7/12/2007 11:17:33 AM
Wheat or Chaff

Once adversity hits, or things don’t quite start as you would have imagined or expected you really only have a couple of options as a player. You can lie down and accept that your team still has quite a ways to go before it is actually a good one, or you can refuse to accept the poor level of play and take the steps to correct it. Everyone comes out of training camp with the same intentions and high illusions of grandeur, and those sentiments carry into the first few weeks of the season regardless of the team’s record. A team can always justify the first few losses and chalk them up to “needing time to gel” or “coming together as a team” or even “finding the team’s identity,” which to a degree is true, and to a degree is a professional sports translation for “we’re praying we can right this ship.” In truth there is some merit to the idea of a team taking time to come together, especially in this league because of the constant turnover that occurs. Very seldom are teams left stable and untouched in the offseason these days so, often there major player and coaching adjustments to be made, digested, applied and then finally applied with speed. But don’t be fooled, not every team that is struggling right now is “finding their identity” some of these teams just plain aren’t as good enough to compete among the elite in this league at this point.
That is the risk that comes with a major team overhaul like we’ve endured recently here in Edmonton, and similarly has gone on for what seems like the last 4 years or so in Hamilton. I would imagine the coaches involved would be in for some sleepless nights in the first 8 weeks or so while the “identity” of that team is sorting itself out because team dynamics are fickle. While you may feel like you have a team of confident superstars, in reality you may have a team of gifted athletes who have always been a part of successful teams…which is far from the same thing. To be successful on a team that is going to be successful whether you are a part of it or not, is completely different than being successful on a team that is overmatched every week. While I believe most athletes go through a level of adversity just being involved in pro sports, I don’t believe that every player has what is required to still shine on a team that may have to scratch and claw to win week in and week out.
From a coaching standpoint, imagine the restlessness that must come from waiting to find out if the guys you’ve chosen to revamp your squad with over the proven tested players from previous years are in fact those that can rise to the occasion while battered and bruised, or if they are frontrunners only. The whole thing sounds like a lot of acid reflux medicine to me. I certainly don’t envy their position because while coaching in some aspects is a very detailed and exact science in terms of X’s and O’s it is extremely inexact in terms of talent materializing into on field results.
And this is where we are as a team for the next 3 weeks I think. I believe how we compete and fair in the next 3 weeks will go a long way as to what team we’ll be in October/November. We need to decide what team we’re going to be, and decide what we’ll accept from ourselves and each other for this 2007 season…and we need to decide fast. ©

KP8