7/24/2007 11:37:08 PM
Round 2

I used to fight quite a bit, which led me to the martial arts and some boxing as a younger man. As a matter of fact, I fought enough in my youth that I’ve developed a taste for a good fight. However, in all my days of rough and tumble I’ve never fought someone twice in consecutive weeks until I began playing in this league. The physical wear and tear aside to play a team twice, in consecutive weeks is taxing to say the least. For one, you must find a way to beat an opponent that will be doing nothing but studying film on your strengths and weaknesses that showed up a few days ago when you two squared off. Which wouldn’t be so bad of course, if he wasn’t studying how he reacted to those strengths and weaknesses that you displayed and working diligently to correct his shortcomings and capitalize on the areas that you may be lacking in, for this week.
That’s just the beginning of the mental strain in one’s preparation for a repeat bout with so little time to prepare. The question of “How will I beat the same man on the same routes this week?” is one that can ultimately come down to physical play when all strategy fails, so as a competitor we tend to like those odds. To me the mental and physical strain of the encore performance really take a back seat to the emotional drain that is inevitable after not only a full house game against a rival, but a very close, come from behind win against a rival. To come from as far back as we did, in as short a time as we did took considerable focus, execution and heart. From those hearts spilled emotion from every pore in our bodies as we encouraged each other to stay the course, to keep each other’s heads up when things may have looked bleak, as well as the jubilation that seemed to last into the next couple of days following such an effort.
The problem with emotion is that when it is tapped into and poured out like it was last week, it’s a difficult thing to replenish. It is not something that can be relied upon week in and week out to put you over the hump, especially when the game is so close to the last game against the same opponent. It’s like a renewable natural resource that takes its sweet time to grow back and that can feel as if there’s a void present if that emotional lift is called on before sufficient time has passed. Coaches may call this a “lull” and will notice it quickly if a team coming from an extreme high then looks to be indifferent, or even down somewhat during moments that they should obviously be up. Kind of like us in the first half last game!
So what was our excuse? Could be a lull from the big win the week before I suppose, in which case one would argue that the chances are good of us coming out sluggish this week? I sure hope not, I don’t know if our coach’s vocal chords can take another half like that. Or perhaps we were pacing ourselves knowing that we play Saskatchewan 4 times this year so as long as we win 3 of them we’re in good shape? Not bloody likely. Like I said previously, I have absolutely no clue what the reasoning behind our first half lull last week was. What I do know is that one good thing about this particular back to back matchup is the fact that like I said, it’s a rival. So that means as emotionally charged as it was for us at home, it will be doubled in their stadium due to the hostility factor. I see two things happening potentially; either we’ll come out feeling around to assess the surroundings and the situation enabling the home team to ride the crowd into early success. Or, we can use the hostile environment against them and ride our own wave of emotion into an early lead, taking the crowd out of the game. Much like a fighter who finds himself scrapping in the wrong neighborhood, his sense of awareness is heightened due to the unfamiliar surroundings and the unknown dangers that may lurk around every corner, and in every person around him. We must find a way to harness the energy that the Rider faithful will be pitting against us, and allow it to heighten our own senses in order to promote clarity in our focus on the task at hand.
It turns out I was right when I predicted that leaving the first matchup, every player who played would feel go to bed definitely knowing that they were in a game. For round 2 I believe that the team that can impose its will on the other the most often will come away with this all important win. ©
On a side note, my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this past weekend’s fire. My teammate Pat Woodcock was among them and things like that truly put things into perspective, if they weren't already. I'm thankful that no lives were lost in that tragedy and I hope you all get back on your feet quickly and can resume your lives with some normality.

KP8