Go Big Red

I’m a big football fan, and over the weekend I watched most of the games that were televised in my area.This week I started to analyze and reapply some things that I’ve known for years, but never applied outside of the game. From a fan’s perspective, games basically divide up into three parts, the pre-game analysis, the game, and the post-game interviews and recaps.In the pre-game analysis, pundits, ex-players, and retired coaches dissect what they believe the outcome of the game will be. These are not uneducated assessments. They come from years of watching, planning for, practicing, and playing the game of football. Every person who wears a microphone during the pre-game show has an intimate love of the game, and an understanding of what leads to success and failure.They spend a lot of time discussing and arguing about the fine points of each team’s running game, how effectively each tight end and receiver run patterns, and how accurately and consistently each quarterback has been able to pass the ball to the right spot. They discuss the particular strengths and weaknesses of every player on both defenses and how that plays into the particular expertises of that week’s opponent. At the end, they make an assessment of how the game should turn out, in their opinion, based on their view of the given outside influences on that particular game. Is there a significant difference in the weather? Who’s crowd will be cheering the loudest? Who will be more affected by traveling, all sorts of factors that could play a role in the game that is going to be played.This conversation in many ways mirrors what the coaches are doing in their planning sessions. The head coach sits down with his assistants, and they watch hours worth of videotape of their next opponent. They look at the formations, sets, which types of plays the opponent calls when, who seems to run the most consistent patterns, who the quarterback seems to trust more often to give the ball to, how effectively that exchange is made, who looks lost on which plays, who misses their assignments, basically a man-by-man statistical breakdown of precisely HOW that team wins, or loses.For the coaches, this is just the first part of the process of game planning.Next, they examine their own team with an equally candid eye. What plays have gone well in practice? Who’s still a little gimpy from a hard hit last week? Who can we count on to gain us yards, and eventually score us points? Who do we have that specifically counters a particular strength of our opponent, that we can leverage somewhere in the plan to give us an advantage? What plays can we use that we capitalize on the confusion of that middle linebacker who gets lost in the 4-3 every time his role switches from pass rushing to short field zone coverage in the middle of a play? All of those factors go into the process of developing a game plan. It is a full time job that starts all over on the plane ride back after the most recent win or loss. Finishing your plan is indicative of nothing. It simply means that you have a theory, and have developed a hypothesis. Your theory will be tested on the gridiron in front of a collection of well-wishers and critics. In this day and age, they will be knowledgeable, (unless they’re SEC fans. Smile, it’s a joke.) they will have an opportunity to see your experiment unfold and succeed or fail, in high-definition, super-slo-mo, with Telestrated highlights, compliments of the analysts.No pressure.With that complete, you move to phase two. The game. I won’t dwell here, because the game is in some respects the least important part of the analogy. I want to fast-forward to halftime. There is a moment, in EVERY organized and televised sporting event, that is contractually required before the coach can head to the locker room for the second most important part of his job that day. It comes in two parts, and they are critical to our conversation here, although you don’t realize that yet.Part one: The journalist/reporter says some variation of the following…“Coach, you screwed up [this facet] of the game. What are you going to do about it?” Part Two: The coach says some variation of the following…“We’re going to make some adjustments.”( You know what? That came out strong enough that I don’t have to write much more. I thought I would, but its not necessary. Just remember this, the coach makes this statement, fully realizing that he’s already spent at LEAST a week planning his strategy. But some part of it has been less than perfect, so he’s getting ready to go chew some ass, and swap out some part of the plan that’s not working, SO HIS TEAM CAN WIN THE GAME. )Here’s the point, imagine if the Athletic Director/General Manager, or University President/Team Owner came out, grabbed the microphone and said: “We’re looking good. Not gonna change a thing!”Well, I don’t have to imagine it. This morning, for the 50th time, and yes I’ve been counting, MY President said:“We’re gonna stay the course in Iraq.”Discuss???