Look up, get up and don't ever give up

This is an awesome story that I came across a while back. I need to make this the statement of my life!

Cowboys' flawed star Irvin shines at last
By Jim Trotter
UNION-TRIBUNE
August 5, 2007

The final five minutes of Michael Irvin's speech yesterday during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio, should be required viewing for every player at the annual Rookie Symposium.Irvin's words were raw, emotional and powerful, causing tears to well in the eyes of people watching in person and on television. His message ultimately was about perseverance, but it also was a sobering reminder that what you do today can have major consequences tomorrow.Wearing the customary yellow blazer of an inductee and a tie with the Windsor knot for which he's become known, Irvin talked about how he attended the ceremony last year and kept thinking to himself that he wasn't worthy. Not just as a player, but as a father, a husband and maybe even a man.

“I sat right here where you are last year and I watched the class of 2006 – Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Harry Carson, Rayfield Wright, John Madden, and the late, great Reggie White, represented by his wife, Sara White – and I said, 'Wow. That's what a Hall of Famer is. Certainly I am not that.' ”

Irvin clearly was that on the field, where he was a dominant wide receiver who helped the Cowboys win three Super Bowls in four years in the 1990s. But off the field he had multiple run-ins with the law, most involving drugs.

As he watched the 2006 ceremony, he thought about the things he had done wrong and the pain he had put his family through. Then he thought about his two sons – Michael, now 10, and Elijah, 9 – and how, in his eyes, he had failed to lead them as effectively as he had his teammates.

“When I am on that threshing floor . . . I say, 'God, I have my struggles and I made some bad decisions, but whatever you do, whatever you do, don't let me mess this up,' ” he said in reference to his boys. “I said, 'Please, help me. Help me raise them for some young lady, so that they can be a better husband than I. Help me raise them for their kids, so that they can be a better father than I.' ”

Then, speaking to his sons, Irvin said: “And I tell you guys to always do the right thing so that you can be a better role model than Dad.”

Irvin, using a white handkerchief to wipe away tears that rolled down both cheeks, continued baring his soul as a silent crowd listened. He told the audience that when he left the ceremony in 2006, he doubted he would ever have a chance to gain admittance to the Hall, and that he immediately sought out his sons when he returned home the next day.

“I spoke with Michael and Elijah and I said, 'That's how you do it. You do it like they did,' ” he said of the 2006 inductees. “Michael asked, he said, 'Dad, do you ever think we will be there (to be inducted)?' And I didn't know how to answer that. It returned me to that threshing floor. This time I was voiceless, but my heart cried out: 'God, why must I go through so many peaks and valleys?' I wanted to stand in front of my boys and say, 'Do it like your dad,' like any proud father would want to (but) . . .

“And at that moment a voice came over me, and it said: 'Look up, get up and don't ever give up. And you tell everyone or anyone that has ever doubted, thought they did not measure up or wanted to quit, you tell them to look up, get up and don't ever give up.' ”

Irvin looked up, got up and refused to give up. Yesterday he was rewarded with a place among the immortals, and once again “the Playmaker,” as Irvin was known, delivered. Only this time it had nothing to do with football and everything to do with accountability.