Just imagine the Devil had a playbook – that he had written down all his tactics and strategies for tempting Christians. And imagine you had the chance to get hold of it. Wouldn’t that be very useful? What an edge that would give you over the Enemy of your soul! Instead of being blindsided by his clever, subtle attacks you’d be able to see them coming and block them and even counter-attack.

I don’t know much about American Football, but even I have heard of the ‘playbook’ – the manual that contains all the team’s top secret tactics and strategies. An ESPN article by Elizabeth Merrill that I came across puts it like this:

‘In the NFL, the playbook is a sacred hardbound diary of trust. It’s an accumulation of decades’ worth of knowledge, tweaked and perfected, sectioned off by scribbles and colored tabs. It’s the first thing the fresh meat get when preseason workouts start in the spring and the last thing that is pried from a player’s sweaty mitts when The Turk arrives and utters those dreaded 11 words. Coach wants to see you in his office. Bring your playbook.’

Players guard their playbook with their life. That same ESPN article described a Vikings rookie who took the coaches’ order to keep it safe so seriously that he even carried it with him into the toilet stall. When some pranksters saw an opportunity to haze the new guy and grabbed it through the gap in the stall, the rookie didn’t even hesitate before chasing after them with his trousers round his ankles!

Why the fuss? If that playbook fell into the hands of another team it would give them a massive advantage in a match. They would still have to play hard, but knowing their opponents’ tactics would mean they could anticipate their plays and figure out exactly how to beat them.

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