One thing I always tell players is that there are three bad

The words of Nick Saban — “One thing I always tell players is that there are three bad things: Nothing good happens after midnight, nothing good happens when you’re around guns unless you’re going hunting, and you don’t want to mess around with women that you don’t know because a lot of times, bad things happen.” — echo the voice of a mentor, warning the young against the snares of life. Though blunt, these words carry the tone of a seasoned leader who has seen the follies of men repeated generation after generation, and who seeks to shield his disciples from destruction.

To speak of midnight is to warn against the darkness, not merely of night, but of temptation. For when the world sleeps, folly prowls — drunkenness, anger, recklessness, and crime. The ancients also feared the hours after sundown, when the watchmen of the city walls were most vigilant, knowing danger preferred the cover of shadows. Thus Saban reminds his players that wisdom lies in knowing when to withdraw, when to let restraint guard them against ruin.

The caution about guns is the warning of fire itself: tools of great power that demand discipline. For in the hand of the foolish, a weapon brings only sorrow. Unless for hunting, he says, avoid them — for their presence draws calamity as surely as sparks draw flame. History confirms this truth: how many young men, untrained in patience, have ended their own lives or the lives of others because they mistook power for invincibility? The wise avoid what may turn in an instant from protection into destruction.

The warning about women unknown is not scorn, but vigilance. Saban speaks to the dangers of entanglements born of impulse, where trust is absent and intentions uncertain. In every age, men of great promise have been undone by reckless desire: kings ruined, reputations shattered, futures lost. Consider Samson, whose strength was broken not by armies, but by the lure of a woman he could not truly trust. So too does Saban call his players to remember that their choices in love must be made with discernment, lest fleeting pleasure become lasting regret.

Let the generations remember: the counsel of elders is given not to bind but to protect. The snares of midnight, of guns, and of careless women have toppled many who thought themselves untouchable. Nick Saban’s words, though spoken to athletes, carry the weight of ancient wisdom: discipline and foresight are the shield of youth, and those who heed such warnings may preserve not only their careers, but their very lives.