A pro Quarterback is tough.

Physically tough: on every play, he's the target of 300 pound defensive linemen whose primary goal in life is to plow quarterbacks into the ground before they can get rid of the football.

Mentally tough: drawing upon his knowledge gleaned from countless hours watching films of the opposing team, he knows that the position of that tackle typically betrays a blitz on a third down and short yardage. With the final seconds of the clock ticking away, he calls an audible - changing the play at the line of scrimmage to hopefully reverse an impending disaster. His words can't be intelligible to the defense, so he yells it in precisely memorized code, like this Manning audible recorded live in a game - "deuce right 255 times block slant, h disco alert 12 trap...no!, no!, no!...alert 14 belly!"

But mental and physical grit doesn't imply meanness. In fact, get to know the 2010 Super Bowl quarterbacks and you'll find, not the men you'd most fear in a barroom brawl, but the guys you'd call for when you desperately need someone who truly cares. Let's take a brief look at their lives off the playing field.

Peyton Manning will tell you up front that football is his fourth priority, tagging along behind God, family and friends.(1) And these aren't just words he conjures up when he speaks at schools. He lives and breathes them. He called home almost every night in college, having a huge respect and affection for his parents and brothers.(2) His college town also remembers his numerous visits to children's wards in hospitals and inspirational talks to school kids.(3) And he's loyal to his friends - like Drew Brees, whom Manning, as a pro, befriended when Brees was still in college. Peyton called him regularly to encourage him. For Brees, Manning became a mentor to go to for advice. And who knows, perhaps that encouragement and advice gave Brees that little edge that allowed him to take the 2010 Super Bowl away from Manning. But hey, football's only the fourth priority. According to Peyton, friendships trump sports.(4)

While many players spend their free time relaxing with video games or watching TV, Drew Brees is more likely to be found meeting with a group of community leaders, scheming ways to improve the lives of the less fortunate. According to Brees, "...this is my outlet. This is what I love to do."(5) Beyond his vast service to the local community, he's travelled to faraway lands like Afghanistan and Kuwait to encourage troops who risk their lives and miss their families.

Both run foundations, through which they funnel large amounts of time and money to worthy causes. The Brees Dream Foundation gives millions of dollars for cancer research, caring for cancer patients, helping children who face adversity, rebuilding schools, parks, and playgrounds. Peyton's PeyBack Foundation gives millions to programs that assist disadvantaged youth.

No wonder Peyton received the 2005 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, which honors players known for outstanding volunteer and charity work. Brees received the award the next year.

Few of us can equal the performances of Manning and Brees on the field. But after all, football's just a game, low on their list of top priorities. What makes their success more fulfilling is how they use their platform and wealth and time to help the less fortunate.

What can I learn from Drew Brees and Peyton Manning? Get off the couch; turn off the TV, and go make a difference in someone's life.

Discussion Questions

1) In what ways are Peyton Manning and Drew Brees friends?
2) How does competition often harm friendships?
3) Do you think their friendship makes them better football players?
4) Is your competitiveness hurting some of your relationships?
5) How can cooperation, even with the competition, help you to be a better person?
6) What steps could you take to make your friendships be more of a priority?

Sources: 1) Manning, by Archie and Peyton Manning, with John Underwood (New York: Harper Entertainment, 2001), p. 362 2) p. 9 3) p. 7 4)http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100207/SPECIAL/2070322  , Will the Student Take Down the Master? http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Will-the-student-take-down-the-master.html  , Joe Fortenbaugh, National Football Post, 1/29/10. 5) Peter King, The Heart of New Orleans, 1/18/10, Sports Illustrated.cnn.com

(Copyright J. Steve Miller, www.character-education.info , 2/15/10) Face of the Enemy, by Rick Cleveland, Clarion Ledger, 2/7/10

On Race Cars, Drafting and Cooperation

To the uninitiated, the NASCAR races at the ''superspeedways'' like Daytona in Florida or Talladega in Alabama are won simply by the quick reflexes of the driver and the power and reliability of the car. But what the casual observer may totally miss is a factor invisible to the naked eye that all the drivers know can make the difference between winning and coming in dead last. That factor is called drafting.

You see, on the long ''superspeedways,'' with long straights and high-banked turns, the racers go at full-throttle, about 190 MPH around the entire track. When a Winston Cup style car races at breakneck speeds, an air pressure bubble forms in the front and a vacuum behind. This is why the cars tailgate one another. The car in front is able to go faster because it loses some of the drag at the rear. The car behind goes faster because it has less air resistance from the front. So both cars benefit. In fact, at Talladega and Daytona you'll see draft lines from three to ten cars long, as drivers take advantage of the extra speed generated by the draft.

So if you want to win, you've got to rely on other cars, using their drafts for either maintaining speed or to slingshot around for a pass. If anyone tried to win a NASCAR depending on his own resources, without taking advantage of drafts, he'd lose big time. 

What does this have to do with our lives? Teamwork pays off. Emotionally, we need the encouragement of others. Intellectually, we need to be stimulated by others' ideas. If you try to live life on your own, you may end up dead last in a race that belongs to those who learn to benefit from others.

(Written by Steve Miller. Source: Social Science at 190 Miles Per Hour on NASCAR's Biggest Superspeedways, by David Ronfeldt, First Monday, volume 5, number 2 (February 2000),

URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_2/ronfeldt/index.html  )

Discussion Questions

1) What is drafting and how do race car drivers use it to their benefit?
2) Why would a driver be crazy to drive isolated from the others?
3) In what areas of our lives can we achieve more by cooperating with others?
4) Think about one area of your life in which you'd like to excel. Is there a way that you could achieve more by cooperating with others?

Put a poster board on each wall at each end of the room. These are the "goals." Turn every other seat toward the same wall, so that the people on each side of your seat are on the other team. Announce that you will throw about 10 balloons into the middle of the room and see which team can get the most points by hitting their poster. You can't leave your seat. Only people on the front rows (closest to their goal) can grab the balloons and "dunk" them into their poster.  

After playing a two minute round, you might ask if the seats need to be adjusted (away from the wall, closer, etc.) to make it more fun. Then, do another round. 

Debriefing: How was teamwork required to win this game? Did you figure out any strategies? 

Defining Cooperation

Pat Riley, super-successful professional basketball coach, once said of his strategy ''The ultimate goal is not to win. That's the big misconception. The ultimate goal is to become a team. If that's your final destination, the winning and recognition will follow you.'' (Robb Report, p. 77)

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Dogs and cats should be brought up together… it broadens their minds. (C.S. Lewis)

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''We must all hang together, else we shall all hang separately.'' (Benjamin Franklin on the signing of the Declaration of Independence.)

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''Success still involves getting people to work together….'' (Billionaire Entrepreneur Bill Gates, ''Ask Bill,'' New York Times Syndicate, Jan. 14, 1997)

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How many of you have observed geese flying in the ''V'' formation? Geese have tiny brains, but are smart enough to know something that many people have never figure out - they need each other. Geese know instinctively that they can fly as a group much faster and with much less effort than they could ever fly individually. Scientists tell us they can fly 78% faster as a flock, because of lessened wind resistance and trading off the most stressful positions in order to give each goose adequate rest. 

What can we learn from Geese? People who try to live their lives in isolation will struggle, just as a goose would struggle flying alone. Get with others of like interests and discover the impact of a cooperative effort. (Written by Steve Miller. Overheard from Ike Reighard.).

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Humorous: on the need to have people with the right gifts and training operating within the sphere of their gifts.

This news event came to me over the Internet: ''I am absolutely not making this incident up. In fact, I have it all on videotape. The tape is from a local TV news show in Oregon, which sent a reporter out to cover the removal of a 45-foot, eight-ton dead whale that washed up on the beach. The responsibility for getting rid of the carcass was placed upon the Oregon State Highway Division, apparently on the theory that highways and whales are very similar in the sense of being large objects.

So anyway, the highway engineers hit upon the plan of blowing up the whale with dynamite. The thinking here was that the whale would be blown into small pieces, which would be eaten by sea gulls, and that would be that. A textbook whale removal plan. So they moved the spectators back up the beach, put a half-ton of dynamite next to the whale and set it off. I am probably not guilty of understatement when I say that what follows, on the videotape, is the most wonderful event in the history of the universe. First you see the whale carcass disappear in a huge blast of smoke and flame. Then you hear the happy spectators shouting ''Yayy!'' and ''Whee!'' Then, suddenly, the crowd's tone changes. You hear a new sound like ''splud.'' You hear a woman's voice shouting ''Here come pieces of…OH NO!'' Something smears the camera lens.

Later, the reporter explains: ''The humor of the entire situation suddenly gave way to a run for survival as huge chunks of whale blubber fell everywhere.'' One piece caved in the roof of a car parked more than a quarter of a mile away. Remaining on the beach were several rotting whale sectors the size of condominium units. There was no sign of the sea gulls, who had no doubt permanently relocated in Brazil.

© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

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How many of you, after watching a movie, like to stay to watch the credits? I love them and usually end up being one of the last to leave. Why? For me, the movie credits are a wonderful example of how God designed the church to function.

The credits show me that it takes more than a few actors and a director to make a movie. There are editors, costume designers, caterers, stunt doubles, casting agents, writers, editors, sound men, musicians, camera men, and the list goes on and on. Hundreds of people played an integral part in making the movie the experience that it was.

That's exactly the way great businesses and great families and great bands operate. Each person has a part to play and the whole is made stronger by the significant contribution of each part. (Written by Steve Miller, www.reach-out.org)

Think "We," Not "I"

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I.' They don't think ‘I.' They think ‘we.' They think ‘team.' They understand their job to be making the team function. They accept the responsibility and don't sidestep, but ‘we' gets the credit. There is an identification (very often, quite unconscious) with the task and with the group. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. (Management guru Peter F. Drucker, Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices, 1990)

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Pat Riley, one of the winningest basketball coaches ever, had an incredible season with the Los Angeles Lakers, taking them to the championship in 1980. But the next year, everything fell apart. What happened? They were no less talented than the year before. Why couldn't they win? 

According to Riley, they had fallen victim to a terrible disease that he called ''The Disease of Me.'' You see, incredible hoopla surrounded Julius Ervin's game. Other players got jealous, dividing into cliques and ruining their team spirit. As Riley put it, ''Because of greed, pettiness, and resentment, we executed one of the fastest falls from grace in NBA history.'' (Written by Steve Miller. Source: Pat Riley, The Winner Within, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1993, pp. 40-52)

Check Your Ego at the Door

When many music legends came together in Los Angeles to record the song ''We are the World,'' the organizer posted a sign on the entrance of the studio that read, ''Check your ego at the door.'' You see, every singer was a star, but not everyone could have a solo. The project was a success because of working together. Some sports teams, bands and drama teams need to put up a similar sign so that all of the visible, gifted leaders can be reminded what they are there for. If your team spirit is being ruined by big egos, think about putting up a sign at the entranceway reading, ''Check your egos at the door.''

Commit Yourself to the Group Effort

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If you ever watch Dr. Phil, the super-successful TV talk-show analyst, you might mistakenly think that the show is pulled off by Dr. Phil alone, pulling from his own Psychological wisdom, plus a few people holding cameras. You might be shocked to discover that "McGraw has close to 150 staffers, 90 percent of whom are women."

None of us can do it on our own. Learn from others. Draw others around you who are sharper than you in your areas of weakness.

Deal With Inevitable Hurts

Whenever you partner with one or more people to try to accomplish something, someone's going to get hurt. If you aren't able to deal with these hurts and get over them, you can't work effectively as a team. Some people whine, "I can't work with her anymore because she hurt my feelings!" My advice? Get over it. Jim Otto is a great example of a person who endured hurt on a physical level in order to help his team win. 

Jim Otto, who wore the number ''OO'' for the Raiders pro football team, was arguably the greatest center to ever play the game. For those who don't know football, the offensive center mans the middle of the bone-crunching action, on one play protecting the quarterback from 300 pound defensive linemen and on the next play drilling through them to pave the way for a run. His dedication, intelligence and leadership helped transform the Raiders into one of the most successful football franchises ever. He was selected to an incredible 12 Pro Bowls and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But what amazes me about Jim Otto is not so much his talent, but his willingness to play hurt. You see, the center gets hit every play, and Otto took quite a beating. His freshman year in college, he had surgery on both knees, but rebuilt his knees and played both offense and defense the next year.

In his 15 years with the Raiders, he broke his nose 10 times and endured 9 knee surgeries. He played with a hip pointer injury, broken fingers, broken ribs, a broken jaw, neck stingers (stretched or pinched nerves), numerous concussions, kicked-in teeth, one eye swollen shut and even double pneumonia in Super Bowl II. With all those injuries, how many games did he miss? None. That's right. He never missed a game, playing 210 consecutive games.

In 1972, he tore five ligaments in his knee during a preseason game. He could have gone on injured reserve. Instead, he played so well that he made the pro bowl!

Why did he keep playing even while he was hurt? In my opinion, it's because Jim Otto loves football. Although he's had a total of 37 football related surgeries; even though in his retirement he lives with two artificial knees and two artificial shoulders, enduring continuous pain, he holds no bitterness toward the sport and says he'd do it all again. Why? Because Jim Otto loves football.

Jim Otto endured inexpressible suffering because of his love for football. His last couple of seasons were especially painful. But his wife Sally says that she never told him to retire, because ''I knew what his goal was, to win a Super Bowl.'' 

Anything you want to achieve that's worthwhile will take a concerted effort. It won't be easy. Some of the hurts will come from those on your team. Expect it. Deal with it. Don't let it break up the team. 

Written by Steve Miller, Copyright 2002. Sources:

1. (Newsday, Special Report: Life After Football (1-14-97, pp. A64)
2. http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/100/78.html ;
3. http://sports.insidebayarea.com/top50.asp?story=Leigh_Steinberg
4. http://sports.insidebayarea.com/top50.asp?story=Joe_Otto
5. Double-O was football's limping gladiator, by Dave Newhouse
6. OTTO PLAYED IN PAIN THAT WON'T QUIT, By Bob Kravitz, The Coffin Corner, Volume X, 1988, From The Pittsburgh Press, Dec. 23, 1984
7. Booklist Review