ARE YOU A CHICKEN OR A PIG?

If I have learned one thing about Head Coach John Marks, it’s this. He makes for some great interviews. Many of you have probably heard a number of his funny quotes and analogies. Anything from winning the RBC in one period and then going to KFC the next. Saying that players work harder in the offensive zone then they do in the defensive zone because chicks dig the guys who score goals. Comparing good goal scorers to Jesse James. He has also talked about how it wouldn’t be the best thing to see him in a short skirt and pom poms (I would agree).

But as funny and entertaining and he can be, there is profound and thought provoking detail behind it. By now you have probably heard his analogy about bacon and eggs. If you haven’t here it is. Following the Flyers 3-1 loss in Neepawa last Tuesday, John and I were talking about commitment to winning and that is when he told me this story.

“You look at bacon and eggs. The chicken makes a contribution to the bacon and eggs and the pig makes a commitment and a sacrifice. We need more pigs.”

Now as funny as that quote can be it does hold real truth. When it comes to your commitment and desire to win are you a chicken or a pig? Are you a player that just chips in from time to time when the going is good (chicken) or are you the type of player that is willing to give everything he has for the betterment of the team (pig). The chicken can give eggs and still be perfectly fine and uncommitted and unattached to what is going on. The pig on the other hand gives his heart and soul to the cause and is emotionally and physically invested in the end result.


At the start of the season things were going along really well and I think we are just in a time right now where the team is trying to learn how to be a winning team. You can be a team that wins some games but that doesn’t make you a winning team. Learning how to win and do that on a consistent basis is hard. In a league with parity you can’t afford to only show up in the third period and expect to win. I think this team has the makings of a winning team on the ice but they have to become a winning team in their heads.

Some players (not just on this team but on any team) think that they can do it on their own. They think that success or future opportunities will be based on nothing more than how many points you had at the end of the night. Well that my friends doesn’t always work.

You look at the old saying that one finger is not nearly as strong as your whole hand. Well its the same in hockey. You need all five players on the ice to work as one. The Flyers 6-1-1 start was both good and bad. It’s great to be in first place (at the time) but it can also lead you to believe that you are better then you are.

One of the reasons they were so good at the beginning is because they worked as a team and used each other and didn’t take anything for granted. And one of the reasons that they are 1-4 since is because they thought it would keep on going without being prepared to put in the work to do it.

If you look in the mirror and see a pig, then good for you. But if you see some feathers, then that better change.