Burn the Boats. It was Boston University's motto all season, and it was never more fitting. The Terriers wore t-shirts under their jerseys with the motto.
"I was sitting in my house in when Ben Smith came by in early September," Parker said. "Ben came by with a printout of a story about Spanish conqueror Cortez. Cortez got four or five ships together and he got the best men he could find and they sailed to Cuba. During the trip some of the people started whining and complaining halfway over, 'This is harder than I thought. I didn't know it was going to be this way.' When he got to Cuba he got rid of all the whiners and kept the ones that were ready to fight.
"Now that he had the guys he wanted he gave one last order, burn the boats."
Parker said it was meant to raise the crew's level of commitment because there was no going back.
"His quote was, 'If we're going back, we're going back in their boats.' There was no turning around and jumping in their ships, they had to go conquer the people if they wanted to get back and that's what he did. It was all or nothing.
