I remember an old song that had these lines: “Mama said there’d be days like this, there’d be days like this mama said”. When my three sons were all young I can remember so many times when as a parent you would wonder if they were ever going to grow up and learn from they’re silly mistakes. Saturdays 31-7 loss to Morningside gave brought back of the same recollections. Joe Paterno once said the “Will to Win is not nearly as important as the Will to Prepare”. When we think back about our youth we tend to remember sunny days and the simple times which life once was; rarely, do we remember a sense of urgency in those days. Morningside was a good football team and we needed to start the game fast with a high tempo and be very sharp. That takes a specific attitude and a mind-set of readiness. We fell a little shy of that and suffered the consequences. We turned the ball over twice in bad field position which resulted in 10 points for our opponents and we overthrew a ball to a wide open receiver from the 8 yd line for another turnover. The game probably should have ended 14-21 and maybe we would feel somewhat better about our day – But, that is all make believe and we can choose to believe what we want to. One of the best teaching tools in sports revolves around learning from our mistakes, picking ourselves up just one more time and building a steadfast spirit of belief in ourselves. We have just such a task in front of us now. My three sons’ have all grown up; they have learned from silly mistakes and have become strong leaders. I believe this team will too. Mama was right, there would be days like this; but, she also said: “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath-water”.
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