The Western Kentucky University football program got some bad press in the Bleacher Report yesterday when they show strength and conditioning coaches breaking wood over their heads and backs in the pre-game warm-ups.
Let's face it. Some things just aren't meant for prime time, because everything you do will get placed under the microscope and if it seems out of place it will not get reported in a positive way.
Now, breaking wood over your head or back isn't such a big deal if you are trained in martial arts to do it. But, to roll this out in pre-game warm-ups will get you negative press, no doubt. Unfortunately, it is the sort of thing Topper fans had hoped we had despensed with such as the stupid sledgehammer fiasco back in the David Elson days. These displays look silly, plain and simple, and if caught properly on camera it makes you look insane.
Never mind that this Hilltopper team is in the best condition I have ever seen any Topper team be in. There are only a few injuries and they seem very resilient in games. As silly as these acts of non-sense look on camera, the strength and conditioning coaches have done a great job.
The negative press on this was made possible by the poor defense that the Toppers displayed in the second half against a pure running attack straight down the middle of the field. We didn't look so tough, and so the antics in pre-game seem like it is just show. Football is not a game of hitting, it is a game of tackling, hits are fun to watch, but if the runner isn't tackled, the hit is worthless.
Moreover, in martial arts you don't act like a possessed demon after you do it. Going crazy spends energy and hype is meaningless. Save it for the field.
I don't have a problem with breaking wood over your head, if you know how to do it, which these guys do, but please keep it off prime time, it will be used to make you look silly. It certainly doesn't make you look good.
Play football, not Ninja.