IDAHO MATADORS A TEAM OF TOGETHERNESS

“UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL”

"United we stand, Divided we fall" is a phrase that has been used in mottos, from nations and states to songs. The basic concept is that unless the people are united, it is easy to destroy them. This is a counter to the maxim divide and rule.” 

For more about this visit this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_we_stand,_divided_we_fall

It’s been one of those days when no matter what I do, I can’t get the Idaho Matadors out of my mind.  But at the same time, I have been pondering upon one of the greatest blessings of my life – MY FREEDOM AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.  Whilst pondering upon these two subjects, I began to recall why freedom is accessible to me…to anybody really, especially those of us who claim blessing to the United States as home.   Freedom, real freedom, the kind that society (in some cases, radically) acquires and expresses today, is made possible because of some courageous leaders in history.  While there are many men that I could attribute freedom to, the one that I enjoy learning the most about is Abraham Lincoln.  

Most people associate “Good Old Abe”, with a couple of things.  The American Penny, our most common form of currency.  An interesting physical makeup; tall, thin, and not very business-like in anyway.  And, last but not least, he was the president that “freed the slaves”.  The last trivia bit is true.  What is not true is that Abe Lincoln was only concerned with this “issue” when he was a president.  From the time he entered into politics in the year of 1834 until his assassination, in 1865, just 12 days after The Civil War, Abraham Lincoln held firm on his view of slavery.  He hated it.  He knew that so long as it existed as a lawful practice, that the gov’t the nation and the people there would deteriorate from within.  In short, Abraham Lincoln’s political platform was heavily concerned with upholding the promise of the preamble of the constitution, “to form a more perfect union”.

On June 16, 1858 after being nominated for a seat in the U.S. senate, at the Illinois Republican convention in Springfield, Abraham Lincoln kicked of his campaign with what has become known as “The House Divided Speech”.  I won’t make you read the whole thing, as only the first paragraph pertains to what I am trying to say……The portions most important to my point, to the Idaho Matadors are in BOLD.

“Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention:

If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South”. 

So you ask:  What does this have to do with football, ESPECIALLY, Idaho Matador Football?  Well, as I see that the Matadors will be on the road, they also face what may be their first formidable foe of the season.  As a member of the Matadors…as a leader…if I dare call myself one…I suggest that there be two things, which we do that allow us to escape the Wasatch Mountain front unscathed. 

1.  “know where we are and whither we are tending” so that we can “better judge what to do and how to do it.”  That is how Abraham Lincoln put it, as he approached the biggest seven and a half years of his career in leadership.  I believe that the way the ‘DORS understand the same concept is something referred to as “DYJ”  

2.  We must remember that wherever we roam as ‘DORS, the playing field, regardless of location, must always be viewed as “our house”.  The thing about a house, is, that is usually contains a family; in our case, a football family.  The thing about a family in a house, is, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." 

Consider a conversation my wife and I had as we were watching our daughters watch Scooby-doo in the hotel room after the game in Missoula.  She had stayed outside of the stadium, as to keep the girls out of the cold.  With the windows cracked, she watched as toward the end of the game, the defense held the Missoula Phoenix to a four and out, and as a team we ran out of the state with a win.  A win that only a team – undivided – whose members tended to their duties – could have come away with.

Here is the cool part.

Since she remained outside of the stadium, my wife was very aware of what audible noises inside the stadium, were what.  When the phoenix scored, or made some form of play worth cheering about, she could tell what the home team’s fans sounded like.  She told me that during that drive, when the defense held, she couldn’t hear the home team’s crowd.  The only thing she heard, from a distance of about 150 yards and with a set of home town fans between her an our sideline, was the repeated cry of “DEFENSE!  DEFENSE!”  The shortened roster we had that week, was actually drowning out what had been an enthusiastic Missoula fan base earlier in the evening! 

Shall we replicate this demoralizing level of enthusiasm as a team?  I think so.  Yes, I think so. 

Did you know football players and football teams are like # 2 pencils? Here’s how…..

Go find a #2 pencil.  Take it in your hands.  Break it. 

Now, go get 45 #2 pencils.  Take them all in your hands.  Try and break them.  I dare say that if you did accomplish this, it was one of the harder feats your hands have ever engaged in. 

Break one maybe two pencils, but try and break 45 #2 pencils in one snap – It’s virtually impossible!

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.

ABE LINCOLN IS A MATADOR FAN!