Sportsbeat– Rod?s miracle wish
Rod rubbed the sleeve of his Honolulu blue and silver pajama sleeve against the frosty glass and peered out in the night sky. The moon peeked over some houses behind his house.
He searched the sky. He needed to find a shooting star. Christmas was only days away, and he had to make a wish.
“Rod Marinelli, stop you?re daydreaming,” said his wife Barbara. She pulled the curtain shut and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s time for bed.”
He turned off the light, crawled into bed, and tugged the covers to his chin. The fire in the fireplace hissed and popped. Outside, the wind rustled through the trees. And Rod thought he would never fall asleep. It was too close to Christmas, too close to the most wonderful day of the year, and too close to the morning when his family would open gifts again.
Rod looked out the window again. He remembered how it felt to win a Super Bowl championship as the defensive line coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He longed for the feeling again.
Another question, like an undigested bit of beef or a fragment of underdone potato, comes from a phantom-like imagine who has just walked through the heavy door, and passed into the room before his eyes. ?I know him; Layne?s ghost!?
Bobby Layne, the Hall of Fame quarterback is said to have put a curse on the franchise 50 years ago. After being traded to Pittsburgh in early 1958 he proclaimed the Lions ?Would not win for 50 years!? Maybe he said they wouldn?t win in 50 years.
Layne asked the disbelieving coach how he stays encouraged with all the bad things happening, especially being a person who sees an empty glass as half full.
Rod responds: ?You?re in this dark tunnel and you?ve got no way out, you?re waiting for light, and you see that light, what do you do? What do you do? You start digging and getting out. ? I?ve always believed you stay in the tunnel and you keep digging when you expect no light. You have the same faith when you expect no light. You have the same belief in what you?re doing when you expect no light. ? It?s dark and I?m going to dig through. My shovel is sharp and my pick is sharp and my will is outstanding.? Rod opens his eyes. ?It was only a dream,? as he smiles and drifts back into a deeper slumber. It is Christmas morning and nobody else is awake, but he is up watching the tape of the greatest gift.
He plays it in slow motion: the ball is thrown over the middle to his receiver, who runs under the ball, and keeps going untouched toward the end zone. To the delight of Rod?s heart, his defensive line chases around the quarterback in the black and gold all afternoon. He can?t stop watching. Down he goes again. He rewinds it and watches it again.
To not be the first professional head football coach to go 0-16, he said, ?I got what I wanted!?
He opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed in through the window. Rod shook his head. ?It was only a dream,? he said with a smile. ?But what a wonderful dream. I wish it could come true.?
After breakfast, Rod helped his wife wash dishes. ?Barbara,? he said, ?If you could have anything for Christmas, anything at all, what would you wish for??
She smiled and set the clean plates in the cupboard. “I already have everythin
“I know, but I mean something extra,” Rod insisted, as he squeezed out the dish towel. “Something pleasant to watch on tape Christmas morning, a chance to spit in the face of history and not be the face of losing in the NFL, forever and ever.? Barbara responded, “But there’s no sense wishing for something you can’t have. Remember, this is the Lions we?re talking about.?
Dejected, he recalled the words he said to the ghost of Bobby Layne: ?My shovel is sharp and my pick is sharp and my will is outstanding.?
But how will that translate into that elusive first victory. What will it take? The Dolphins were 0-13 last year, but ?his men? have gone passed that. Plus, he knows the pass happy team in black and gold this weekend should carve up his secondary. Next week isn?t much better, as a trip to Lambeau Field has meant 16 straight losses. Only a Christmas miracle