This guy knows how to start a season

If you saw the first half of the NFL season opener on Thursday night, you may have thought, “Denver looks OK, and Peyton Manning is having a nice game.”  If you stayed up until the end, you witnessed a historically great performance as Peyton wound up throwing for over 460 yards and 7 touchdowns.  It makes anybody who drafted him to their fantasy football team feel pretty smart.  Obviously Peyton Manning was ready to roll in the season opener.

But this morning as I got out of bed, I had a funny feeling and it had nothing to do with Peyton Manning or the NFL.  For the past three weeks, I’ve been coaching a flag football team of boys age 5-7 and tonight we play our first game.  Isn’t it funny how it just feels different when we get out of bed on game day?  And there’s really nothing like the first one of the season.  It took me back and I spent some time thinking about a bunch of the season openers I’ve played and coached in over the past few decades.  I thought of the day at age 13 when I went home early from school and threw up next to the field when I got there that evening, but still took the ball to start the game on the mound in our first baseball game of the year.  I thought of the excitement in the air as the first varsity football game that I ever helped coach became a 40-0 victory.  Thinking back, I don’t remember all the scores, but can recall moments, words and faces from so many of these games.

Seasons are long, and typically we all encounter at least some adversity along the way.  But as we work our way through the season and deal with that adversity, we might do well to remember that opening day feeling. Grab hold of that feeling.  Embrace it — and make sure your players do as well.  And don’t be afraid to remember some of the opening days or nights you’ve experienced through the years.  It might just put a smile on your face.