One Boomer Sports Fan Solution

How To Help Oregon Stand Up

via oregonlive.com

The worst thing about sports isn’t losing.

The best thing isn’t winning.

With games, matches, and contests happening at a faster pace than ever, how do you make sense of them?

It’s a secret only found after questioning the time athletes spend getting ready, and the time fans invest watching the results of all that preparation.

Boomerpdx goes the extra mile to find the secret. Make that the extra 300 miles.

In sports as in life, the worst thing you can see in others is apathy. The “I don’t care” attitude.

That’s when fans find a new team, when athletes find another sport.

If that doesn’t happen, then the downward spiral spins faster and tighter until both parties bottom out.

Oregon Duck football has a spin going in their season. It’s a spin cycle rinsed in apathy. Some players say the Rose Bowl isn’t important enough to them, as if one win every hundred years fills that need.

Don’t point fingers at the new head coach. Apparently he’s still learning on the job.

One coach who isn’t learning on the job is Mike Riley at Oregon State. Does anyone do more with less? How many five star guys get up one day and say, “I want to be a Beaver. The heck with LSU and Alabama, I’m going to Corvallis.”

One thing is certain here. After they leave OSU they’re glad they made the choice.

A boomerpdx consultant, a man who understands the benefit of business structure, suggested Coach Riley be named the CEO of College Football for the state of Oregon. From that position he would recruit and name coaches for each school.

Why is he the man for the job? He’s seen the game from top to bottom, from the kid game to the NFL. Forget about the miracles he’s worked at Reser Stadium? No, but remember the guys in his program. Have any of them said the Rose Bowl would be second-rate to them?

You’re probably thinking the CEO job is too big for one man? Then put him in charge of the PAC12 teams in Oregon. From that chair he could mentor young Coach Helfrich down in Eugene. It would sound like this:

“Your last guy here, y’know, Chip Kelly, said, “Win The Day.” It came out as WTD everywhere. And I loved it. But what happened? Now it’s win the day when you think it matters enough. You need to tell your team that every day is the day, that every game day is the day.

“Before you leave the locker room, remind the team that game day defines their season. Up until the last whistle they’ve done nothing that matters. All the prep and conditioning and study? Everyone does that. Not everyone applies the work to the field. If you’re going to be somebody, this is the day. If you’re going to matter more than you do now in football, now is the time. Who are you? Who will you be in one hour? I want to know. Let’s go.”

The best part of sport isn’t winning. It’s seeing the effort to make a difference that pulls you into the players’ game world. Your life may not be everything you dreamed of, but when your team marches up and down the field with meaning, the dream is vivid.

Winners do what losers won’t do. They engage in the struggle, push their teammates, and give their fans the dreams of glory that lay hidden.