Blockin' and tacklin'

Glimmers
October 15, 2010

“Trust in the LORD and do good.” (Psalm 37:3a)

I became a Tennessee Volunteer fan in earnest when I was doing my clinical pastoral education residency at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville in 1993-1994. Every Friday the whole town, including the hospital, was festooned in orange and white in anticipation of the Saturday football game. It is the kind of thing that makes college towns everywhere so much fun.

Tennessee football has fallen on hard times of late. Last week we were beaten badly by a struggling Georgia Bulldog team that may at last have found its identity. The future looks even more foreboding and bleak. Next week we play Alabama. Alabama lost for the first time in 17 games last week. Facing them next has all the appeal of hand-feeding filet mignon to a wounded tiger. My apologies to Auburn and LSU fans everywhere, but it is the best analogy I could come up with.

But you gotta love Tennessee coach Derek Dooley. Tennessee has a bye week this week, meaning there is no game this Saturday. He said the Vols are not good enough to ignore basic fundamentals, so this week there will be no game planning for Alabama, they’ll focus on the basics- “blockin’ and tacklin’.” If you can’t execute the fundamentals, no game plan will ever be good enough. He is smart enough to know that long-term success can’t be achieved by focusing on short-term game conditions.

I was taken back to basic camp this week, schooled again in the fundamentals from an unexpected coach. We were talking about all the things swirling about- the economy, the Space Center layoffs, healthcare reform- and I could just feel my anxiety building as we talked. She feels it directly too, her husband works at the Space Center, but she said it has reminded her of some basic, fundamental things. She is God’s child. She isn’t in control of much of what happens. She can only do her job and care for people to the best of her ability. “The rest,” she says, “I’ll have to trust God with that.” To underscore the point, she said, “Really, it is the only way to deal with it.” The fundamentals. Blockin’ and tacklin.’ Even if Alabama is not the next team you face, if you can’t get the fundamentals right, you don’t have a prayer.

Blessings to you all,

Jerald