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Taking Names and Keeping Score
What many of us who saw him play in his college career at USC and later in his professional career at Buffalo don't realize is that had it not been for a bet from a friend none of it would ever have happened. Coming out of Galileo High School in San Francisco where he had gone pretty much unnoticed as a football player by the larger colleges and universities he hoped to attend, he had all but decided on a career in the military and was set to join the Army, when a close friend bet him he couldn't make the football team at San Francisco's City College. Call it pride, not wanting to back down from a challenge or whatever he enrolled in the two year program on the last day of registration and two years down the road and some 54 touchdowns later USC came calling. Of course we all know what happened there as he rushed for over 3,100 yards and became the second in a line of four USC tailbacks who won the Heisman trophy during the span from1965 to 1981. Considered by some to be the greatest tailback in college football history, he then moved on to the Buffalo Bills where in an 11 year professional career from 1969 - 1979 his exploits earned him induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. That's quite an accomplishment for someone who almost quit playing football after high school. If success and fame have anything to do with ones self image and security in life O. J. Simpson is certainly one person who by most people's standards had it made. Life after football was good to him as well with many opportunities in the acting profession as well as sports commentating. He even set new standards for television commercials, running through airports where he showed he still had it by hurdling luggage and anything else that got in the way of him accomplishing his mission. With this most recent development in his personal life in conjunction with the allegations and suspicions that have shrouded his life over the past decade I can't help but wonder why someone who spent so many years of his life fully understanding the merits of staying within the boundaries and who by all accounts had it made, can seemingly continue to ignore the consequences of going out of bounds in the game of life. Perhaps he really believes he is the Teflon man, as some in the legal world call him, where nothing sticks. Or maybe he has confused success and acclaim as a mortal with invincibility. Either way he is wrong. And as we all know eventually one these trips out of bounds is going to cost him dearly. One thing is for certain, regardless of who we are or what we have accomplished in the past, reaching the goal line in life just like reaching it in the game of football is nearly impossible if we are constantly going out of bounds.
Until next time…………be safe!
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