Real Life Real Faith Men of Faith January Edition | Page 10

SPORTS FEATURE
as an assistant and head coach,
and then move up to the college
game in 1976 as running backs
coach at University of
Washington from 1977 to 1982.
From the college level he
coached in the NFL with the
Houston Oilers, and then back to
college with Purdue University
and the University of Wyoming.
He went back to the NFL with the
Philadelphia Eagles and the
Arizona Cardinals and then
finally with Cincinnati Bengals.
Now he enjoys coaching the
game of football back on the
high school level again at a
Catholic high school in Seattle
Washington.
Throughout the decades, Coach
Roberts watched change in how
those in the sports world have
adapted, or rejected, and seen
the rise of the outwardly known
spiritual athlete, or players and
coaches have come in with deep
spirituality.
Coach Roberts, thank you for
taking time to share your
experience and knowledge. First
things first, how does faith play a
part in dedication, preparation,
and in possible performance?”
“As when it comes to
performance, let me tell you a
little story. A boxer kneels in his
corner and makes the cross sign,
and says a prayer. A priest is in
the front row and a man asks the
priest, will that help him win? The
priest says, "Only if he can box
better than the other guy can."
“You see, I’m not sure if God
cares about winning or losing,
but God does care if you have
prepared for anything you do.

Preparation is preparation and
talent is talent, and the two must
come together if any success is
to be had. One without the other
and success will be short lived or
never experienced at all. The one
thing we all need to understand,
God put on the earth dirt, seed,
and harvest time. If you have
good seed and good soil, but if
you don’t till the ground and
water on time, your harvest will
be a disappointment.”
Coach Roberts, is there good luck
bad luck in sports or maybe
heavenly divine grace in sport, as
we hear from athletes, The God
Lord was looking out for my
team or me today.
“The best-prepared is the winner,
there is no luck. If you dropped
the ball, you dropped the ball.
You throw a good pass you threw
a good pass. If you have a
penalty at the wrong time, if you
think the referee threw a flag to
hurt your team, well the referee
is flesh as well as the players, we
all are flesh, and if we have failed
at anything, it’s not about bad
luck, it’s about, we are flesh.”
Consequently, Coach Roberts the
ball can’t take a bad bonce, or
spin off the rim, or the batter
homerun is disallowed because a
fan interfered?
“There is no bad bounce or
almost in, and the batter might
have prepared but the ace on the
mound prepared more and the
ball didn’t go far enough so that
a fan could have anything to do
with it. God only cares about
preparation to allow one minster
to the ones who need, and your
e

~Alvin L.A. Horn~ multi-award
winning bestselling author and
spoken word artist, published
Simon and Schuster publishing

example of preparation is your
pulpit. You can minster to the fans
or anyone after you have
prepared, and it will show in your
performance, or when you didn’t
put the work in, you will also have
a story to share.”
“Is that in the vein of when one
door closes another door opens?
”“That is a man-made term. God
don’t close doors, the flesh closes
doors with lack of preparation, but
God opens doors, and you have to
do the work to get through the
door.”
I walked away after talking to
Coach Al Roberts with a greater
sense of understanding about
using ones faith in sports the
world. The fan can believe in their
team or person, but in the end, it
about the preparation that goes
into winning or losing. Preparation
can then lead to having faith in
self, and that is in all walks of life.
In the end, we sports fans can
believe our team is blessed more
than the other team. There is no
harm in believing, and praying for
victory. Then also we have to keep
in mind, if there is no victory, if our
team doesn’t win, it was not God’s
undoing. It all came down to, who
was prepared for how the ball
bounces.
Alvin L.A. Horn
Sports Editor for Men of Faith
Magazine