Tonight I was giving the opportunity to attend a dinner a Minute Maid Park in Houston and it was sponsored by a good family friend, Coach Glen Estopinal, and the MVP Foundation. The theme of the dinner was leadership. I was able to hear Coach and Mr. Lou Presutti, the founder of Cooperstown Dreams Park, talk about leadership and it got me thinking about the idea. So I guess I could say that this dinner inspired me to write this.
A majority of people that hear the word leadership hear it in relation to sports. When sports fans think of a player that is a leader usually people like Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, and Lebron James come to mind. Their teammates look up to them to lead the way. As basic as that sound it is true. But leadership doesn’t just have to pertain to sports. It also pertains to life. There are many leaders out in the world and you don’t have to be a high ranking official to be a leader. Anyone can be a leader. However, not everyone has what it takes to be a leader…
A leader is someone that is not afraid to take action. A leader is someone that is ready to take that first. A leader is someone that shines in the highest moments of life but shines even brighter in the lowest moments of life. A leader is not afraid to admit mistakes. A leader also will not make that same mistake. A leader is someone who is willing to lay everything on the line for any one person. A leader is someone who can gain the trust of others. A leader has your back at all times even in the most difficult situations. A leader is willing to push others to be better. A leader is not going to let someone get in the way of their dreams. But more importantly a leader is not afraid to stand up for what is right even if it is not the popular thing to do…
There are so many other things that a leader can be and those are just some of the important things. Being a leader has a lot of responsibilities and that person has to be willing to accept those responsibilities. To all of those who read this, this is a call to leadership. Do you have what it takes to be a leader? When someone is in need are they going to look at you as someone they can count on or just another person? It is up to you. You can never have too many leaders and the world needs more of them…
First off, I want to clear some things up. My favorite college team is Illinois and it always will be. I am a loyal fan to Illinois regardless if they are playing in the Rose Bowl or finishing the year at 3-9. I also have no problem saying that they sucked this year in football. I will not sit here and make excuses for their pitiful performances this year… Now, of all the college teams in Texas, I am a Texas A&M fan. People think that means I “hate” Texas but I do not. I just choose to cheer against them and I cheered against them on Thursday…
For all of you A&M, Tech, OU, Nebraska, and whoever else were cheering and talking trash against Texas in the national championship this is for you. I guess someone misinformed me about who was playing in the national championship. From reading a lot of comments from other fans you would have thought Texas was playing in the Independence Bowl against Georgia… Oh wait, that was A&M who finished the season with a LOSING record and you LOST to Texas regardless of how well you played against them. I guess that is enough to talk smack to a team far superior to you in talent… That makes a ton of sense. That goes for every other team that lost to Texas this year. You LOST and Texas won… End of story…
I will also not sit here and question Colt McCoy’s toughness. He is the only one that knows if he could have come back in the game and I will leave it at that. It was sad to see him go out the way he did. He was a good competitor and it isn’t surprising that he will leave college as the quarterback with the most wins. Congrats on a great career. You fall under the same category as Derrick Roland of the Texas A&M basketball team as worst way to end your senior year…
Now to talk about the game, I’m confused as to who won? I could have sworn Alabama did. Wasn’t the final score 37-21 or something like that? And I think Alabama had 37. I understand that losing McCoy was a huge loss. I will not deny that. But I cannot figure out how Garrett Gilbert was not prepared for that game. Isn’t he the second string quarterback? I guess that is why he came out there after McCoy was hurt but he was clearly not prepared for that game especially in the first half. The last football game Texas played was December 5th. They had over a month to prepare for that game and Gilbert wasn’t ready? That is a mistake by the coaches. McCoy is not superman. He is great but not even close to superman. To me there is no excuse why all 2nd string and even 3rd string players should not be able to be ready to go into the game at any point after having a month to prepare for the biggest game. People will use the argument that Gilbert is a true freshman. Yes I agree that it was a tough situation for him to come into. To me the “true freshman” excuse is no good either. Matt Barkley for USC went to the Horseshoe and beat Ohio State as a true freshman and I can guarantee you that the atmosphere was almost as similar to that of the National Championship. Even if McCoy is hurt you still have to have a quarterback out there playing. You still have to play with the players you have. You still have to prepare your players to play even if they are the back up to one of the most prestigious quarterbacks to ever play college football. And that is the same for every sport. In baseball you prepare your pitchers for every game the same way regardless if it Roy Oswalt, C.C. Sabbathia or Brian Moehler or the next big prospect. If they aren’t prepared they aren’t going to succeed. It is as simple as that. At least if you are prepared you have been given that chance to have a chance. From what I could tell he was not prepared but they were able to make halftime adjustments and I give credit to Texas for that. The kid will be the next great quarterback at Texas.
One thing that annoyed me about the game is how sure Texas fans were so sure they would have won if McCoy had played. There is no guarantee that would have happened. I can promise you that Alabama’s game plan on offense changed immensely once McCoy was out of the game. I can also promise if McCoy had played, McElroy would have thrown more than 8 passes. I would have to imagine that Texas knew they were going to get a heavy dose of running from the Bama offense and they had to know Bama was going to run even more once McCoy was out. Yet, they still gave up 205 yards in the running game. So, having said that, I don’t think Texas fans can say they would have won if McCoy hadn’t been hurt. Would their chances have been better? Yes. Was Texas the better team with McCoy? We will never know. You can only guess and that is the end of that.
In the end, Alabama won 37-21. Alabama is the National Champion and I don’t think there should be a mark against them for winning. They won the game they had to win. Both teams had outstanding seasons and it won’t be long before both of them are in the National Championship again. I know for Texas fans it is easy to come up with excuses for why they lost but hopefully you will understand where I am coming from.
