EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Throughout the history of the NFL, coaches have used an assortment of ways to motivate players.
They scream. They yell. They cajole, embarrass, use the fatherly approach, beg, bother, annoy. You name it, coaches have done it.
New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo may have found a new method heading into his second season.
For veterans 26 years old and up, McAdoo had them listen to the story of “Frasier The Lion.”
Not familiar with it? It’s from the 1970s.
A scruffy, underweight lion in a bankrupt Mexican circus is about 80 years old in human terms. He is rescued and sent to an animal preserve in California, where he gets healthier.
The young lions at the preserve were having trouble getting the females pregnant, so Frasier was introduced to the lionesses. He ended up fathering roughly 35 cubs.
When asked what the story had to do with football, Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon said it was meant to show the older players that they can regain the form of their younger days.
Got it?
For the players 25 and under, they heard a reading of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” a work that lays challenges for a boy and how he must react to adversity to become a man.
McAdoo said he first read the poem last month.
“I sat there with my son and listened to it,” he said. “I think 25 and under, it’s a pretty powerful poem.”
Compared to “Frasier The Lion?”
You make the decision.
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