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Yesterday was one of the strangest days in sports history.

I should have known something was up when College Gameday came on. All they could talk about was how silly it was these big powerhouse schools were playing cupcake opponents. Apparently some of those cupcakes were a little harder to chew than some thought.

It started with Virginia Tech, taking on the mighty Pirates of Eastern Carolina. Virginia Tech, who obviously had emotion on its side took a nosedive early in the game allowing ECU to gain some momentum. Virginia Tech was able to shake off whatever was holding the team down and came out victorious, but that was just the beginning of a long a strange day.

The story was Michigan. No one even gave a second thought to Appalachian State from Boone, NC (where I’ve had the privledge to play golf.) The game was simple, Appalachian State simply broke down Michigan’s Defense and made them look less like Amazin’ Blue and more like St. Joseph’s School for the Blind. A hero emerged in Dexter Jackson, a wide receiver who ran end to end in the Big House. In the end, that’s the name that made all the difference.

Then came UCF. I was a college Freshman at UCF when the last great player emerged from the Golden Knights in the form of Dante Culpepper. Since then, UCF has been mediocre at best. But last night they pulled the upset on NC State.

But weird wasn’t confined to Football. Red Sox pitcher Clay Bucholz pitched a no-hitter just hours after being called up from the minor leagues.

So what was the message to be pulled from all this?

You only need one shot.

In Scripture we read about a young Shepherd who faced the giant.

1SAM 17:49
David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone, hurled it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone embedded itself in his brow, and he fell prostrate on the ground.

Do you think Dexter Jackson or Clay Bucholz saw this coming? Never in a million years. The same was true for David. He went on to become the ruler of one of the largest kingdoms on earth.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not equating these two athletes to the King of Israel, but I am saying that they do share some qualities that many of us lack. Trust, self-confidence, determination.

If Jackson and Bucholz had listened to everyone saying, “What are you doing? There’s no way you’re going to pull this off so why even try” then we wouldn’t be sitting here today stunned that these things happened.

But what about the David’s around us? Are you willing to be the reason they never try because you were too busy convincing them it wasn’t worth their effort?

Build each other up. Speak well of one another. Trust and Believe.

And tomorrow night. I believe in Florida State.

SCALP EM!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Religion, blog. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.