Good afternoon, my
sweethearts! It is a glorious day here
in Texas New Hampshire
I was reading over my last
letter I sent you and wanted to comment on something. It seemed to me as I read it the tone was
fairly somber and a little negative. Of
course, the subject of abuse is a serious topic, so perhaps it was
justified. However, it reminded me of a
lesson I learned long ago.
Several letters ago I told
you about my experience as the starting left tackle on the 9th grade
varsity John Marshall Junior High School Mustang football team. As you recall, we won our first game with Fremont Norco
and Corona
Now Emerson had a high flying
passing attack which was the envy of the league. They scored early and often. We had a solid running game and ground down
our opponents. Like us they were undefeated
coming into the game and this was for the league title. I was nervous at the start of the game but
because of Coach Moore’s philosophy of making a good first impression on your
opponent, by the time the first quarter was over, I had controlled their defensive
tackle pretty well.
There were three plays to my
side of the line which depended on a key block from me. The “13F” play was a hand off to the fullback,
who then pounded up in the slot between me and the guard to my right. The “15” play was a hand off to the halfback,
who was supposed to go right over my position.
It required me to move my man to the outside so there would be a
hole. Then there was the “15F” play
which was a pitch to the halfback in the slot between me and the tight end to
my left. It required me to move my man
to the inside. It was our best play and
when I could seal my guy to the inside, even for an instant, Emil Rios would
make big yards.
We ran the 15F throughout the
first half and were leading at halftime 21-10.
In the locker room, Coach Moore told us to just keep doing what we were
doing but he huddled with the lineman and our quarterback and told us to help
John out. He said if we saw an
opportunity to speak up in the huddle and tell John what play would work
best. I thought this was a good idea.
After the half, Emerson came
out in a different set. The man that was
directly over me or just to my inside during the first half started to shift
outside, lining up each play further and further to my left. John stuck with what worked in the first half
and was calling a lot of 15 and 15F plays.
It was getting increasingly more difficult for me to get a decent block
on my man. Then on one play, their
tackle lined up a full yard outside of me.
The play we had called went to the other side, but when I went back in
the huddle I said, “John, don’t call a 15F”.
John said, “O.K., 15F on 2…Break!”
YIKES, I thought, he misunderstood me.
I told him NOT to call 15F. As I
got down in my stance, my heart was pounding wildly. My guy was a yard and a half outside me and
right in the middle of the 15F slot.
At the snap of the ball I
lunged out at him and tried to reach him.
Too much distance, too little speed.
Rios ran right into the back of me as I went down on my face. I felt his cleats go up my back and the
sickening crunch of pads and helmets meeting as the defender smashed into poor
Emil. The ball popped loose and one of
their players recovered the fumble. I
was devastated, which brings me to my sixteenth pearl.
Sixteenth Pearl
In addition to a good song
lyric, these words superbly describe the lesson I learned that day on the
football field. Trotting over to the sideline,
John was right by my side. “Why did you
tell me to call 15F? he yelled at me. “I
didn’t” I insisted, “I told you NOT to call a 15F”. He just looked at me and shook his head and,
I must admit, my excuse seemed kind of lame.
Why would I have told someone NOT to do something when it would have
been much clearer to have told him what to do.
If I would have said, “Call a 13F”, we would have scored another
touchdown.
Right then and there I vowed
to myself to always try to use positive frame of reference rather than the
negative. It isn’t always easy to do and
clearly it seems our world is not always geared to the positive. A look at our current political situation is
enough of a reminder about that. But to
the extent possible, try to be positive.
Jesus is an example of
someone who always stressed the positive in his communication. Now I understand that many people look at the
Bible as a book of “Don’ts”. But, except
for a few “Thou Shalt Not’s” in the Old Testament, the Bible is actually a book
of “Do’s”. After all, Jesus didn’t say don’t
hate your neighbor, He said to love him.
His was a ministry of positive affirmation. “Abide in me”. “He who receives me receives Him who sent
Me”. “Lazarus, come forth”. “Everyone who lives and believes in me shall
never die”. “Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free”. Great
positive stuff.
So that day on Emerson’s
football field, I learned an important lesson and I pass that on to you, my
dear ones…..accentuate the positive and leave the play calling to the
quarterback. By the way, we won going
away, 31-10 and got the league championship.
HooHAA!
Love you, bunches and bunches
and Happy Thanksgiving 2007,
Grandpa Jud
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