I ran across an interesting article by ESPN's Rick Reilly detailing how it's not so important how we start in life, but rather how we finish.
For those of you who may not know, the Miami Dolphins GM asked arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL draft, Dez Bryant, if his mother was a prostitute. Now, for me personally, they probably would have had to pull me off of the guy. But Bryant kept his composure and answered "no" to the question posed to him.
But, as Reilly stated in his article, why should that even matter? That has nothing to do with how Bryant would perform for any football team. If anything, I would assume that if that were true those circumstances would have made him a stronger individual, not any type of liability.
I understand accountability, but you can only control what you can control, and your upbringing is one of those things.
Anyway, I encourage you to check out the full article here.
Now, anybody who knows me will tell you that I am a huge Alabama football fan; I used to work at the home games during middle and high school, and I can tell you that there is absolutely nothing like that environment. Even in the years when we couldn't get anything resembling an offense going, the true fans never gave up hope. I believe that I speak for all Alabama fans when I say that this 13th national championship (not 8th) was long overdue.
As much as I love Alabama, however, I also respect college football itself. There's nothing like seeing guys go out there and give it their all for the sake of their team and just that pure competitive nature.
That being said, there are two things that happened recently that made me love this sport even more: 1.) Colt McCoy's postgame speech and 2.) Lane Kiffin's leaving/Derek Dooley's hiring.
Check out Colt McCoy's speech below:
I was as happy as anyone else, probably happier than most, about Alabama's win, but I gained a ton of respect for McCoy by the way he handled himself after not being able to finish his final collegiate game. Part of his message applies to all of our lives: we have to let God be in control of our lives, and trust the decisions that He makes for us; He knows what he's doing. Good luck in the NFL, McCoy.
Now, as much as I hate Tennessee (who doesn't?), I was happy to see Lane Kiffin leave. Not because he left the program in a tough place, but because he never deserved to be there.
People in the SEC take pride in their football, which is why their was a mini riot when fans found out he was leaving. You don't quit the SEC; the SEC quits you. I say good riddens...have fun underachieving at USC.
Tennessee is better off with Derek Dooley in my opinion. Son of Georgia legend Vince Dooley, and a former high-powered attorney (read his story here), Dooley understands the traditions of the league and what it takes to win. He's not coming in just waiting for the next best thing to come along. Don't get stuck on his 17-20 record at Louisiana Tech. Check out his quote below on what has happened recently within the Tennessee program:
"If you think this is as hard as it gets in life, look out," Dooley said. "Because life is tough. You're going to get knocked down a bunch. The quicker you learn to deal with how you react to it, dust your britches off and move on, then the quicker you're going to lead to happiness."
Another life quote! See how much college football can teach you about life?
Anyway, outside of the best college team the world has ever seen (biased?), guys like McCoy and Dooley are the reasons I love college football.
