The game was over. The roaring stadium was now silent, empty of fans, a forlorn place of crushed popcorn boxes and drink cups, trampled programs, spent confetti. The coach entered a sullen, utterly quiet locker room. Helmets were down on the floor, jerseys pulled off and piled in a washbin. "I just want you guys to know that I am real proud of the way you played this afternoon," he said. "Real proud. We didn't win, but we did prove to a lot of people what we could do. It was a moral victory."

On the way out that evening, with autumn sky now dark, the second string tackle turned to the quarterback and asked, "What's a moral victory?"

And the quarterback said, "It's what a coach tells you when you lose the game. It's what a coach says to a team when he knows it's his last season."

If you …