Thursday, October 1, 2009

A Gridiron Lesson

For the most part sports comes down to the fact that 50% of the time there is a winner and 50% of the time there is a loser. Despite that intellectual statement much more attention is paid to winners then losers and it’s just a fact of life as unfair as it may seem to be. Regardless if you play high school, college or pro sports the headlines, air time, adulation and hype all surround success…not failure.

I say this having gone through it many years ago. When I was a junior our football team at Central Regional High School was something really special.
A perfect season with only a couple of games that were even close and comparisons with some of the great teams to ever come out of the shore. Students and fans were three deep at home games, it was the talk of school throughout the fall and just to be a part of it was somewhat magical. Practices were often light and loose and Saturday afternoons always ended with smiles, cheers, pats on the back and that feeling which comes with being a winner. Sunday you got to read all about it in the newspaper.

However a year later that was all a distant memory. Graduation had stripped us of all but a couple of top players and from the beginning we knew things would be difficult. Not only that but our legendary head coach had died suddenly and an all-new staff was put in place. Opponents, who we had humbled the year before, circled like sharks in the water and feasted on the opportunity to get their revenge. Losses mounted, the crowds went away, students and teachers found other things to talk about in the hallways and the headlines found us on the wrong end. Those last weeks of the season especially for the seniors were not easy but helped provide a life lesson. That is you play the game because you like the game and if success comes well that makes it all that much better but one person usually cannot determine the outcome….however each can determine their effort. You will also learn a lot more about yourself from sticking with a losing team than riding high with one that wins.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As I told you before this really hit home for most kids and their parents. thanks.I am going to share this with the soccer coach. Jackie

Anonymous said...

Kevin,
Happened onto your blog, a nice memory of our senior year, but you left out that we stopped Ocean Twp's unbeaten streak. Of course our Frosh season was really a great lesson, following that same group of talent, we went undefeated because we came together and believed that we would win. Good stuff.

Bob