{"id":1489,"date":"2022-03-18T08:41:30","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2022-03-18T08:41:30","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T12:41:30","slug":"tackling-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/18\/tackling-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Tackling Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


President Teddy Roosevelt saved football.\u00a0
\u00a0
No wonder he\u2019s on Mount Rushmore.
\u00a0
During TR\u2019s presidency in the first decade of the 20th<\/sup> century, college football had become increasingly popular.\u00a0 It had also become brutally dangerous.\u00a0 Safety features were minimal.\u00a0 Leather helmets provided only modest protection.\u00a0 \u201cReal\u201d football meant strapping young men running into each other at great speed, with no regulations governing unnecessary roughness, holding, or crippling cheap shots.\u00a0
\u00a0
More than a hundred college players died during football\u2019s early years.\u00a0 University presidents began to disband their teams.
\u00a0
Since Roosevelt adored football, and one of his sons played for Harvard, he convened a special White House football summit in 1905.\u00a0
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His message?\u00a0 Football\u2019s rules-makers could either reform the sport by making it safer, or he would consider making it illegal.\u00a0 \u201cGet the game played on a thoroughly clean basis!\u201d TR roared.\u00a0
\u00a0
A new rules committee was created.\u00a0 One of its members advocated an idea long promoted by legendary coach John Heisman (for whom the trophy is named):\u00a0 Why not make it legal to throw the football?\u00a0 Perhaps that would open up the field and prevent massive midfield pileups, with all their attendant injuries.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s worth noting that many people thought the forward pass would ruin the game.\u00a0 The chair of the rules committee was opposed to it.\u00a0 The New York Times <\/em>called the proposal \u201cradical.\u201d
\u00a0
The public outcry for safety, however, ruled the day.\u00a0 The pass became legal in time for the 1906 college football season.\u00a0
\u00a0
This is not to say that aerobatics suddenly took over the game.\u00a0 The purists among the rules-makers were able to place heavy restrictions on passing.\u00a0 You couldn\u2019t throw the ball unless you were at least five yards away from the center.\u00a0 An incomplete pass was counted as a turnover.\u00a0\u00a0 Incredibly, it was illegal to complete a pass in the end zone.
\u00a0
But all that would eventually change, and Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes would have a reason to bring their special talents into the world.\u00a0 Football would never be the same.
\u00a0
Why is it so hard to embrace what is New and Improved?
\u00a0
Almost everything about the human condition resists change.\u00a0 Here we\u2019re acknowledging what neurologists call \u201cstasis\u201d \u2013 the strong preference of our brains to keep doing things we already know how to do.\u00a0 Organizations and groups favor stasis as well.\u00a0 Who hasn\u2019t heard \u2013 whether in the boardroom, the family room, or the sanctuary \u2013 \u201cwe\u2019ve never done it that way before\u201d?\u00a0
\u00a0
Spiritual vitality respects tradition, but not traditionalism<\/em>.\u00a0 The former has been described as the living faith of dead people, while the latter is the dead faith of living people.\u00a0
\u00a0
There\u2019s a notable bias in Scripture toward what is new.\u00a0 Consider Isaiah 43:18-19:\u00a0 \u201cRemember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.\u00a0 Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?\u00a0 I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.\u201d<\/em>
\u00a0
God is committed to transforming what is barren and infertile in our lives \u2013 the wilderness places of our hearts \u2013 into gardens where hope can find a fresh foothold.
\u00a0
But there\u2019s something in most of us \u2013 something that might sound like a nit-picky rules committee \u2013 that will whisper, \u201cThings are just fine.\u00a0 Stasis is your friend.\u00a0 Where did you ever get the idea that you could change, anyway?\u201d
\u00a0
Refuse to listen.\u00a0 Stop up your ears.\u00a0 Choose to do something out of your comfort zone:\u00a0 Throw a forward pass<\/em>.
\u00a0
And maybe, just maybe, root for the Colts to sign a new quarterback before the vernal equinox.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Teddy Roosevelt saved football.\u00a0\u00a0No wonder he\u2019s on Mount Rushmore.\u00a0During TR\u2019s presidency in the first decade of the 20th century, college football had become increasingly popular.\u00a0 It had also become brutally dangerous.\u00a0 Safety features were minimal.\u00a0 Leather helmets provided only modest protection.\u00a0 \u201cReal\u201d football meant strapping young men running into each other at great speed, with no regulations governing unnecessary… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-change"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1491,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}