Inconsistency and Insecurity from Keyshawn and Gruden

As a huge Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan, I'm always listening to what comes out of former Super Bowl winning coach Jon Gruden. And even more so now that he's currently out of coaching (and no doubt somewhat muzzled because he is still receiving a check from the Bucs), yet involved with ESPN. Gruden took the Bucs to the Super Bowl, but after that, never won a play-off game. In fact the year after the Super Bowl, he actually told former Buccaneer Keyshawn Johnson NOT to come to practice anymore, ever. That was probably 8 years ago, and yet Keyshawn, aka "MEshawn" still talks about Gruden messing with his head.

“When your psyche is messed with, and you don’t want to be around the organization or team, you just want to do whatever you can to get out of there,” Johnson said. “And that   was the situation when I was under Coach Gruden in Tampa.”

Then, as men with egos always do, Gruden fired back.  

“I had a guy on SportsCenter say he couldn’t get along with me the other day on TV,” Gruden said. “So I know how it feels. You’ve got to have some thick skin, and you’ve got to know when things get tough there are going to be some negative things said.”

The commentary from this article is priceless:

 If Gruden’s skin were really thick, wouldn’t he just let it go?

How true is that? Does Jon Gruden really have thick skin? Not nearly as thick as one would, or should think, for a coach. Just another example of how our actions are always a better indicator of what we believe than our words. Whenever we see such inconsistencies with things we say, and then how we live, Christians have a place to run for forgiveness and change: the cross. It's a place for the inconsistent to find the ONLY one who was/is/will be consistent. And it is a place where we can begin to change the belief, which will lead to changed actions and words (Colossians 2:6-7).

And regarding MEshawn Johnson, who actually wrote a book called Just Give Me the Damn Ball (I still can't believe that-but at 22.95, not sure how many he's actually sold), he's a bit more fragile than advertised as well. It's a good reminder that those who seem so outwardly confident, cocky, obnoxious, are probably just as insecure as the rest.


 This is incredibly helpful to realize in ministry and in life. If we can see this insecure person, as opposed to only seeing the Just Give Me The Damn Ball person, we'll find loving them much easier.