Odierno speaks to Giants about teamwork, resiliency and Saddam Hussein

In most cases I cringe when people make comparisons between combat and football. Yes there are words that get used in both situations like bombs and blitzes and warrior. But for the most part football is just a game and combat is, well, not.

But when a guy who has been in combat starts making those comparisons, it’s a little different. Compare a trivial football game to the capture of Saddam Hussein? Not many people can get away with that. The one who can apparently did.

General Raymond Odierno addressed the troops (there we go again with the similar vocabulary) after Giants practice today. While we did not get to speak with the former Commander of U.S. Troops in Iraq, Tom Coughlin spoke about what Odierno said.

“(He talked) about team,” Coughlin said. “About mental, physical toughness, resiliency, about overcoming anything and everything and that if you believe in one another and have each other’s back … He equated that to the group of soldiers that captured Saddam Hussein.”