'Samurai Mike': A Leader Of Men

Mike Singletary is a man of God, but how does that fit into the sports world?

Perfectly.

Without God-given athleticism, which all pro athletes work their tails off to refine beyond belief, many players would not have the material wealth that many first-stringers enjoy.

However, with wealth comes temptations and potential ruin, as we so often see in the NFL.

Therefore, it’s important for players to maintain a moral and humble grounding, no matter what religion one may follow.

The reason is simple: it can help them be better players.

In Singletary’s case, his quest to be a man of God began with what he said, on this Web site, were the wrong reasons.

"I became a Christian at age 13 for basically all the wrong reasons – out of fear of going to hell and of wanting to make my mother happy,” he wrote. “It was in 1985, the first year of my marriage to Kim, that I discovered I couldn't be the great husband, man of his word, and man of God that I wanted to be unless I chose to serve God wholeheartedly. I suddenly realized I couldn't do it on my own.”

It was also in 1985 that he first started to trust in God.

“… Since that time my life has been totally changed. I realized I was going to have to deal with some hurt for a while, but the most important thing was I learned to live life the way God meant it to be lived. And the Bible is so important because it is the Book of Life, the ultimate wisdom. It has all the answers in there that anybody could ever possibly want to know.”

Being a man of God may win you accolades, but it won’t get you far on the football field, if that’s all you have.

If anyone has the football pedigree, he does: 10 Pro Bowls, two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year, three-time UPI NFC Player of the Year, NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.

His achievements resulted from his athleticism, of course, but also from his ability to intensely focus on a mission and to accomplish it with a ferocity of purpose rarely seen even in the high-intensity NFL.

That’s why he was nicknamed "Samurai Mike."

And that’s why, even way back in the 1980s – before many Bleacher Report readers and writers were born, many players and coaches knew this man of God would someday be an NFL head coach.

Go ’Niners!