Love, Pain, and the Line of Scrimmage

[Danneskjold]

I was, until recently, part of my high school football team. I say recently because we lost friday night in the semi-finals before the state championship. While I was on the team I was able to look into what the make-up of each individual player was, what started him up, and what kept him going. The results I found were unlike what is generally accepted amongst those who I with whom I have discussed this in the past. For those of you who have seen Friday Night Lights or Remember the Titans although there are some truths to those movies, most of them are overblown examples of the ideal of team unity that may or may not be true due to strenuous situations (example being the obvious black white split in Remember the Titans).

So, what starts the football team going on its path to what it hopes to be a State Championship? Well, it's just that really. The bid for the state championship is enough to fuel even the most unenthused player for until the first game. For the first part of the season, there is nothing special about how the football team runs. Each player has stars in their eyes with hopes for holding the trophy at the end of the season. There are, of course, variables to each player's motives. Those who are not working towards the same goal as the team, however, generally lack the motivation past the first few days of the rigorous conditioning training that is mandatory at the beginning of the season. Those who have seen Friday Night Lights probably remember the first scene in which a game of "Bull in the Ring" was played. One man standing in the middle trying desperately not to get knocked over by their teammates charging from outside. For one, no one does this, it's too easy to get a player injured, for two, if it was done it would be by far the most enjoyable part of the practice for every participant. The majority of beginning of the season practices consist of weight lifting, running, blocking sleds, and running plays against air. This is enough to discourage anyone who does not hold the state championship trophy in the highest point of their mind.

Lake Oswego Football Record: 0-0

So, we then move on from the first weeks of practice into the pre-season games. This is the most enjoyable part of the season for many, and the least enjoyable part for a few. The stars and the scrubs have the time of their lives during these days. For the stars the preseason games are like practice, carefree, nothing riding on it, their positions secure. For the scrubs, the group I was in for the bulk of the season, it was our opportunity to clock some time in on Varsity and brag to our friends. It is the borderline players who have thier positions riding on this game. Who will start, who will play the most, and who will watch from the sidelines is often decided in these two or three games. During this point in the season the State Championship Trophy is still fresh in players minds. The scrubs are motivated by their new-found and soon to be lost playing time. They try to prove their worth to the team in a last-hope bid to be play. The borderline starters are motivated by the need to keep their position, and the stars, to put it simply, wouldn't be stars if they had any lack in motivation at any time in their lives. My team played one out of state team, which we routed, then suffered two narrow losses to two of the best teams in the state. 14-13L against Southridge, and 31-20L against Jesuit (Ranked 21st in Nation)

Lake Oswego Football Record 1-2

The first weeks of the regular season can be what defines a team for real. Especially in cases like my team where the team had suffered two narrow, heart-breaking losses. The team can either pull together and rise to the top of their game together, or lose hope and plummet. The team, in our case, pulled together. This did not stop the fact that the practices grew monotonous as we prepared for teams that we were sure to route. The team prepares for each of the games as if it is the biggest of each individual player's life. An idea which is rediculous and is acknowledged as such. Train we do as the team forges on through their next games, this is by no means easy. The stars continue to work hard, their motivation is in the glory they are assured to achieve with the State Championship they have convinced themselves is theirs. This combined with scholarship hopes make what they are playing for very clear in their minds. The middle-players begin to doubt. They know that the State Championship Trophy brings glory, but also know that this glory will go in a large part to the stars. The scrubs, playing mainly in 0 attendance JV games on the day before the game are simply playing for next year. They work to hone their skills in hopes of being the next year's varsity. During this part of the season I personally had suffered a cuncussion and was unable to play for three weeks. My time would have been spent on the bench anyways.

Lake Oswego Football Record 3-2

The middle of the season is when the bonds solidify. It is that time in limbo between when State Championship zeal has started to wear off and when it becomes a trek through a swamp, each step taking more effort than the last. Players are starting to miss their friends, girlfriends, and the ability to goof off. All that has been replaced with a two and a half hour practice plus time spent on chalk talk five days (Sunday through Thursday) a week capped by a game on friday night which is the only time they actually use full pads and full contact. The stars continue, motivated as ever by all that which has been there throughout the season. The role players on the football team form bonds with the team leaders and stars. The team pulls together finally learning to attack problems as a singular unit. This all happens below the surface. The little squabbles and fights between teammates have halted, but the issues between teammates were so small in the first place that no one notices. The scrubs content themselves with their JV games and the hopes to be a part next year. The rare glimmer of hope is seen by them in the form of a shot given to them to possibly play in the varsity game if they play well enough. As the team chugs slowly along the accumulate wins. The coaches play a vital role in keeping the morale of the team high. They are burdened with the job of keeping the team motivated, happy, holding the team's trust, and still figuring out how to beat the team on the opposing sideline.

Lake Oswego Football Record 5-2

Crunch time comes along at the end of the season. The team's bonds are stronger than ever now, having had a chance to solidify into their complete form over the course of the last hard fought wins. Whether or not they know it they are essentially brothers in arms. Each one fighting for the school, the person next to them, the coaches, and of course their pride. This part of the season feels much akin to trudging through molasses. Every step requires the use of every muscle in the body. You can smell the sweat on the mainly unwashed practice uniforms linger in the locker room. No protests are uttered of the long hours, but the cost in spare time and energy are told by the demeanor of the players. This is not to say that the locker room takes on a grim look, it takes on that which you see in school at times. The business-as-usual glaze covering the eyes of the less motivated. The eyes of the stars are glaze free as they forge ahead. The usual goals still strong in their mind. I cannot reiterate enough, if they were not as motivated as they are they would not be stars. The role players on the team pull close to the stars, looking upon them for the motivation to take that next step forward. As the team pulls forward together they gradually get through the monotony that is the final weeks of the regular season. The reason monotony is such a fitting word is because as players every single day is identical to the corresponding day from the previous week. The schedules are followed to the minute with hardly a step of variance. This serves to pound into the mind the fundamentals and essentials of each player's job. The discipline necessary to make sure that the job is done in the end. The scrubs are finally bored. Their game doesn't matter to anyone but them and the coaches. There is no recognition and no glory. Their hopes are still vested in the years ahead. Of course love of the game plays a part in all of these stages. However, none more than this one. By this time love of the game is assumed in every player. They wouldn't have made it without it. The team forges ahead and into first place in their league, conquering their cross-town rivals to clinch the league title and securing a one week by. No game the next friday.

Lake Oswego Football Record: 7-2

Playoffs start. The first week of practice on which my team had a by is full of nervous energy. The roster is being cut down to fifty players and no one knows which sophomores and juniors are going to make it outside the obvious. The practices are what will decide who dawns the uniform that is so cherished by every person in the locker room on gameday. Coming back rested from the day off, with the State Championship Trophy now shining vibrantly in the minds of every player, it is like the first week of the season again. The spirit is renewed, but the bonds remain strong regardless of the fact that no one sees them there. During these weeks is when JV players move up to varsity because of strong performances and that is branded into the mind of every borderline varsity player. This adds to their motivation, squeezing every ounce of effort out of them in practice. The coaches, already having mastered the psychology of their team, are now just pulling chords. The trust they have earned plays a vital role in getting the effort from their players that will decide whether the team brings home the state championship trophy, or is another could have been great team. It was during this time that through hard work I was able to move from being 6th string linebacker and probably not being considered for the post-season roster to 2nd string noseguard.

In the first two playoff games the team faced plenty of adversity, coming out ahead in both contests they had earned the right to be in the final four teams. The teams playing in the state semi-finals.

Lake Oswego Football Record: 9-2

The semi-final game was special indeed. My team faced Southridge, the team we had lost to in the 2nd game of our pre-season by one point. They had disgraced us last time, after their victory at our field they had charged our field. Team, fans, and rally boys, flooding the playing surface, waving their banner over our hallowed grounds. We wanted revenge. The stage was set at PGE Park, the local minor league baseball stadium. The practice that week was rigorous, nothing new, just the same old fundamentals and necessities that we had pounded into our head since we joined the football program. For some of us that had been since third grade. So practice and prepare we did. The vision of the State Championship game in reach. Only Southridge stood in our way. There is really nothing to be said of what motivated the team. The State Championship was there and so visible that no one could help but levitate towards it. That's what we had been working for. In many ways the State Championship is a shell around the football team. It holds it together through the goodtimes and the bad. The bonds between players form below the surface of that shell. This game was special to me. I had been almost guarunteed a chance to play.

Game night rolled around, the team dressed in near silence, loaded onto the bus, and road to PGE Park. We sat in concentrated silence waiting for the game. Each player getting in the zone in their own way. We took the field and went through the same warm-ups as always. Really nothing special.

Game started, neither team scored in the first quarter. Southridge had driven on us taking the ball to our thirty yard-line before being stopped. I will remember that stop for the rest of my life because that's when I was put in. Not only was I put in for the first of many times that game, but I also got a crucial third down tackle when Southridge had one yard to go to the first. It would be one of three solo tackles I had that night. We scored in the second quarter, only to be answered with a touchdown pass in the last seconds of the half that can only be described as luck.

Lake Oswego vs. Southridge High Score at the Half: 7-7 Tie.

The teams came out after half time ready to play, and to spare you the details, they routed us in the second half. They outscored us twenty to zero after halftime and walked off the field the victors. We walked back into the locker room dejected. No one said a word as tears streamed down the faces of my friends.

Lake Oswego vs. Southridge High Final Score: 27-7 Southridge victorious.

We sat in the locker room dejected, each wanting to run back onto the field and play the game again. Seniors, the core of the team, openly sobbed as they sat with their heads in their palms. The Juniors and underclassmen cried as well, our dream, our goal, and our purpose, had all been snatched away because of a poor second half. Nothing could have hurt more, or so we thought. Then we looked around, fully realizing that the seniors that had been leaders and friends to us had, for the most part, walked off of a football field for the very last time as players. The majority would never again put on the gear that we had previously worn so proudly. It was at that moment that the state championship goal, the shell around our football team truly shattered. We realized that it was all over as we sat there. As the coach who we so loved and respected stood in front of us, tearing up himself, the pieces of the cracked and shattered shell of our team fell away. However, instead of falling apart as we should have, the bonds that had formed below the surface held the team together. We respected each other as warriors, each looked at the other as a friend and peer, and above all we each loved each other like brothers. Hugs spread around the locker room, tears continued to be shed, and promises were made to carry on tradition and not end up the same way next year, for thirty minutes without end.

We loaded onto the buses and sat, for the most part, quietly all the way back to our school. Some final goodbyes were said, and each teammate went their respective way home. Tomorrow we turn in our gear (or today) and next week is the senior banquet. After that the only relation we will have to each other is the occasional nod or pass in the hall, and the knowledge of the bond that we share as brothers on the football team.

Lake Oswego High School Football Team 2006: Forever remembered by those who were a part.

If anybody has a question I will be more than happy to answer.

[Chris Grieb]

Great post. As I said earlier sorry about the loss. As someone who never did sports I very impressed by people who do sports well. I'm also impressed by the whole concept of teamwork. Do post more about the whole subject. Your posts are always interesting. Thanks for what you add to the forum.

[Danneskjold]

I must confess, I did not do this in all the detail I could have. I concentrated too much on the role of the players and how they bonded and left out vital details such as how the coaches bonded with the players. You'll have to forgive me, it took me about five hours to write that. I didn't even edit it. I finished it at about four and started it at about eleven. I'm posting from school (not necessarily smart to go 'till four in the morning writing an essay for a forum when you have school at 7:30, but I drank a pot of coffee so I'm doing alright) right now in fact.

The role of the coaches in all this was huge to say the least. There is no man aside from my father that I respect more than my head coach, Coach Coury. A team never unifies if it can't win, and when it comes down to two evenly matched teams, the more unified team will win. Team unity is part of what we call the "Laker State of Mind" (Lakers being our team name). As the players sit and brood over the amount of time they spend doing school and at practice instead of having unscheduled fun, the coaches hold up jobs, often teaching, and find time to watch, usually, three of our opponent's game films, help us practice, and organize events for us. They give us something to rally behind, and more importantly gently push us along the path to unity. Motivation is a huge part of what our coaches do for us. They sell us the system, chalk full of ideas, and we buy into it. The most prominent of which is the Laker State of Mind. This is why Laker Football is such a big deal to all of us. Laker State of Mind is summed up in a poem that Coach Coury recites before every game.

I am currently getting booted off the computer by a class in need of a lab. I'll post more in a little bit.

Sorry it's slightly scatter-brained, too mach caffeine in my system.

Ok, I'm back long enough to jot down the poem recited to us before most every game:

If you think you'll lose you've lost

If you think you dare not you don't

If you'd like to win but think you can't it's almost a sense you won't

If you think you're beaten you are

For out in this world you'll find

Success begins with a fellow's will

It's all in the state of mind

Many races are lost before a single step is run

Many cowards fall before their work is done

Think big your dreams will grow

Think small you'll fall behind

Think that you can and you will

It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclass you are

You gotta think high to rise

You gotta be damn sure of yourself before you ever win a prize

Men, life's battles don't always go to the bigger, faster, or stronger man

Sooner or later the battle goes to the one who thinks he can.

That poem has become sacred to me since the first time I heard it. The passion with which it is said speaks volumes about the man who speaks it. It is no suprise that my entire team rallies behind this man, and will follow him to the end of the earth. He is truly the single largest unifying factor in the football organization. His uncanny ability to treat us like men when we deserve, and reprimand us like boys when we don't, each time while continuing his fatherly guidance and demeanor. I know that for some of my teammates he is the closest thing to a father they have. The proof of his greatness, however, does not lie in his words, his actions, or even his devotion, although these all play into it and are certainly good pieces of evidence. The proof is that each and every year, whether with good or bad talent, he leads our football team into the top ranks of the teams in the state. He is a man that I can truly say that I am proud to be associated with, and that I am a better man because I am associated with him.

Edited December 4, 2006 by Danneskjold