And really, at its core, that's what Leatherheads is. A story of love. It is about the love of the athlete for the game he plays, the love of the fans for the heroes we worship, and the love of a man for the woman he pursues. It is a reminder that the true nature of love is much more rough-and-tumble than incorporated and professional, its expression and its exchange much more about the slips and slides of the moment than carefully calculated plays from a playbook, and the players who find themselves both on the giving and receiving end of its passes much more human and much less godlike than so many of the celebrities and sports heroes of today. And to all of us out there trying to win the games of life or love, the message that it leaves us with is that although rules will enter the picture and strategy will become a part of every game, the most interesting, and often the most valuable wins are the ones that come from the heart.

As Matthew says in Matthew 23:12, "Whoever makes himself great will be made humble. Whoever makes himself humble will be made great." And although I don't know that I would quite characterize Dodge as humble, he in no way pretends to be anyone greater than he is. As many grand plays as he makes, he makes just as many foolish ones. As much smooth talking as he does, the straightforward honesty that he also delivers rings as true as anything else out there. In the end, it is nothing short of his true colors which win both the game of football and the game of love.

And as the movie ends and he leaves on his victory ride into the sunset, both Dodge and his story wave goodbye in my favorite way to see a romantic comedy end—happily, with an ever after in mind, but with both eyes wide open to beautiful truth that the greatest thing about love is not that it transforms us and our lives into a picture of flawless perfection, but that it knows every mistake we made today, it anticipates every disaster to come tomorrow, and it is here to stay

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