I'm headed to Michigan today (somewhere near the thumb). Woody Hayes refused to spend money whenever he was in Michigan. He'd rather run out of gas and push his car to the State line than spend money on gas in "the state up North" - he wouldn't even say it's name.
He was a grown man and he refused to say the name of the school rival's state.
I knew a guy who played for Woody. He got a full scholarship and never got on the field. A lot of coaches would get rid of players or take away the scholarships of players who obviously weren't good enough to play for them. Woody found out this guy's father died and drove over to his house to give him his car keys. So he drove Woody Hayes' car home for the weekend to be with his family and go to the funeral. I'm guessing that's now against NCAA rules - and I'm guessing 'ol Woody wouldn't much care.
The OSU team doctor was Doctor Murphy. The funny thing about Doc Murphy was he looked exactly like my grandfather - who coincidentally had the same last name...which led to the occasional interesting/confusing conversation. Well Doctor Murphy knew a few things about Woody that most people didn't know. One big one was that Woody was a diabetic. In fact, Dr. Murphy noticed that Woody was way "off" during one game and desperately needed a shot - but instead he went out on the field and punched a player. He was out of control. He was chemically out of control. And then Woody was fired/retired.
Woody was one of the few full professors to ever coach a major college football program. He was the only one to coach a team in four consecutive Rose Bowls.
He was a great man. He punched people.
That's just kind of how most people are - we have some great stuff & we have some junk. We've decided to love some people despite the fact that they punch people, and not love some people, despite the fact that they go without a car for three days so that kids can go home and visit their families during a dark period of their life.
We all decide to love some people despite their flaws. We actively choose to love some people. That's the interesting thing about Jesus - He actually mentions this. He said that even the really bad people love some people - but He called us to more than that. We're not just to love the lovable people in our lives - we're even supposed to love the unlovable. We're to love even our enemies.
So this weekend I'm headed to Michigan...
Clearly they're not my enemy, in fact there are people living there that I think are awesome - I'm just saying....8 days 'til the Michigan game.
He was a grown man and he refused to say the name of the school rival's state.
I knew a guy who played for Woody. He got a full scholarship and never got on the field. A lot of coaches would get rid of players or take away the scholarships of players who obviously weren't good enough to play for them. Woody found out this guy's father died and drove over to his house to give him his car keys. So he drove Woody Hayes' car home for the weekend to be with his family and go to the funeral. I'm guessing that's now against NCAA rules - and I'm guessing 'ol Woody wouldn't much care.
The OSU team doctor was Doctor Murphy. The funny thing about Doc Murphy was he looked exactly like my grandfather - who coincidentally had the same last name...which led to the occasional interesting/confusing conversation. Well Doctor Murphy knew a few things about Woody that most people didn't know. One big one was that Woody was a diabetic. In fact, Dr. Murphy noticed that Woody was way "off" during one game and desperately needed a shot - but instead he went out on the field and punched a player. He was out of control. He was chemically out of control. And then Woody was fired/retired.
Woody was one of the few full professors to ever coach a major college football program. He was the only one to coach a team in four consecutive Rose Bowls.
He was a great man. He punched people.
That's just kind of how most people are - we have some great stuff & we have some junk. We've decided to love some people despite the fact that they punch people, and not love some people, despite the fact that they go without a car for three days so that kids can go home and visit their families during a dark period of their life.
We all decide to love some people despite their flaws. We actively choose to love some people. That's the interesting thing about Jesus - He actually mentions this. He said that even the really bad people love some people - but He called us to more than that. We're not just to love the lovable people in our lives - we're even supposed to love the unlovable. We're to love even our enemies.
So this weekend I'm headed to Michigan...
Clearly they're not my enemy, in fact there are people living there that I think are awesome - I'm just saying....8 days 'til the Michigan game.
Hope you enjoyed your stay in MI! You were actually in the mitten, not the thumb, though :)
ReplyDeleteOooohh..
ReplyDeleteGood post!
sean, this post hits on so many of the things i've been thinking about lately. i may direct people to it from my blog later.
ReplyDelete