NASCAR racing isn’t necessarily thought of as a team sport by most people. But ask any driver and he will tell you that without a good pit crew, his chances of winning are slim.

Jeff Gordon credited his team for putting him in a position to win the 2005 Daytona 500, which he did by holding off Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. over the last two laps. “I knew over 500 miles, with that pit crew, that team, that hopefully some patience would pay off there at the end.”

It happens all the time: As an athlete or coach, you are confronted with a situation in which your attitude will dictate your altitude. Someone does you wrong; a promise is broken; a ref makes a horrible call in a game; you are treated poorly. Whatever the circumstances, does your attitude show that God is in your life?

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul urged the believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. Paul wanted everyone to stay focused on Christ and the glory of the cross, no matter what happened. In every situation we are under the authority of God, and we should act and react accordingly. Though we may be wronged, mistreated or severely tortured, we must stand firm, knowing that God will provide the victory.

Hockey Chat:  A regulation size hockey goal opening is 24 square feet.  A fully armored goalie covers approximately 18 square feet of that space leaving only 6 square feet of open net and that’s with the goalie standing still.  It takes practice and determination to get the puck into the mere 25% of the goal that is uncovered while that padded guy is hopping around in front to stop it.

I grew up in east Texas. Texarkana, to be precise. If I were to sum up my east Texas experience for someone unfamiliar with its culture and people, I would simply tell them about Gary Mills. He was a man who worked for my dad. Sort of. Gary worked when Gary wasn’t in jail.

Gary Mills owned a van that he’d bought at a pawn shop. Now, only in the piney woods of eastern Texas and portions of rural West Virginia can vehicles be acquired from pawnshops, for like two dollars. These are my people.

Hockey Chat:  When you’re on defense, one of the worst things you can do is let your opponent stand in front of your net waiting to tip the puck, get a rebound, or just screen your goal tender.  Detroit scored buckets of goals against Colorado in 2007 doing just that and swept them right out of the playoffs.  You cannot let that guy stake his position there.  It takes work to get him away but if you let him stick around, he’s bound to cause trouble.

Hockey Chat:  When a player gets double teamed up against the boards they know their in trouble.  As they battle for the puck, they’ll often hear a familiar voice of someone on their team calling out instructions on a safe place to pass it.  They would stay in trouble and lose the puck if someone didn’t call out to them.

Many athletes get distracted easily. The crowd, the faces and the noise all are factors that distract the athlete today. Even small gyms with just a few people in the stands can produce a loud noise. This can present a problem for a team, especially the coach. The coach needs the attention of his team at all times to work the game plan. One mark of a great player is his or her ability to hear the voice of the coach. Staying tuned in to the bench during a contest is essential for success. Players who have the ability to eliminate distractions and hear their coaches' voice will more than likely come out on top in the end.

Hockey Chat: Goal judges were first used around 1877 in Montreal and stood right behind the goal (a brutal job for someone with no pads). Years later, they sat in elevated cages behind the glass and when they would see the puck cross the line, they’d turn on the bright red goal light to signal to everyone that a goal has been scored.  The red light is a hockey icon now being a symbol of scoring a goal.