When I told my boyhood best friend and mentor Jaybird 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 described to him everything the team did. When I confessed that my attitude toward the game changed when Coach Ruscoe assigned me to the third team, he said, "Son, Satan has many tools that he uses to prevent the Lord's children from maintaining positive attitudes, but the one he uses the most is discouragement."