Sunday, September 7, 2008

Working in a place where fans care

critical [krit-i-kuhl] adjective: marked by a tendency to find and call attention to errors and flaws; "a critical attitude" [ant: uncritical] ; inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily; characterized by careful evaluation and judgment.

For any coach who's worked for a team, school, or university where the fans, boosters, and media are incredibly engaged, passionate and, sometimes perhaps, hypercritical, Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid has a healthy outlook:

"I have a great job in a great city. That's how I look at it. Some people say, 'Hey, you're working in a tough place.' But you know what? These (fans) care. Everybody cares. It's a great city for sports, and I realize that. Maybe I didn't the first couple of years, but now that I've been around, and I've looked around, it's a great situation.''