Watching SportsCenter the other night I got a chance to catch the pregame speech that Ravens Linebacker Ray Lewis gave to the Stanford Men’s Basketball team. Backhanding his palm, his eyes pierced and his voice thundered. “What would you give today if tomorrow wasn’t promised to you?” He asked. Imploring this Cardinal team to lay it on the line, Lewis continued, “Wins and losses are a dime a dozen. Tonight comes down to your effort and nobody can judge that; Because effort is between you and you.”
Since my collegiate days of playing ball, I have had the opportunity to speak to thousands of young kids. In sharing my story of how I earned a full scholarship and was eventually drafted in the NFL, I always have youngsters ask what it was like or how cool it is. Rarely, I’ll have someone ask, “How did you do it? What does it take to get there?” Such is the case with our society as a whole. Everyone has dreams and goals but rare are the people who are willing to pay the price required to achieve them. To quote my O-line coach at Illinois, Harry Heistand, “Are you willing to give up what you want right now for what you ultimately want in the end?” There’s no way around the fact that the majority of people would have to respond with a resounding “no” to that question. We want it now. We don’t want to wait. And in a lot of cases, we hope it comes cheap. Pastor Tony Evans describes it as, “Skyscraper dreams with chicken coop foundations… It’ll never work.” Sound architectural science tells us that in order for skyscrapers to stand and endure, their foundations must solid and extremely deep. Even with that being true, it’s still difficult to explain to people that if you want to stand above the rest, you better get a shovel and start digging.
Lewis ended his passionate address declaring that the Stanford men needed to be, “P—ed off for greatness.” He continued with his claim that, “if you’re not p—ed off for greatness, then you’re okay with being mediocre.” The most pointed aspect of this claim is that this greatness Ray Lewis is talking about is not about the scoreboard. Remember he was talking about their effort! So it begs the question; if effort is between you and you, how would you grade yourself? Are you striving to be great in the workplace, at practice, at home, and even when nobody is watching? Or are you really just okay with mediocre? I’ve come across a lot of athletes in my life who spin a sad tale of reasons and excuses about why they didn’t quite “make it”. But most of the time, when you press the details of the story, you find that at some point they likely weren’t willing to pay the price in order to be great. Passion and zeal by themselves are like a sprinter in a marathon; they’ll have the lead early but they will never win. In many situations, your attitude and your effort are all you can control, so they might as well be the best that you can muster. In the end, the scoreboard won’t matter one bit because ‘you judging you’ will reveal that you are truly great.
About Duke Preston
I am a former NFL Lineman, son of a nine year NFL veteran, public school and Big 10 university educated, husband and father of one, and a Christian man; that really sums up the perspective from which I write. I was raised in a household where SportsCenter was on TV more often than Sesame Street and my classroom for life was always an athletic field. Therefore, trading in a playbook and a helmet for some textbooks and a Bible has been an interesting shift. For more about Duke click here.
You my son are one young man who has never known what it means to NOT give your all (except for cleaning your room). And this is why you are the disciple of Christ you are today. You have been touched by the Holy Spirit to encourage and bless others you come in contact with. And I know that you do it will ALL of yourself. As we enter this holy week, can any of us even come close to what Jesus did when HE paid the real price?????????