I hate to play the I-Told-You-So game here, but I think Nathan Rourke needs to stop playing the I-Don’t-Wanna-Be-Famous game, and he needs to ignore all the publicity that will naturally be a part of his entire career.
I wrote this in a piece not too long ago…. He needs to let the organic praise build and build around him…thinking more like Michael Jordan did in his heyday and how Wayne Gretzky did as well…allow the masses to believe whatever they wanted too.
The aforementioned two sports heroes approached their respective fields like dentists approach their own profession: They woke up, did the work and went golfing on Sundays; as simple as that.
via NBA Top 10 /YouTube
If in the nineties you went up to either of them and spoke about legacy and how incredible they were…what a gift they were to their industry, you would have gotten a polite smile and that was all. Nathan Rourke needs to start ignoring the calamity that will undoubtedly become his life in the near future; he can’t stop it.
The reason I say this, is the young man, who already broke records this season, already also made his first slip that if it hadn’t have been for the Lions’ defensive line, could have cost them the entire game, that after a loss to the Bombers and a bye week, would have been detrimental to their entire progression and decent momentum so far this season.
There were only a hundred seconds or so left to play in Thursday’s game in which the Lions were taking on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats when Rourke threw a bad pass that was intercepted by the Ti-Cats. The error was handled by the Lions defense, yes, but still, it had a few scratching their heads, including this writer…and previous statements I’d made about pressure certainly came to mind as I watched it all unfold.
The BC Lions beat the Ti-Cats 17 to 12. Head coach for the Lions, Rick Campbell, put a spin on the whole thing a tad, stating essentially that well, the rest of the team will cover if our Superman (Rourke) isn’t firing on all cylinders, so to speak. See, even his head coach is buying into the whole Superman hype. Here’s exactly what the head coach had to say:
“That’s a good thing if that he doesn’t have to be Superman and we can still win. That’s great…And he will have great nights coming up too, that’s just the way it is. If we can win different styles of games, whether it’s high scoring, low scoring … that’s a really that’s a good thing…
Big moments…We stepped up, especially in the red zone. Those were the key things in the game; forcing some field goals and getting them to turn the ball over on downs. So that’s what I was most proud of…
I know our defense will tell you there were times they wanted to get off the field and make more plays, which is definitely true. But the other thing that’s true: They made the plays that made the difference in the game.”
And what did the QB have to say about what happened?
“I knew what coverage they were they were in. I tried to see if I can move them — I did something similar in practice, and thought I could get the same effect, and just let D-Rhymes go make a play…
I didn’t have enough on it, but based on the coverage, probably shouldn’t be going there in the first place. So that’s just one of those things that’ll be keeping you up at night. That’s one of those plays, one of the decisions.”
via The Province (link above)
"The defence won us the game, I didn't feel like I played well enough to win this game, not in a professional football game against THAT team."@Nathan_Rourke breaks down his team's play after the hard-fought win over Hamilton.
Statements like the above: “…that’s just one of those things that’ll be keeping you up at night. That’s one of those plays, one of the decisions….” Here’s just another example of how the young man is letting too many things rent space up in his head.
He needs to play the game he was playing before and at the start of the season and he needs to start ignoring the pressure that is obviously coming from somewhere.
So yes, in the end the defense certainly saved the day, but what about next time? A slip like that can cost them an even more important game. The Lions are set to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday, July 29th at 9 PM EST.
Domenic Marinelli is an author and freelance writer/journalist. His work has appeared in The Sportster, E-Wrestling News, Pro Wrestling News Hub, CFL News Hub, XFL News Hub, Ringside News, Daily DDT, USFL News Hub, Slam Wrestling, Guilty Eats, Lombardi Ave, as well as other print and internet publications. He is the author of Generic V, Summer of the Great White Wolf, His Old Tapes (stories & poetry), Across a Dark River in Palermo, Ancient Credos In Sanskrit Moderna, and so many others. He lives in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. https://linktr.ee/AuthorDomenicMarinelli
man this is an awful take, Rourke is playing absolutely remarkably right now – so what if he has made a couple mistakes the past couple games?
did you think he was going to put up the best QB season in CFL history and never make a mistake? if yes, maybe find something else to write about… if no, then you should be plenty able to see that he’s been incredible so far
He’s doing what all perfectionists do, that’s all. Hammer is well coached – don’t let the record fool you. BC is good this year and good teams win in a variety of ways .
cookie
July 24, 2022 at 11:48 am
man this is an awful take, Rourke is playing absolutely remarkably right now – so what if he has made a couple mistakes the past couple games?
did you think he was going to put up the best QB season in CFL history and never make a mistake? if yes, maybe find something else to write about… if no, then you should be plenty able to see that he’s been incredible so far
Eagle Keyes
July 24, 2022 at 2:37 pm
He’s doing what all perfectionists do, that’s all. Hammer is well coached – don’t let the record fool you. BC is good this year and good teams win in a variety of ways .