COLUMN 3
Take care of things that can be controlled
When Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford went down with a sprained shoulder during Saturday's game against BYU, the air went out of the No. 3-ranked Sooners. Bradford, the team's leader and 2008 Heisman trophy-winner, was primed for another great season and Oklahoma was set to make a serious national title run. The team was never the same and lost 14-13 to the No.20 Cougars.
The Sooners were well prepared for the BYU game, but no team is prepared to lose its starting quarterback in the second quarter of its season. After a disappointing loss to the Florida Gators in last year's National Championship, Oklahoma had the experience, hunger and talent to win it all this season. Now, the Sooners will need some help and a lot of luck to make it to the BCS title game.
College football is unpredictable. No team can control when or where injuries will occur. But this is why it is even more important to take care of all the things that can be controlled. Teams can control how hard they work to get better. Players can take care of business in the classroom and stay out of legal trouble. Coaches can do their best to prepare for upcoming games and motivate their teams.
Above all, teams should work as hard as they can to achieve their goals. No team knows when it might suffer major injuries, but everyone has the
opportunity to prepare for those situations. Backup players should work just as hard as the starters to give their team the best chance to win.
Not everyone can finish a game on a broken leg like Tim Tebow did back in high school. Injuries can happen to even the best players when they least expect it and there is really nothing else to do but to be ready for when it happens.
When I played high school tennis, I refused to be outworked, outhustled or outsmarted on the tennis court. I thought that these were all things that I could control. Especially as a senior, I didn't want to lose any matches because my opponent was better prepared. If I lost a match, I wanted it to be because my opponent played better than I did.
As former professional tennis player Brad Gilbert says in his book "Winning Uly," one of the first lessons I learned when I turned pro in 1982 was how
much of an edge could be gained before the match even started." This holds true for many other sports, as the mental aspect of the game is often just as important as any physical training an athlete can do.
Preparation is often underestimated by many college football programs. It takes discipline to watch hours of film, pay attention to coaches at all times and fulfill all the responsibilities that come with being a student athlete. Practice is not the most fun part of being a college football player, but more effort in practice usually translates to more success on the field.
The Jayhawks can control a lot of things this season. They have to play Oklahoma and travel to Texas to face the Longhorns, but Kansas has the chance to surprise some teams this season. Hopefully injuries will not be a factor for the Jayhawks this season, but the team should be ready for anything.
When the Jayhawks take the field this season, I hope they will do so knowing they did everything they could to put themselves in a position to be successful.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford lies on the field after being hit by BYU's Coleby Clawson in the second quarter of their game on Sept. 5., in Arlington, Texas. The injury forced Bradford to leave the game.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 11,2009