I get frustrated when I don't have an answer. When something happens on the football field and when I think of why, and I do not know, it makes me feel uneasy, insecure and almost incompetent.
As Week 12 in the CFL ended, the question that ran through my mind was how could a team like Winnipeg travel to Calgary and lose 44-3 and look so bad losing? And then Part B: How could a team like Hamilton play on a Saturday afternoon at home, beat a team like Edmonton, 51-8, and look so good winning?
A quandary for me is that before the Stampeders game on Friday, the Bombers played the Riders tough and played well, only to lose by one. And the Ticats, in their game previous to a 43-point win, looked nothing short of horrific in a 45-31 loss in Toronto. How can you be so good one week and so bad the next, or, how can you be so bad one week and so good the next. I struggle to find a single, intelligent, all-encompassing, relevant, articulate answer and all I come up with is: I don't know. Disappointing isn't it? I really don't know.
Anytime one team dominates another, people ask me what happened. Why this week did 'the team' play so well or why did 'the team' implode so completely. I don't know. I do have my thoughts and ideas but for a clear cut answer, not sure. One thought is that there is an individual preparedness or psychology and a collective preparedness or psychology. For a team to win, everybody must be at their best and if a percentage here and there are not, it is reflective as a team. How else can you conclude an answer for the Bombers' apathy and, in the extreme opposite, the Ticats energy? Coaching? Only to a point. Talent vs. talent? Yes but why then do some teams with less talent beat a team with superior talent? Turnovers, penalties, the bounce of the ball -- all the statistical reference points? Well yes, but many teams have won that did not win the numerical comparative. I just think there is an emotion, mental and physical state of ambition or attitude that has to be prevalent and apparent every game. Problem is I can't prove its reality, as I can climb into the players head and assess what he is thinking and feeling.
It must be incredibly agonizing to be a coach because as much as you may feel you team is ready, they're not. Or in the opposite, you're worried that your team is not ready yet but they are. All you can do is prepare, play and maybe even pray. Hamilton winning the way they did makes no sense. Winnipeg losing the way they did makes no sense. The sport of football sometimes makes no sense. So frustrating.