Everything We Do Matters
An excerpt from Coach Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength.
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I talked about what we had done in 2005 — things we had done well and areas where we could improve. Then I gave them a copy of an article I had read in the Houston Chronicle. They had often heard me paraphrase Matthew 16:26, my favorite Bible verse: "What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul?" To me, one of the implications of that verse is that Christ not only promises us eternal life but also a life that's more abundant here and now. But according to the Houston Chronicle article, many NFL players weren't finding that abundant life as evidenced by the following statistics:
- Sixty-five percent of NFL players leave the game with permanent injuries.
- Twenty-five percent of NFL players report financial difficulties within the first year of retirement.
- Fifty percent of failed NFL marriages occur in the first year after retirement.
- Seventy-eight percent of NFL players are unemployed, bankrupt, or divorced within two years of retirement.
- The suicide rate for retired NFL players is six times greater than the national average.
"Guys, please keep this in mind: football is a temporary job. We are going to do everything we can to win, but we're not going to ruin the rest of our lives over football."
Then I gave them a handout I've given every team that I've coached, entitled "Five Things That May Get You in USA Today." I had listed the five things in large print to grab their attention:
- ALCOHOL OR ILLEGAL DRUGS
- BEING OUT AFTER 1:00 A.M.
- DRIVING MORE THAN 20 MPH OVER THE SPEED LIMIT
- GUNS
- WOMEN THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WELL ENOUGH (OR THAT YOU KNOW TOO WELL)
I have always believed that if our players were careful in these five areas, they wouldn't have many off-field problems.
During training camp, I read another article suggesting that the regular season didn't matter to the Colts, that only the playoffs were important. The author said he didn't care if we went 16-0, because it was meaningless. The playoffs were all that mattered. I held the article up in front of the team.
"Don't buy into this trash. Everything we do matters. This kind of thinking will destroy us. We cannot have the impression that we will glide through the regular season and into the playoffs, that our wins along the way don't matter. That is the perfect prescription for not making the playoffs. This is the kind of thinking that destroys talented teams."
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Excerpted from Quiet Strength. Copyright © 2007 by Tony Dungy. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Excerpt may not be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher.
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You can order a copy of Quiet Strength here.