I chose the book One Yard Short: Turning Your Defeats Into Victories by Les Steckel because it is a book about football. The cover of the book also stood out to me, because it shows a receiver with the ball in his hand just short of the end zone. The cover shows how close we can come to winning and end up just short. Les Steckel was a football coach for over thirty years with the majority of those years coaching in the NFL. Coach Steckel has had many victories and also many defeats. He learned from both. He realized that he had a period of time when he was more focused on himself and his ambition. He had to learn he was not the most important person in his world. He had always said his priorities were faith, family, and football, but …show more content…
The coaches all knew if they did not go to the play offs that year, their jobs were on the line. The Tennessee Titans had a 13-3 record that year, but still only managed to obtain a wildcard slot. He describes how tense both of the teams’ players and coaches were. He also describes how the Tennessee Titans had never experienced the ultimate feeling of winning Super bowl championship. He goes on to say how his team would need a miracle to win this game. He describes the play his team used to eventually win the game. This play was the Geronimo, and it was used after they obtained a safety on the Buffalo Bills. After they received the kickoff, the Titans tried a lateral that got messed up and turned into a handoff then a lateral. The receiver then ran the ball all the way back for a touchdown. The Titans then won the game. The score was 22-16. Tennessee then went on to win the next two playoff games and land in the 1999-2000 Super Bowl or Super Bowl …show more content…
Kevin Dyson: He was the receiver who fell just one yard short in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Jeff Fisher: He was the head coach of the Titans during Super Bowl XXXIV.
Bill McCartney: The old friend of Les Steckel. He was the man who got Steckel back into coaching after 3 years out of it.
God: Who Steckel learned to devote his life to.
Conclusion
The main thing I like about this book was how it reveals the love for God is so strong it can help you a difficult time in your life. Coach Steckel’s Faith is what helped him overcome his guilt and disappointment of the Super Bowl XXXIV loss. This book inspires you to not be afraid to fail, because this how we learn to achieve better things. What I dislike about this book is how football is so focused on the win. If you don’t win you are fired. We can’t always win or we would never be able to appreciate our wins. The one thing I would change is something I can’t really change and that is that Dyson would have made it into the end zone. I would recommend this book to everybody especially those who are not at a good point in their life. Maybe they could find the love of God to help them through. The thing that surprised me was how hard it is to achieve as an NFL coach. To me the most interesting part of the book is when Coach Steckel is describing the action in Super Bowl