Bowled over

After a full week-end of college football bowl games (and still more to come), there was one series of events that has stuck with me. It was toward the end of the Liberty Bowl Game here in Memphis, TN. The two teams (East Carolina and Arkansas) had played a ragged game in bitter cold, and they were tied going into the last few minutes. A field goal for either side would surely win it. ECU had the first opportunity, but the kicker, a senior named Hampton, missed the field goal to the left. He was shaken and upset, as was the entire team, but soon they were knocking on the door again. Hampton and Coach Skip Holz were seen to be joking on the sideline, no doubt trying to stay loose as the opponent took a time-out to ice the kicker. It seemed the outcome was assured. But again, he missed. And yet a third time. Ultimately the Arkansas place kicker hit the winning score, though he too had missed a kick earlier in the game. But it was really hard to watch that ECU player experience the nightmare of his sports career.

There have been other disappointments in sports, and some have come from the biggest names in athletics. But this experience goes down as one of the saddest I've seen. Of course fans on the other side were ecstatic, but surely even they had a moment of concern for the kicker. He was doing his best, but he couldn't help feeling he had failed his team. That's hard.

We all know what it's like to try our best, but come up short. Most of us, fortunately, don't have to experience this in the public arena of a nationally televised game. But we can empathize with this young man, and my prayer is that he will be able to accept this difficult experience as a test of his character and with the determination to be as successful as possible in whatever ventures he undertakes in life.

In terms of our Christian faith, we don't always get it right, of course. But we trust in One who accepts us as we are and who continually urges us to step up to the ball again.