...and back Coach Leach in the inquiry regarding his suspension for mistreating a player. While the facts aren't really known yet, what we do know suggests to me a more likely scenario of a special kid seeking revenge than a coach with a clean record suddenly becoming a sadist. A few things we know.
- The kid is the son of a former NFL player and ESPN analyst. Aha, the kid with the famous dad syndrome, having to live up to his father's past glory.
- Several days before the incident the kid was reprimanded for poor effort. Not performance, effort, during practice, I played football for a year in college. Poor effort to me suggests you really don't want to be there. Football is a brutal game, and you get off on it or you don't. I think the kid is likely there not for love of football but because of a need to please dad. More likely than the coach suddenly changing the way he does things.
- The team doctor said the so-called punishment, standing in a small dark room during practice, actually improved the kid's mild concussion. This of course may be self-serving.
I can hear the laughter coming from all the rugby players around the world about now. American football is a game for wimps in comparison, and maybe the kid is a wimp among wimps.
I have no idea what really happened but my reading of human nature puts me on the side of the coach. My gut feeling tells me this is about the kid and his dad more than about the kid and the coach. We'll see.
LATER. Didn't take long. The university fired the coach, the politically correct but the wrong thing to do as far as I'm concerned. It won't take Leach long to find another job since he's a good coach. Now the rugby players are howling!
No comments:
Post a Comment