He wants to tell the audience that he did not achieve all of his goals. He wants to let the audience know that mastering the basics is key to achieving goals. He wants to explain how to be a good football coach to people who are interested in football.
This must be from a standardized test. The wording is a little confusing, but I'd say it is a metaphor. Google says the definition of metaphor is "a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable." This is saying something <em>is</em> something, or comparing two items without using "as" or "like". Have a good night/day!
-Dylan (AKA Animus)
<em>a e s t h e t i c </em>
I did a 3 second google search for "tim o'brien" and the first thing that came up was the novel he wrote about the vietnam war called "The Things They Carried" written in 1990.
