We can probably win the first 3 games, without anyone really taking us seriously. The Baltimore game will be attributed to luck, and something the Ravens just need to tweak. The Faders will be a very tough game, with enough unforced errors so that everyone thinks this was just two bad teams, with the home crowd making the difference. The win in Philadelphia will also seem like a fluke, with the Chiefs pulling it out in the 4th quarter with a gimmick play involving Tyler Thigpen in some capacity for the TD from the 5.

Dukes is coming from the perspective of a player, who dreaded humiliation…

Former players sometimes can’t separate themselves from the game when they move to the booth.

I liked this…esp the intro.

I agree. As I was reading your work I had a thought. On the surface “touching the fence” looks like humiliation. In a way it is. In another way, however, it is just more practice. You can look at it two ways.

Way one. Punishes the player, embarrasses him in front of his team. Causes ill will toward the coaching staff.

Way two. The players are at first angry with the coaches for making them run when they have made a mistake. As they are running they think about the play, what happened to cause them to jump offsides, fumble the ball and so forth. Sometimes it may have been their fault. Sometimes not. However, as they run, they are able to take time to reflect on the situation and gage on how to improve their performance for the next time. It will also ingrain the idea that there are in fact, consequences for their actions on the field. It might be easy to jump the line in practice, say sorry and forget about it. It wasn’t a real game. No harm done. But harm WAS done. THAT is what Haley is trying to impress upon his team. No mistake is a small mistake. You need to replay what happened so you can correct it. You need to hold on to that ball like it is the life of a loved one. This is not the same as smacking your dog with a newspaper for crapping on the couch. These aren’t dogs; they are thinking, feeling, intelligent (most of them) human beings. They have perspective and the ability to understand why they made a mistake. They have the ability to get smarter.

And it doesn’t hurt to get in better condition while you realize all of this.

tee hee hee

Meandering is fine cause the thoughts you provoke cause my mind to meander some to:) I do like that the players NOW realize an error without the coach calling them out.
And I imagine that the players will determine a way ala the Kangeroo courts to stress this in-season, so Haley doesn’t have to continue to be the BAD guy in preventing errors.

  Haley has taught and now the peer pressure has to work and I think with the type of quality veterans that Pioli has been able to aquire that the youngsters are going to have a great enviroment to learn and progress, unlike last year. Man, this is longer than a lot of my posts :) Good work and maybe more than just YOU need to de-mesmerize and remember what pays the bills :)

Nice post.
I am not as worried as some about Haley’s temper. Not that I am old school or anything, but today’s players need to toughen up a little bit. This isn’t baseball or something. If you can’t take someone yelling at you, how are you going to be able to withstand the mental pressure that it takes to win a Super Bowl? Just saying..

you have to have SOME price for mistakes that you’re willing and able to enforce. Like parents who spank their kids, but don’t really WANT to hit their kids, you don’t want to keep threatening something and then have your kids constantly testing the boundaries. Misbehave? Pay the price. No fanfare. No histrionics. Just touch the fence.

That’s why when I was reading about old sea captains, I found that the best ones put delinquents on the pumps (all those old ships leaked) or swinging the lead (a chunk of lead on a rope that was the old-school depth-finder). Easy to go wrong with floggings. You can be an ogre by doling them out too freely or lose control of your men, because you don’t really wanna bloody their backs with a whip. The non-corporal forms of punishment aren’t cruel, and they give the player time to reflect on the error of his ways.