Football, Failure & History's Greatest Blowout
Millions of Americans watched the College Football National Championship game last night between Clemson and Alabama, as the #1 team faced the #2 team, setting the stage for a close game. As the lead changed time and time again throughout the four quarters, it was a game that came down to the last minute of the game before Alabama walked away with a narrow, five-point victory.
Not all college football games are so competitive, however.
In fact, one hundred years ago, America witnessed the greatest blowout in college football history: the 1916 game between Cumberland and Georgia Tech, as Georgia Tech destroyed Cumberland, 222-0.
The Georgia Tech Engineers, coached by John Heisman (after whom the Heisman trophy is named), scored on every drive, putting up nearly 1,000 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns as the Cumberland Bulldogs fumbled the ball 9 times and threw 6 interceptions.
The man who put together the losing Bulldog team was Cumberland's football team student manager, George Allen. One thing I appreciate about this story, though, is that George Allen is not primarily remembered for this embarrassing game. He moved on, and he went on to have a successful political career, serving presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Harry Truman.
You see, failure is not Allen's story; success is. His part in the greatest blowout is nothing more than a footnote of his story, a trivia question for the sports enthusiast.
Stories like the 222-0 blowout seem to stay around forever. Failures are always popular. It seems we love to hear about others failing and failing spectacularly, as though it, perhaps, makes us feel better about ourselves. I mean after all, most of us will never lose anything 222-0.
But we will fail. We will be blown out from time to time. We will have embarrassing moments, but, like George Allen, they don't have to define us. We can move on. Through Jesus Christ, we can move on. We can bring our failures to the Lord, and lay them down at his feet, so that he might define us; so that he might give us our identity.
We are less than two weeks into the year and many of us have already failed and lost and done so spectacularly. But failure doesn't have to be our story. Our lives and this year can still be redeemed, for God's grace, forgiveness, and transformational power last longer than four quarters.
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