The quote above, taken from a Vancouver Sun article below, shows the approach taken by Andrew Harris is not the best one. He missed the team flight. Logan got more reps. What Harris needs to do is show his teammates and everyone else that he is a team player, that the team is more important than one individual, that he will fight for his starting tailback job with his play and his opportunities. Many players have been benched in their career or had their role reduced. Stars get reduced ice time or power play time in hockey. In football the quarterback is taken out of the game for a few series or his backup is given an opportunity. Its how a player responds that defines his character.Harris, the Lions’ erstwhile feature back, appeared to have words with coaches, bolted across the field and changed into civvies faster than Superman in a phone booth before most reporters could reach him after the game.
Harris did have his best game this season, in terms of average yard per carry (7.2 yds) in limited reps. He was also used on kick returns, something he has not done for a while.
As Beamish writes.."its all beginning to turn into a bad season of kharma for Harris". The person who can play an important role in turning that kharma around is Harris himself.
Touchy, touchy for Lions' Stefan Logan, Andrew Harris
By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun October 21, 2013 2:07 PM
REGINA -- The touches between Stefan Logan and Andrew Harris were a touchy subject Saturday night, following the B.C. Lions’ 35-14 defeat to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Logan felt he didn’t do enough with his 23 turns with the football. Harris apparently was upset he wasn’t used enough. It was a tale of two unhappy tailbacks as the Lions began a complicated relationship with the two men responsible for carrying the football.
Harris, the Lions’ erstwhile feature back, appeared to have words with coaches, bolted across the field and changed into civvies faster than Superman in a phone booth before most reporters could reach him after the game.
Much has been weighing on his mind lately: Harris’s personally frustrating season after a breakout 2012 campaign, a missed charter flight to Regina which forced him to buy a ticket on a regular carrier; the MOP season of rival and arch nemesis Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampeders; and the beneficial but difficult new partnership with Logan.
It’s all beginning to turn into a season of bad karma for Harris who, above all, hates to fail and hates to lose.
“I’m definitely a guy who hates losing,” Harris admitted last week. “I’ve always said I hate losing more than I like winning -- especially when you leave plays on the field. That’s been definitely frustrating for me. When we lose, I’m pissed off until we get to the next practice. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That’s just how I roll.”
He got to roll on eight occasions Saturday night against the Riders: four rushes for 29 yards (7.3-yard average), two receptions (28 yards) and a pair of kickoff returns for 36.
Logan, making his first start for the Lions after just three practices, had 218 all-purpose yards on 11 rushes, six punt returns and five kickoff runbacks. The former Detroit Lion, Pittsburgh Steeler and B.C. Lion (2008), hadn’t played a pro game since last December 27-- a span of almost 10 months. He took the roster spot of regular return specialist Tim Brown, who was scratched, and alternated with Harris in the backfield.
Despite getting up to speed with the CFL game in less than a week, “Joystick” (Logan’s nickname) got little joy from his performance.
“You’re always going to be your worst critic,” he explained. “My momma told me that when I was young. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, but that’s what makes a great football player. You’ve gotta critique your efforts. You’ve gotta critique yourself. As a whole, I thought we played well, in spots. But there’s a whole lot of corrections we’ve gotta make. I didn’t make a lot of mental errors. But the error that killed me was that fumble.”
Logan coughed it up in the first quarter -- one of eight turnovers in the game by the Lions -- on a play that led to a Saskatchewan field goal. The Riders scored 25 of their first 31 points as the result of B.C. giveaways.
“That’s something I don’t do. That’s something I can’t do,” Logan said. “The mistakes we made were bad. My coach in college always stressed, ‘Hold on to the ball, hold on to the ball, hold on to the ball. Hold on to it like it’s your baby.’ But I dropped the baby.”
Other than that, head coach Mike Benevides was amazed to see Logan hasn’t lost much of the escapability he exhibited with the Lions five years ago.
“He gave us everything he had,” Benevides said, “and he certainly added a dimension to the group. He did everything he could to try and help us.”
Give the BC Lion fans and Lionbackers an early Christmas present.