THE PEP TALK
Still dressed in a suit,Mr. Christopher stood facing the players. He never took off his suit jacket nor did he remove his fedora. With his left hand, he held up a football in the air until there was complete silence. Then he spoke.
âThere were two buffaloes that were standing in the open range in Wyoming when a couple of cowboys on horseback trotted by. One cowboy said to the other, âLook at those two buffaloes. Theyâve got to be the ugliest animals on the entire range.â
ââYeah, look at their big heads on their skinny bodies,â the other cowboy said. âAnd you know, Iâm told buffaloes are as stupid as they are ugly.â
âThatâs when one buffalo said to the other buffalo, âI thought that out here, home on the range,weâre not supposed to hear a discouraging word.ââ
A couple of players snickered, but most of them didnât crack a smile. The joke simply went over their heads.
âGentlemen, I overheard some of you talking to each other in the locker room,and I couldnât help hearing some of you saying some discouraging words about tomorrow nightâs game. Sure, you are playing one terrific football team, but remember that theyâre high school kidsâjust like you guys. Theyâre not the Ohio State Buckeyes. Theyâre not the Cleveland Browns.â
It was as if Mr. Christopher made eye contact with every player in the room. And as if in unison, all eyes looked down.
âThe Bible tells us in Numbers chapter thirteen,â the speaker said, âthat Moses sent twelve men to the land of Canaan, commanding them to spy on the enemy. âGo up there into the hill country,â Moses instructed them, âand see what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many.â
âUpon their return, the spies reported back to Moses, âAll the people we saw in it are of great size.â They claimed that the Canaanites were so large that in comparison they felt as small as grasshoppers. The Canaanites, however, were not giants. To lead his people into the land of milk and honey, Moses recognized that he must inspire them to see themselves worthy of possessing it.
âI donât see any grasshoppers in this room. If you think of yourself as a grasshopper, please raise your hand. How about you, Jimmy, are you a grasshopper? Or you over in the back. Are you, Henry?â
âNo sir,â Jimmy answered, seeming surprised that the stranger knew his name. Henry just shook his head.
âOkay, so there are no grasshoppers in this room. Iâm glad we got that out of the way.
âThe Giants are not giants. Remember, men, in order to win at anything, the winning starts up here in your head. If you think otherwise, you defeat yourself before the game starts. I donât think you want to spot Jacktown three touchdowns before you step onto the field. Well, thatâs exactly what happens when you convince yourself that you canât win.
IN ORDER TO WIN AT ANYTHING,
THE WINNING MUST START IN YOUR HEAD.
âIn Joshua 1:9, the Bible tells us: âBe strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.ââ
âI repeat: Be strong. Be courageous. Donât be afraid. God is with you.â
It was the second time that the stranger quoted from the Bible. It seemed to get everyoneâs attention. But it was out of context. Evidently, they never heard a biblical quotation in a locker room.
âThereâs a story about a Stanford math student who was doing graduate work during the Depression,â the stranger said. âHis professor announced to the class, âWhoever scores the highest grade on this Wednesdayâs final examination will be offered the job as my teaching assistant.â
âThe student was financially strapped and desperately needed the job to stay in school. He studied so hard that he overslept on the day of the exam and walked into class ten minutes late. The professor handed him the exam that consisted of eight math problems. Two problems were also handwritten on the blackboard. The student did his best to complete the exam, but time ran out before he got around to answering the two problems on the board.
ââI didnât have time to do those two questions,â he said to the professor, pointing to the blackboard, âand I really need that job.â
ââYouâve got until Friday to turn in your answers for those two questions,â the professor answered, but come Friday, thatâs it.â
âThe appreciative student profusely thanked the professor, copied what was written on the blackboard, and headed home. He worked on them day and night. By Friday morning, he woke up with just a couple of hours of sleep, finished the test, and rushed to his professorâs office with his completed assignment.
âThe next morning at 7:00, the student heard a loud knock on his door. When he went to the door, there stood his math professor.
âUpon letting him in, the professor said, âCongratulations, you just made mathematics history.â
ââWhat do you mean?â
ââThose two problems on the board,â the professor said. âI wrote them on the board before you arrived and told the class that nobody has ever been able to solve them. Not even Albert Einstein. Had you been there on time, you would have known they werenât part of the test.â
âThe student acknowledged that had he known the truth, he would have never attempted to answer them.â
Mr. Christopher paused for a few moments to let the thought sink in. This time his audience got the message. Heads were nodding, and faint smiles appeared on the boysâ faces. Then he continued.
âWhat if you didnât know that Jacktown had a record-breaking winning streak? What if you didnât know about your teamâs losing streak? What if you all believed that together, there was no limit to what you can do as a team?
âNobody in this room should be thinking about the past. As Carl Sandburg said, âThe past is a bucket of ashes.âForget about Jacktownâs winning streak. Forget about Lincolnâs losing streak. Throw those thoughts out of your mind. Why? Because they donât matter. The only thing that matters when you step onto the playing field tomorrow night is the game itself. You got that straight, Frankie?â
Mr. Christopher tossed the football to Frank Howard,a lineman and the biggest boy on the team. He caught the ball, immediately stood to attention, and said,âYes, sir.âMr. Christopher motioned to him to throw back the football. Howard did and sat down.
âDuring a recent trip to Disneyland, I walked by a play that was in progress,â Mr. Christopher told the players. âThe park employees asked twenty volunteers from the audience to participate in the play; a mother and her five-year-old girl were among those who were brought up onto the stage. The little girl didnât have a hair on her head, and she was having the time of her life. Her mother was enjoying herself as much as her small daughter. I learned that they were special guests of Disneyâthe little girl had lost her hair because she had cancer and was being treated by chemotherapy. The little girl was dying, so why were she and her mother so happy? you may ask. They were so happy because they were in Disneyland, thatâs why.
âThey made a choice. They could feel sorry for themselves, or they could enjoy their day at Disneyland. They chose to enjoy the day. They said, âThis is my day.â It was their responsibility. (By the way, if you break down the word responsibility, it means ârespond with ability.â) Each of us has to decide how we are going to respond. You can decide how you want to respond tomorrow night. I suggest you do as that brave little girl and her loving mother did: They decided that they would seize the moment. They chose to say, âThis is my day, and I will make the most of it.â In tomorrowâs game you can choose to say, âThis is my day and I will make the most of it.ââ
THIS IS MY DAY AND I WILL MAKE THE MOST OF IT
Mr. Christopher had lowered his voice when he said, âThis is my day, and I will make the most of it,â and looked around the room. He saw that a few of the boys were teary-eyed: his message was reaching them.
âJesus taught us in John 20:29: âBlessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.â
âThose were not idle words. Itâs easy to believe that you will win a game when youâre riding a winning streak. Tonight, I am asking you to believe in yourselves and that you can beat Jacktown even though your past performances do not compare to theirs. This makes it harder to believe, doesnât it? I wonât kid you. Itâs not going to be easy tomorrow night. It will be difficult. But you can do it. And you can start doing it by believing in yourself and in your teammates. This is something you can start to do right now. I want you all to stand up and tell the man next to you that you believe in him. And I want you to tell him why you believe in him. Go ahead, do it.â
Everybody stood up and turned to someone next to him and they started talking to each other. Mr. Christopher let them talk for two minutes and then he instructed them to sit back down.
âThereâs a story about a fourteen-year-old boy who was born without a left arm. The boy told his mother that he wanted to take judo lessons. Reluctantly she enrolled him in a course. The instructor worked with the boy, and in particular, taught him one move. âMaster this move,â the boy was told again and again.
âThe boy did as he was instructed and soon was winning matches; he qualified to compete in the final round of a major judo tournament. His opponent was a real brute who had overwhelmingly defeated his foes. Before the match, the referee pulled the instructor aside and said, âYouâre going to get your boy killed. Even if he had two arms, heâs no competition for this guy. Heâs a killer.â
ââDonât worry,â the instructor said. âHeâll be fine.â
âThe boy even told his instructor, âIâm going to get killed.â
âThe instructor replied, âYou just do as I taught you, and there isnât anything to worry about.â
âThe boy won the match. On the way home from the tournament, the boy said to his instructor, âWhy did you let me go into the ring with such a strong opponent? I donât have a left arm, and that guy could have seriously injured me. Besides, you only taught me to master one move. What made you think I could win with only one move?â
ââThere is only one defense for that move,â the instructor said, âand that is for your opponent to grab your left arm.â
âDo you get the message?â Mr. Christopher asked the players. âThe instructor had taught the boy to believe in the process. Tomorrow night, it wonât be the process that beats you. It will be self-doubt. Believe in yourself and your teammates. This is what has been missing with this team. This is what has caused Lincolnâs current losing streak. Believe you will win. Believe in each other. Get rid of your doubts.â
âThatâs right boys,â Coach Morris interjected, catching on to the excitement. âYou canât win football games if you donât think you can win.â
âSatchel Paige, the old great baseball player in the Negro leagues, never knew how old he was,â Mr. Christopher told the boys. âEveryone knew that Satchel had to be up in years because heâd been pitching for so long. Old Satch just kept playing and playing. One day, determined to know his age, a group of reporters surrounded him and asked, âSatch, how old are you?â
âSatchel replied, âIf you didnât know how old you were, how old would you be?â
âI pose this question to you: What kind of Lincoln team would suit up for tomorrowâs game if you had no preconceptions about yourselves?â
Coach Morris scanned the eyes of his team and saw a confidence shining from them that he hadnât seen in a long time.
âTwo railroad workers were sitting on a bench,â Mr. Christopher continued. âThe president of the company walked by and stopped to say hello to one of them. Afterward, the other worker said to his friend, âIâm impressed. How did you become such good buddies with the president?â
ââHe and I started for the railroad at the same time. We worked side by side doing manual labor,â the worker answered.
ââBut heâs the president, and youâre still a laborer.â
ââYes, I know,â he sighed. âI came to work to earn $1.40 an hour, and he came to work to build a railroad.â
âYou see, itâs all up here in your head,â Mr. Christopher said, pointing to his forehead. âEnvision yourself as a superior athlete playing on an unbeatable team. A winning team runs like a well-tuned precision machine with each player executing his job with perfection. If you work together, each of you doing exactly what youâre supposed to do, youâll be a winning...