When I told Jaybird, my boyhood best friend and mentor, that I no longer wanted to play football, the old black man, knowing how much I loved the game, knew I was lying. After each preseason practice when we drove home, I told him about everything the team did. When I confessed that my attitude change resulted from the coach assigning me to the third team, he said, “Son, Satan has many tools that he uses to prevent God’s children from maintaining a positive attitude; he uses discouragement the most.”