Warrior-Mentor
01-08-2007, 03:40
Watch the Sunday talking heads or the up coming Senate and House Armed Services Committee hearings on the war in Iraq and you’re going to hear at least one question over and over…
Are we winning?
Back in December, LTG Lovelace, the Operations Officer of the Army had to answer that question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYxLIthpOQ
During his confirmation hearings, Dr. Gates surprised many when he answered “No.”
The reality is that the current situation in Iraq is a complicated one that is difficult to answer in a word, a sentence or even in the hour format afforded the talking heads.
Indulge me while I give it a shot.
If you look at the score board, we’re tied at the half.
Why all the Chicken Littles out there?
Expectation management. We are the returning Super Bowl Champions. We won our last big game in the first 100 hours.
We went into this game 28 point favorites. We lived up to that expectation when we started this game out by returning the opening kick off for a touch-down. The mission wasn’t accomplished, but it was an impressive opening.
As usual, we’re playing an away game. The stadium is filled with a hostile crowd routing for the other team. The refs (media) know this and fear the crowd rioting. This isn’t an American crowd that will stay in the stands if they don’t like the call. Besides, watching the Super-Bowl Champions beat up on a rag-tag pick-up team isn’t good for ratings. And ratings = money. It seams everyone loves an under dog.
But let me back-up first.
We had a great pre-season. Our team trained hard in camp. The players came together and learned the play book. We thought we were well prepared. We know the rules and we play fair. No one cares about that.
An interesting thing happened on the way to the game. We changed head coaches. It wasn’t an arbitrary decision, you see it’s the law. I’m just not sure it’s the best way to go in to a fight. Perhaps the coach that has to call the plays should be the one who prepares his team. So that may warrant further evaluation by the front office and Monday morning quarterbacks.
Shortly after the opening kick off return, the rules changed. We’re still learning the rules. Although our team stayed in uniform, our opponents did not. Fans started running onto the field and we had to control the crowd while simultaneously trying to play the game. It seems security didn’t get paid, so they stayed home.
We were surprised when unnecessary roughness (Abu ghraib) yielded 21 points in lieu of a 15 yard penalty. We just couldn’t get that instant replay off the jumbo-tron. For some reason, the camera crew consistently fails to follow the ball and show us scoring. As a result, our points are never put on the score board.
In order to overcome this, I propose we allow our players to carry video cameras on the field. Every time we score, they can upload their own proof on YouTube. It will be another task for them to learn and will take some training. Our guys are smart and they learn quickly. Needless to say, we’ll have to balance cameras with blocking, running and passing. But at least we stand a better chance of getting our scores on the screen and more importantly on the score board.
Bottom line, we’re revamping our offense. We started the season with aerial offense that is second to none. We’ve learned that the weather, the field conditions here just aren’t conducive to that offense. We’re now emphasizing our running game. It’s nowhere near as fast as our passing game, but it’s the only one that works when you have this many fans on the field.
One of the other things we’ve been doing on the sidelines is integrating the home town players into our offense. We’re adding the wishbone to our offense and have been successful with some of our shuffle passes. It’s especially challenging, because they didn’t attend our training camp. Sometimes they’re in our huddle and sometimes they’re not.
I have confidence in our new offensive coordinator, LTG Petraeus. He has played here before and knows the wishbone and COIN. He understands what needs to happen.
Lest I forget to mention, in order to help with the unruly crowd, we’re simultaneously fixing the stadium. It’s especially tough, because the coliseum is full…standing room only.
Never the less we will continue to play the game. We’re not one to pack up and go home because the other team isn’t playing fair. Our players are learning our opponents tricks and how to counter them. We’ve kicked a bunch of field goals and tied the score.
We’ve hurt or killed a lot more of their “players” than they have ours. Unfortunately, some fans have been lost in the fray as well. Our players knew the risk when they signed up for the team. They volunteered and did everything they could to help contribute to our success. We owe them our eternal thanks.
To sum up, we’re regrouping and it will be a tough second half. This is the first half of the first game of a long season. Yet some want to make it sound as if it’s the final seconds of a play-off game. Let’s keep things in perspective.
One thing’s for sure. If we go home, we won’t win.
As for our prospects for the season, they’re good. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. The guys we play next week will be studying the tapes from this game. And if you don’t think so, you’re crazy.
Are we winning?
Back in December, LTG Lovelace, the Operations Officer of the Army had to answer that question:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYxLIthpOQ
During his confirmation hearings, Dr. Gates surprised many when he answered “No.”
The reality is that the current situation in Iraq is a complicated one that is difficult to answer in a word, a sentence or even in the hour format afforded the talking heads.
Indulge me while I give it a shot.
If you look at the score board, we’re tied at the half.
Why all the Chicken Littles out there?
Expectation management. We are the returning Super Bowl Champions. We won our last big game in the first 100 hours.
We went into this game 28 point favorites. We lived up to that expectation when we started this game out by returning the opening kick off for a touch-down. The mission wasn’t accomplished, but it was an impressive opening.
As usual, we’re playing an away game. The stadium is filled with a hostile crowd routing for the other team. The refs (media) know this and fear the crowd rioting. This isn’t an American crowd that will stay in the stands if they don’t like the call. Besides, watching the Super-Bowl Champions beat up on a rag-tag pick-up team isn’t good for ratings. And ratings = money. It seams everyone loves an under dog.
But let me back-up first.
We had a great pre-season. Our team trained hard in camp. The players came together and learned the play book. We thought we were well prepared. We know the rules and we play fair. No one cares about that.
An interesting thing happened on the way to the game. We changed head coaches. It wasn’t an arbitrary decision, you see it’s the law. I’m just not sure it’s the best way to go in to a fight. Perhaps the coach that has to call the plays should be the one who prepares his team. So that may warrant further evaluation by the front office and Monday morning quarterbacks.
Shortly after the opening kick off return, the rules changed. We’re still learning the rules. Although our team stayed in uniform, our opponents did not. Fans started running onto the field and we had to control the crowd while simultaneously trying to play the game. It seems security didn’t get paid, so they stayed home.
We were surprised when unnecessary roughness (Abu ghraib) yielded 21 points in lieu of a 15 yard penalty. We just couldn’t get that instant replay off the jumbo-tron. For some reason, the camera crew consistently fails to follow the ball and show us scoring. As a result, our points are never put on the score board.
In order to overcome this, I propose we allow our players to carry video cameras on the field. Every time we score, they can upload their own proof on YouTube. It will be another task for them to learn and will take some training. Our guys are smart and they learn quickly. Needless to say, we’ll have to balance cameras with blocking, running and passing. But at least we stand a better chance of getting our scores on the screen and more importantly on the score board.
Bottom line, we’re revamping our offense. We started the season with aerial offense that is second to none. We’ve learned that the weather, the field conditions here just aren’t conducive to that offense. We’re now emphasizing our running game. It’s nowhere near as fast as our passing game, but it’s the only one that works when you have this many fans on the field.
One of the other things we’ve been doing on the sidelines is integrating the home town players into our offense. We’re adding the wishbone to our offense and have been successful with some of our shuffle passes. It’s especially challenging, because they didn’t attend our training camp. Sometimes they’re in our huddle and sometimes they’re not.
I have confidence in our new offensive coordinator, LTG Petraeus. He has played here before and knows the wishbone and COIN. He understands what needs to happen.
Lest I forget to mention, in order to help with the unruly crowd, we’re simultaneously fixing the stadium. It’s especially tough, because the coliseum is full…standing room only.
Never the less we will continue to play the game. We’re not one to pack up and go home because the other team isn’t playing fair. Our players are learning our opponents tricks and how to counter them. We’ve kicked a bunch of field goals and tied the score.
We’ve hurt or killed a lot more of their “players” than they have ours. Unfortunately, some fans have been lost in the fray as well. Our players knew the risk when they signed up for the team. They volunteered and did everything they could to help contribute to our success. We owe them our eternal thanks.
To sum up, we’re regrouping and it will be a tough second half. This is the first half of the first game of a long season. Yet some want to make it sound as if it’s the final seconds of a play-off game. Let’s keep things in perspective.
One thing’s for sure. If we go home, we won’t win.
As for our prospects for the season, they’re good. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. The guys we play next week will be studying the tapes from this game. And if you don’t think so, you’re crazy.