This week the kids come back to school in most of the Peoria area. It is always a hectic week as we get back into the school routine. It will be especially challenging for our family as our daughter has had her driver's license for about a month. We will have about three different things going on and two cars to get us there so I see plenty of logistics ahead for our family. As I sit on the front porch there is a knock-out game of Basketball going on in our driveway. It seems that the kids always sense that school is close at hand and they have only a few treasured nights of play left.
Today I did my annual talk to the JFL Football Coaches of Central Illinois. I have spoke for the last 13 years to this group of adults who are about to embark on a season of coaching young kids in the great game of Football for the upcoming Fall. I enjoy this very brief time with these people. They always have me talk to first year coaches. I try to expound to them the importance of making Football a positive experience. I truly hope that they realize the crucial time that they are dealing with these young people and the game of Football. A youngster can have a great experience, or a horrific experience at that age. It was kind of a bad thing that I walked into the meeting before mine and they were doing a exercise on sportsmanship and not running the score up, etc.. They gave the coaches a scenario where a team was continuously on-side kicking and was putting a pretty good whipping on a team. When asked about this most of the coaches felt that this was ok and it was the other teams job to adjust and react. In my mind I thought; "is the game being properly taught if we continuously on-side kick?". I sure wish there could be a system where kids do learn the game of Football and the adults egos are still satisfied.
This Friday is also always a big night as it is the inter-squad scrimmage for most high school teams. This gives the coaches a chance for their kids to perform under the lights and hopefully get some of the pre-game jitters experienced so opening night is perhaps not so daunting. I enjoy this tremendously. It is a good warm-up for Friday nights to come. I truly experience the whole Football experience in the Autumn. High school Football on Friday, college on Saturdays followed by the NFL on Sundays. My weight usually sky rockets as I indulge in a lot of snacks and tailgating while watching this. Thursday night College Football is also a big hit if I can jam four nights of football watching into my schedule.
This realization that football is right around the corner makes the start of the school year much more bearable!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Parents
I know that it has been awhile since my last post. I have been back at work for two weeks now. As I sit and relax on this Friday night before our Softball team's first games tomorrow my thoughts turn to going to watch their first game at 8:30am.(Yawn!!!). I truly enjoy sitting in a lawn chair and enjoying kids playing ball.
This summer a lot of my time in a lawn chair was sitting enjoying my own sons Baseball games. It is one of the most excruciating things that an old coach can do. Even though the majority of my career was as a Football coach, I did coach some Baseball. The hardest thing in the world is to sit and not "morph" into a yeller. It is the one of the greatest challenges that I am sure that I will encounter as a dad. In retrospect, I should enjoy watching my kid progress and learn about the various sports that he participates in. It is only natural for you to want your kid to do as well as he possibly can. I can't think of a parent alive that doesn't feel that way. I do think that there is an awful fine line between wanting that success and then actually being embarrassed that your son, or daughter is not the best kid on their team, or on the field. I think in retrospect the best thing that you can do for your athletes is to be a constant encourager and to remain in an advisory role.
I have seen hundreds of parents who have hung on fences and paced and screamed tips and "coached" their kids from the sidelines. In essence, they were probably discouraging their son, or daughter from truly developing a love for the game that they started participating in for the true fun aspect. The toughest thing for a parent is to see their kid "fail". It is a bit of true compassion, but also a bit embarrassing.
Thus, many excuses come about. Many reasons why this may have happened. Many reasons why that happened. This transfers to the student-athlete when they get home, or worse yet, while mom, or dad are leaning over the dugout fence during the respective contest. Kids need to learn to accept responsibility. There will be failures! It's how you deal with those failures and what you do to get better that is the another great lesson learned from interscholastic competition. The best analogy that I can draw is that of the mother bird who pushes her young out of the nest teaching them to fail. Sometimes that needs to happen, eventually the bird and our young athlete will take-off and fly!
So, as we start another school year, enjoy your kids. Appreciate their coaches, appreciate their teammates and most of all appreciate that they are able to participate in games and learn lessons that will help them. They will fail. Be quick to offer them support and constructive suggestions, not excuses to overcome their mistakes. I am looking forward to a great fall and will stay in touch and share some of the things that I encounter along the way. Enjoy the games!!!
This summer a lot of my time in a lawn chair was sitting enjoying my own sons Baseball games. It is one of the most excruciating things that an old coach can do. Even though the majority of my career was as a Football coach, I did coach some Baseball. The hardest thing in the world is to sit and not "morph" into a yeller. It is the one of the greatest challenges that I am sure that I will encounter as a dad. In retrospect, I should enjoy watching my kid progress and learn about the various sports that he participates in. It is only natural for you to want your kid to do as well as he possibly can. I can't think of a parent alive that doesn't feel that way. I do think that there is an awful fine line between wanting that success and then actually being embarrassed that your son, or daughter is not the best kid on their team, or on the field. I think in retrospect the best thing that you can do for your athletes is to be a constant encourager and to remain in an advisory role.
I have seen hundreds of parents who have hung on fences and paced and screamed tips and "coached" their kids from the sidelines. In essence, they were probably discouraging their son, or daughter from truly developing a love for the game that they started participating in for the true fun aspect. The toughest thing for a parent is to see their kid "fail". It is a bit of true compassion, but also a bit embarrassing.
Thus, many excuses come about. Many reasons why this may have happened. Many reasons why that happened. This transfers to the student-athlete when they get home, or worse yet, while mom, or dad are leaning over the dugout fence during the respective contest. Kids need to learn to accept responsibility. There will be failures! It's how you deal with those failures and what you do to get better that is the another great lesson learned from interscholastic competition. The best analogy that I can draw is that of the mother bird who pushes her young out of the nest teaching them to fail. Sometimes that needs to happen, eventually the bird and our young athlete will take-off and fly!
So, as we start another school year, enjoy your kids. Appreciate their coaches, appreciate their teammates and most of all appreciate that they are able to participate in games and learn lessons that will help them. They will fail. Be quick to offer them support and constructive suggestions, not excuses to overcome their mistakes. I am looking forward to a great fall and will stay in touch and share some of the things that I encounter along the way. Enjoy the games!!!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Commitment
Tomorrow is my son's last conditioning work-out for Basketball this summer. Naturally this got me to thinking the valuable commitment lesson that student-athletes learn from the grind of summer work-outs. As a family, we have planned our time commitment around our kids activities at school. I know others feel this way but our family enacts the commitment. We do not take full-fledged vacations. I have heard parents talk about this and then their kids have missed for this vacation and this event and in the end the commitment to a team seems to get over-looked. I feel that this lesson goes a long way in assuring that young people learn to commit to a group effort and a understanding that outside your family, education and faith there is no other priority. Hopefully, this becomes prevalent amongst an entire team and then it creates a togetherness and commraderie that makes it much easier to trust team-mates and to count on them to do their job. Our daughter does not escape this philosophy either as we do the same for her cheerleading practices.
During all my years of coaching I would become extremely frustrated with parents who were constantly pulling their students from work-outs and activities for their own reasons. I tried tactfully as possible to get the point across that this was selfish and could not help a team. I know that as adults all of our jobs create an enormous amount of stress in our lives and we need some vacation time. I have the huge fortune of having a month off from my job in the summer, as well as, several days off and breaks throughout the year. I do not consider this a vacation from the most important job that I have of imparting and teaching values and work ethic to our kids. Thank the Good Lord that I am married to a woman who shares the same values. She is satisfied with our simple life of movies, eating out and doing things together as a family.
I hope that this writing does not come off as a this is the right way to do things and others are doing it wrong manual. Instead as parents, my wife and I choose to see summer work-outs and commitments to a team as an extension of our kids education. An education, that in all due respect, is much more valuable than anything learned in a classroom. Cindy and I try to model the same commitment in our professional lives for our children to see. We meet many work and professional commitments that might not be necessary, but model commitment. In the big picture, the time spent together as a family is the biggest stress-buster that there is.
In closing, I wish I got paid for every time that I have been told by a former player how many life-lessons that they have learned from these same values that I tried to impart on the young men who played for me. In fact, many over-zealous parents would not agree with me, I think the most valuable thing that coaches and scholastic athletics can provide are these life-long values. One of these values is commitment. So, next time you want to complain about not being able to do anything this summer because of hauling kids around, maybe you have done way more than you ever believed.
During all my years of coaching I would become extremely frustrated with parents who were constantly pulling their students from work-outs and activities for their own reasons. I tried tactfully as possible to get the point across that this was selfish and could not help a team. I know that as adults all of our jobs create an enormous amount of stress in our lives and we need some vacation time. I have the huge fortune of having a month off from my job in the summer, as well as, several days off and breaks throughout the year. I do not consider this a vacation from the most important job that I have of imparting and teaching values and work ethic to our kids. Thank the Good Lord that I am married to a woman who shares the same values. She is satisfied with our simple life of movies, eating out and doing things together as a family.
I hope that this writing does not come off as a this is the right way to do things and others are doing it wrong manual. Instead as parents, my wife and I choose to see summer work-outs and commitments to a team as an extension of our kids education. An education, that in all due respect, is much more valuable than anything learned in a classroom. Cindy and I try to model the same commitment in our professional lives for our children to see. We meet many work and professional commitments that might not be necessary, but model commitment. In the big picture, the time spent together as a family is the biggest stress-buster that there is.
In closing, I wish I got paid for every time that I have been told by a former player how many life-lessons that they have learned from these same values that I tried to impart on the young men who played for me. In fact, many over-zealous parents would not agree with me, I think the most valuable thing that coaches and scholastic athletics can provide are these life-long values. One of these values is commitment. So, next time you want to complain about not being able to do anything this summer because of hauling kids around, maybe you have done way more than you ever believed.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
I'm Back!!!
I started this a couple of years ago in a graduate class. I kind of half-heartedly wrote some entries chronicling my last season as the Head Football Coach at Dunlap High School. Since leaving the great game of football, I have spent 3 years as an assistant principal at Dunlap Middle School. I enjoy this job tremendously, but I would be remiss if I did not mention how much that I miss football. The connections that were made with coaches and student-athletes are so precious to my life and I am reminded almost daily of them. I am going to try and start this up again and offer some comments and insight into coaching, education and sometimes life in general. I would appreciate your feedback and any comments that you may have. I will be the first to tell you that I am not going to be overly critical, but hopefully add insight into high school athleticsand all that is involved with it. Please follow along and we will see how this goes. Thanks and I am looking forward to it!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
The Trevails of a Young and Inexperienced Team
Boy was Friday night a setback. I had no idea that Morton was going to be able to physically whip us like they did. We showed that we were a very inexperienced team. We had individual breakdowns in all of our blocking schemes on offense. Defensively we never got Morton stopped. Granted their QB and receiver mad some huge 3rd and 4th down throws and catches, but we were most dissappointed in the fact that our kids did not compete at a level even close to the way we did vs. Galesburg the week before. Thus we are 0-1 in the conference and looking down the barrell of a very tough stretch in our schedule. Perrenial power Metamora is our home opener this Friday and if we approach the game the same way that we did this week it will be an incredibly long night. I feel very confident that after this week our kids will understand that every night you must give your best whether it be in practice, games, classroom, or whatever you may be doing.
Metamora will challenge us in every way possible. They are a team that features a very strong off-tackle running attack. They will exploit any weakness that we may have at LB, and along our defensive front. Defensively they will feature a reduction 50 front with a cover 2 shell behind it. They will be extremely quick laterelly, so this is a team that you are better to go straight at but then you need to match up physically with them. I know that these are the challenges that you must relish to be successful at things in life.
Alex's Night
One of our old players had a traumatic brain injury this winter and has had a long recovery process, but has overcome incredible odds to get to the point that he has. The school is going to have a tailgate fundraiser, auction and several deals to help the family with the vast expenses that they have incurred. If you look up high school football player in a dictionary, Alex Shelton's picture would have to be there. He was about as spirited a kid in high school as there is and it is that spirit that has got him to this point in his recovery. I can't wait to see him. I visited him in the hospital last May and he was doing well then, but was unable to go home. He has set a goal to hand deliver the game ball to the official before the game and there is no doubt in my mind that he will get it done. You talk about a competitor!!! That is what learning to compete teaches you. How to overcome all odds. We are all so proud of Alex and I can't wait for him to be a part of things Friday.
Metamora will challenge us in every way possible. They are a team that features a very strong off-tackle running attack. They will exploit any weakness that we may have at LB, and along our defensive front. Defensively they will feature a reduction 50 front with a cover 2 shell behind it. They will be extremely quick laterelly, so this is a team that you are better to go straight at but then you need to match up physically with them. I know that these are the challenges that you must relish to be successful at things in life.
Alex's Night
One of our old players had a traumatic brain injury this winter and has had a long recovery process, but has overcome incredible odds to get to the point that he has. The school is going to have a tailgate fundraiser, auction and several deals to help the family with the vast expenses that they have incurred. If you look up high school football player in a dictionary, Alex Shelton's picture would have to be there. He was about as spirited a kid in high school as there is and it is that spirit that has got him to this point in his recovery. I can't wait to see him. I visited him in the hospital last May and he was doing well then, but was unable to go home. He has set a goal to hand deliver the game ball to the official before the game and there is no doubt in my mind that he will get it done. You talk about a competitor!!! That is what learning to compete teaches you. How to overcome all odds. We are all so proud of Alex and I can't wait for him to be a part of things Friday.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
1 - 0
"Life is not tried, it's just merely survived when you're standing outside the fire."
I had said that the Garth Brook's song "Standing Outside the Fire" was on my mind last week. Well, we definitely found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a fire this past Friday night. First impressions were the fact that we did not appear to play very well defensively, but in terms of the concerns we had last week with the play of our defensive line, especially the ends, those kids played very well. A lot of uneducated fans would think that ends are responsible for contain, but in our scheme they are responsible for off-tackle and "squeezing" the inside run down. Our ends did a great job of that Friday. Our linebackers were responsible for QB to pitch which would appear to not have been done well. They were in position in a lot of situations and missed some open field tackles. I would say after having the advantage of watching the film the biggest thing that we need to improve on this week is our tackling. Offensively we had some critical turnovers. So, fundamentally we need to really work on ball security. Offensively, my two biggest concerns were answered and I must admit it was a very resounding answer. Our sophomore center after some early jitters did a great job. He will probably not play against a bigger, or stronger nose tackle all season. Galesburg's kid was a three year starter and went about 250 lbs. Our kid got his world rocked pretty good a couple of times but delivered every shotgun snap with accuracy and good zip that is so critical to the timing of our offense. The second concern would be the play and confidence of our QB. He far surpassed expectations. His first varsity TD pass was a great check off of the primary receiver to a kid who was not accounted for by the defense. It was a truly great read! I would say that this should help his confidence and hopefully carry him into our conference opener with a very good Morton team this week. The biggest thing that I am most pleased with about this win though is the way that our entire team competed. Not one man ever quit all night. We truly got every ounce of effort from all of our players and anybody that was called on gave it every bit. It was a great team win. Sure there were the typical opening game mistakes of silly procedure penalties, fumbles, communication breakdowns, etc., but because of the way the kids competed we pulled out a W. Even when Galesburg tied us late and even went ahead in the OT our kids had a business-like attitude on the sideline. That attitude helped to deliver a win! Personally, I was disappointed in myself in the way I handled the end of the half and the end of regulation. We should have gotten some type of points at the end of the first half. I probably should not have gone to throwing quite so soon down there with 2 TO's. Just got us in a little better FG position. The end of regulation we should have run the clock down to 3 seconds before attempting the FG at the end. Especially the way the Galesburg QB was running wild all night. Sure enough they ran an option with him trying to get him into the open field. Our kids came through and got us to OT. I am sure that a lot of "bleacher jockeys" were wondering why we called the TO before we attempted the game winning PAT. Number 1 we had two FG's blocked previously in the game, so we wanted to assure that we were squared away with our protection. Secondly, in the excitement of scoring the tying TD we had kids running all over the place. A kid who should have been in on the PAT team was standing right next to me. So, I knew that was not good. I truly was not concerned that calling the TO would "ice" our sophomore kicker. I feel the exact opposite with high school kids. Sometimes they need a second to compose and get their thoughts together. We protected well and our snapper, holder and kicker delivered. The icing thing is what people learn from watching ESPN and the NFL and at that level it might work. So, it's what you and your kids believe. This group I truly believe, more so than a lot of kids that we have had in the past, believes and we are off to a positive start. Tomorrow though the cycle starts anew with the start of our preparations for Morton.
Labor Day Weekend
There is nothing like a three day weekend at the start of our season. It is great with the start of the college football season. I was able to go and watch my son play baseball Saturday afternoon after reviewing films and "shaking" the kids out. I even got to cook on the grill Saturday night!
This afternoon though I have to do some film work and practice planning to get ready for the Potters. Side note; Trevor Lehnen, Morton's new coach was a wide receiver for us when I coached at MacMurray College back in the "80's. Man, am I getting old!!! This Morton game always makes me old. Every year this game comes down to the last tick of the clock. So, I am sure this will be no different than the Galesburg game. That's why I tell a lot of people, I honestly do not enjoy the games. They drive me up a wall!!! I love the challenge of preparation, but the games absolutely "kill" me! The coaches will meet tomorrow morning before 9:00am practice so that they can spend Sunday evening with their families. I think I will even take my wife to the movies and have a date Sunday night.
Another thing that I am looking forward to tomorrow is going up to our JFL field and having a pork chop for lunch and watching some of their annual Jamboree. It's always a big deal for the kids and I enjoy seeing all the kids and their coaches and parents. It sure is a lot more fun to see them when you are 1-0!
I had said that the Garth Brook's song "Standing Outside the Fire" was on my mind last week. Well, we definitely found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a fire this past Friday night. First impressions were the fact that we did not appear to play very well defensively, but in terms of the concerns we had last week with the play of our defensive line, especially the ends, those kids played very well. A lot of uneducated fans would think that ends are responsible for contain, but in our scheme they are responsible for off-tackle and "squeezing" the inside run down. Our ends did a great job of that Friday. Our linebackers were responsible for QB to pitch which would appear to not have been done well. They were in position in a lot of situations and missed some open field tackles. I would say after having the advantage of watching the film the biggest thing that we need to improve on this week is our tackling. Offensively we had some critical turnovers. So, fundamentally we need to really work on ball security. Offensively, my two biggest concerns were answered and I must admit it was a very resounding answer. Our sophomore center after some early jitters did a great job. He will probably not play against a bigger, or stronger nose tackle all season. Galesburg's kid was a three year starter and went about 250 lbs. Our kid got his world rocked pretty good a couple of times but delivered every shotgun snap with accuracy and good zip that is so critical to the timing of our offense. The second concern would be the play and confidence of our QB. He far surpassed expectations. His first varsity TD pass was a great check off of the primary receiver to a kid who was not accounted for by the defense. It was a truly great read! I would say that this should help his confidence and hopefully carry him into our conference opener with a very good Morton team this week. The biggest thing that I am most pleased with about this win though is the way that our entire team competed. Not one man ever quit all night. We truly got every ounce of effort from all of our players and anybody that was called on gave it every bit. It was a great team win. Sure there were the typical opening game mistakes of silly procedure penalties, fumbles, communication breakdowns, etc., but because of the way the kids competed we pulled out a W. Even when Galesburg tied us late and even went ahead in the OT our kids had a business-like attitude on the sideline. That attitude helped to deliver a win! Personally, I was disappointed in myself in the way I handled the end of the half and the end of regulation. We should have gotten some type of points at the end of the first half. I probably should not have gone to throwing quite so soon down there with 2 TO's. Just got us in a little better FG position. The end of regulation we should have run the clock down to 3 seconds before attempting the FG at the end. Especially the way the Galesburg QB was running wild all night. Sure enough they ran an option with him trying to get him into the open field. Our kids came through and got us to OT. I am sure that a lot of "bleacher jockeys" were wondering why we called the TO before we attempted the game winning PAT. Number 1 we had two FG's blocked previously in the game, so we wanted to assure that we were squared away with our protection. Secondly, in the excitement of scoring the tying TD we had kids running all over the place. A kid who should have been in on the PAT team was standing right next to me. So, I knew that was not good. I truly was not concerned that calling the TO would "ice" our sophomore kicker. I feel the exact opposite with high school kids. Sometimes they need a second to compose and get their thoughts together. We protected well and our snapper, holder and kicker delivered. The icing thing is what people learn from watching ESPN and the NFL and at that level it might work. So, it's what you and your kids believe. This group I truly believe, more so than a lot of kids that we have had in the past, believes and we are off to a positive start. Tomorrow though the cycle starts anew with the start of our preparations for Morton.
Labor Day Weekend
There is nothing like a three day weekend at the start of our season. It is great with the start of the college football season. I was able to go and watch my son play baseball Saturday afternoon after reviewing films and "shaking" the kids out. I even got to cook on the grill Saturday night!
This afternoon though I have to do some film work and practice planning to get ready for the Potters. Side note; Trevor Lehnen, Morton's new coach was a wide receiver for us when I coached at MacMurray College back in the "80's. Man, am I getting old!!! This Morton game always makes me old. Every year this game comes down to the last tick of the clock. So, I am sure this will be no different than the Galesburg game. That's why I tell a lot of people, I honestly do not enjoy the games. They drive me up a wall!!! I love the challenge of preparation, but the games absolutely "kill" me! The coaches will meet tomorrow morning before 9:00am practice so that they can spend Sunday evening with their families. I think I will even take my wife to the movies and have a date Sunday night.
Another thing that I am looking forward to tomorrow is going up to our JFL field and having a pork chop for lunch and watching some of their annual Jamboree. It's always a big deal for the kids and I enjoy seeing all the kids and their coaches and parents. It sure is a lot more fun to see them when you are 1-0!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Game Week
It's hard to believe, but even at 50 years old this week brings a certain amount of excitement for me. The biggest thing is I am anxious, as always to find out how this team will perform. Galesburg is a very tough test for us. They have been down over the last few years, but they always have very fast and physical teams. Coach Olson does a tremendous job. They run the triple option which puts an incredible amount of pressure on our defensive front. After watching our scrimmage from Friday, we are extremely concerned with the play of our defensive ends. There was too much undisciplined play in terms of gap responsibility and over pursuit. This problem can be corrected, but they will really have to be drilled this week and "coached" up, or it could be a rough night. I thought overall that the scrimmage went well. It had it's usual silly penalties, but that is why we do that kind of stuff to get it out of our systems, hopefully. Hopefully the concerns that we are worried about will be solved and we will have a great night. It always seems like the first game is when the August weather returns and the forcast that I saw earlier in the weekend showed 90 degrees on Friday so that seems to be coming to fruition. As always the huge factor in a first game of the season will be the elimination of mistakes. The team that has the least penalties, critical turnovers, etc. will come out on top. I can't wait to find out who that might be.
How this all got started
This blog started out as a project for one of my technology classes this summer. I had no idea that it could be found. I did not release it to search engines until it appeared in both local Peoria newspapers. I just thought that it might be a neat way to log the year and go back and review things after it was all over. I had no idea that somebody could even find it. So, I will continue to write, but only certain people are invited to post and reply. If I opened it to all those genius critics out there we would have a mess. They have plenty of other places to impress people with their knowledge.
Things I am worried about
A couple of things beside the obvious performance of our football team. I hope that I will get to see one of my son's baseball games this week. He is a "ham and egger" to put it best. I will never be one to brag about his Baseball ability. The poor kid don't have a chance with the genes that his dad gave him! I just hope he loves the game, respects his team mates and coaches, and loves them for the place that they occupy in his life. I miss my family this time of the year. I'm home right now, but I have been working in the basement. The coaches left about an hour ago. I will get up and out of the house tomorrow morning around 5:30am, so I don't get much opportunity to spend time with them. A great time I had this week happened on Friday right after school. The buses had left, and because of the scrimmage being at 7:00, I did not have practice I got to sit with my daughter in front of the middle school while she waited for her mom to whisk her off to gymnastics practice. Even though it was 10 minutes it is time I cherish. I truly neglected the attention that I should have given them when they were so young and I realize that I can't get that back. I truly do enjoy those little moments that I can spend with them now. Holy smokes, I'll be sitting out in front of her dorm in just over four years.
Song on my mind this week: Garth Brooks "Standing Outside the Fire"
Let's play ball!!!
How this all got started
This blog started out as a project for one of my technology classes this summer. I had no idea that it could be found. I did not release it to search engines until it appeared in both local Peoria newspapers. I just thought that it might be a neat way to log the year and go back and review things after it was all over. I had no idea that somebody could even find it. So, I will continue to write, but only certain people are invited to post and reply. If I opened it to all those genius critics out there we would have a mess. They have plenty of other places to impress people with their knowledge.
Things I am worried about
A couple of things beside the obvious performance of our football team. I hope that I will get to see one of my son's baseball games this week. He is a "ham and egger" to put it best. I will never be one to brag about his Baseball ability. The poor kid don't have a chance with the genes that his dad gave him! I just hope he loves the game, respects his team mates and coaches, and loves them for the place that they occupy in his life. I miss my family this time of the year. I'm home right now, but I have been working in the basement. The coaches left about an hour ago. I will get up and out of the house tomorrow morning around 5:30am, so I don't get much opportunity to spend time with them. A great time I had this week happened on Friday right after school. The buses had left, and because of the scrimmage being at 7:00, I did not have practice I got to sit with my daughter in front of the middle school while she waited for her mom to whisk her off to gymnastics practice. Even though it was 10 minutes it is time I cherish. I truly neglected the attention that I should have given them when they were so young and I realize that I can't get that back. I truly do enjoy those little moments that I can spend with them now. Holy smokes, I'll be sitting out in front of her dorm in just over four years.
Song on my mind this week: Garth Brooks "Standing Outside the Fire"
Let's play ball!!!
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