On the TunneySide of Sports October 19, 2015 #563 Up next: “Keep Your Fork!”
After further review…It’s an American tradition that’s part of our folklore: after mom or grandma planned, prepared, cooked, and served the big family dinner on Sunday afternoon, while the dishes were being cleared, she would say, “Keep your fork!” To all those crowded around the table that meant, “Yum, somethin’s good’s a-comin’!” Some might visualize it as pie a la mode, or chocolate cake, but whatever lay ahead, it was gonna be good! Perhaps that’s what Chicago Cubs fans are thinking today, having kept their forks close at hand for decades.
As we approach mid-season in the high school, college, and/or professional football worlds, some fans have begun to lose confidence in their T*E*A*M. They’ve already put away their forks! A few fans have even said they’re not sure its football their team is playing, that it’s more like a bunch of people wandering around the pasture looking for their lost keys.
Is your team’s season over and it’s still October? Have you abandoned them because they’ve already lost more games than they have won and, thus, been pretty much eliminated from the playoffs? Is that why fans attend games – for the playoffs? Are today’s fans too finicky? If members of your family were playing or coaching, would you abandon them if they were losing?
Herm Edwards, former head coach of the New York Jets (and subsequent head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, now an ESPN analyst) is clear on this topic. In his rookie season as a head coach in 2001 the Jets finished 9-7, a good start. However, in October 2002 his T*E*A*M was 1-3 and the coach was facing a room of frustrated New York reporters. One of the reporter’s questions strongly implied that the 2002 season was lost; was Coach Edwards thinking of abandoning this season to prepare for the next? Edwards’ response was classic Herm!
“You play to win the game!”
“Hello?”
“You play to win the game! That’s the great thing about sports, you play to win. I don’t care if you don’t have any wins, you play to win! If you’re telling me, it doesn’t matter, get out, ‘cause it does matter!” Edwards response was emphatic. It’s a central belief of his, throughout his playing and coaching career, and in his personal career as well. “There’s no quit in my dictionary.” he has often said. “The possibilities always lie ahead of you, not behind you!”
Will you follow the Edwards Code and “keep your fork?”
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