Yes, this is the greatest game in the world.
11 men become one and drive to one goal score or stop from scoring. You always think back about a play or a drive or a hit before you think did we win that game.
yes i would do this in a heart beat!
I think ultimately we do play the game to win, there is not doubt about that. Who wants to lose all the time. I also think that regardless of the outcome of the game, at this level you play to have fun and if winning is involved, it makes it that much sweeter. H*LL not everyone can be a Saber!!! lol...
#29 JC Sabers
Love of the game.
There are so many reasons to love this game. Schemes, planning, preparing, tackling, scoring, winning, and many more. But for me and what I emphasize to my team is the relationships. The relationships I have made over the past 9 years of coaching adult football mean more to me then any ring or prize that I could get at the end of a season. The people I have gotten to know and their families this is what the game is all about. If your only goal is to win then you most likely will not win. You need to focus your attention and desires on something other then winning. You can focus them on getting better and performing better but if you just focus on winning you are going to be sorry.
My point is make sure that you are doing everything you can to build the relationships among your teamates and coaches. These are what you are going to remember 30 years from now not the one play or tackle or even the championship. As a coach I have had to learn this over the years. Trust me this is not the way I started out coaching. I did not realize this until I had one of my players retire. The first time I had a player retire I had him come to practice and tell the team. I did not realize how hard it was going to be to listen to this speech. As I was fighting to hold back the tears I realized then that winning is not everything and that my players mean everything.
In conclusion part of being a man and growing up is realizing what is most important in life. Once we all learn this we will have more success on the field and off.
Keith Maloy
Head Coach
Darke County Warriors 
I play for the opportunity to battle. Rings, Trophys and Championships are meaningless to me. I am looking for that "HIGH" you get when you hit someones so hard that they get snot bubbles or even a concussion. If I walk away after a game or practice, it was a good day. I know the risk, we all run playing. Its part of life. Play like there is no tomorrow.. "&@^!"em all let a trainer sort em out.."
THE DIESEL
LB GENERALS
What a minute! You mean we get a trophy and a ring if we win the championship?! That makes it even better.
Seriously though, as the oldest member of the Patriots (41) I have waited a long time (24 years)to play this game again. I blew out a knee my senior year in high school and with that injury any hopes of college ball went down the drain. By the grace of God I have been given the opportunity to play the game that I love so much. The memories will last a lifetime and the opportunity for my kids to watch me play is something you can't place a dollar figure on. Where else can you strap on a helmet and knock somebody on thsir a$$ and not go to jail?
Football is truly the greatest game ever played.
I am not real certain exactly when I became addicted.
It could be that it happened as a kid while watching "the game" on TV. It could be from watching those old Steve Sabol "NFL Action" bits. I remember that whenever the program concluded, we (DH80 and I) were so "hyped"; we would have to immediately try to get a game up. If we couldn’t get enough guys together, then we would at least go out and run routes.
I personally believe that football is the greatest team sport... period! Wrestling is called a team sport. Unfortunately, it is really all about the individual. The same is true for gymnastics and golf. In swimming and track, there are at least several events (relays) where there is some semblance of teamwork. I call baseball a team sport played by individuals. This is especially true when one watches a mediocre little league team. In that arena, at any given time, you may see one individual moving at a time unless there are base runners. Basketball is a team sport but there are only five players on each team. With football, you have 11 players from each team moving simultaneously.
I believe that yet another aspect of football that makes it unique among the others is fact that there is usually a limitation to how long one can play. For example, one may have played basketball during their school years. After their "formal" career is over, they can still participate in the game at any time. Being that Indiana is basketball country, you can not find a neighborhood where at least one home does not have a basketball goal. There are parks with goals, schools with goals, even some churches have gyms with goals. You can play by yourself or with any number up to 5 on 5. Guys that played baseball have softball. Many towns have recreational softball leagues. Obviously the ball is bigger but the game is essentially the same. For those that want speed, there are "fast-pitch" leagues. I believe this is where football is unique and why it is so popular with the viewing world. With football, in so many cases, once a given player takes the pads off for the last time, it is over!
To experience football, you need to tackle. There needs to be contact. With every potential contact, there is a risk. A risk of being injured. That risk tests a player’s physical strength, his mental toughness and his emotional make-up. It is as one of my old coaches called it... "controlled violence". Yet with this violence, I am struck that after games, players will cross the crown of the field and hug and wish each other well. Compare that with basketball where it seems though players are free to greet afterward, it seems to be a "forced" effort. Compare it again with baseball where the players don’t even greet after a game yet have the most "bench-clearing" events of any of the "team" sports.
I believe that football is a contest that may be more closely related to armed combat than any other sport. Indeed, many players even refer to their equipment as armor! In football, you have artillery known as the forward pass. One of the most beloved and exciting plays is "the bomb". Offensive Linemen could be known as the tanks of the "front line". Running backs charge through the line and attempt to avoid tacklers as if dodging bullets or land mines on their way to the objective. Linebackers sometimes employ "the blitz". This term came into vogue after the German armored forces developed this tank doctrine prior to and used in World War II. The German word was "blitzkrieg".
Like soldiers on the battlefield, there are many that admire the "warrior" but can not be the "warrior". There is something about the game that evokes feelings of "homeland defense" or attacking due to a "just cause". Who can not remember the National Anthem being sung by Whitney Houston during the build-up to Desert Storm? Americans gathered together in one place, in the strength of numbers of a large city, flags waving and showing their support for the troops so far away. Can you feel the chills? We all imagine what it must have felt like to emerge from the tunnel to that sea of Red, White and Blue. Click-Clack!
I know why I played. It is because of all the above. Would it make a difference if there were no Championship? That question is more difficult to answer that I would have thought.
Because of all of the reasons that I mentioned, it seems that there has to be an objective. Without an objective, there is no purpose. Without purpose, there is nothing to focus on. Without focus, it is just another activity. To me, it seems that the whole game is based upon achievement. Without a goal, what is there to achieve? In armed combat, the goal is to win... period. We talk about sacrifice and commitment. The same old coach that I mentioned above had another saying that I have always loved. Before one particular game, he challenged us to "go out and play like we had 60 minutes to live". Do we not celebrate those that have perished while "fighting a just cause".
I like to look at each week as a test, a test for excellence. One can not know how far he has progressed without a method of measuring improvement. With football we measure it with the scoreboard. While this method is not without flaw and is thereby imperfect, it does give us a goal to aim for. Like a war, there is not usually one single battle that makes the difference and so a season schedule is created. Each week, your "resolve" is thereby tested. Like the process of creating steel from iron ore, pressure is added. At the end of the process, one possesses something that was stronger than it was. Some might call it "mettle" as is applicable for this particular subject. At the end of the war, there is usually a peace treaty. The vanquished meets the victor, "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". Does there have to be a trophy, or rings, or T-shirts? For me the answer is no, because in the final analysis, the true accomplishment lies in what got you there in the first place. The accomplishment lies in ones heart. No one can take that away. Material things can be lost but that which lies in the heart can never be forsaken.
Better people have said this than me and so in closing this response, I leave you with the words of "an immortal"...
"I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle-victorious." ~ Vince Lombardi
Out
