Troy University Athletics
Getting Ready to Go
8/22/2008 5:00:00 AM | Football
Tale of the Tape
Thursday, August 21
Tonight's practice was a “Mock
Scrimmage”...and again, not what I initially expected, but thought provoking,
nonetheless. While on the sidelines of a mock scrimmage, your mind tends to
wander a bit. Amidst ponderings of various kinds, the question of the
redundancy of the two words in question arose (by me).
Let's take a minute to
analyze these two words:
A scrimmage is an
exhibition game, an informal match between two competitors which does not go on
record.
Not only were we scrimmaging
against ourselves; tonight's scrimmage, at times, was against NO
competitors...nobody. Yes, you heard me: nothing on the other side but A-I-R!
Now, let's use a word to describe the scrimmage in
more detail: mock. That
would indicate objects which are
simulated, mimicking the behavior of real objects in controlled ways. Again, we
mimicked a defense being on the opposite side of the ball.
There was a time or two when
we even mimicked catching a ball...and I reiterated the basics of catching the
ball before attempting to run with
it. I think it was advice well taken.
I know we're all saying the
same things, but it's hard to imagine that a week from now we'll have completed
our first game of the season.
The first game, especially
since it's on the road, is a critical one for our staff and students.
Chuck (Ash) has been here
since like they built the stadium or something, so he has an idea of how things
will work. He's a “concepts” kind of guy, for those of you that don't know him
well. It's the other eight of us that deal with the “details” that are a little
green and anxious about the upcoming trip.
There are lists about lists
about the list of things to take on the road. Tuesday night is loading night
and we'll check and re-check like Santa on Christmas Eve to make sure we have
everything we need.
It's basically like taking
at least one of everything in our 7,500 square feet athletic training room and
packing it into four trunks on wheels. Those, in turn, load up with about 30
coolers, six caddies and a few extras. Then it's all stuffed into a semi truck
with the other important things necessary to play a football game.
Be prepared for the worst
and you'll know what to expect when it happens is a good rule of thumb. Let's
just hope we don't forget anything! I'm sure you'll be able to hear Chuck
yelling from the sidelines if we do...
See you in
GO TROJANS!
Alyson
