LOVE OF THE GAME

One of the truisms in sport is that playing for the love of the game is the best reason to play a sport. If you are playing to please a parent or coach, make money, or for the fame and glory, you will be sorely disappointed. Your father or mother may not approve of what you are doing. Your coach will yell at you sometimes. You may not get the contract that you hoped for. And fans are fickle, pulling for you one minute and throwing beer at you the next.

The one thing that pulls you through all that adversity is the love of the game.....playing your sport your way and the right way. It is great to see that two of the Philadelphia coaches, Doug Collins of the 76ers and Peter Laviolette of the Flyers, seem to agree with that idea. The 76ers are a young team and learning how to win. They have lost many games so far in the this season due to making mistakes in the last minutes when it mattered most. Their record is 5-14 in games decided by 8 or fewer points. They are 1-7 in games when the difference is less than 5 points.

Collins solution is to preach the love of the game. Central to that idea is to respect for the game itself and what it can teach you. As he is often heard saying to his players, "You can't cheat the game.....I don' t think I ever evaluated myself as a person until I got my heart broken in some way. Where was I going to with that?.....The strength of the human is in those moments."

Laviolette believes in teaching the love of the game. His methods are different because he has a veteran team who playing great hockey and are first in their division nearing the half-way point of the season. His problem is to keep them at the top. So how does he remind them of the love of the game? He schedules an outdoor practice in Central Park yesterday before the Ranger game today. Playing outdoors reminds the players of playing as a kid on frozen ponds, one of the things that brings fond memories to the players. Listen to what several of them said: "Skating outside is just a lot of fun. (Danny Briere)......It's fun to get out here and get back to your roots (Matt Carle)...Sometimes you need these kinds of days....It just makes you think of why you play hockey (Claude Giroux)".

Two great coaches who understand their sport and the love of the game.