How Bemidji State beat The Little Man.Whom do you turn to to break a five-game losing streak? A "hoodoo," that's who! We had lost our fifth straight game on Saturday to put us at 0-5 for the season. It was now Sunday night Sunday Night, later named Michelob Presents Night Music, was an NBC late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. and we were just going through the motions: Coaches meetings Sunday, Monday, Tuesday nights. Lift Monday and Wednesday. Full pads Tuesday and Wednesday. Players meeting Wednesday. Review and drill or walkthrough on Thursday. Pregame and kick-off on Saturday... then Sunday again. It had been become a painful routine. Bemidji State had become a perennial loser in the NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II Northern State Intercollegiate in·ter·col·le·giate adj. Involving or representing two or more colleges. Adj. 1. intercollegiate - used of competition between colleges or universities; "intercollegiate basketball" Conference. We had not won a Homecoming since 1989, and our sixth straight loss seemed imminent. How could we beat the two-time defending NSIC NSIC National Sport Information Centre (Australia) NSIC National Storage Industry Consortium NSIC National Strategy Information Center (US government) NSIC Nuclear Safety Information Center champions, Winona State (4-1)? What could we do to get our athletes ready? Did anyone have a good Gipper story? Should we call in one of America's five million professional motivators... or maybe all five million? We thought and thought... until "The Little Man" popped into our minds. "The Little Man" was a psychological ploy that we had previously laughed off as childish. But, we figured, our players are just kids playing a kids' game and they love having a little fun and getting excited about anything they could play off. Why not sic "The Little Man" on them? On Monday, I wrote a mock article titled, "BSU BSU Ball State University BSU Boise State University BSU Black Student Union BSU Bemidji State University BSU Bowie State University (Bowie, Maryland) BSU Baptist Student Union (college religious organization) Celebrates Homecoming Win in Style." It outlined how we had controlled the ball against Winona State before a packed house. How we had stopped their key players on defense, how great our special teams had played, how everyone had stuck together, and how all the players and all the coaches had celebrated the victory by jumping into the icy waters of Lake Bemidji Lake Bemidji is a small glacially-formed lake, approximately 11 mi² (28 km²) in area, in northern Minnesota in the United States. Located less than 50 mi (80 km) downstream from the source of the Mississippi River, it both receives and is drained by the Mississippi. , only 10 feet from the fence surrounding the field. We taped the article to the locker of every player and the door of every coach. On Tuesday, we placed signs around the locker room and meeting rooms stating, "Beat The Little Man!" No other explanation was given. During practice, we placed a small lifelike doll on our film tower facing the main practice field. After practice, I asked the athletes if they had seen "The Little Man." A few of them pointed to the tower, the rest looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I then gave them "The Little Man" speech. I explained that "The Little Man" had been at BSU for six years, watching us the entire time. He really was that little voice in the back of our minds telling us "You can't win!" He was the monkey on our back that stopped us every time we got close. I explained that this was the week that we were going to beat "The Little Man," and that we had to be conscious of where he was and what he was doing to our attitude. Every day before practice I would place "The Little Man" somewhere else on the field and he would just sit there and watch us work, always from a distance. By Wednesday, we were starting to believe in ourselves. We had every player tape the word "WIN" on the front of his helmet and we told them not to be afraid to say it out loud and believe it. One of them began taping other words on the backs of the helmets, such as "BELIEVE!" Thursday and Friday we worked and we believed we were beating "The Little Man," one day at a time One Day at a Time is a long-running American situation comedy that portrayed a divorced mother, played by Bonnie Franklin, her two teenage daughters (Mackenzie Phillips and Valerie Bertinelli) and their building superintendent (Pat Harrington, Jr.). . By the time Saturday rolled around, the players - and, more importantly, the coaches - actually believed that we were going to win the game. It was just a matter of by how many points! The atmosphere in practice on Friday and before the game on Saturday was electrifying e·lec·tri·fy tr.v. e·lec·tri·fied, e·lec·tri·fy·ing, e·lec·tri·fies 1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor). 2. a. . "The Little Man" was sitting in the press box awaiting his demise. It was BSU right from the start, and we wound up winning the game, 25-14. Remember that article? It had all come true! We all shook hands - and I mean everyone - and then took off for the icy waters of Lake Bemidji. It was a very refreshing bath. "The Little Man?" We buried him next to our film tower, with a headstone commemorating his inglorious in·glo·ri·ous adj. 1. Ignominious; disgraceful: Napoleon's inglorious end. 2. Not famous; obscure: an inglorious young writer. life and glorious death. Frank Haege Frank Haege is the current head football coach at Augsburg College. He is also a former coach in the Arena Football League. While in the Arena Football League, he was an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Mustangs in 1994, the Minnesota Fighting Pike in 1996, and the New Jersey Red and Dave Ragone David Patrick Ragone (born October 3, 1979 in Middleburg, Ohio) is an American football player. He is currently a free agent. At the University of Louisville, Ragone was the second all time leading passer. Professionally, Ragone was a member of the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Assistant Football Coaches Bemidji State University (MN) |
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