Calgary when his belt broke. When your belt fails, the essential protection in your hockey pants doesn’t do much good slipping down your legs will you’re trying to skate. Little strap of fabric has a very important purpose.
Hockey Chat: Have you ever seen a guy who looked like the puck glued was to his stick. It may have looked like it from his puck handling. Those guys frustrate every defenseman. They have such control of the puck that it’s nearly impossible to take away. A poor puck handler will leave the puck behind every time.
We need people in our lives to push us to make us better. If we surround ourselves with people who don't require us to give our best, we are being cheated. Going one-on-one with the worst player on the team won't help you get ready for the big game, and it's the same in life. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you and who will require you to be honest, trustworthy and faithful. Do the same for them.
I fell in love with my wife in 1993. In 1999, I fell in love with our first child, Jaycee. Then, in 2002, a new love entered my life when I was tricked into running a marathon. And I have been addicted to long-distance running ever since. I have completed the Oklahoma City Marathon and the Gardens of the Gods 10-Miler. What is significant about this addiction is that I had absolutely no running history before 2002. In college I was an All-Conference, 305-pound offensive lineman. I once told a running back that if he ran more than 40 yards, he better have some sort of moves because I was done blocking after 40 yards. But, oddly, the running addiction has gotten a hold of me.
As coaches, we have a rule on our hockey team. If you get hurt during play, you must do your utmost to stay involved in the play or get yourself to the bench. We expect this not because we are hard-nosed or don’t care about the well-being of our players, but because we expect our athletes to persevere and work through adversity.
When you see a glass half-filled with water, what do you think? Is it half empty, or is it half full? It all depends on your perspective. So many different circumstances and situations happen in life. Uncertainties and challenges make life difficult, but attitude or perspective can make a positive difference. If you have the right perspective you can experience God's presence, power, promises and peace.
In Philippians 4:9, Paul said to learn from him, to put into practice the right perspective of faith in God no matter what your situation. There are three things we can learn from Paul when it comes to proper perspective.
I was blessed to play one season of basketball with my hero, two-time Olympic Captain, Naismith Award Winner, first female Globetrotter…Lynette Woodard. The first day I practiced with her, I tried to do everything like she did. I stayed after practice with her and as she touched the rim ten times and made ten free throws in a row, I touched the backboard ten times and made five free throws in a row (It was a start!). I even went so far as to get my hair permed into a curly white-girl’s afro … anything to be like Lynette.
Ok, so you’re an athlete. You’ve probably read or heard this verse before. But when was the last time you stopped and thought about it? What was Paul trying to say? Is the athlete the metaphor, or how the athlete trains? My take on this passage is that every Christian is an athlete; so, that leaves the training in this verse to be the focus.
Hockey Chat: Some guys know just how to get under the skin of their opponent. Sometimes it’s with a discrete cheap shot. Maybe a whack of the stick. All for the purpose of getting the guy to swing back. With retaliation comes consequences. Those couple minutes spent in the box might cost the team a goal. All because they had to get ‘em back.
Fourth and five, with less than a minute in the game, and Peyton Manning had one more play to make something happen. He took the snap, rolled to his right, lofted a pass to Dallas Clark and…it was dropped. The Colts will not defend their Super Bowl Champion title. Immediate disappointment set in for players, coaches and fans. There were questions asked, but not many answers.
“Back in ’82, I used to be able to throw a pigskin a quarter mile. How much you want to make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains? Yeah. If coach would've put me in fourth quarter... We'd have been state champions, no doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things would have been different. I'd have gone pro...in a heartbeat. I'd be makin' millions of dollars and...livin' in a... big ol' mansion somewhere.” - Uncle Rico, “Napoleon Dynamite”
Coaches travel across the country recruiting future players. Each coach works to sell his or her school and wants the future stars to pick them. Those blue-chip recruits are in high demand, and every coach is inwardly saying, “Pick me! Pick me!” This is a great analogy for godly wisdom, as illustrated by Solomon.
In Proverbs 8, we read that “wisdom” calls out to us and pleads her case as to why we should pick her. (I’m sure that Solomon knew what he was doing when he labeled wisdom a “her,” but I won’t go there today.) Choosing wisdom is invaluable. Nothing is better. Think of the best thing you could ever want. Nope! Guaranteed it’s not better than godly wisdom.
Team Hoyt has completed 216 triathlons, 65 marathons, 718.6 milers and 81 half marathons. The team consists of a father and a son, Rick and Dick Hoyt. For 25 years, Dick (age 65) has been racing with his son Rick (age 45). People do this stuff all the time though right? What makes their story so amazing?
Rick Hoyt was born with his umbilical cord caught around his neck, causing the oxygen supply to his brain to be blocked. At eight months, Rick was labeled as a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. Doctors told Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt that their son would never live a normal life; but they were determined to prove them wrong.
During the 2003–2004 basketball season, I experienced what coaches fear most. We won only two games while losing twenty-five. Most of our games were not even close. The boys tried hard, but we were overmatched in most games. It was a difficult and humbling time. I questioned myself and my ability. About halfway through the season, as the losses mounted and the frustration and disappointment increased, I came across these verses during a study time. Suddenly, everything came back into focus.
I am hooked on a TV show. When I first heard of it, I wondered why anyone would watch a show about people who are uncool by the world’s standards. I was wrong. “The Biggest Loser” is about people who want to change, to transform how they live. The change these folks make in a short amount of time is truly remarkable.
Before He was ever crucified, Jesus gave the perfect summary of the foundation of Christianity. I just saw this in His Word for the very first time. I was thinking about Easter and thinking about the cross, when I remembered something Jesus said in Matthew 22:34-40.
Hockey Chat: As a team we share in the hustle and bumps in order share in goals and victory. Some of us are apparently better than others, but none of us are perfect and we all blow the play or miss the shot sometimes. But we hustle and try for our goal again and again. Forget who blew the play and missed that shot and press on toward the goal we all came out for.
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