Last Play....

Picture walking into your hometown coffee shop on a brisk October Monday morning, the walls adorned with timeless photos of past legends and newspaper articles of big wins. At a little corner booth sits the Monday Morning Quarterback Club giving their reviews of Friday night's game.  The conversation is full of "back when I played" and "these kids just aren't made the way they were when we were young" proclamations.  The coach should have ran the ball more,  played Big John's little brother, and faked the punt with 4 minutes left.  Everything was better "Back in the day."  And for them it probably was.  Those days will never die.  It was something special.  An innocent time where they were on top of the world with no responsibilities.  If the question was asked to them if they would ever want to relive those days, the answer would undoubtedly be "In a heartbeat."  I know mine would be.  The END was a forgotten, but certain absolute, as if those days would never end.  

As coaches, the saying "play every play as if it's your last" is used millions of times every year throughout the football world.  The end is never in sight, but hovering in the shadows waiting to appear.  I remember my last moments on a high school field very vividly.  State Quarterfinals in Rossville, KS.  As a quarterback in high school I had never fumbled the football, unless it was a fumbled snap.  Driving late in the game down by one point, a split-second changed all of that.  My last play as a quarterback ended as I watched an opposing player recover the football six inches from my face as my hands lay trapped beneath my body.  I'll never in my life forget that feeling.  Numb and helpless.  I had made the most crucial mistake in the most crucial time.  I had let down my teammates, my coaches, and our community.  As Rossville knelt the ball to end the game, I wandered away down to the other side of the field.  It was as if my legs gave out from under me.  I dropped a knee to the ground, and the tears soon followed.  It was OVER.  No more next play, next game, or even next year.  There was nothing left.  All of the summer weights, the film sessions, the practices, the team meals, and the bright lights....gone.  It was a stark and gloomy reality that stabbed deeper into me than anything I had ever experienced.  Nothing remains, but a few banners in the gym, a couple of trophies, and timeless memories.  

It took me a long time to get over that game.  Years in fact.  I had let down an entire community on one play.  Shattered dreams.  Broken hearts.  I couldn't understand why it had to happen that way.  I had dedicated EVERYTHING I had within my human power to that team.  I never took a play off.  I know in my heart that I gave every ounce of fiber in my body for that team.  How could it have ended that way? I feel as though now I have the answer to that question.  The realization that I have come to is that it was meant for me to know what that feeling is like...and to now pass that on to the young men who leave it all on the field on Friday nights.  Play as if there is no tomorrow, because when that last tomorrow comes, you'll never in your life have the ability to change what has happened, the effort you put in, or whether you squeezed every bit of enjoyment out of that moment in time.  It transfers to our daily lives.  It transfers to those moments with family and friends.  The moments you have spent reading this post I hope are useful moments in your life because you will never get them back.  Live like it's your last day. Never coach halfway. And PLAY like it's your LAST play...