60The Official Magazine of OSU Athletics

October 2007

THE END

WRAY.VINGS

The other day I ran across an old photograph of myself.It was at a birthday party (my own). I must have been ten or twelve

years old and I was dressed in a football jersey. On the kitchen table in front of me were two items. One was a NFL

football signed by O.J. Simpson. On the box it said, “Officially signed by an NFL hero.” My how times have changed. The other item was a cherry-chip birthday cake. My mom knew it was my favorite, and I think I ate half of it.

Years later, for no good reason, I decided to try and bake a cake of my own. I’m not sure why. I am about as adept in the kitchen as General Custer was at touring Little Big Horn.

How hard could it be? Mix the ingredients given to me by Betty Crocker herself, set it and forget it.

The first thing I discovered is there is a fine skill associated with applying enough pressure to crack an egg and not break the egg. Too bad it took me a dozen attempts to get the “feel” of it.

The rest of the recipe seemed pretty easy until it came time to mixing it all together. Who knew electric mixers were so powerful? Too much cake mix on the wall and floor, not enough in the bowl. Start over. More eggs. Clean up later or let the dog in? Finally, with the goo blended and in the cake pan, I set it in the oven at 350 degrees.

Now the one thing I did not want to happen was for the cake to burn. I had seen my mother skillfully insert a toothpick in the middle of a cake towards the end of the baking time. If the toothpick came out with no batter sticking to it, it was done.

Good idea. I tried it. Several times. By the time I had “checked” the cake an appropriate number of times, it looked

like it had lost a fight with a porcupine. And by opening the oven 15 times, the cake was… well, very rare. Julia Child would not have been impressed.

So I did what any sane man would do if he wanted cake -- I drove to Wal-Mart and bought one.

Building a successful football program is surprisingly similar to cake making. You have to start with the right ingredients: top notch facilities to attract the nation’s best student athletes; great coaches and support personnel with the promise of secu-rity and consistency that enables steady recruitment opportunities as well as strength and conditioning advantages.

And then there is a critical element: time. A measure of patience is paramount in the long-term performance of a foot-

ball program. In our world of instant access to information, news, entertainment and everything else under the sun, the old adage still rings true: you can’t rush success.

Ultimately you have to read and follow the directions, mix well and place in the oven at the right temperature. Then you wait. Without opening the door.

Remember, its okay to break an egg or two and spill some flour. When the cake is finished and the candles are lit, everyone will appreciate the journey it took to get there.

Kyle Wray