It's just like high school. If you're a freshman or a sophomore, it's hard to tell the seniors who've been through two, three, playoff games what to do.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
What we do at the end of every season - which is why it's probably not the greatest idea to talk about things in the visitor's locker room after the final game - we sit down and have real serious conversations with all of the senior people.
You've got to enjoy time with your family and friends, and if you're involved in sports franchises, those peak moments in playoff games. You have to enjoy life.
I think you always have, you know, new players. Every year you see new faces, juniors coming into the seniors. I was one of them at the time long time ago now.
You got guys now declaring they're ready to play pro ball in their second or third year of high school. It's crazy! They're missing so much.
In college, a loss is pretty devastating. That feeling kind of goes away in an 82-game season. You hate to lose, but you also have a lot more games to make up for it.
As a player, I can tell them they don't want to rush to become a coach, because there is a lot that goes on. This is all something new to me. You can talk to a lot of the coaches... and they can tell you. Until you go through it, then you can understand what it's all about.
It means a lot to you, to be out there. The highs are pretty high, and the lows are pretty low. You know, it's easy to feel like you let the team down. I mean, at the end of the day we still got to figure out a way to get through the tie.
It's the playoffs. You find a way to get through.
I don't think that players learn how to play any other aspect of the game in high school or college.
You go to a couple of teams, and some guys have never been to a playoff game.