Offering a prayer of thanks for the football team
Adam Cahill
A Domer's Outlook
Dear Lord,
Just to reassure you, I will be making a much-needed trip to the confessional because of a certain seven quarters of football in the past two weeks. And I'm sure that many other Notre Dame students will need to or already have confessed to you for the same reason. However, before I make the trip over to the Basilica, I would like to say a little prayer to you, O Lord, thanking you for a lesson in humility.
At Notre Dame, through Father Edward Sorin and others like him, you've established a University that thrives on excellence and moral values. You've trusted us to continue a tradition that emphasizes religious belief as much as knowledge. And the spirit that lives in the candlelight of the Grotto and bells of the Basilica has created a global commitment of unity among its current students and alumni. But from time to time, we need you, O Lord, to help us renew our promise to this University and to ourselves as your children. Thank you.
I realize, now, that you've been working through the most publicized part of this University — the football team — to teach the current student body a lesson in character. For the better part of a season, the football team has been teaching us that goals, once thought to be unattainable by critics and fans alike, can become a reality. Lord, through them, you have taught us that directing teamwork and solidarity toward a common goal can produce results, even in today's world of superstardom. Thank you.
You have worked through a man who not only demands those concepts from his players but stresses them to the fans as well. Against Boston College, he had the team wear green jerseys to promote unity between the players and the students. But yet we criticized him for it. However, he never wavered in his decision. Had Notre Dame won the game, though, he would have become a symbol of you for yet another week.
Tyrone Willingham is a Notre Dame man and you have sent him to Notre Dame for a reason. He demands that his players act with respect to each other and their opponents — something that you teach us, as your children, to do. He understands the principles this University was founded upon with great clarity, proving it with his conduct. And the contagiousness of his teachings can be seen in his players. The more his players learn from him, the more they resemble his integrity.
In the past weeks, you have taught us that the character of a team is never more evident than it is after a loss. They showed the depth of their character by finding the strength in each other to rebound after a disappointing loss and sub par three quarters, almost making a mockery of the idea that it is easy to win as a team but harder yet to lose as one. Most teams can handle and do quite well winning as a team, but losing as one is quite different. Other top college programs (oops … did I say Florida State?) point fingers at teammates and squabble about who's to blame.
But our team didn't do that. They didn't point fingers or give excuses. They welcomed the idea of wearing the green jerseys again, considering it an honor. They told America that bad days happen, but they aren't going to dwell on it.
Lord, you've given us one of your teams. Thank you. They may not be the squad holding up the Sears trophy in early January, but years from now, they will know that they have got something more important than a Sears trophy — character. They will know that they have stood up to the pressure of being Notre Dame football players and have acted as Notre Dame men.
And I, a Notre Dame student and fan, have become a better person for having watched them become the team they are. I will teach my children the same virtues of solidarity, determination and sportsmanship that can be seen in this club. I will teach them that winning is a goal, not a necessity. And above all, O Lord, I will teach them that the greater person accepts loss with dignity and without excuse.
Lord, please forgive us if we aren't as sportsmanlike in defeat as our brothers in shoulder pads. It's just that we believe in their abilities as athletes and have unwavering faith in their characters. They deserve to win and be acknowledged by the rest of the nation as the winners they are.
On that note, Lord, I would like a blessing to be placed on our players, in appreciation for teaching us, through you, a valuable life lesson. That, and I hope to make it to confession soon.
In Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Adam Cahill is a junior double major in history and American studies. His column appears every other Wednesday. Contact him at acahill@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, November 13, 2002
