Recently I saw this quote from head coach Jim Caldwell:
“I talked to someone who was in the same situation we were in that lost the Super Bowl. And he was talking about how tired his team was going into the following season, almost like they had played two seasons back to back. That’s one of the reasons why fatigue is something we have to battle. Also mental fatigue as well. We have to get fresh mentally and once we get going we have to shake that off our back. In the Bible, they have an old saying, you shake the dust off your sandals and move forward. That’s what we have to do.”
—Colts head coach Jim Caldwell on getting his team ready for the 2010 season. (YAHOO)
Being the opinionated jerk that I can be I felt the need to respond to this. Before you decide to get a rope and come after me, Colts fans, this is geared towards professional athletes and coaches everywhere; Caldwell just happened to be the source of the inspiration.
My first thoughts are boo-effing -hoo. So playing a game for a few months (yes, a rather violent one), watching film, studying opponents, and getting/ staying game ready is tough. That is understandable. To be able to perform to the level that even the bad teams do takes a lot of time and preparation;mentally it has to be even tougher for them since they are wracking their brains trying to figure out what is wrong. When the two Super Bowl teams are finished in early February these guys must be totally and completely spent.
And with the exception of an occasional team workout they are off for the next four-five months. With the salary these guys are paid they can vacation anywhere in the world for as long as they want. Now that sounds tough.
The rest of us have to do the same thing. We have to go to work, try our hardest, figure out how to stay on top or knock off whomever is there. In the end we get a paycheck that barely takes us to the next paycheck. When we think about de-stressing we have to look to the weekend or maybe a week long vacation somewhere nice (if we are lucky).
To make up for our lack of ability to vacation for a month in Maui we look forward to a release for a few hours every sunday in the fall. We want to watch our favorite team give us something to believe in; something to root for. When the game is over we go to bed and start the process all over again.
Pro athletes need to appreciate what they have. All the talk about a potential strike and wanting more money? It’s an insult to the fans that buy the tickets and watch the games that make their outrageous salaries possible.
But I understand, making $5 million playing a game is tough, and you must have $5.2 million or you want play.