10/15/2007 5:15:20 PM

Edmonton Vs B.C. #2

My dad once told me that “almost” only counts in hand grenades and horseshoes. At the time it seemed funny but lately…not so much. I can count 7 games this season thus far including the last one, that we had a chance to secure victory in the last drive but didn’t. It kills me to think of how different our season would be if we had found a way to win 3 of those games. As usual this game came down to 4 or 5 plays that were available to be made by either side, and unfortunately we weren’t able to make the majority of them. In those 4 or 5 plays, the tide shifted and left us on the outside looking in – kicking ourselves following yet another missed opportunity.
To me the difference between making a big play and not making a big play is simply a matter of fact as opposed to a matter of faith. Good teams “know” absolutely that they will make the game changing play when it comes to them. Even on days that they don’t make those game changing plays, they don’t get discouraged by the fact that they didn’t make them – instead they view those days as anomalies to their normal winning routine. It has taken us too long this season to establish a firm belief in ourselves that we are a good enough team to overcome mistakes, and still win the game in spite of them. However, in this game I did see that in spite of our turnovers and missed opportunities we did in fact believe that we would march the ball for a touchdown at the end of that game. Stefan did a great job of giving us an opportunity to do just that but circumstances being what they were, it just wasn’t meant to be it seems.
The confidence that winning breeds, emanated from the entire B.C. team throughout the duration of that game. Regardless of what was going on with them in terms of struggles, turnovers, or score – they genuinely felt and conveyed that they would win the game ultimately. I could hear them talking about it on defence, almost willing it to happen. Whereas, offensively we seemed to buy into the same ideology at times – tentatively holding the lead, waiting until the inevitable big play was made by the Lions. It wasn’t until it was actually made by them that we seemed to show some true initiative, but by then it was too late.
Confidence comes from repeatedly doing the same thing and having some measure of success at it. Each repetition under center that Stefan gets, he seemingly gains confidence – and we will be a better team in the long run for it. Each game that passes in which all of us that are new to the Eskimos play with those that have been here, we all gain confidence – because even in a loss we’ve been able to find several things that we’ve been successful at. We’re so close to being a good team that I can taste it…honestly. I’d even venture to say that we’re “almost” a good team. We’re a play or two away from being that team, and even in spite of all that we’ve had to overcome this year in terms of turnover, injury and circumstance – we’ve matched up with the best teams in our league and fared as well or better against every one of them “almost” beat everybody. If we can somehow string some wins together and get in the playoffs with some help, I guarantee nobody will want to play us…We’re “almost” that good.
Hand grenades and horseshoes… ©

KP8