In my view, telling a player that he is "old school" is a high compliment. To me, it means that the player is strong enough to overcome adversity. Nearly every player on the Warriors is "old school." For example, Paco Lauciello exhibits an "old school" attitude when he resists resting an inning after catching six innings on a 90 degree plus day. Ryan Novak demonstrates his "old school" attitude by coming back to pitch the second game of a doubleheader after getting knocked out of the first game on a line drive back through the box. There are many examples of this mental toughness from our players.
When I was a kid, Wilbur Wood was a professional player who regularly exhibited this attitude. While pitching for the Chicago White Sox in 1973, Wood pitched five innings for the win over the Cleveland Indians in a suspended game. He then started the regularly scheduled game that same night and went on to win another game after pitching a four-hit shutout!
Two months later, Wood became the last pitcher in the history of baseball to pitch BOTH games of a doubleheader! He had a ridiculous 44 decision in 1973 (posting a record of 24 wins and 20 losses). He did this at the age of 42 (although the fact that he was a knuckle ball pitcher helped his endurance a great deal).
When Wood was 45 years old, his knee cap was shattered into a billion pieces after a line drive was hit directly back at him. Nearly everyone assumed that his career was over. Yet, he recovered enough to play two more seasons--although he lost his effectiveness on the mound after that injury. Wilbur Wood was definitely "old school".
We don't expect our Warriors to play while injured. But, we also do not expect them to give up easily--or to use excuses such as a hot day as a reason for not hustling. One of the lessons to be learned as a player on the Warriors is how to overcome adversity.
