Title: “Are you an eagle or a pigeon?”

General Information about Item:

• Verbal Folklore: Proverb

• English

• United States of America

Informant Data:

• Name: Buddy Teevens
  • Dartmouth YG: 1979
  • Residence: Hanover, New Hampshire
  • Years of experience coaching: 26 years
  • Current position: Head Coach of Dartmouth Football

Contextual Data:

• Social Context
  • The coaches say this to the players to encourage them to be leaders and take charge.

• Cultural Context
  • This proverb helps players mentally decide what kind of player they want to be and reminds them that they should be strong and act individually like an eagle, instead of hiding and following the crowd like a pigeon.

Item:

• Proverb: “Eagle or pigeon”
  • A saying used by the coaches to encourage players.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

•  Coach Teevens: The Bystander Initiative, act on, talk about leadership. I tell the guys, ideally its you are an eagle or a pigeon. You know  eagles fly, they’re not afraid to make decisions on their own, and pigeons, they just want to live with each other.

Collector’s Name:

• Evelyn Bird

Tags/Keywords:

• Verbal Folklore, proverb, leadership, football