In Need of Motivation?
ByI’m not sure how many people are amused by such things, but I often laugh at the various things that are used as motivation for any athletic team (High School-Professional). So much of them seem like a stretch. Maybe Cowboy fans will disagree with me, but the latest drama surrounding Eli Manning’s signing of the visiting lockeroom wall seems like it fits into that category. Here’s one ESPN update on it.
Particularly if Manning’s story is true (that he was responding to the request of a lockeroom official), I have difficultly believing Cowboy players are seriously concerned about this. And if you actually need something like this to be motivated for a big game against the Giants, there are some serious problems with that team. I would think an earlier loss to them this season would be enough.
Feel free to leave any other humorous motivational techniques in the comment section. I’m always up for another laugh.
3 Comments
December 6th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Hmm… I know of one that I think actually worked– only it wasn’t used by a coach.
Back in 2000, when TU (7) was to take on seventh-ranked Cincinnati (2) in the second round of the tournament, certain players for UC did not even know the name of TU’s star player the day before the game. He was called all sorts of things, but never his real name. Eric Coley went on to score 16 points and grab 16 rebounds.
OK. I’m not really saying it worked, but Kevin tells me that stuff doesn’t really get him worked up. Of course Kevin is known for his non-emotional play. He once bounced the ball (and caught it, no tech for him!), and the fans (and wives) were all “oooo… Kevin’s MAD!” Seriously. LOL!
Ok… enough rambling. Glad you’re blogging more. It makes me think.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:15 am
That is definitely a good one. And somewhat legitimate even if it taps into a man’s pride (not the best motivator in my experience).
Though seriously, it leads me not to be concerned about Eric Coley as much as Jim Calhoun and UCONN. I mean, did they do any serious scouting of the other team? I’m not a big film watcher, but I at least know who I am playing against!
Which leads me to ask: who won? Just curious if UCONN didn’t really need to scout!
December 7th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I think you mean Bob Huggins and Cinci? But yes, I agree. They were so caught up in their perceived slight of being assigned a 2 seed instead of a 1 (this was the season Kenyon Martin was injured in early March) that they forgot they actually needed to win basketball games.
I’m not 100% sure it was the slight, considering the team had been underdogs most of the season in spite of only losing four games going in to the tournament, which brings up another one that I think coaches use (at least mine always have)– We’re the underdogs. David versus Goliath type of speeches.
I also think that Mike Price is the king of making emotional motivation pitches– from carrying the pickax out for every UTEP football game, to the “boo hoo” the fans are so mean to me so we’re going to stick it to them, to “they scored an extra touchdown three years ago”… he’s used them all in CUSA.