There’s a particular movie I watch from time to time. It’s
called “Hoosiers.”
I expect most of
you have seen it at one time, or the other. And though I’m certainly no fan of
basketball, (I don’t think I attended any of my high school games) I love this movie.
It’s a slightly
fictionalized, but basically true story of an Indiana high school team from a
very small, early ‘50’s town.
The coach was a
“has been,” (having been fired from a college team) and at this juncture, he
had pulled together just enough players to fill up a roster.
As the movie progresses,
the town’s people come down hard on “Coach Dale.” He’s hardly given a chance to
prove himself, as his team goes down to inglorious defeat in the first few
games. According to the cinematic script, Dale comes up for a dismissal vote,
and is barely retained.
But there’s
something about this team and this coach. They’re no slackers, and they’re no
quitters. It’s almost as if Norman, (since that’s his first name) is focused on
what could be, rather than what was. And I think “that’s what separates the men
from the boys.”
Suddenly the team
seemed to regroup. No time to do otherwise. No time to dwell on the past, as
dismal as it has been ‘til now.
Bigger and better teams fall to the
“Hoosiers.” Indiana basketball was shaken to its core. It was nothing short of
a figurative earthquake; in this state that almost worships the game of
basketball.
Well, “the little team that could” did
what any soothsayer might have called “Impossible.” They found themselves at
the Indiana State Basketball
Championship; playing in the biggest gymnasium any of them
had ever seen.
We see Coach Dale and his team all “huddled up,” just prior to taking the court. We see a
minister as he bows his head in prayer. We listen to the most poignant, and fitting scripture he could have possibly read:
“Then David put his hand in his bag and took a stone; and he
slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, and he fell on his face to
the earth.”
(1st Samuel 17:49, KJV)
Whereas the team
seemed more focused on the size of the gym, and the butterflies in their
stomach, before the verse was read, afterwards, it was an altogether
different spirit that permeated the little group of athletes.
Well, I could tell
you this team played their heart out and won. I could tell you that, and…
I’d be telling
you the truth!
The team that
never could, and never should… Did! The final score?
“Hoosiers” – 42.
Visiting Team – 40
I love the end of
the movie. The last scene takes us back to that old gymnasium where the dream
had its genesis. A little boy is shooting baskets, and the camera zooms in on a
large picture depicting Coach Dale, and his magnificent little David’s.
The caption?
“Indiana State Champions,
1952.”
And as the movie fades to black, we hear the
coach’s closing words:
“I love
you guys.”
I’ve lived too
long, and worked too hard to not believe the almost unbelievable. We are called
to believe when believing is almost incredulous.
As someone once
said,
“When a little guy
doesn’t know he’s little, he can do some pretty big things.”
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 13
No comments:
Post a Comment