I think as a viewer we identify mostly with teh QB, and when he is in zen, we are too… I cna’t really describe it, but sometimes it jst feels comfortable to watch the game, you don’t have a edge of the seat feeling of doom. You can still be surprised and may find yourself jumping up whooping and hollering, but overall there is a sense of football…peace…

ahem…anyways, nice post!

That ‘zen’ quality has a name in things oriental – mushin, or ‘mind like water’. The consciousness is a quiet pool, it’s surface undisturbed, untroubled. The person in possession of this quality can accomplish nearly anything. The quality is closely linked with that of ‘wa’, or inner harmony.

“The flame and the void”

Rec’d SWG, thanks!

While watching Brady today on the first few series v. Eagles, when in the shotgun, he stood very still, feet together,arms at his side, scouting the defense. He raises his foot and the defense reacts resulting in a few succinct pointers to the offense, the play starts and he throws a beutiful 45yd strike to Moss. Truely amazing to soak in the brilliance of a well coached QB at the top of his game. I really do expect to see the same behavior from Orton before too long with the same kinds of results.

But then how bizarre when he went absolutely ballistic on the sideline after the pick. Was it frustration with himself, was it frustration with Moss for his lackadaisical attempt?

I had already had a picture of Elway, right before you mentioned his name. I understood exactly what you meant. Just go back and watch “the Drive” and you will see this poetry in motion. Talk about euphoric.
Very nice SWG. Rec’d

Great Post my man!

Momentum and zen are beautiful things. Our offense will get there sooner rather than later. As for our defense, they are getting better and better and creating chaos and not letting someone get in a zen. I know the moments you are talking about, and regardless of how SF’s QB’s played, they were not in the zen. Not one time, and that’s just as important as our quarterback BEING in one. Great post, and rec’d.

I admit that I am an unabashed Bruce Lee fan. Some of his quotes from The Tao of Jeet Kune Do include:

• Too much horsing around with unrealistic stances and classic forms and rituals is just too artificial and mechanical, and doesn’t really prepare the student for actual combat. A guy could get clobbered while getting into this classical mess.
• A martial artist who drills exclusively to a set pattern of combat is losing his freedom. He is actually becoming a slave to a choice pattern and feels that the pattern is the real thing. It leads to stagnation because the way of combat is never based on personal choice and fancies, but constantly changes from moment to moment, and the disappointed combatant will soon find out that his ‘choice routine’ lacks pliability. There must be a ‘being’ instead of a ‘doing’ in training. One must be free. Instead of complexity of form, there should be simplicity of expression.
• The highest technique is to have no technique. My technique is a result of your technique; my movement is a result of your movement.

In the end, one must train to learn and then “forget” the forms and simply be.

Another favorite is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” He discusses the Metaphysics of quality as a balance between being focused on gestalt “in the moment” and being focused on the details, the inner workings, etc. Embracing the rational and the romantic., intuition and rationality.

When a QB is truly “On” then a blending of training and being in the moment grants an almost surreal peace that results in an almost unstoppable ability. Class of ’69 at heart.

Flow Theory is some pretty solid stuff in my experience. On my best days I experience the one-ness concept frequently while skiing bumps. There are just runs where I can feel the terrain through the ski and boot, like I was skiing barefoot, and I am not thinking, ‘oh it feels icy, I need to dig in my big toe to get a better edge,’ my toe thinks it and does it right away. At the same time I am scanning terrain seconds ahead of me in what I can only describe as a shift in my perception of time, it all slows down and I can see the turns my feet will be making before I’m at them, yet follow the path I haven’t been looking at for a second or two. I am maintaining the best posture I have in me (which isn’t great), and keeping track of obstacles and other skiers surrounding me by subconsciously paying attention to my peripheral vision.

There is simply nothing like this feeling of simply seeing, planning, moving, reacting, and doing it over and over successfully.

I am by no means the greatest skier, not even close, but I have definitely put in my time. I started skiing regularly at 8, and received training from the Eskimo Ski Club, up at Mary Jane. The bump training lasted for about 5 years, and they were rough. It took me living near Crested Butte for 3 years before I had forgotten enough of what I had learned, and started skiing instinctively. Which is not to say I didn’t gain a great deal from the training, just that I needed to learn it in my muscles and let my mind focus on higher level stuff.

This is the perspective I choose to view the Orton experience through. He put in his time learning the hard way, and became proficient at it. Now it is time for him to unlearn it all so it is a reaction to his surroundings, rather than his memory of practice. That will take time, but he seems to have a pretty good teacher in McD.

I have experienced these moments as well, if not at a much lesser level still Zen like for me…I am a pretty decent golfer and when then Zen comes upon you all the negative thought are gone and seemingly everything you see and want to happen just flows out…It is a great feeling to be sure

Good one…Rec’d

I am personally hoping for lots of Zen by the third game of the preseason…. ;-)

19% of Orton’ passes were picked off Friday night. As such, I was not having a Zen moment in my living room. Orton wasn’t having one on the field either.

Five solid to decent passes to start a game does not a Zen Master make. Once San Fran adjusted to what they were seeing from our Offense, they knocked Kyle got off script and I didn’t like his improvisational work.

“The pathway to salvation is as narrow and as difficult to walk as a razor’s edge.”

From the movie “The Razor’s Edge” starring Bill Murray (in a serious role) based on the classic novel “The Razor’s Edge” by W. Somerset Maugham.

If you haven’t seen it, you must. Only then can you undersand a QB being “in the zone” and become one with the universe at the same time. (And yes, I favor the Murray version over the 1946 version).

January 31, 1988 – Super Bowl XXII – Broncos vs. Redskins – Doug Williams tossing 4 TD passes and Washington scoring 35 points – IN THE SECOND QUARTER!

That day Williams was one with the universe, and never was again…Gosh, I remember that day…So up and excited and then, in just a few minutes, so down and dejected!

On the upside, The Broncos put together 4 consecutive years with an amazing bunch of Team Players and went to the SB 3 of those 4 years…

Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball-I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me-I am part or particle of God.