Reflections on the Office Linebacker

The other day, I had the privilege of catching one of Reebok's "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" episodes, and it got me thinking. This particular episode was giving out the office athlete-of-the-century award. Well, "Terrible" Terry Tate won, and got a chance to spiel for a little while about his victory.

He yelled, "There ain't no secret to success in business or in life, the solution is simple — 100 percent heart, all day, every day. Only quitters quit."

Tate's intensity and drive come from his heart. The way he flies out of nowhere to take care of some poor guy who's not doing his job is commendable. And really funny. While I'm sure Reebok has made a fortune using the Office Linebacker commercials, I believe that at some level, we can learn a lot from the Office Linebacker, especially from his intensity.

Intensity is not something a coach can teach or a player can learn because it comes from within. While Tate is an entirely fictional character, he brings into focus an important aspect about sports — the inner drive.

Watching some of my teams play lately, I have to question whether or not that fire inside has simply gone out from their seasons.

The New York Giants are pretty much playing as if they are trying merely to get through the rest of the season. Even the announcer for CBS made this remark (probably the most astute of his remarks) in the Giants' game against Buffalo — "I saw players sitting on the nice heated bench with these bland expressions on their face as if they were watching some awful reality TV show where two rich women who have everything go to a farm and try to live a farmer's life."

But that bland look is one that I feel has been seen a lot this season. Unfortunately, I looked down on the sidelines of Princeton Stadium at the end of the season and saw the same thing. Even when the team was beating Yale, there was this lack of enthusiasm. The question that must be posed is: how did it ever get to this?

Princeton football ended with a 2-8 record, and I don't think I was the only one who was disappointed. It is my hope that head coach Roger Hughes will take a serious look at this season and perhaps shake things up in his staff to keep the entire organization motivated all season long. Or better yet, perhaps it's time for "Terrible" Terry Tate to pay a visit to the Princeton locker room.

But of course, the same could also be said of Notre Dame. You watch the players on the sideline, and one can see that they just don't want to be there. The players are no longer enjoying what they're doing, and we don't need Terry Tate to tell us (and them) that this lack of effort isn't a good thing.

As Tate said, "And do I enjoy what I do? Hell yeah!"

But the nice thing about this time of year is not the winter cheer or the snow or the spirit of giving. It is that one gets to forget the woes of the football season and look forward to the fun that is basketball season. And already the men's basketball team has shown that it comes ready to play with heart.

The Tigers can already brag about having the 12th leading scorer in the country in junior center Judson Wallace. And Wallace certainly has no compunction about his desire to have the ball in his hands, something that it seems none of the players on the football teams that I have been rooting for all season possessed.

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"I love having the ball in those situations, and my teammates look for me to make a play near the end of the shot clock," Wallace said after the Fresno St. game.

Wallace has led his team to a 4-1 pre-Ivy League record heading into a big game against intrastate rival Rutgers on Saturday.

After last year's disappointments at the hands of Penn, Princeton is once again abuzz about the Tigers. Having won the only home games it has played, the team has sparked the fans once again.

But more importantly, the team has certainly improved in the off-season. Sophomore guard Scott Greenman bulked up, and junior center Mike Stephens substantially improved his ball-handling. That kind of work doesn't come from a team that is simply trying to get through a season — that work comes from a team which is playing with the inner desire to win.

Let me remind you of the words of Terry Tate — "It's 100 percent heart, baby!"

That's right.