Ridger Sports : Blackhawks football team gets through adversity
Posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2008
There was a particular strip authored by Charles Schultz in his famous "Peanuts"cartoon years ago that I have never forgotten.
Charlie Brown, who had just lost his, I guess," zillionth"game in a row managing his famously forlorn baseball team. He was so bummed out that went to see Lucy at her "The Doctor Is In "psychology booth. Open hearing his sad story of bad experiences, bad play, and generally bad luck, Lucy explained to him that his adversity was just life preparing him for the future. When Charlie asked her," what will this prepare me for in the future," she simply told him "more adversity."
The Blackhawks should have won that game last Friday. I think they generally outplayed the Pioneers for most of the game except on the scoreboard where it counts the most. Two plays for Gentry accounted for the great majority of their offense and actually, the 'Hawks recorded more plays for positive yardage that did the hosts. The Pioneers speed advantage over the 'Hawks didn't help them much up the middle but it did give them their two touchdowns. The last minute miscue that derailed what looked like was going to be the 'Hawks'winning touchdown drive was just that. A miscue. They happen.
Mistakes aren't just relegated to high school games or college athletic events or even youth competition. Although the box score didn't really tell the story, Sunday's Detroit Lions 12-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings was because of a a boo-boo by the Lion quarterback Ohlendorf. It seems they were stuck on their own one yard line when Ohlendorf rolled out to pass in the back of the end zone. While looking downfield while rolling to the right, the quarterback didn't notice that he had stepped on the end line before he released the football. The back judge, however, did notice, resulting in a safety giving Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. The two teams fought 10-10 for the rest of the way, making the quarterback's mistake the margin of victory for the Vikings.
Although we hate to hear it, we can generally learn more about ourselves and our situation in our losses. Having participated in high school sports from 1967 through 1971, college from 1971 through 1975, then started coaching in 1976, I have a ton of experiences that bears this out. My high school football team once lost seven straight games over two seasons due to some of the most unbelievably bad luck and weird events in play imaginable. However, the streak was broken in the second season's sixth game with the team going on to win the last five games of that season and the next 17 games as well (with a state title won in the winning streak ).
I am not suggesting that the 'Hawks are on the verge of a winning streak that will culminate in a state title appearance in the near future. I am suggesting that they have been improving and will continue to do so unless they give up. Nothing tastes sweeter than victory than when it so hard to obtain.
This week is homecoming week with the Huntsville Eagles coming to town. Huntsville is fresh off a near upset of the state ranked (5 th ) Gravette Lions and the Eagles are coming in with some confidence. While we are among the smallest schools in 4 A, they are the second biggest. Huntsville, however, will not be coming in with any particular speed or quickness advantage and the game is winnable.
I hope we can pack the stadium Friday and support our Blackhawks. Win, lose, or draw, they are us. Tulsa tearing it up !
When the old head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks ran offensive coordinator Gus Mahlzahn out of town a couple of years back, the story was that Mahlzahn's "high school offense"just wasn't suited for the complexities of the college game. Well, ol' Gus went to Tulsa and under his play calling and offense, the Golden Hurricane led the nation in offense last year. Lest people forget, the Hogs were 10-1 in 2006 until the Hogs' head coach took the play calling away from Mahlzahn with the team going 0-4 the rest of the way.
This season ? The 6-0 Gold Hurricane leads the nation in scoring (53. 2 points per game ), in total offense (597. 0 yards per games ), in first downs (27 per game ), and passing efficiency (199. 8 ) making 67 percent of their passes. They are well balanced, ranked 7 th nationally in rushing, and 6 th nationally in passing.
Well what do you know ? The old Arkansas coach now coaches at Mississippi and he used that discredited offense to pull off a major upset of the Florida Gators in Gainesville. Most recently, the Mahlzahn conceived offense was used by the lowly Miami Dolphins to pull off an upset win of the defending AFC champion New England Patriots.
The moral of the story ? Prejudice is wrong whether in reference to someone's appearance, someone's station in life, or in someone's ideas. Prejudice usually harms both sides of the equation.
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