Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books

24/7 College Football, Washington State Cougars

24/7 College Football, Washington State Cougars

This week I watched: 24/7 College Football, Washington State Cougars.

This HBO documentary covers one week in the Washington State Cougars college football season.

Of course, I am biased.

Mike Leach coached at Texas Tech while I was an undergraduate there.

Leach’s unique style of play under his “Air Raid” offense does something unique:

It allows smaller, less talent rich schools, to compete with larger ones.

By spreading the football field sideline to sideline, his teams are able to put large points on the board and force their opponents to score at the same rate in order to compete.

“We might lose.” We used to say,” But you’re going to have to score 50 points to beat us!”

Mike Leach is a football treasure.

Find the trailer here:

When You Realize Heroes Can Die Too

When You Realize Heroes Can Die Too
How unfortunate it is when we finally realize heroes will die too.

That person who seemed bulletproof one day shows a weakness.

This probably happens for the first time with our parents.

Eventually, it hits you. They are getting older. They can’t solve all your problems.

And your dad might not be the strongest man in the world.

What age does this even happen?

Six? Seven? Maybe, Eight?

You immediately wish you could go back.

And no – football is nothing to base a life on.

He’d coach for several more years, but now everyone realized that Iron Mike could die. “You knew he was going to flare out at some point,” Danny White told me. “Nobody can go on at that pace. He’s either going to have a breakdown, or he’s got to get out of the game. Landry coached for twenty-nine years, but you can only do that if you have a calm demeanor and a balance in your life, something other than football. But to Mike, football was life. And it’s not something to base a life on. It’s not dependable. That’s what Walter [Payton] said about the fame and fortune of football: it’s vapor. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Somebody breaks the records, the money gets spent, and it’s over before you know it.”

-Rich Cohen, Monsters

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