{"id":5,"date":"2015-01-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/donuts-on-game-day-dont-get-sidelined-doing-something-stupid\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T18:45:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T18:45:39","slug":"donuts-on-game-day-dont-get-sidelined-doing-something-stupid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/donuts-on-game-day-dont-get-sidelined-doing-something-stupid\/","title":{"rendered":"Donuts on Game Day: Don\u2019t Get Sidelined Doing Something Stupid"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We were playing the Blackwell Bears, one of the biggest games the Kennesaw Generals 100 pound\u00a0midget league football team would play that year.\u00a0 We wore the green and gold of the Greenbay Packers and our\u00a0opponents wore black and white like the Oakland Raiders.<\/p>\n

As a team, they had a reputation of playing tough, hard-nosed football like you\u2019d expect of someone wearing black and white.\u00a0 I knew one person on the team, their star speedster, Win Platt.\u00a0 If you count his Dad, I knew two people since Mr. Platt was also their coach.\u00a0 I\u2019d met them a couple of years before when we competed against each other in Junior Olympic track meets.\u00a0 From that casual acquaintance\u00a0I\u2019d receive an undeserved\u00a0grace card that day.\u00a0 His kindness would also be Coach Platt\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n

Earlier that day, we had a league fundraiser and all the kids got dropped off in neighborhoods to sell boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts.\u00a0 I sold some and I ate some.\u00a0 Reports of me eating an entire box are greatly exaggerated but I might have had three or four\u2026six tops. \u00a0 \ud83d\ude09 \u00a0Who could blame me?\u00a0 I was a half-starved 12 year old boy who barely made weigh in every week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how they do it today but in 1972 it was based on age and weight.\u00a0 Before every game every player got weighed.\u00a0 An official weigher, and both head coaches observed as each person stepped up on the scale that was pre-set to the limit.\u00a0 At the beginning of the season it was 100\u00a0pounds.\u00a0 Later in the season, the rules allowed players to weigh up to 105 pounds.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure why and never asked.\u00a0 I was just a kid that wanted to play.\u00a0 I was tall and well developed for my age so every week was a drama until we got past weigh in.<\/p>\n

You Never Know When Someone Will Do You a Favor<\/h2>\n

My typical game day routine was to fast, turn my parents car into a sweat lodge, and suck lemons (yes,\u00a0suck lemons) until I\u00a0got weighed.\u00a0 Then, my first stop would be the concession stand for a binge meal of\u00a0ball park hamburgers and hot dogs.\u00a0 Healthy huh, but we didn\u2019t know any better and it was my mission to play every week.\u00a0 I never failed to make weight but it was always close. In addition\u00a0to\u00a0the strict health and nutrition regimen describe above, it\u00a0usually took stripping down to my\u00a0undies to being\u00a0light enough to\u00a0pass.\u00a0 This day, though, was closer than ever.<\/p>\n

I stepped up on the scale and it tipped up (too heavy).\u00a0 I breathed out and it bounced off the bottom.\u00a0 I breathed in and it hit the top again and barely moved towards the center.\u00a0 This cycle repeated several times.\u00a0 Technically, the weight pointer should\u00a0reach equilibrium between the top and bottom stops.\u00a0 It was either touching the top (again, too heavy) or barely off of it.<\/p>\n

The opposing team\u2019s coach had the final say and Coach Platt was within his rights to have said I was too heavy, even if it was only by ounces.\u00a0 Instead, Coach Platt looked at me and then he looked at Coach Daniels and said, \u201cAhh\u2026let him play.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m convinced he made the decision to let me play because of our brief encounter a few years earlier.\u00a0 That turned out to be a pivotal decision.<\/p>\n

The game was tied 0-0 with about a minute left in the 4th quarter.\u00a0 In college and the pros that\u2019s a lot of time.\u00a0 For 12 year olds it\u2019s not and the game was pretty much destined to end in a scoreless tie.\u00a0 But for the Kennesaw Generals and me, magic happened that evening.\u00a0 Coach Daniels called my play.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember what it was other than I got the ball.\u00a0 Almost unbelievably I scored to make the game 6-0.\u00a0 I honestly don\u2019t know if we scored the extra point or not because I was in shock.\u00a0 We kicked\u00a0off and held them for the few plays that were left and our last minute win went in the history books.<\/p>\n

As the two teams met in the middle of the field to shake hands, Coach Platt looked at me, shook his head and said, \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have agreed to let you play.\u201d\u00a0 He said it with a smile and although he was disappointed for his team and his son, I could tell he was happy for my team and me.<\/p>\n

Football\u00a0and the Game of Life<\/h2>\n

I took two lessons away that day.\u00a0 First, don\u2019t eat donuts on game day.\u00a0 Translated to adult speak,\u00a0don\u2019t do something stupid that could take you out on the day of your <\/strong>big game.<\/p>\n

Second, treat every person you meet, every relationship you have, with the care it deserves.\u00a0 You never know when a random acquaintance can come to your aid and change the course of your life. Even more than that, everyone deserves to be loved.\u00a0 There\u2019s a soul inside and they need to know they matter.\u00a0 To someone.\u00a0 Anyone.\u00a0 It\u2019s of eternal importance and they matter.\u00a0 Every one of them.<\/p>\n

I never saw Coach Platt again but\u00a0the grace he showed that 12 year old kid can still be felt today.\u00a0 The body looks different but the donut eating kid is still alive and well inside.<\/p>\n

Anybody want a donut? The hot light\u2019s on. \u00a0 \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

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Share this post and help spread the love! We were playing the Blackwell Bears, one of the biggest games the Kennesaw Generals 100 pound\u00a0midget league football team would play that year.\u00a0 We wore the green and gold of the Greenbay Packers and our\u00a0opponents wore black and white like the Oakland Raiders. As a team, they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-21-day-blogging-challenge","tag-donuts","tag-donuts-on-game-day","tag-game-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/believe4more\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}