Brian Dawkins and "Dog"

The quotes used to create this post come from "How to Describe the Fiercest Players: Dawkins is Dogmatic" by Ashley Fox. The article was originally printed in the Philadelphia Inquirer on October 23, 2005.

Brian Dawkins is one of the greatest free safeties in football history. A lifetime Eagle, Dawkins will be playing in his 5th NFC Championship Game this weekend when the Eagles travel to Arizona to take on the Cardinals. Dawkins is in his 12th season with the Eagles, longer than any current player on the team and was selected to his 7th Pro Bowl in a season that began with wispers that he has lost a step and was closer to retirement than another Pro Bowl appearance. Dawkins plays with an amazing level of intensity that actually begins when he comes out for the pre-game introductions. Dawkins still hits as hard as any player in the league and is the unquestioned leader of the Eagles defense. Dawkins also has an amazing connection with Eagles fans, standing on the sideline at midfield after every Eagles score leading the crowd in a rendition of the Eagles Fight Song. The question begs, how does Dawkins play at such a high level for such a long period of time?

"You can't fake dog." Brian Dawkins is as intense a player as there is. From pregame introductions to the final whistle, Dawkins performs with a fearless flair that has earned him four Pro Bowl selections and a reputation as one of the toughest safeties in the NFL. But this week, Dawkins offered a little insight into his mental makeup, and it was as colorful a response as you'll hear. During his weekly media session on Wednesday, Dawkins was asked whether the Birds have a greater mental or physical challenge in improving their defense, which ranks 19th, allowing 327.0 yards per game, and will face the San Diego Chargers today "You either have dog in you or you don't," said Dawkins, who turned 32 earlier this month. "That's what we call it. You can't fake dog... and we have guys that have that."

Dawkins, here, is talking about his own version of playing (swimming) with a sense of urgency. However Dawkins knows that he is crazy to think that you can just turn on "dog" on game day:

"If you have that in you, then when it comes down to throwing down, when it comes down to fighting, you don't have to turn nothing on because it's in you and you aren't faking anything."

How to you get it "in you"? There are some people who are born with it; people who are naturally talented and naturally able to be great when they want to do so. Who are these people? Simply put, freaks of nature. There may be one person out of every 5,000 that actually has this trait. For the rest of us, there is a lot of hard work, sweat and pain that must go into developing dog. It takes a lot of time in the laboratory (READ: practice) to develop that perfect combination for you to be able to swim at your peak level in meets.