Permit me to share a few more thoughts on the 2005 Caledonia High School football season.
I had a good vantage point for most of the games, taking pictures on the sidelines. I got to see the coaches and players interact in a very intense way.

Coaches can be brutally honest with players. They get in your face. Itís something that doesnít occur anywhere else, not in school, not in the workplace, not at the supper table.

I can still recall Felix Percuoco running up to me and chewing me out after a play in 1970 for not running hard enough to catch a pass. He was right, I blew it, and he let me know it. But the overriding lesson I learned from him was to try my hardest, and if I did that, it was good enough. That was the big picture, what I incorporated into my life.

I remember an interaction between coach Brent Schroeder and Brent Knutson at a game this fall. Schroeder got in his playerís face for something, not making a block, I think. I could tell Knutson was not happy either with himself or with his coach. But towards the end of the game, Schroeder came up to Knutson, put his arm around him, and told him heíd played a good game. A slight smile crept across Knutsonís face. Thatís good coaching.

Iíll remember Carl Fruechteís words to his team in their Metrodome locker room last Saturday too.

ìUse this to better your life,î Fruechte told his players. ìThatís what I want, guys, I want you to have a better life.î

Fruechte encouraged the players to go to college. ìYou only have so many opportunities in life. Nobodyís going to feel sorry for you. You need to learn from this.î

I know thatís a cliche, learning from your defeat, but it is true. For every team, every gymnast, every wrestler that wins it all, there are thousands who do not.

Sometimes you screw up or get hurt. Sometimes a better team beats you. Eden Valley-Watkins coach Ray Tri told me before last weekís game, ìItís going to come down to that particular day and who plays better.î Pretty simple statement, but it was true.

Defeat happens in real life too, in your job, your relationships. How you deal with it is what matters.

Yes, itís great to win it all. I heard a lot of pride from the 1976 football players that I interviewed for a story about their perfect season. They had won that rare state championship, and they loved it. Coach Percuoco had told them it was something they would have for the rest of their lives, something they could talk about 30 years later, and he was right.

But what most of those guys conveyed to me was not the victory or the title, but the team that they had, the camaraderie, the togetherness, the love for their their coach. Those are all more sports cliches, yes, but they are very important things. Learning to communicate, work hard, cooperate.

Thatís what the 2005 Caledonia football players will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Iíll add my thanks to them for the very enjoyable ride they took us on this year.

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