Give Credit Where Credit is Due: Reward the Program Kid

America loves the underdog. No question about it. There’s a reason why Rudy, the true story of Dan Ruettiger, the walk-on from Notre Dame, was arguably the best football movie of our era – better than the half-fantasy flicks like The Program and Any Given Sunday. There’s a reason why Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky won the 1976 Academy award over Martin Scorcese’s classic Taxi Driver. There’s a reason why Jason McElwain, the autistic team manager at Greece Athena High School in upstate New York, took home a 2006 ESPY Award after coming into the closing minutes of a game and scoring twenty straight points. Rooting for the underdog is embedded in our culture. In our June issue we had an overwhelming response to our ‘Fifth Down’ question that asked how to go about motivating the unmotivated athlete. It was a terrific topic that produced a ton of good suggestions. As coaches,