I Am The WORST Fan!

Anyone who knows me at all will not be surprised to find a blog about the Tennessee Titans. Unfortunately, while I am a HUGE fan, I am not a very loyal one. Take today's game for instance: it is the 4th quarter and the Titans lead the Houston Texans by 25 points. Fourteen minutes and several miracles later, the Texans have pulled ahead by one point, seemingly winning the game. I start pacing around the living room and retort to Mark, "So, who are you taking to the Titans game next week?? Because I just can't go and support a team that plays like that!" Nice, huh?? You'd think I could have cut the Titans some slack since they were playing without their starting quarterback, the injured Vince Young. But there was almost a minute left to play. It is a minute that is now NFL history. The Titans get into field goal range and the unlikely hero, kicker Rob Bironas, will hit his 8th field goal of the day - breaking the NFL record for most field goals in one game and more importantly, winning the game.

So here are the lessons that I walked away with. First, the game is not over until it is OVER. I will try to apply this to my life as well as to my fickle fan syndrome. Something I have learned about myself, and am not proud of, is that I "borrow trouble". I assume that I know how something is going to go and freak out and let the bottom fall out. And I'm usually wrong in these situations. Flat out wrong. And then I feel sheepish and wish that my faith had been a little stronger: my faith in God, myself, my career and yes, even in those Tennessee Titans. Secondly, the back story on Rob Bironas the kicker is inspiring in and of itself. Here's a guy who was working at Best Buy a few years ago. In 2003 he decides to give professional football one last shot. He plays Arena football for a while and finally breaks into the NFL - where he will be cut from team after team for the next 3 years. In 2006 the Tennessee Titans pick him up. He will wow teammates and fans with a 60 yard, game winning field goal against the Indianapolis Colts later that year. Today his name goes down in NFL history. At the end of the game, one of the commentators asked him how he felt in light of being rejected by so many teams over the past few years. He said, "I don't see it as rejection. I just see it as part of the rough road I had to go down to get here." (or something to that effect!) Wow! Does that hit you like it hits me?? It makes me want to just keep doing what I'm doing to the best of my ability. Just keep showing up. Maybe all the bumps in the road are bumping me closer to MY shining moment. After all, an unlikely hero is a hero, nonetheless.