8 ways to put your values into practice

How you do things on your team matters as much as what you do.

“YeeeUUUUSSSSS. We’re stickin’ with Ficken!”

My mother cheered in the living room like the players on the screen could hear her. Then she proceeded to do some type of dance that doesn’t require one to leave their armchair to get their groove on. It was a moment.

I asked, “Stickin’ with what now?”

“Ficken!” she replied, eyes a flame. The fire fizzled at the apparent lack of recognition on my face. “The kicker.”

About ten years ago, Sam Ficken had a hard go as the kicker for the Penn State Nittany¹ Lions football team. In his first season, he became a household name in Pennsylvania and the subject of Twitter torrents after he missed four field goals and didn’t get an extra point during Penn State's 17-16 loss to Virginia. 

Ficken ended up in the position when the previous kicker got transferred — a transfer that also meant Penn State didn't have the option to put Ficken back on the bench.

The team and the community decided to embrace Ficken. Students made posters to hold in the endzone that r…