A voice of reason

Recently, Eli Manning, Peyton’s brother, said something in an interview that I thought was so insightful.  He said that Peyton doesn’t need a second Super Bowl ring to secure his legacy.  “Honestly, I think there’s maybe too much placed on rings and Super Bowl championships just because it’s not one player,” Eli declared.  “The quarterback is not the sole reason that you win a championship, it’s the team.  I hope he can win, but his impact has already been made and his legacy…shouldn’t be affected by one game.”  Kudos to Eli Manning (as usual, I have the link that I’ve quoted from below).

Football is a team sport.  So why do we throw Super Bowl wins into the conversation of a quarterback's legacy?  Look at Dan Marino, for example, he put up dazzling statistics; he set records in his heyday that stood for decades.  In the course of his career, he played in one Super Bowl, and lost.  But this doesn’t in any way minimize Marino’s accomplishments.  This simply shows that he didn’t have the team around him to bring a world championship to Miami.

Let’s look at the other side of the coin.  In 2000, the Ravens proved that the adage “defense win championships” has merit.  They posted one the greatest defensive seasons in NFL history.  Trent Dilfer was the quarterback; he did his part to help that team, and he was rewarded with a ring.  But with all due respect to Dilfer, he is not a better quarterback than Dan Marino or other quarterbacks who have never won a Super Bowl.  You can’t gauge a quarterback based solely on the Super Bowl rings they wear.

I agree with Eli.  Peyton Manning has had a remarkable career.  It’s been a joy to watch him play the game.  Whether the Broncos win Super Bowl 50 or not, Peyton is, without a doubt, one of the greatest quarterbacks to have ever played the game of football.  I don’t see how that statement can be debated.  To throw Super Bowl wins into the conversation, in my opinion, misses the point entirely.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/peyton-doesnt-another-super-bowl-secure-legacy-eli-214821423--nfl.html

Kevin

Super Bowl 50 thoughts

Some of you know that every year on this blog, after the matchup has been determined, I predict which team I think will win the Super Bowl.  My record is actually 4-1!  Briefly, let me detail the games I’ve predicted.  

In 2011, this blog was still new and I didn’t have the thought to make a prediction.  But in 2012, I accurately predicted that the Giants would defeat the Patriots in Super Bowl 46.  The next year, I was right in predicting that the Baltimore Ravens would defeat the San Francisco 49ers.  My only incorrect prediction was when the Seahawks pummeled the Broncos in Super Bowl 48 (in my defense, I wasn’t the lone voice in the wilderness picking Denver; others predicted the Broncos would win that game, too).  Super Bowl 49 saw the Patriots against the Seahawks; I guessed the Pats would win the game, and that they did.

Super Bowl 50 has the Denver Broncos returning to the big game this time against the Carolina Panthers.  This year, however, I’m not going to be making a prediction.  Furthermore, I don’t plan to even see the game!  Why?  Because this year’s football season has been unlike any other year in my life; this season my dad – a man who loved football and sports – wasn’t here to view the games with me.  To see the Super Bowl without my dad would be hard enough but it’s doubly difficult because the big game is starring the Denver Broncos.  While I’m certainly proud of the Broncos for making it back to the big game, I know that Dad would be viewing the game if he were here, because he isn’t, it will be too painful to watch the game while seeing his empty chair.  It re-opens the wound of the loss.

Someone is thinking, “Kevin, everyone watches the Super Bowl, it’s basically a national holiday.”  It’s true.  The Super Bowl, for all intents and purposes, is a national holiday.  So I’m going to follow the advice I received from a ministry called Grief Share: create new traditions on holidays.  It’s what was done for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, thus while it’s technically not a real holiday, I feel it is best to follow the same pattern and create a new tradition with Super Bowl Sunday.  That means skipping the game entirely (yes, I will still be interested in seeing the final score), and watching the highlights afterwards.  That’s what I’ve been doing for most of the Bronco games this year anyway.

Kevin

"Somewhere over the rainbow"

There’s a scene in the classic film “The Wizard of Oz” that has been on my mind of late.  Dorothy is trying to speak with her Aunt Emily (or “Auntie Em” as Dorothy called her) but her aunt is too busy and distracted; she finally says to Dorothy, “Find yourself a place where you won’t get into any trouble.”  Emily runs off to tend to her duties, but Dorothy reflects on her aunt’s words.  “Someplace where there isn’t any trouble.  Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto?”  She asks her faithful dog.  “There must be.  It’s not a place you can get to by a train or a boat.  It’s far, far away; behind the moon, beyond the stars.”  Then Judy Garland sings us the beautiful song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”  Well, there is a place where there isn’t any trouble.  It’s a wonderful place that the Bible calls Heaven.

Heaven has an unfavorable reputation in this culture.  It’s usually thought of as a boring existence; nothing could be further from the truth.  It’s interesting that Jesus referred to Heaven as “paradise” (Luke 23:43).  Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul describes a time when he had a vision of Heaven, and he also called it paradise (verse 4).  Sometimes when I ask someone how they are doing, they reply, “It’s another day in paradise.”  Please understand that I’m not criticizing anyone who says this phrase.  It’s fun and lighthearted.  But I have an announcement: life on this Earth is not paradise; Heaven is paradise.  Now, I ask you, would something described as paradise really be boring?  I don’t think so.

Elisabeth Elliot – who went to Heaven a month before my father did – once said, “I think Heaven is going to be so fantastically beyond your wildest imaginations that God couldn’t give us any more hints about it than He’s already given, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to keep our minds on our work.”  There’s pain, heartache, suffering, sorrow, and trouble on this Earth.  Dorothy wondered if there was a place free of trouble.  She quickly realized that Oz had its set of troubles, too.  But it is comforting for me to know that there is a paradise awaiting me one day.  God’s paradise – a place called Heaven.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that a common sentiment presented today is that everyone will go to Heaven in the end.  But the Bible never once presents this idea.  A person doesn’t enter Heaven by default.  The Bible says that only those who have a right relationship with God, through faith and trust in Jesus Christ, will enter the gates of Heaven.  Acts 4:12, to give just one example, says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  I love the way author Anne Graham Lotz once put it, she said that Heaven is available to you, but you have to R.S.V.P. to get in.  Have you?

Kevin 

A fitting resolution

Back in October, the season premiere of “The Flash” aired.  It was entitled “The Man Who Saved Central City.”  There’s an interesting scene in that episode that I want to describe today.  Barry Allen (A.K.A. The Flash) and a group of his allies were celebrating a recent victory, so they popped open some champagne.  A member from the group begins to speak, he says these words:

“Gather around everyone please.  Looking at all of you, thinking how far we’ve come, and remembering those no longer with us, I’m reminded of a Hebrew word used during times of graduation “Kadima” it means forward.”  He raises his glass to make a toast, “Forward.”  The rest of the group, one by one echo that word, pledging that they were going to move forward.  I echo the same resolution for myself.

Let me make an important disclaimer: when I speak of moving forward, I’m not implying that I’m going to become sort of an amnesiac who forgets everything that has happened in the past.  If you’ve spent any time reading my words, you know the monumental events that happened to me in 2015.  I’m not ever going to forget.  I’m not going to push it under the rug, and pretend like it didn’t happen.

I came across an Internet article from Yahoo.com.  Someone had posed this question for others to answer: “Does “moving forward” mean completely turning ones back from the past?”  Everyone who responded answered that moving forward doesn’t necessarily mean acting like the past never happened.  A respondent under the username La Dolce Vita answered, “No.  Our past made us who we are today as a whole person.  We can’t lose our past.  We can move forward using our strengths and weaknesses from our past and make a better future with our knowledge and experiences.”  Well said.  Incidentally, click on the link below to see Internet page I’m quoting from.

What do I mean, then, when I speak of moving forward?  I simply mean, as my former boss put it, life is chapters.  I’m in a new chapter now.  So while I will certainly look back and remember the memory of my wonderful father, I’m not going to try to act like I’m still in that chapter of my life.  I’m not anymore.  I have to move forward to everything that God has for me in this chapter.

Kevin

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110827053251AAh6jrw&page=1