Fight on, my men!
I am hurt, but I am not slain
I'll lay me down and bleed awhile
And then I'll rise again.
I find it ironic that just two days before watching the Minnesota Vikings kicker miss an easy winning field goal in a playoff game, I had just watched a documentary on the Buffalo Bills and the kick that lost them a Super Bowl title.
In football the field goal kicker either lives a charmed life if they make the kick, or they can be the goat. Either way, it's a hard pressurized job. Just last season 24 games were decided on the last play from the kicker.
One of my favorite Charlie Brown bits is when he lines up to make the kick, and Lucy the holder pulls the football away. Charlie Brown never learns his lesson as Lucy does this a countless number of times.
The ESPN documentary Four Falls of Buffalo tells the story or should I say the unlikely and unfortunate plight of the Buffalo Bills football team. The only team to ever lose four Super Bowls in a row. I love the story of their first Super Bowl which rode on the foot of their kicker
Scott Norwood. He missed an easy field goal on the last play of the big game. Yep, heartbreak city for a town that has never seen a sports championship.
The city still had a parade and rally for their team despite the outcome. The director does a great job of instilling stories from the fans perspective, one of them was that many fathers took the day off work and brought their sons to the rally to teach them a lesson about forgiveness. During the rally, thousands of fans cheered as Norwood approached the podium. Not a dry eye on the stage after that. Forgiveness had overshadowed all of the accolades the team had accomplished during that season.
The next season brought redemption for Scott Norwood, as he would kick the winning field goal to send his team to yet another Super Bowl.
Maya Angelou once said,"It's one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive.
Forgive everybody."
Such a true lesson we could all use to start this new year.
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