REASONABLE VIOLENCE

Even the NFL can't figure out what to do to control the violence in football. Every Sunday, more than ever before, there is a concussion and a gurney on the field carting off another player with a severe life-altering injury. Two weeks ago it was DeSean Jackson. This week it was Colts wide receiver Austin Collie. Throw in a casual concussion to starting right guard, Max Jean-Giles that nobody even saw.

Despite the severity of the injury, the Eagles safety, Kurt Coleman was assessed a penalty on the play, resulting in a touchdown for the Colts and nearly a loss of the game for the Eagles. Fans thought that Coleman was going to be levied the same fines as other recent violent offenders. Eagles linebacker Ernie Sims was fined $50,000 for his recent hit in the Titans game. A hit by Packer's safety Nick Collins on Dallas receiver Roy Williams cost him the same amount. This was nothing compared to the fines on a Steeler linebacker who was fined $100,000 for several flagrant hits.

Problem is that officials, the league office, and even the players don't agree on what defines a flagrant hit. Roy Williams, the Dallas player who was the victim of the hit by Collins said, "Commission Goodell, don't fine the guy. It wasn't that bad of a deal, he shouldn't get fined. It was a football play, a football player making a football play. No injury, no harm." So Williams criteria for a violation is based on the extent of the injury. Problem is, that can't be assessed at the time of the play, unless the appearance of the gurney alone constitutes a reason for a $50,000 fine to somebody.

So if several guys are included in a hit, as is often the case in football, who do you fine? Both safeties, Kurt Coleman and Quintin Mikell hit Collins at the same time. As a result, the Eagles Coleman was not fined. The reason stated was: "Because the helmet-to-helmet contact was a result of Collie being driven toward Coleman by Mikell's legal hit, there will be no fine for this action." The play did receive a penalty for unnecessary roughness and almost cost the Eagles the game. So the referees were wrong on this one or were they right? The gurney did appear on the field, but it was deemed inadvertant.

Seems the real problem is that you can't legislate intent or level of violence. Football is a violent game, and can only be made reasonable by the choices of the players involved. A player knows when another player is going "head hunting". The culture in football that breeds and rewards challenging people at this level are trying to change the way the game is played. It has always been a rough and tumble game, but you don't want it to become a game where the end justifies the means and surviving hits that will maim people for life is the sign of a real man.

Whenever we are ready to make it change, just turn off your TV set for several Sundays and watch what happens. Bet the league office will move quickly to suspend players for games or the season and really mean it. Since football is as popular as ever, and people love the big hits, it turns out that we are the violent ones and the players are only imitating real life.

WEAKNESSES AS OVERDONE STRENGTHS

In a recent 37-19 loss to the Tennessee Titans on October 24, Eagles cornerback Ellis Hobbs was torched by Titans wide receiver Kenny Britt for 7 catches, 225 yards and three touchdowns. Hobbs did not seem himself and was several steps slower than Britt on numerous occasions. Turns out that Hobbs had been bothered by a hip flexor strain. His injury was not reported in the Eagles official injury report as he never informed the coaches or the medical staff of his injury.

When questioned about Hobbs performance, Head Coach Andy Reid said: "You're dealing with a very tough individual who's very quiet and doesn't say much...He's a tough nut and a very good football player." Turns out Hobbs toughness got overdone and turned into a liability for his team. Like the rest of us, his weakness was an overdone strength. Football players learn to play hurt. There is a fine line between pushing yourself to play hurt and hurting the team because you can't perform. It's a hard line to distinguish. It's not much different than the good listener who overdoes it to become too passive. Or the person who can tolerate great stress but overloads in the end because they never felt it coming.

People's greatest weaknesses truly are overdone strengths. Just ask Ellis Hobbs......

PASSION, NOT EMOTION

Doug Collins, new head coach of the Philadlelphia 76'ers basketball team, made an interesting point to his team recently. After a loss when the team lost by 13 points to the Indiana Pacers to go 0-3 on the season, he said: "It's one thing playing passionately and it's another playing emotionally. You can't play basketball emotionally." While his choice of words was confusing, I think he was making a valid point to his young team. I think he was describing the difference between playing scared and playing quietly angry to prevent the opponent from taking from you what you deserve. The latter is passionate. The former is emotional overload.

When athletes are scared, they don't trust each other. They lose faith in the team concept and try to win the game single handedly. Andre Iquadola, the MVP of the team described it this way: "We're playing a little selfish....on the court we're a little too selfish instead of looking out for one another to play better basketball as a unit." As one writer described it, they were over-dribbling and attacking the basket one-on-one without much success. In fact, the Pacers were able to take full advantage of this style of play, making dunk after dunk in transition, only adding insult to injury.

I don't believe that Andre's choice of words were any better than Coach Collins. As many people tend to do, athletes and non-athletes alike, they describe other people's actions as character issues. Iguadola used the word "selfish". That is a character issue and misses the real point. The problem is fear and distrust of the team concept. It is not a character problem. Character problems are not fixable unless you get rid of the "selfish" player. Fear can be managed differently through reassurance, training, and repetition.

Doug Collins has his hands full this year. He has a young team and needs to understand the power of fear to unravel this team. My only hope is that his years of personal experience as a coach and player gives him the tools to address the psychological needs of the team and get the most out of the limited talent that he has inherited.