.: THE ROMAN CANDLE WAR--TO END ALL WARS

Saturday, September 8, 2012

THE ROMAN CANDLE WAR--TO END ALL WARS

JULY 3, 2012

THIS IS ALL KINDS OF CRAZY. Every year, Dave's cousins have a Roman Candle war in their backyard (Uncle Robert's house). It is not some sissy battle. It is like the World War II of Roman Candle Wars. They do not mess around.

They wear protective eye gear
They wear padded clothing
They set up an arena with chalk outlines and tables flipped on their sides
They have a goal at each end of the arena
They do a warm-up lap before they start the game that includes running past all of us sitting on the wall watching, and dole out high fives as we pray that they don't die, or at the very least don't lose an eye.

Then the games begin. And it goes something like this.....

DAVE'S BROTHER, THOMAS

THOMAS AND COUSIN

WARM-UP LAP

I can't wait for next year.

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NUMBER ONE SPEECH

"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.

"Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.

"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

"I don't say these things because I believe in the 'brute' nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."

--Vince Lombardi

In the Faith of Christ

Saturday, September 8, 2012