WILLIE PILE
Special To Argonauts.ca
Jim Barker’s challenge following our loss to Montreal was simple…what kind of team are we going to be? Are we a team that has to fight and scrap its way to a victory because we do things during the game to put us in that position? Or are we a team that can make the necessary in-game adjustments to be as dominant as our talent would indicate? Will we be a team that has the character to bounce back after a bad loss? Or will we be a team that goes in the tank?
Barker posed that challenge to both the players and the coaches as way to test the character of our team. I believe his basis for those questions came from looking at the structure of opponent we were playing, the Montreal Alouettes. For several years, they’ve established an identity as a team/franchise that doesn’t beat themselves and are cognizant of their strengths and weaknesses. As the 2010 season is unfolding for the Argos, we’ve yet to identify and hone our strengths and weaknesses.
Taking his message to heart, the next song on my playlist has to be Michael Jackson’s #1 Billboard Hit, “Man in the Mirror”. Released in 1988, the “King of Pop” recorded this song as a wake-up call to the world and to himself to make a positive difference as opposed to just going with the flow.
The part of the song that I want to focus on is the hook that says,
I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways,
And No Message, Could’ve Been Any Clearer If You Wanna Make The World, A Better Place Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change
If I wanted to see what I looked like, I would take a look in the mirror. But if I wanted to understand my identity, I would have to look beyond the superficial and dig deep to the core of who I am as it relates to my life both on and off the field. For our team, we’ve been issued a challenge to deeply understand WHO we are, and not just what we look like on the outside. This means that we must take a look in the mirror and understand how we, individually, can make our respective sides of the ball better, thus making the team better. If that means extra film work as a unit, or staying after practice to work on techniques, we must identify our weak areas and make them strengths.