It's HOT.

                                         

                                                        The OLD MAN.  

This is a picture of my dog Raleigh.  He is an old Golden Retriever and my best friend in this world.  He does not ask for much....just some food and fresh water, and something to play with (a baby.) It does not matter how long I have been away from him...5 Minutes or 5 days.... I always get the same greeting when I get home.   Raleigh does not complain, and he does not judge me.  Raleigh is simply a fantastic gentle animal, and it hurts my heart to see him old.  I love my dog. 

It was HOT, HOT today.  I arrived at school around 7:20 AM and started preparing the water coolers.  I know you guys get tired of hearing about these damn coolers, but I can't emphasize how important they are to us right now.  The older I get, the harder it is to deal with the heat.  I really worry about Coach Wilson, and all of the coaches fuss after him like mother hens.  We had a great morning practice and accomplished what we needed to accomplish.  Each varsity coach is assigned a special team to teach.  However, we all jump in where we can to help out.  Coach Miller and I had the PUNT team this morning.  I do not pretend to be a special team guru by any means, and Miller definitely has the lead with our assigned special team.  Miller has a knack for special teams it seems, so I pay attention to what he wants and jump in where I can.  Afterall, coaching is coaching, and the basic rules of football are the same in all aspects of the game.  I enjoy the interaction with Miller during our special team period...and there are a lot of "inside" joking going on between us during the period.  Sometimes the kids pick up on it and laugh along with us.  Football is supposed to be fun, so we both try to keep it loose while making sure the kids know what is going on. 

I am coaching pretty hard right now. Randy has me coaching the QB's, so I am hitting the basics pretty hard during out individual period (INDY)  Hakeem has been doing the same drills four (4) years now, so I use him quite a bit to help me demonstrate.  However, I also want to watch him to make sure his steps are good and correct any issues he may have developed.  At the QB position, every little step is critical to the success of the play.  A mis-step can throw the timing off the entire play.  I am working with four different QB's right now. Hakeem is a Senior.  Austin is a Senior.  Dion is a Junior.  Stephen is a Freshman.  We are in pretty good shape behind the center.  QB's get a lot of credit when something goes well, but they also take a lot of criticism when some thing goes wrong.  It takes a special kid to "Accept the Risk of Leadership."  Not everyone can do it. 

When I was growing up, and even when I was a young coach, there was no such thing as home Computers, the Internet, Video Games, or 100's of TV stations to choose from.  Kids today have a pretty good idea of where they want to play before they ever put on a football helmet.  In today's world, when we ask a kid where he wants to play, he most often will say: "I am a Wide Receiver."   or maybe: "I am a Running Back!"  Maybe he will say: "I am a Line Backer" or perhaps he will say: "I am a Lock Down Corner!"  LOL.  No one ever says he wants to be a Center, or Offensive Guard or Tackle.  LOL.  I blame this on the media (and video games) focusing on the glory positions on the field.  When I was a kid, my Mom purchased me a BOOK called Instant Replay by Jerry Kramer.  Jerry was an Offensive Guard for Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers, and I decided he was my hero.  I wanted to play Offensive Guard, and I wanted to wear  jersey #64.  I also wanted to be Ray Nitchke #66.  Kids today rarely want to model themselves after the BIG GUYS on the line.  I wish they would.  It would make our job a little easier.  Somehow a 285 lb big boy just does not look right asking for jersey number 24. 

My boy Mason is sort of going through this right now.  He started out as an Offensive Lineman when he was younger.  Mason was really impressive playing guard for our JV team.  I loved his toughness.  The following year, we needed LB's (we had a bad run of kids who did not work out for us) and Mason worked like a beast to get a shot at the position.  He lost some weight to pick up some speed, and he did a great job for us in the middle.  Selfishly, I looked at Mason on the other side of the ball and thought:  "This kid is going to be a good Linebacker, but I think he could again be a GREAT Offensive Guard."  He has worked so hard to get bigger and stronger, but he kept the linebacker speed.  Hmmmm!  Now, at SRHS we do play kids on both sides of the ball, so we asked Mason to give the Offense a hand to build some depth on the Offensive Line.  I think he thought we were trying to take him off  defense all together...so he gave us a halfway effort...kind of pissed me off to be honest. This is not the case at all.  There is a chance that he could play both ways and become very valuable to us.  Selfishly, I would like to see him on our side of the ball more.  Today Mason had a GREAT day and he looked really good playing Guard.  I knew he would.  I told him quietly: "Quit being a whining Pu_ _ Y and do what we ask."  We locked eyes and he smiled.  I think we have a new player to work with.... but we have to share him with Miller.  Good enough.    We are going to ask Bubba, Zach, Javonte, Bookie, Dion, (and others)  to help us out on both sides of the ball as well.  We are going to play our best 11....even if they never leave the field.  We are going to win. 

Later