Hard
Hat Award (Game #1, @ Denver)
Stiller ILB Larry Foote is the winner of the
weekly Hard Hat Award, given to the Stiller player who best
embodies the iron-tough, hard-as-steel attitude of the steel workers inside the
blast furnace of a still mill.
In the season-opening game stinker of a loss
against the Doncos, Foote played like a demon possessed, particularly in the
first half. Foote led all Stiller
defenders with 8 solos. Foote had a fluky
but effective backhanded slap that forced a rare Steeler FF and turnover. He also had a very rare -- for this passive
defense -- pass bustup in the 1Q.
With a feeble, meek team effort, very, very
few other players were in consideration for the coveted award. Sanders took some big hits and kept coming
back, and warranted some light consideration.
That was about it.
It�s a rather sad situation when so few
players gave the kind of effort expected for the Hard Hat. The defense was soft n� cheesy and
got run over like a freight train over a bump.
It bears repeating that there is almost always -- if not always -- a
strong correlation between the number of players in consideration for the Hard Hat, and if the team won or
lost. Simply put, Hard Hat kind of football leads to victory; pansy football (a term
used here long before Troy Pola popularized it) leads to defeat.
Kudos to Foote for winning the Hard Hat
Award. Wear the Hard Hat
proudly, Larry!