Dr. Richard Crowley, a sports psychologist working with athletes since 1983, is riding hard on a few coaches. One in particular is that of the Oakland Raiders. Straddling the chafing leather despite copious amounts of talcum powder, Crowley believes that the top chokers and false-starters of the sporting arena are failures in their own mind from their own mind and .
From that, an exercise in alliteration and preying on the weak minded, "Mental Mechanics." Steve Sax of the LA Dodgers was the first test case to fall subject to the sideliner notes and talks. In a recent release, Dr Crowley stated, "the Mental Mechanics coaching approach addresses the mental glitch affecting the team. Teams like the Raiders need help with the issues underling their losses, which their current staff doesn't know how to resolve. Typically, it is an unwillingness to address a collective psychic virus infecting the team."
A suggestion that seriously pissed off Raiders' coach Bill Callahan. Scoffing at the idea that the technique "focuses on removing the team's mental blocks and replacing it with natural mechanics" In other words, the coach doesn't know his team and isn't doing his job.
Written on Wednesday, 10 December 2003