Monday, January 22, 2007
A fuzzy picture of Bill Parcells I took in OctoberI don’t hate Mondays. Some people do, and I understand why, but my life works a little different I guess. I set my alarm clock for the same time on Mondays that I do on Sundays (5:30am), so Monday isn’t really the start of my work week. It is the beginning of my wife’s work week, and my daughter’s school days, so I get part of the vibe, but I just don’t get the full effect.
In some ways Mondays are nice for me. It is usually quiet around the office on Mondays. The phone doesn’t ring that much, and there usually aren’t many visitors. I’m typically a bit hyped up after Sunday, and motivated to get going, so I usually get a whole lot done on Mondays given the solitude. I relish the quiet after a noisy weekend, and I like the feeling of progress. Monday is normally a day I find myself ahead of the curve.
Today wasn’t one of those days.
Nothing bad to report, just much more hectic than normal. Instead of a steady, quiet day, it was a herky-jerky, noisy day, and it left me emotionally disheveled I guess. There were times today that I felt as if my call to ministry was blessed with such great potential, while there were other times – on the same day – that it felt like my call was a wrong number.
No, I’m not standing on a bridge. I’m just saying it wasn’t a typical, quiet Monday.
I noticed late this afternoon that Bill Parcells retired from coaching football.
“Tuna” (as he’s popularly known) has coached the Dallas Cowboys, my favorite football team, for the past few seasons, but today he called it quits. This isn’t the first time he has retired. He is considered one of the great coaches of all-time, and he has retired as a success before, but for some reason he kept coming back. This time, with no Cowboy playoff wins to report, his last tour of duty goes down as a bust. When the Cowboys muffed their final game this season, Parcells was quoted as saying something along the lines, “I did my best, but it wasn’t good enough.”
I respect his honesty, and at times I know how he feels. Today, I admired his ability to be okay with his best, even if it isn’t considered “good enough.”
I went to college to be a coach, but I had no idea that this career choice would lead me down the path I’ve traveled. I’m up front in telling people that I still see myself as a coach, but as a preacher my team is much different than I expected! When you think about it, the two positions aren’t really all that different: you’re expected to bring together a diverse group of individuals to accomplish something. Expectations are about the same, too, not to mention job security.
So I think I know why Bill Parcells has had an on-again, off-again love affair with coaching professional football. It’s in his blood, and the highs are the best feelings in the world, and the lows just suck. Sometimes he just can’t stay away from the game, and sometimes he has to go away. Like today.
Oddly enough, on the same day he walked away, I felt on a much smaller scale his full range of emotions.
So who you pickin? Da Bears? Or Peyton? I think it's Peyton's time.
I promise I will try and do a better job posting to give you something to read.
I don't know about Tuna - I'll have to do a little research.
Great hearing from you. It's in the 40s here today - wish I were where you are!
"I think it goes back to my first time with the Patriots. There was an old commercial from StarKist with Charlie the StarKist tuna. So my players were trying to con me on something one time, and I said, 'You must think I'm Charlie the Tuna,' you know, a sucker, and that's kind of how it started. We started with it that year and [Charlie and the other fish] used to wear those little tuna helmets, you know, tuna pictures on their helmets. That's where it all started."
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