When Teammates Make Mistakes

Scripture:  I Corinthians 12:12ff. 

A Scout is Loyal

             We usually think that this means that the individual is loyal to the group, but is also means that each individual in the group is loyal to every other individual, as long as the individual is “trustworthy,” “morally straight,” etc.  If someone in our patrol or troop, den, pack, or crew has a hard time learning a skill or makes a mistake, loyalty demands that we encourage them rather than complaining about them or giving them a “hard time.”

             Think about Roy Riegels.  Way back in 1929, he was on the University of California football team.  Not only that, but he was captain-elect of the team, and it was a champion team.  His team had been chosen to play in the Rose Bowl against Georgia Tech.

             In the second quarter of the game, the score was tied, zero to zero, when Riegels picked up a Georgia Tech fumble and began running.  He ran for ninety yards, but he was confused and ran the wrong way.  This is how the New York Times newspaper described the play:

 “Captain-elect Riegels of the Golden Bears, playing centre, snatched up a Tech fumble in the second quarter and started toward the Georgia Tech goal.  There had been no scoring thus far in the contest and Riegels broke into a dead run.

             “Tech men sprang up in front of him and in eluding them he cut back across the field.  He turned again to escape the opposition and in so doing apparently became confused and started down the field to his own goal, 60-yards away.  As he pounded down the side line both California and Tech players stood amazed in their tracks.

             “Benny Lom, halfback for the Golden Bears, sensed the situation almost immediately and sprang into action.  Down the field he went after the flying Riegels, who only put on more speed as he heard feet pounding the turf behind him.  Finally Lom grabbed hold of his mate at the California 3-yard line and turned him around.  Making interference for Riegels, Lom started back down the field, but Tech was alert and a wave of tacklers hit Riegels before he could more than turn around, hurtling him back to the 1-yard line.

             “California immediately took up the punt formation, but Riegels, at center, was nervous, and Lom, receiving the ball to kick, was little steadier.  As the ball was snapped, Maree, Georgia Tech tackle, stormed through the line and blocked the punt.  The ball rolled out of the end zone, but the officials ruled that Breckenridge, California quarterback, had touched it and that a safety would be scored against California.” (New York Times, January 2, 1929, page 2.)

             The University of California lost that game by one point, eight to seven.  Riegel’s wrong way run had lost the Rose Bowl.

             How would you feel if you had been a member of the University of California team?  What would you have done if you had been the University of California coach?  How loyal could you be to a teammate who made a mistake that big?

             Here’s another example. 

             On January 27, 1991, Scott Norwood was playing for the Buffalo Bills against the San Francisco Giants in Super Bowl XXV.  Buffalo had everything in its favor, but the game turned out to be close. The lead turned over several times, and finally, with seven minutes to play, the Giants kicked a field goal, making the score 20 to 19 in favor of the Giants.  There was no more scoring during the next seven minutes.  It had been a clean came.  There had been no interceptions and no fumbles. In other words, no one had made a big mistake that might lose the game.

                In the final play of the game, Scott Norwood was called on to kick a 47-yard field goal.  Everything worked well until he kicked the ball.  It was wide to the right.  The Giants had won Super Bowl XXV. 

You might say that Scott Norwood had lost the game.  If you were one of his teammates, how would you feel about him?  If you were a fan of the Buffalo Bills, how would you feel about Scott Norwood?  How loyal would you be to a player who had lost the Super Bowl? 

Here are some answers: 

In the Rose Bowl, Roy Riegels wanted to sit out the rest of the game after his wrong way run, but his coach made him get back on the field and play to win.  After the Super Bowl, Scott Norwood felt really bad, but when he went back to his home town, the people met him in the snow, cheered him, and gave him a big welcome. 

As St. Paul said, “We are members of one another.”  A Scout is loyal, and we support one another even when we make big mistakes.

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--Meditation by Richard E. Davies (copyright ©2007).

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NOTE: In case a Scout has a question, it is not easy to live down a mistake. Riegels worried for years about his blunder. Ten years after his wrong way run, his wife filed for divorce on the grounds of “moroseness.” (Time magazine, January 16, 1939.) However, Riegels had an apparently good career as a coach. He died in 1993 at age 84. Norwood moved to Virginia and became an insurance agent. Eight years after his Super Bowl game he told an interviewer, “You learn more about yourself when you face a little adversity.” (Sport, February 1998, p. 26.)