One of those relatively rare moments when football and real life intersect

I was struck by the broad applicability of the following section of Sally Jenkins' article "No quick fix for the Washington Redskins" from the Sep. 21, 2010, Washington Post:

[Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan] always told me when I was younger, 'All coaches have their system, and anybody can win with good players,' Kyle [Shanahan] said. 'But true coaches, when they don't have the right players to run the system, can they adjust? Do you have other stuff? You've got to know everything, so that if players can't do what you're asking them to do, you don't just keep beating your head against the wall. You got to figure out what can they do. That's the sign of a good coach.'

That's a pretty cool Zen-like statement about life itself. Its lamentably rare when professional sports and real life intersect in a positive way (see, for example, this post), so, when it does, I feel less guilty about following such a violent gladiator sport as football.

Here's another, from the same article, that pertains a bit more to the fantasy world in which I live where the Redskins are perpetual Super Bowl contenders:

Overall, despite the shortcomings, the Redskins are showing organized progress. It's still early, but it's promising. And anyway, like Winston Churchill said, "I am an optimist, because it does not seem too much use being anything else."

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