Spurgeon, the great Baptist pulpiteer, often told his students that illustrations are everywhere if they would simply stay alert. In watching the BCS Championship game Monday night, I noticed seven lessons that can be applied to families, ministry, academia, the business world, teams, and individuals.
1. The past is no guarantee of the future. All the hype of how good Notre Dame was, all the accolades about their All-American nose guard and Heisman candidate line-backer, coupled with their stellar offense was just that, hype. Any investment firm will offer the disclaimer that "past performance is no guarantee of future success." That was, no doubt, the case here.
2. What you do when everything is on the line is what really matters. The only thing that matters is what happens between the goalposts and the sidelines in the 60-minute contest. All the talk, all the pundit predilections, all the hoopla was irrelevant. And where it mattered, Alabama performed and Notre Dame did not.
3. There is no substitute for great coaching and great preparation. From start to finish, no question existed as to who was executing a superior game plan. Coach Sabin and his team did a masterful job of preparation.
4. Great teams depend on great individual performances. Across the board, Alabama players, both on offense and defense executed their responsibilities with surgical precision. Turns out that all the chatter about "Alabama does not have the dominant players as in the past" was just chatter. And it was clear that man for man, "the match-ups," favored Alabama from start to finish.
5. Great teams with great players must still play as a team or unit. The Championship game was a tremendous example of great individuals playing as a team! Teamwork wins!
6. Preparation does precede performance--but it must be superior preparation. Alabama clawed its way through the rugged Southeastern Conference schedule. By playing and beating (mostly) the premier football teams in the country (5 teams in the top 10 final standings and 7 teams in the top 25 nationally), they were prepared for the final showdown called the National Championship. Fact is, any of the top 5 SEC teams would probably have won that game. Not every team or everyone who makes it to the perceived top (Notre Dame) has actually earned it through superior preparation.
7. Champions are made in the off-season. According to Coach Sabin, this team started preparing for this season and this game two days after last year's championship win.
I am proud to be numbered among those who scream out "Roll Tide!" every fall. Congratulations to Coach Sabin and the Alabama Crimson Tide for another great season.
Do you have a favorite lesson you learned through playing a sport or watching an athlete? Please share in the comments.
