Friday, Aug. 24, 2001

Change in mentality, not rules

Altering football mindset will be no easy task

By Joel Buchsbaum, Contributing editor

To give you an example, a friend of mine has a grandson who plays football and is seven years old. He plays in a league for seven-year-olds, and in August they start their preseason practice. My friend called his son one day and asked how the weather was, and the son said, "95 degrees."

So then my friend asked where the grandson was, and the son said, "Oh, he’s at football practice now." To which my friend replied: "What, 95 degrees?!" And the son said they practice three-to-five days in this weather now, and the friend said, "Are you crazy to let your son play (in this weather)?"

The son’s response was, "If I didn’t, my son would be considered a wimp by his friends." That shows you how early this mentality is branded into so many of the football players.

The clubs tell them when they have nothing left — and they’ve been bred this way all their lives — it’s almost an admission of weakness to say you can’t go anymore because you’re sick from the heat. This mentality is foremost among the players and the coaches themselves because most coaches were players who were brought up in this type of atmosphere.

So, I mean, to change this, you’ll have to change the whole system from the roots on up, and it’s not as easy as people think.

It’s like in the police department there’s a code of honor where no officer will rat on another officer if it’s not something major, and any officer who does is going to be in for very rough sledding, and should always look every way before turning a corner since no one will be watching his back in most instances.

This mentality has been around police departments for hundreds of years now, and it may never change, and football is faced basically with that same dilemma.

The Archives
2001 - 2002 Season