The cracking and popping sounds heard in the hot August sun can only mean one thing. Football season is almost here.

Ever since I started watching sports I've always loved football. It all began in 1984 when BYU won the National Championship in college football. From that year on I wanted to play football. I was one spoiled football fan watching BYU put up incredible passing numbers on Saturdays and then watching Joe Montana and Steve Young lead the 49ers to championship after championship. Watching Steve Young lead the 49ers to Super Bowl XXIX was especially sweet for this lifelong BYU fan. When I moved away from home for the first time, I was so busy enjoying independent life that I didn't miss home until I was watching football without my dad.

I truly say that football has helped make me who I am today. I learned many important lessons about never giving up, seeking to be your best, and picking yourself back up when you fall from football. That's why something I heard a couple of weeks ago from Steve Young has had a profound impact on me.

One week before he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, Steve Young gave a speech before fans at his alma mater, BYU. During this speech, he shared something that he observed Jerry Rice do every single time he caught a pass in practice. No matter how far away he was from the end zone, Jerry Rice would catch a pass and then run to the end zone. He literally practiced scoring touchdowns. It doesn't really surprise me that Rice holds the alltime NFL record for touchdowns. Young went on to say that pretty soon all the 49ers players would run into the end zone after every play. No wonder that team was always contending for the Super Bowl year in and year out over a twenty year period.

I think that there are important lessons to be learned from this that we can apply to our own lives. Jerry Rice knew how to score touchdowns because he practiced scoring touchdowns. He was always focused on the end zone, even in practice. When we always focus on our final goals, whatever they may be, and then work hard to achieve them, we will in the end achieve them. It's a matter of wanting to achieve greatness and then working to achieve greatness. Merely wanting to be great is not enough. We must work to be great. Focusing on excellence will help us achieve excellence. As a wise Jedi Master once said to an aspiring Jedi, "Your focus determines your reality."