"HALF-TIME!"

Well fans, we are now coming to the apex of the football season; the "SUPER BOWL"! I have mixed feelings this year as my Bears fell short against the Packers on Sunday; but I have great friends who support the Packers and I will wish them well on their quest for a league championship. I must say that this year I have seen some of the best play-off games I can remember in recent history. I was surprised by some games; as favorites were thrown by the way side in stunning upsets. I sat on the edge of my chair for extended periods of most of these games. These coaches deserve hearty congratulations for their play calling and motivational tools used to bring victory from their respective teams. I would like to bring up the "PEP TALK" and the "Half time speech" as tools used to fire up the team! Knute Rockne, Vince Lombardi, George Halas, Bill Parcells and many other coaches use these venues to inspire their teams to great performances on the "field of battle". Sometimes a coach has to have a rousing half-time speech to bring their team back from a deficit in the first half. Ranting and raving, or soft inspirational methods are among the arsenal of every coach's vocabulary in his quest to rally his team. All the stops will be pulled out in order to get the team's mind right for victory. The coach will say whatever he needs to say to get the team behind him. If the team doesn't believe, your game is lost.

Last night we saw Barack Obama's "half time speech". I was a bit confused by Mr. Obama's rhetoric, he lauded the extension of the Bush tax cuts, then asked that, once again, we tax the wealthy. Is this a mixed message? He also said he would veto bills with earmarks (pork), yet he also endorsed more government spending on "shovel ready" government projects. Is this a mixed message? Some of the members of his "team" don't quite agree with Mr. Obama; Harry Reid called his speech so much "pretty talk"; he doesn't sound like he believes Mr. Obama. Mr. Obama also said he wants to roll back spending; he said the same thing last year. What about that? It seems that the President was looking at the "score board" at the half and he wasn't happy with the results (November!) thus far. His play calling isn't going down to well with the "fans".

The "second half" is about to start, and the speech is over. The big question is, will the coach have a change in his game plan; does he have any "trick plays" up his sleeve, or will we see the same plays masked to look like something else? If we see the same "game plan" in the second half, there might be the need to change coaches at the end of the "season". Will this be a "GAME CHANGER"?