You are one hell of a football player. I won’t forget anytime soon your years at Texas. I was holed up on an island in the San Juan’s trying to wrap up a book when you beat USC in the last few minutes of the game. A friend from USC was texting during the game and rubbing it in USC was going to win. I texted her back and said she shouldn’t be so sure. I watched you beat Oklahoma State earlier in the year and knew you stayed poised under pressure. You did it in Stillwater and you did it in the national championship. And I think you’ve got what it takes to do it again.
Quarterbacks who succeed in college rarely succeed in the NFL. I could name a few who have failed, but why? You know who they are. I can’t imagine what kind of pressure an NFL quarterback endures, but it’s not any kind of pressure I have to deal with or, for that matter, any of your critics have to deal with. And who knows what else is going on in your life? It’s none of my business. I only know none of your critics have ever carried a team on their shoulders, and none of them have won a national championship. None of them.
I would think the only way to succeed as an NFL quarterback would be to pass through rough terrain. You would have to be comfortable making a lot of mistakes for a lot of years, and you’d have to endure a few losing seasons too. You helped make the Titan’s successful right away, which was amazing. But there have also been hard turns, and that isn’t something you are used to. But in view of your entire career, this isn’t the 4th quarter, it’s the 1st. You’ve got a long time left, and I think you will pull it out.
But lets say you don’t. I mean lets say you quit the game and go on with your life. I don’t actually think that is such a bad move. If the game isn’t fun anymore, than who cares? It’s not like football is saving people’s lives, is it? And besides, you’ve already got stories to tell your kids and grandkids that will assure them they come from a remarkable lineage of talent and character. You won’t have to prove anything to them. And you have nothing more to prove to us. I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do.
One last thing. I’ve been a Vince Young fan since you’re days at Texas, and my fandom followed you to Nashville. But I’m not that big of a football fan. I get in about two games a week and follow the Seahawks and Titans. I have people over on Monday nights, you know. I’m not a big football fan but I’m a big Vince Young fan. I don’t care if you play the game or not. You’re a hell of a football player and a hell of a man. I learned to feel that way about people when I found out that is the way God felt about me. I have critics too, just like everybody.
But I don’t need to succeed in a game that doesn’t mean anything. And I don’t think you need to either. I know that is how God feels about all of us.
Whatever you do or whatever you decide, just know you’ve got a fan up in Oregon, by way of Texas, by way of Tennessee.
Sincerely,
Donald Miller
P.S. I read one of your critics online and left a comment saying he was a spineless coward who didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. Thought you’d like that.
Hell of a post.
“I really don’t need to succeed in a game that doesn’t mean anything. I think that is how God feels about you, too.”
Well said Don. I love that you blog about sports too. Who says a person can’t blog about everything?
Hell of a job Don! Sometimes the critics and the world puts too much weight on the game. When you tone it down and see him as an individual, then the value comes shining through. The game becomes secondary and the value of the person becomes important. That is how Christ sees us all, and Vince is no exception. Great Post!
Sweet! Wish I’d said that. As a Lutheran pastor, I think you are right on. (As a Vikings fan I think your team loyalty is a little off. But you were raised in Texas so I suppose you can’t help it.)
Thanks for writing, Don. You’ve made my life better. I also really appreciated your prayer at the DNC. And after watching the short interview with Christianity Today (I think it was them) my brother commented, “I want to vote for him!” (“Him” meaning you, Don.)
Thanks again.
Don:
Man… once again… this just shows me how much you “get it”.
I’m a Texan and a Cowboys fan. I went to a small liberal arts college in So.Cal. We didn’t have a football team. So I don’t get caught up in all the UT vs. A&M thing down here. But I am a huge football fan.
And I agree… Vince Young is the man. And his critics are the types of people that are so unathletic that they trip over the duct tape on the floor between their cubicle and the men’s room.
So… I hope Vince sees your note. I do hope he honors his contract because somehow I think that is important. But there are FAR more important things than football.
Like parades and water and learning to love people you don’t even know. I kind of think that’s what you are doing here with Vince.
Thanks again for the reminder.
Thank you for even the sentiment (whether carried to its recipient or not) of graciousness towards a quarterback whom I also admire and enjoy watching play football. I mean, when he plays for the love of it. Because that’s when he’s great. I remember watching his last game at Texas on the big screen in my brother-in-law’s den. Little did I know, months later I would be at his first game here in Nashville, proudly donning rusty orange in an otherwise sky blue mass of football fans.
I hope Vince reads what you’ve written here. It’s kind of like that song about Britney that Bebo wrote… all sweet and encouraging and what not. Superstars need this kind of stuff.
So yeah, thanks for writing it.
You’re a superstar yourself, Don.
I can’t recall reading something from Don Miller that has let me down yet. keep it up. God has a lot more to do with sports than a lot of “church folks” would probably admit. and as much as the whole point of this was that we don’t need validation from critics, I urge you to keep up your message for this reason: its working.
I attended every home game VY played as a Longhorn. I remember his freshman year when he was pulled and replaced during the final minutes against Tech. They did not think he had the composure, arm strength, or whatever to lead the team to victory…and they may have been correct. They won the game with out him, but that did not stop him from becoming a champion. I have been a UT fan all of my life, and that was the first time I enjoyed a national championship. My wife and I took part in the celebration on campus. There was no looting or rioting (I have a photo of the police in their riot gear sitting on the curb bored) everyone was happy, singing the Eyes of Texas, and hugging strangers.
Vince don’t let them get you down. You have heard it all before, fought through it, and became a champion.
Thanks
Maybe this is total immaturity on my part, but I just relish in a well-placed profanity.
Dear Don:
I just re-read your post. It struck me in a totally different way. If this is inappropriate in any way please just delete it.
I think you are the man. I discovered BLJ later than many…about 3 years ago. And the truth is my life just hasn’t been the same since. I meet person after person who have had their lives transformed through God using your books. You are helping to rescue a whole generation of folks who have been “overchurched” with a religion that often has little to do with the heart of Christ.
You do have some critics, and I guess I’ve always though you must have to have a really thick shell to write books. I could name off the things that you’ve been called but you know those. I wonder if those things piss you off or hurt or both?
I don’t really know you Don. At all. But you write in such a transparent way and my brief interactions with you on B:W make me think I have a sense of your heart. So… when you go and write something that differs from my “religious upbringing” or some of your political thoughts have varied from mine I have become much more likely to think deeper and harder and question. I know some just dismiss you outright and say some nasty things. But I think their comments say much more about them than you. I mean CAN YOU BELIEVE some of the crap people put in their comments after your Obama email posts. Holy crap!
So… I think you are a hell of a man. And you reminded me of something else… man… I’ve f’d up so much in life. Thanks for reminding me how He sees me.
Thanks.
The whole time I was reading this post in my Google reader, I was utterly confused because I thought I was reading the next blog on my list – a mom in Utah who is not at all interested in sports…more like cute things she finds at the antique store. You can imagine my puzzlement. It’d be funny, though, if she wrote about football and you posted pictures of sassy little 1960′s candlesticks you found at the local flea market.
Don,
Could you please say a prayer for my 49ers? They’re not off to that good a start.
Don:
Please let it be noted that I didn’t criticize your inability to distinguish “you’re” from “your”. Because that would be ironic.
It’d be funny, though
Don… this WILL get to Vince Young. Well said.
Don, I love the fact that you put it out there, don’t compromise Truth, and never back away from reality. *Please keep up the encouragement, to us all.
I could care less about football, but I LOVED this post. If we could see everybody as Jesus sees us we could truly change the world! Amen!
I’ve been thinking about Vince Young all day. Sort of wishing I could take him out for a cup of coffe and say to him a lot of things a lot like the things you said here. There is so much more to life than football…or any job. And all of it is so meaningless when you lose sight of why you play – and the One who created you and loves you no matter what.
Now, could you write an open letter to Jessica Simpson regarding not making bulletin board comments the week before a big Monday night football game? We Cowboys fans would appreciate it.
Here’s a link to a poem I wrote just before the NFL season started this year. It gets me so revved up!
http://becomingbridge.blogspot.com/2008/09/are-you-ready.html
I really like a lot of what you’re saying. However, as a coach who works with inner-city/urban kids I don’t agree with your statement that “It’s not like football is saving people’s lives, is it?”
For many kids who come up in extremely difficult circumstances, neighborhoods and communities, after school/extra curricular athletics do end up “saving” them. Certainly not in the salvific sense that Christ saves, but in many ways they do “save” kids.
Many judges and parole officers will tell you that the hours that most kids get into trouble are the hours right after school lets out. Many kids in sports, clubs, etc are “off the streets” doing something positive and active with those hours. They are also learning valuable lessons about hard work, commitment, teamwork, sacrifice, discipline, etc. (For sure sports also teach some undesirable lessons at times too) And for those of us who coach with a view of using it for discipleship, these kids get a glimpse of what a Christ follower can look like in competition while also hearing God’s Word in team meatings.
Furthermore, outside of my father growing up, my coaches were the men who had the greatest impact on me. For many of my students, I am the closest thing to a father in their lives.
So, yes I believe that football and other sports are saving kids’ lives and sometimes can be used of God to lead to encounters with Christ that lead to eternal life.
(That one came out a lot longer than I
Christian,
I understand your point in that football can be a distraction from worse things, and that it can teach character and so on. I think I simply meant you can’t eat or drink it, and it doesn’t cure cancer. That’s all. I think you can indirectly relate just about anything to the type of life saving you’re talking about. You could relate baking cookies to saving lives, and after-school drama programs. Would you agree that after-school drama programs save lives in the same way football does? I would. What I was saying to Vince is that if he quits football, nobody is going to die.
Don
Hey y’all…if you want to check out some of Don’s other opinions on sports, check out the interview we did with him at Prayers For Blowouts.
Donald Miller’s PFB Sports Survey
Oh, and even with Vince out I’m taking the Titans (+3.5) this week in Cincy. Their defense and running game will be enough to get them off to a 2-0 start.
Well, shoot; I don’t know anything about sports, which kinda bums me out and makes me feel like I’m missing out on all sorts of love. But I’m not commenting for that reason…
this is just a general shout out to you and the rest of the crew that worked/is working on the Voice.
A Thomas Nelson rep stopped into the bookstore where I work today and gifted me with a huge box ‘o goodies…all kinds of promo and info about the complete New Testament, which will published in time for me to have it on shelves for Christmas! I was so excited about it, I just had to tell you. For those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about, go here
http://www.hearthevoice.com/
to check out the awesomeness that is the Voice.
So sorry to sidetrack the sports comments…please, continue on with the regular scheduled programming.
No joke about the QBs failing… the last two from here in Herd country have not been too hot in their NFL days… Both Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington have struggled in the NFL while others like Randy Moss as a WR has only excelled. i wonder what it is about QBs that it is so much harder for them than other positions.
I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to marry my best friend. She has dreadlocks.
I’ll hook you up. No worries.
So, I mean –
That’s awesome, yeah, people put way too much pressure on professional athletes, forgetting they’re people and have their own things. Pretty ridiculous.
I don’t know anything about football, but I really liked Searching for God Knows What.
Don,
Thanks for replying to my reply. I absolutely agree that drama clubs and baking cookies could save lives! (We definitely need more of those too!) And yes, if Vince steps away from the game, no one dies. Good words…
Hey Don: If I recall correctly, you have a mom and a sister in Houston, right? Are they OK?
I am a Catholic school teacher who should be grading papers, but needed a break. So my internet surf tonight travelled from a video of Darren Strang (sic) who explained very intelligently why he was not going to accept the invitation to speak at the DNC convention.
I have spent the last two summers in Africa, teaching in Northern Uganda. The Americans on this trip, have a faith that is different from my own faith experience. Since I enjoy my Catholic faith, I believe the only way to get better is to learn more and listen to others.
Any way thanks for the great letter to Vince. I do not know him, but wish we all could get letter like this from people we don’t know.
Now I want to read one of your books, but since I just learned about you today. I was hoping you would share one, or one of your loyal fans would.
Thanks,
John Magee
Hey Don, everyone.
I was looking for someplace to post this near, around, too, Don and people inspired by his insight. THis seems as good a place as any.
One of my favorite authors, David Foster Wallace, committed suicide on FRI. It has saddened me a great deal.
Things of his have been popping up online and I found this link to a commencement speech he gave a few years back. He talks about how we are the center of our universe and how hard it is to get past that. I have heard Don speak on that regularly so I thought y’all might find it interesting. It is a fantastic speech.
This is water.
thanks.
http://www.marginalia.org/dfw_kenyon_commencement.html
just wanted you to know that i finished your first book. couldnt put it down, yet didnt want to read too fast cuz then it would be over. i didnt want it to be over…now i found out you have more so i’ll go there:).
anyway, just wanted you to know that you inspired me to get a book i had written a while back off my computer and into the hands of a publisher to go ahead and publish.
i have writtten a couple before and they a have been published but this one was so personal. they wanted it but for some reason i was afraid to be REAL in front of everyone…
Your book inspired me to send it in and they are in process of the publishing process now.
I am dedicating the book to you.:) its called “Spiritual Reflections of a Montana Girl in a Lousiana State.”
thx for the kick in the butt.
i love the way you express life, God and your own processing outloud for others to relate to. Your creative gift is incredible.
I am also so impressed that you are using your life experiences as a child without a father to help singles moms and the fatherless. i am a young single mom. its tough. i love being a mom, but i am also in full time ministry and its tough trying to be do it all…ya know? alot of time i feel like i’m gonna break in half or at least have a personal melt down, but God always kicks in.
come to louisiana and speak at one of our conferences. let me interview you for my show..then you can write about us
www.swiftfire.org
i wanna send you a copy of the book, or maybe a few chapters to see whatch think…ha ha wanna do the foreward?….wurd.:)keep in touch. hope to meet you in person soon.
His, sharnael
Don,
I noticed you wrote… “If the game isn’t fun anymore, than who cares?”
THAN?
Are you looking for a good editor?
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. If you weren’t a writer and one of my favorites I certainly wouldn’t have bothered pointing this one out.
P.S. – way to go on the weight loss. You looked good at the DNC.
Don…
did you ever hear back from VY on any of this?
can i be one of your critics? i just have some questions. i’m serious.
hi
ji4lr07xup0l6cku
good luck
[...] in the sports realm, Don has an open letter to Vince Young over at his [...]
[...] Ol’ Donny Boy scrambled to defend Vince Young, oodles of starry-eyed commentors rushed to praise him, and Jon Adams didn’t quite [...]
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