Pseudoandreia

I've been dwelling on the Penn St game for the past few days. One of the things that impressed me is how Iowa responded to the adrenaline-fueled way that Penn St started the game. Iowa's strategy was a Thanksgiving dinner to Penn St's Halloween candy - it took longer to fully enjoy, but there was more substance and in the end, it was more satisfying.

It reminds me a passage from "Gates of Fire". It's a fictional story of the historical account of 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. Here's a short quote from it:

“Before a battle they would sacrifice to Phobos, the god of fear, from whom we get our English word, “phobia.” In their minds, it was the mark of an ill-prepared and amateur army to rely in the moments before battle on what the Spartans called pseudoandreia, “false courage.” This was artificially inflated martial frenzy produced by a general 11th hour harangue or some peak of bronze-banging bravado built to by shouting and shield pounding. In contrast, the Spartans wore crimson cloaks and they burnished their bronze until it was gleaming in the sun. They were trained to wait silently and let the enemy come running and screaming. They performed as one unit this simple maneuver called “palming the pine,” in which the Spartans snapped their spears from vertical into forward position for their mode of murder. It caused many foes to lose heart, pee in their pants, and run at the mere sight of it. Then they marched into battle in tight ranks singing!"

I love this concept! In contrast to some macho speech before a battle, the Spartans calmly and confidently went about their job. No chest thumping, no contrived chanting, just mental toughness and focus on the task at hand.

I'm sure Kirk has given his share of gameday speeches, but he seems like the kind of coach who puts all his thought and preparation into practice, not the pregame speech. I mean, how many "win one for the gipper" speeches can you listen to before they all sound the same?

Bottom line is Iowa won the game because of mental toughness and preparation. Credit goes to real coaching for that.