Keep Your Forks

Written by Posted On Friday, 22 January 2021 00:00

After further review… It’s an American tradition that’s part of our folklore. After mom or grandma planned, prepared, cooked and served the big family dinner on Sunday afternoon, and while the dishes were being cleared, she would say, “Keep your forks!” To all those crowded around the table that meant, yum, somethin’s good a-comin’! Some might visualize it as pie a la mode, or chocolate cake, but whatever lay ahead, it was gonna be good!

After our horrendous 2020 year, with massive COVID-19 illnesses and deaths and with our normal lifestyle uprooted, can we look forward to an improved 2021? Perhaps the Cleveland Browns and maybe the Buffalo Bills are willing to keep their forks close at hand. Both had their forks ready to go in 2020 and did very well. Both made the NFL playoffs where they hadn’t been for a long time. Their fans could see it coming during this convoluted 2020 season what with the virus raising its ugly head from time-to-time and teams not knowing who would be healthy to play on any given Sunday.

Then, too, some teams who were projected to be playing in Super Bowl LV next month didn’t even make the playoffs. Are their fans already writing-them-off for the 2021 season or just hoping for a successful NFL draft in April?

I can’t help thinking of Herm Edwards’ attitude when his New York Jets in 2002 went 1-3 in October. Edwards was facing a questioning room full of frustrated reporters (is there any other kind?) who were challenging their coach if he was going to write this season off.  Coach Edwards fumed as he responded, “You play to win the game.”

“Hello? You play to win the game! That’s the great thing about sports, you play to win! I don’t care if you don’t have any wins, you play to win! If you’re telling me it doesn’t matter, get out, ’cause it does matter!” His response was emphatic. It’s a central belief of his, through his playing and coaching career, and in his personal life as well. Edwards, after tenures at New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, has just finished two successful seasons as head coach at Arizona State University, where his Sun Devils were able to only play four games, winning two. This year ASU is pre-season ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA with their Sun Devil forks in hand.

Will you keep your fork handy for an improved 2021?

 

Source: Tunney Side of Sports

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Dr. Jim Tunney

Jim Tunney had an exemplary career in sports. A former high school coach, teacher, principal and district superintendent, he had a 40-year career in officiating football and basketball.

Thirty-one of those years he was an NFL Referee working a record twenty-nine post-season games including four Super Bowls, ten NFC/AFC Championship games, six Pro Bowls and twenty-five Monday Night Games.

He officiated some of the most memorable games in NFL history. His book Impartial Judgment: “The Dean of NFL Referees” Calls Pro Football As He Sees It, chronicles his NFL career.

As a Professional Speaker, he is Past President of The National Speakers Association and a Charter Member of its most prestigious group – The CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame. Jim holds every professional designation of the NSA, including the Oscar of Professional Speaking – The Cavett. NSA named him Philanthropist of the Year in 2007.

Dr. Tunney (a doctorate in Education from the University of Southern California) continues to serve his community as  Trustee Emeritus of both Monterey Peninsula College and York School; where he once served as Headmaster. In 1993, he founded the Jim Tunney Youth Foundation to support local community programs that develop leadership, work skills, wellness and self-esteem in youth. He and his wife Linda live in Pebble Beach, California. They have six children and sixteen grandchildren.

As an author he has written and/or co-authored thirteen books: Impartial Judgment, Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan’s Soul, Speaking Secrets of the Masters, You Can Do It!, Super Bowl Sunday, Insights into Excellence, Lessons in Leadership, Build a Better You and his most recent book, It’s the Will, Not the Skill.

If you are looking for a keynote speaker who educates, motivates and entertains with a lifetime of stories about leadership, team building and sports 831-595-3258.

tunneysideofsports.com/

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