C is for Coach

My wife, Gisele Berninghaus, was pastor of American Lutheran Church in Kankakee, Illinois when I began graduate school. On the way into church on a late October Sunday I happened to meet the well-respected high school baseball coach. The World Series had just finished with a complete upset of expectations, and I asked him casually what he thought about that. He straightened, turned, looked me in the eye and said pointedly: "That's why you have to play the game!"

From his intensity I sensed how unrelenting and long had been his battle to impress that point on players, parents and fans. How many times had fans said to him, "We had the best pitching, why didn't you win?" or "They have the three best hitters in the conference; we'll never beat them"--as though games were decided in advance? How many seasons had Coach Carley had to labor to prevent his young players either from going into a tough game as if they were beaten already, or from going into a game as if, because of their superior record, they deserved to win or as if they already had won without even playing the game?

You have to play the game. What counts on game day is not individual stats nor team records nor who won last time. Tendencies and predictions will not win the game for you; you have to play the game. All that counts is what you do after you hear "Play ball!"