Friday, December 7, 2007

Night Football

Remember the scene from "Invincible" – the football movie staring Mark Wahlberg – when Wahlberg and his friends play in the rain on a muddy field at night using their car lights to light the field?

That’s what the latter stages of Air Force’s Friday practice looked like. Save for the car lights.

From the parking lot east of the field – maybe 30 yards away – you couldn’t see any players. But you could hear them hooting, hollering and loving every minute of practice.

Calhoun has said all season that one of the things that sets the 2007 team apart is the players’ love for the game. They even love practice, he says. That was apparent on Friday night as they battled the cold, a steady, sleety rain and darkness.

But nobody complained or batted an eye when Calhoun told the players they'd be outside in 30-degree temperatures and freezing rain.

“They just said, ‘Pad up, and here we go,’” Calhoun said. “That’s just our guys, attitude-wise. They’d rather be outside.”

“It was fun,” senior inside linebacker Drew Fowler said. “Just to get out here and play. It was kind of like backyard football there.

“It got tough there at the end. Everything was blending in with everybody.”

Not tough enough for Calhoun. “I wanted it to be a little darker,” he joked.

“As long as you’ve got some decent footing, I want to practice outside. I just think you get so much more done, and I think the elements are real in football. This isn’t a sport that you only play when it’s between 68 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. I just think you’ve got to train that way.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this report, Jake. It's great to hear that our guys are out there practicing in inclement weather, and loving every minute of it! These kids are awesome!

Anonymous said...

Jake,

You painted a beautiful picture with this description of practice. My wife and I were both smiling when we read this. You have to cheer for a team that has this type of enthusiasm. I hope that the bowl game is another big win for them.

Anonymous said...

Should there be a Salary Cap in Football?
Personally I think there should be! It’s just getting to be stupid money in football at the top of the premiership!
It’s always the same teams at the top proving that football success is based purely on money which ruins the idea of it being a sport! They’ve done it in rugby, basketball, hockey and American football and it makes the sports more competitive and better to watch!
I do a little Spread Betting from time to time and most matches don’t hold much surprise who is going to win, its boring! I want to see a team at the bottom pulling off an amazing season beating last seasons winners in a close fought battle!
Make things fair! It shouldn’t be about money!
Plus!
All there is all that money in the premiership and barely any of it stays in the UK so it’s not even helping the economy!
From my Spread Betting (or more precisely Football Spread Betting) if I ever win big (which is never, I’m unlucky) it’s still nothing compared to the average premiership players weekly wage!