The Bench Stinks!    (Bryce in the back field with black socks running to the left)

With the PGATour on hold for a few weeks, I had a chance to watch a little of the Champions Tour before the football game. My elementary school friend Bill Glasson was leading by 5 shots before he struggled on the back 9 to relinquish his lead to Willie Wood who had a great round without a bogey all week.

Like we have mentioned before how tough it is to win on the PGATour. So, without a lot of golf to talk about, let’s talk about football. It was a great weekend for me because my boy scored the winning touch down in over time. He’s a seventh grader with a lot of potential, but doesn’t really understand that part of it yet. I think his real potential is in golf but that’s another discussion.

I was able to watch football all day doo to a nasty cold that had me feeling no better than a lump of poop, I managed to watch more than my fare share of football. After my boy and I finished watching the San Francisco 49er’s win Sunday night, my boy asked me with some seriousness in his 13 year old voice and said, “Dad do you think I could ever be in the NFL?”

“I said B, I think you could, but are you willing to sacrifice some other things to work really hard to get there?”

As we talked about it he mentioned some of the other boys on his team that were not getting a chance to play because of a few different reasons. It may be because they don’t have the skills. Some of the boys have never played football before and need time to develop. He wondered why they weren’t that good with kind of an attitude of, “well I’m just good and they’re not”. I mentioned to him that he had been playing for over four years and that is a big advantage over those boys, so we can’t blame them for that. Heck they might turn around in high school and become the stars.

I told him about my seventh grade experience. Our center on our seventh grade team became the leading high school passer in the valley as a quarter back and set a few records along the way, so you just don’t know. I told him that his job was to encourage and coach those players that were not playing right now.

It is after my son’s game Saturday is what I want to talk about. There were quite a few upset parents. They were upset that their boys didn’t get to play. When my boy started to play for the seventh grade team, they had him on the offensive line because he wasn’t really trying that hard. He thought since he had a fantastic season last year, he was just going to be the starting running back and everything would be the same as last year. He received a rude awakening. He was upset and ready to quit after a few weeks of pre-season practice, until he stepped it up and proved other wise.

Unfortunately at this level, it begins to be about winning. If a boy is not good enough to make the starting line up, he will spend most of the season on the bench. They do have a fifth quarter for those players, but for most of the parents that isn’t enough. Now I know the coaches and they try not to play favorites and put the players in the positions they think will be their best opportunity for winning.

One of the problems in the first two games they have played, the score has not been in our favor and both wins came in overtime. So for obvious reasons the best players stayed in the game. You really can’t fault the coaches for that. So, late afternoon all of the parents received the weekly email from the team coach saying congratulations on the win and all of the other information that he needs to get out to parents. With an extra line saying, “Tomorrow night at 6:00 pm there will be a meeting with the parents, about many parents complaining about their boys not getting game time”. I’m sure this will not be fun for the coach, but I’m certain he has been down this road before. If you have coached before, and I have, it’s not a fun road.

One thing about football, it is performance oriented. Like most any business or any other sport, performance determines you’re worth. But there is one thing that is bigger than football and football is very big in our country, it’s our life with God. Many that can’t play a sport or don’t feel they are a part of a team, can sometimes feel like they have no worth. But we do! Our walk with God is not performance determined. Our worth in God is found through our relationship in Jesus. If you are feeling you don’t matter, just remember, you do! God doesn’t make mistakes, we do. If you are not in the game and feel like you are sitting on the bench, just remember that God has a place and purpose for your life. Sometimes you will need to go to the coach of life and ask for help! So, don’t hesitate, ask today. There can be a time for you to score, sometimes it’s in overtime!