What are they playing for?

106 players are going to take the field tomorrow for the Super Bowl, the National Championship.

I am fascinated by the thoughts and emotions of athletes. I love favorite foods, I appreciate the skill, the hard work, the stats. I love all of it. In many ways the most perplexing part of sports is the psychology of athletes. What gets them to tick?

Some athletes need kicking and screaming from coaches, others need comfort and encouragement. It's possible you have some of those different personalities on the same team. Coaches might actually need to coach different players differently.

In order to be successful many people and athletes need 2 negative things to piss them off and motivate them to work hard and then something positive said to keep their confidence up.

I wonder why athletes can and will push themselves to such great lengths for something that they often consider to be "just a game?"

I just watched the movie "The Express" about Ernie Davis and somehow thought of this subject to write about. I felt that the movie was one of the best movies that I had seen in a long time. It was inspirational. I'm not the kind of person who pays attention to movie critics or movie awards but I do hope that it was received well.

The mental part of sports is probably the least talked about part. Yet it's probably the most crucial one. When I pick games I often think about my gut feeling. I think "who is most motivated," "who has the most to play for?" and "who is most confident?" before I will ever look into game film and stats. Are game film and stats important? yes! At the same time the mentality of a team and an athlete is extremely crucial.

I asked Maya Moore, "What's the difference between a good and a bad practice?" She simply stated, focus. Focus is a mental thing. Look in the eyes of Renee Montgomery this year and you will see someone who clearly looks possessed to win. That counts for a lot in my book. She has been a winner and a great leader. I'd take her first with the first pick in the WNBA draft for her intangibles.

So if focus and determination is so important, why is it always overlooked? When I go into the weightroom and work out my intensity level changes from day to day. I don't think I've ever had a bad workout when I am mad. Somehow I can channel my negative emotions into something positive. Often times when I am in a happy mood I struggle to have good workouts. I often need to be pissed off, or make myself think that I am being chased or being looked down upon in order to bring out 110% in the weightroom. On other occasions I seem to be able to give 110% because I am trying to reach a goal, or I was motivated by someone I met, or a story I heard. How is it that athletes can almost constantly keep their intensity level up when they themselves are looked up to and viewed as role models. People are telling them how great they are, yet they work so hard it was as if they were told they lost by 50.

I wonder how big of a role the coach has on the mental part of the game. How crucial is it that they set the right tone for every game and every situation within the game. Is it more important to have high emotional intelligence or an amazing knowledge of the game?

Always look to see what's motivating an athlete. In Ernie Davis's case in "The Express" it was to make a point about race relations. He was playing to make a point and inspire many young African Americans. I wonder how many athletes are playing for something like that?

Several of the women's basketball players are playing to glorify god. When I workout I play to prove to myself that I can do the impossible. I feel like so many people have doubted me. I want to prove them wrong. I have little doubt that there are a lot of athletes who would use this as motivation.

How much of the mental part of the game is just genetic or ingrained? What role does upbringing have?

For example, my parents have always made me work and do chores for my family, even if we are guests. I am expected to give 110%, to hustle and not be lazy

Yet hustle plays, where someone gets after it would seem to be so different from clutch plays where finesse is involved. When Adam Vinateri and Cory Bildstein made their game winning kicks I am guessing that they were drawing from confidence that has been given to them along the line by their parents or by their coaches.
When Don Beebe went after Leon Lett to save another touchdown from scoring in a blowout victory I am guessing that he was drawing from an instinct or will to win and hustle that stems from hating losing when he was younger or from an upbringing that demanded hard work and discipline.

Confidence is also a really funny thing. It's so easy to lose and it's so hard to get. How do you build confidence in people that don't have much? Confidence is something that can really hurt people. A lack of it can cause an even greater lack in confidence later. Can people give athletes confidence in their abilities or do they actually need to do something themselves in order to gain confidence in their abilities.

Something has to motivate athletes. Something has to keep them focused, and to keep them training at 5am, to have them lift until they can no longer move and run until they drop. They push themselves to their limits, (and have the confidence to do so) yet they all seem to do it for different reasons. I will be looking for a lot from the Super Bowl. I would love to know who everybody is playing for, what motivated them when the going got tough? Those are just a few of the things that will fascinate me about this Super Bowl. What events in life got these 106 players to be where they are now. What will be going through their minds right before a crucial play? What will go through their heads that will get them to keep pushing the pile? Who will a person draw confidence from in a pressure situation?

This may not make a whole lot of sense, or it may seem spacey, and I apologize for that. However, I find the mental part of sports to be fascinating. I am just talking about it in an unorganized way to make you think.