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Count me as "the least of these" who post reflections on the 25th anniversary of 9-11. I was a young Army Captain, stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, when the planes crashed into the twin towers. My immediate reaction: "Let's Go!" I wanted to lace up my boots, pack my ruck sack, and right the wrong that had been done to us. It would be five more years before the US Army ever gave me the opportunity to deploy. 

Ben Sasse wrote, in a Wall Street Journal editorial, that there are four formative forces in the making of a boy into a man: family, religion, work, and war. To that list, he adds football. 

As a young man, I became a Christian in Junior High, had a strong sense of family, had my first job in grade school, but had decided to go to college out of high school instead of enlisting in the military. That college experience extended into law school, which is when the first Gulf War happened. As a first-year law student, I recall being terrified of being drafted and going to war.

By the time I was in my final year, I was applying to be in the JAG Corps for both the Army and the Air Force. My mind had changed. After practicing law for a few years, I closed my private practice and enlisted in the Army. Something had really changed. There was a maturity that happened, leading to a desire for war.

Ben Sasse argues that football plays into that equation. I was never any good at the sport. In 7th grade, my job was to stand on my feet so that the 8th graders could sit and rest in my shadow. I spent the season trying not to get beat up. The next year I "lettered" in football but had no idea what I was doing on the field. I would not play again until my senior year in high school. I knew more about the sport but my presence on the team was an afterthought. I was along for the ride. 

Through it all, I learned how to live in rough conditions. When the bigger kids on my team needed a skinny kid to bully, I learned to survive. I also survived 2-a-days, brutal impacts, rough coaching, rougher language, strength, teamwork, and perseverance. Those days, though painful, played a part in the sheepish law student who would eventually go to war after 9-11. 

With that in mind, let's consider the four heroes who were in the back of Flight 93, the plane that was supposed to crash into the US Capitol Building. They overtook two terrorists who were wielding  knives and a fake bomb. Their revolt caused the other terrorists to crash the plane into an empty field in lieu of its intended deadly target. 

The four men who devised the hasty plan to retake the plane, with the famous call of "Let's roll!" were: Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, James Burnett Jr., and Jeremy Glick. Todd Beamer was a high school athlete who played baseball and basketball in college. Mark Bingham was a former rugby player. James Burnett Jr. was a college football quarterback. Jeremy Glick had a background in collegiate judo. 

These four saved a countless number of lives and kept Al Queda from more spectacular damage on 9-11. These four were formed by "football," (if we were to expand the definition to other team sports). 

We are called to build the next generation of heroes on faith.

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when  you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deut 6:5-9 NIV)

We are called to build the next generation of heroes on work.

"Six days you shall labor and do all your work ..." (Exodus 20:9a NIV) 

We are called to build the next generation of heroes on family.

"Whoever does my will is my brother and sister and mother." (Mark 3:35 NIV)

We are called to train the next generation of heroes for war. 

"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:11-12 NIV)

Football encapsulates a conglomeration of these - faith (usually there is some group or team prayer), fighting (the struggle against an opponent), family (you win, lose, and operate as a team), and work (practice, preparation, and performance).

Maybe that is why football makes Ben Sasse's list. In its broader context (athletic competition), it formed four men who risked everything to retake a plane on 9-11. It is an ethic we need the next generation to have. 

To God, alone, be the glory forever and ever.