(Photo: Chad Ryan)
How you handle the unpredictable things in life determines your success. —Marcus Freeman
Anyone have any doubt whatsoever that Marcus Freeman’s football team has dialed in this life skill?
All season long, unpredictable adversity has come Notre Dame’s way. The loss to Northern Illinois in week two could have been as tragic to the season as it was a shocking upset on the national scale. And injuries piled up. Key frontline players, lost for the year: tackle Charles Jagusah, defensive ends Jordan Botelho and Bubacar Traore, center Ashton Craig, All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison, and a couple of weeks ago, defensive tackle Rylie Mills.
With every loss, the Irish never flinched. No retreat, no surrender. ND has stuck to their culture and true to Freeman’s mantra.
And then the horrific events in the French Quarter early New Year’s Day morning hit, and the ultimate in unpredictability struck. Suddenly, a football game became close to meaningless. Uncertainty as to when or even if it would be played swirled in New Orleans on the planned gameday.
Freeman’s Irish knew how to react. Postgame, after taking out Georgia 23-10, Riley Leonard said it well: “To have an extra day, after we got done praying for all the families, I hit up my quarterback coach and said, ‘All right, can we watch some film tonight?'” He went on, “I got four, five more hours of film study. We had another day of walkthrough. That’s our superpower, is our preparation; and I think it definitely paid off today.”
Unpredictability, just another day for these Irish. Unpredictability, knocked out of the park.
As a journalist on-site, housed just a couple of blocks from the terror, I know how my head went swimming on New Year’s Day and what it took to overcome the unpredictability. All kinds of logistics had to be realigned during a time of emotional whipsaw. As I was trying to work my way through my personal bout with unpredictability, I thought about the way Marcus Freeman has led his team through the season.
And I thought about what was being faced by the New Orleans community, and the direct victims of the evil assault.
Then, I received an encouraging text message from one of my sons quoting Marcus Freeman. A few colleagues and a loving and supportive wife weighed in. Convincingly.
Pity party over.
Attitude adjustment was needed, attitude adjustment was received. A 63-year-old man dug a little deeper and found a way to execute the mission.
My whole adult life, I’ve believed and preached that athletics can teach important life lessons. An emotional four day odessey in New Orleans provided proof that I am not too old to relearn that fact, or to be inspired.
Afterall, it’s working for the Irish, why wouldn’t it work for me?
#PrayForNewOrleans #PrayForPeace
