Chiefs: 4 Questions No One Is Asking

With the Kansas City Chiefs first preseason game being played on Saturday afternoon there are a thousand questions that fans may be having. How long will the first team be on the field? Will we get an actual glimpse of this new “long ball” offense? Will the defense look like it’s going to be fine without it’s star outside linebacker Justin Houston? Is Dee Ford going to step up? Are any of the new receivers going to fill that #2 role? Will there be an attempted coup in the Arrowhead parking lot when fans pull to the gate and are asked to shell out $40 just to park a car in a parking lot… and it doesn’t include valet service?

Like I said… a thousand questions… and more.

However, there may be other questions, questions no one is asking, which may have more to do with the outcome of tomorrow’s game than any of these other… so-called “relevant” questions. You can be sure that almost every coach worth his salt has asked these questions to his players the day before a game.  So let’s dig in.

Question One: Did you eat the right pregame meals?

In a piece by Erick Fernandez for mic.com called, “Here’s the Science Behind All-Star Athletes’ Pre-Game Meals“ he quotes quarterback Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks saying this about what he eats before a game,

“The night before, I’ll have a steak. The day of the game, I’ll eat pasta. I don’t get nervous and not eat; I actually eat a lot to fuel myself through the whole game.”

 

Fernandez asked nutritionist Heidi Skolnik to analyze Wilson’s pregame meal habits and tell him whether or not his choices were good nutritional choices of bad ones. Here’s what Skolnik had to say about Wilson,

“Steak the night before is fine. He is getting in protein and it will all be digested by kick-off. I just hope he has some sweet potatoes and green beans with that (or rice and carrots and greens). In other words, the meal should be balanced, and getting in some of those carbohydrates the day before helps. He does not need to “load” but wants to be sure to eat enough. The day of, it’s a matter of timing, eating early enough to get in appropriate calories for the day and in balance so the player does not get hungry.

 

Russell is right about fueling throughout. Research [on soccer players] shows that consuming as little as 25 grams of carbohydrate at half time can improve speed, number of ball contacts and goals scored in the last 15 minutes of a game.”

 

Heidi Skolnik says that the nutritional choices that players make the day before a game, as well as game days choices, can have a profound impact on how they perform on any given day. Especially a Sunday.

In this case… a Saturday afternoon.

Question Two: Have you visualized your own success?

We hear players and coaches talk all the time about succeeding, knowing what to do, practicing fast, and setting high goals… like shooting for the Super Bowl. However, there is perhaps not one single activity that a player can do which is more crucial to his (or her) success than… seeing it happen in their head. That’s why going inside and meditating or spending time getting quiet and closing their eyes and going through a play before it happens… can mean the world to the final outcome.

From Essential Life Skills — essentiallifeskills.net — in an article by Z. Hereford called, Visualization: A Key to Achieving Your Goals, the author shares how this works,

“… mental imagery works because when you imagine yourself performing perfectly and doing exactly what you want, you physiologically create neural patterns in your brain, just as if you had physically performed the action. The thought can stimulate the nervous system in the same way as the actual event does.”

 

This week rookie cornerback Keivarae Russell tweeted,

https://twitter.com/Keivarae1/status/763418580461420544″ xlink=”href

It’s clear that to be a winner, you must see yourself as the winner. Just “hoping” may not be enough. Mr. Russell’s point is well taken.

Question Three: Are you remaining true to any pre-game rituals you have?

From scientificamerican.com in an article called, “Why Rituals Work” by a couple named Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton comes this,

“People engage in rituals with the intention of achieving a wide set of desired outcomes, from reducing their anxiety to boosting their confidence, alleviating their grief to performing well in a competition – or even making it rain.”

 

Gino and Norton are of the rightful impression that pregame rituals have worked for big time athletes for a time immortal. In the mind of the athlete, if they can reach the place where they feel comfortable with how they have prepared themselves for a game… the same way they prepared themselves for a game when they previously had success… then the feel they will win.

“Basketball superstar Michael Jordan wore his North Carolina shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls shorts in every game; Curtis Martin of the New York Jets reads Psalm 91 before every game. And Wade Boggs, former third baseman for the Boston Red Sox, woke up at the same time each day, ate chicken before each game, took exactly 117 ground balls in practice, took batting practice at 5:17, and ran sprints at 7:17. (Boggs also wrote the Hebrew word Chai (“living”) in the dirt before each at bat.”

 

Also, did you know that:

1. Ray Allen takes a nap from 11:30 am until 1 pm, a meal of chicken and rice at 2:30pm, then he will shave his head and walk out onto the court at exactly 4:30pm. If any part of that gets messed up, Allen is not a happy camper.
2. Brian Urlacher used to eat 2 chocolate-chip cookies right before the game. Two, and that’s all!. No more and no less.
3. Tiger Woods has always worn a red shirt when playing golf on a Sunday… because his mother told him to.

You can be sure that no coach in his right mind will ever come between a player of his and that player’s ritual in preparation for a game. Why? Well, have you ever stepped on the first base line or the third base line? Think Babe Ruth. No? I didn’t think so.

Question Four: If That’s Your Horoscope For Today?

I’m certain all of you know how critical this one is to having a great performance on game day.  Am I right? However, if by some chance you don’t… please allow me to share the holy grail of all horoscope hymns: “That’s Your Horoscope for Today!”

If you’re not familiar with the song and have no time to listen to such nonsense, here are the hallowed lyrics:

That’s Your Horoscope For Today

By Mr. Al Yankovic

AQUARIUS! There’s travel in your future when your tongue freezes to the back of a speeding bus. Fill that void in your pathetic life by playing Whack-A-Mole 17 hours a day,

PISCES! Try to avoid any Virgos or Leos with the Ebola virus. You are the true Lord of the Dance, no matter what those idiots at work say,

ARIES! The look on your face will be priceless when you find that 40-pound watermelon in your colon Trade toothbrushes with an albino dwarf, then give a hickey to Meryl Streep,

TAURUS! You will never find true happiness – what you gonna do, cry about it? The stars predict tomorrow you’ll wake up, do a bunch of stuff and then go back to sleep.

That’s your horoscope for today….

GEMINI! Your birthday party will be ruined once again by your explosive flatulence. Your love life will run into trouble your fiance hurls a javelin through your chest,

CANCER! The position of Jupiter says that you should spend the rest of the week face down in the mud. Try not to shove a roll of duct tape up your nose while taking your driver’s test,

LEO! Now is not a good time to photocopy your butt and staple it to your boss’s face, oh no. Eat a bucket of tuna-flavored pudding, then wash it down with a gallon of Strawberry Quik,

VIRGO! All Virgos are extremely friendly and intelligent – except for you. Expect a big surprise today when you wind up with your head impaled upon a stick.

That’s your horoscope for today….

Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you, but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true.

Where was I?

LIBRA! A big promotion is just around the corner for someone much more talented than you. Laughter is the very best medicine, remember that when your appendix bursts next week,

SCORPIO! Get ready for an unexpected trip when you fall screaming from an open window. Work a little bit harder on improving your low self esteem, you stupid freak,

SAGITTARIUS! All your friends are laughing behind your back… kill them. Take down all those naked pictures of Ernest Borgnine you’ve got hanging in your den,

CAPRICORN! The stars say that you’re an exciting and wonderful person, but you know they’re lying. If I were you, I’d lock my doors and windows and never never never never never leave my house again.

That’s your horoscope for today….

What do you think Cheifs fans? Do you have a pregame a ritual?