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June 27, 2003 - "The problem with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin.    2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: John Henry Johnson was born in Louisiana but his family moved to Pittsburg, California when he was young, and he went to high school there, starring in football, basketball, baseball and track. He enrolled first at St. Mary's, but after the Gaels gave up football, he transferred to Arizona State, where he was a football and track star. After college, he played a year in the CFL with Calgary, then signed with the 49ers in 1954, teaming up with two other outstanding runners, Hugh McElhenny and Joe "The Jet" Perry. Together with QB Y.A. Tittle, they were probably the best backfield in the NFL, and were given the nickname "The Fabulous Foursome." In 1957 he was traded to the Detroit Lions, and after two years there were he was bothered by injuries, he was traded to Pittsburgh. He played with the Steelers from 1960 through 1965, gaining more than 1,000 yards in both 1962 (1,141 yards) and 1964.(1,048 yards)- in 12-game seasons. In addition to his running ability, at 6-2, 225 - at a time when that was the size of many linemen, he was a formidable blocker, and defenders all over the NFL came to fear and respect him as one of the hardest hitters in football. After one season with the Houston Oilers of the AFL, he retired in 1966. In his career, he rushed for 6,803 yards and scored 48 touchdowns. He had 186 receptions for 1,478 yards and 7 touchdowns. In 1987, John Henry Johnson was installed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Correctly identifying John Henry Johnson: Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina ("Interesting that he didn't break the 1000-yard barrier until his ninth season in the NFL.")... Tom Hinger- Auburndale, Florida )... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... Mark Kaczmarek- Davenport, Iowa... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee ("What a great hall of fame class he was inducted with. Larry Csonka, Len Dawson, Joe Greene, Jim Langer, Don Maynard, and Gene Upshaw.")... John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts... Mike Foristiere- Boise, Idaho... Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Alan Goodwin- Warwick, Rhode Island *********** Coach Wyatt, I'd thought I'd share this with you. Your highlighting the Army's Black Lions has caught my attention. A few weeks ago as I dropped off my kids at day care, I noticed a decal in the rear window of a Black Lion and a Ft Jackson sticker on a car in the parking lot. It seems that one of the caregivers in the day care had a father who is a retired Black Lion. Small world isn't it. I will follow this up and let you know more. I will be presenting the idea of having your award going to one of our kids next year. Our AD and principal must approve it first. If it pans out I will ask that we be added to your list of teams giving out the Black Lion award. Best Wishes Dan King Evans Georgia (To all football coaches out there - The Black Lion Award program is one of the best things that you can do for your football team and for your country. HW) *********** I'm just waiting to see what happens once Americans, most of whom couldn't even find Canada on a map of North America, find out what's going on up there. Here we've been worried about our southern border - conservatives calling for troops to patrol it and all that - when in reality that was all just a diversion, distracting us from the real headache. Tens of thousands of Mexicans pouring into our country illegally? A mere ruse, designed to divert our attention from what's happening to our north - in Canada. Yes, Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north. The one on the other side of the so-called "longest unguarded border in the world." Hard to believe, for those of us who remember the days when Canada was Canada, back when they loved their queen, when Toronto closed down on Sunday, when French-Canadians were all devout Catholics, and the National Hockey League was made up exclusively of a special sort of Canadian who, it seemed, had been snatched from his parents while quite young and raised on a diet high in testosterone, and if the Maple Leafs didn't win the Stanley Cup, then Les Canadiens did. I mean, hell, except for being better in hockey, they were just like us - they played real football and they hated soccer. But all this time, just across the border, while we were going about our business and taking Canada for granted (be honest- you couldn't tell me how many provinces it has, or tell me the Prime Minister's name. And, no, Canadians don't live in igloos and get around on dog sleds), Canada was turning into a European country. Now, the Canadians I know are perfectly normal sorts, but something is going on up there... The new Canada opposed our invasion of Iraq. Very European. Oh, and a higher-up in the new Canadian government publicly insulted our President. Tres European. In Europe, all any terrorist has to do is sneak into the loosest-guarded European country, and then he's free to travel at will throughout the EU. Scary? Hey - just over that long, unguarded border, Canada's immigration laws are loose as a Christmas goose, allowing potential terrorists to enter Canada and then, when the time is right, to cross our unguarded border. Doesn't seem to bother Canadians. It's our problem. Want more? Wait till we have to deal with the consequences of the fact that possession of marijuana for personal use ("small quantities," they say reassuringly) will soon be legalized in Canada. Combined with that long, unguarded border, one of those consequences is sure to be an increased flow of pot ("B.C. Bud") into the US. American parents and high school and middle school teachers will appreciate that. Oh yes - and now Canada seems all but certain to approve "same-sex marriage," an oxymoron if ever there was one. There will be no Canadian residency requirement, so loving couples from the U.S. will be able to just pop across the border at Detroit, say, or Buffalo, or Niagara Falls, or Blaine, say "I do", then drive back to the US and demand the same rights as any other married couple. This may be as scary as any terrorist slipping across the border. "Marriage is the foundational institution of civilization," said Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Council. Same-sex marriages, he says, devalue the sanctity of marriage. "Unless the American people rise up to defend this indispensable institution, we could lose marriage in a very short time," he added. "What's happening in Canada is a warning to America." *********** "I see Ricky gets to fight for his job Thursday. What a waste of time. I found a commentary in today's sports section that says that Neuheisel should be able to keep his job. The main reason he stated was because everyone bets on pools and he is just being punished because it was a large amount. I thought it was because he was a sneaky lying son of a bitch. I liked the quote from the Texan in today's News. That is as far as I have gotten. You know with me, Hugh it is different. My 5' 2" 105 pound petite wife was kick boxing champ of the state of Calif. in 1990 for her 105 wt. division. Needless to say, it is hard to sleep with one eye open, if you know what I mean. Take care" Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho *********** Coach, to give Lynn, Mass a tip the cap of this week, it was sad last week to see Larry Doby pass on, because one of his first "true"teammates on the Indians was Lynn's own Jimmy Hegan. Legend has it Hegan was one of the first Indians to take Doby under his wing and was decent to him and treated him like a human being. Hegan is actually from West Lynn (grew up next to Barry Park) and was scheduled to go to Lynn Classical, but the Lynn English Coach at the time kidnapped the entire family and moved cross-town to East Lynn near the meadow. Hegan went on to become the greatest athlete (football,basketball,baseball) Lynn English ever produced, All-scholastic in all 3 sports and no doubt one of the greatest defensive catchers in baseball history - see ya Friday Coach , John Muckian , Lynn,Ma *********** We scrimmaged a VARSITY team we beat last year at Highlands, at camp...I'm cool with the new guy that took over but he is still a little "bitter" about getting beat by "that ugly ass" offense the previous season and "It's about time you run a real one". First four plays Delaware wing-t, last 8 Toss, 6G, 3@2, Laser 49, Rocket 58, Rip 99, liz 88 and Counter out of tight. we scored 4 times, my JV vs his VARSITY.I just looked over smiled and reminded him "It's much better to be ugly and WIN than be be pretty and LOSE". Joe Daniels, Sacramento *********** Coach Wyatt, I remember President Bush answering a question about an appropriate response to the 9-11 attacks. He said that it would not be shooting a 2 million dollar missile through a $10 tent and hitting a camel in the ass. (or something close). What a line. I was in the Northwest (Tacoma) last week on business. Beautiful country and it was 85 and sunshine. Went to LA after that and it was 65 and cloudy. Didn't see the sun for the 2 days I was there. Unbelievable. Greg Stout, Thompson's Station, Tennessee *********** "Maybe a picture of John Henry Johnson using a yard line marker to hit a defender would be in order. It's one of the better scenes NFL Films has in their archives. I've seen the replay numerous times. He was knocked out of bounds and picked up the yard marker, (remember the two sided yard markers on every field) and hit the defender over the head with it. He considered being tackled a personal affront." Tom Hinger, Auburndale, Florida *********** Where were all those lefty lib reporters - the ones who take such delight in catching George Bush at using the wrong word - when Governor John Dean announced this week that he was running for President? Asked at his press conference if he felt that he was at a disadvantage, not being one of the Washington gang (either a senator or a member of the house), he acknowledged that he needed to "break into the country club." It was an ironic figure of speech, considering that just a few days before, Governor Dean's son had been caught doing just that - breaking into a country club in Burlington, Vermont in search of some beer. (Sounds like a good kid, though - the next day, he was working at a soccer camp.) *********** "The Declaration of Independence tells us we all have an inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." "Unfortunately, too many Americans, especially young ones, believe that they are entitled not simply to pursue happiness but to actually be happy. And if they're not, they feel resentful. This breeds an 'I deserve it' mentality and 'whatever-it-takes' strategies that justify even lying and cheating to help them get or keep the things they think will make them happy. "Yes, in a free country we do have a right to pursue personal happiness, but we also have inalienable moral responsibilities to be good and decent people. There's nothing wrong with wanting and going after money, possessions, power and status provided we do so honorably. Ethical principles like honesty, fairness and respect are ground rules for the pursuit of happiness. "But the deeper question is: Is the pursuit of happiness an adequate life goal? Helen Keller said, 'True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.' "The men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not simply pursuing happiness. Instead, they pledged their 'lives, fortunes and sacred honor" to establish a government based on moral principles. This took character. And character is what life is really about. According to philosopher George Santayana, 'Character is the basis of happiness and happiness is the reward of character.' "If this sounds out of touch with your reality, maybe it's because you don't sufficiently appreciate your moral potential and the enormous and enduring sense of happiness that can come from the pursuit of goodness." Michael Josephson - "Character Counts"  *********** I know most people couldn't care less about the ACC-Big East fiasco, but I have been following the story very closely. Although I'm disappointed that the Big East is losing its two top football programs, I am taking some satisfaction in how the hypocrisy of the ACC and its willing partners have been exposed. Good life lessons to pass on to the students at those fine institutions. Forget promises, obligations, loyalty, and honor; Follow the cash! Alan Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island (Good for North Carolina and Duke, which continued to hold fast and vote against expansion, even after the other members offered to admit Harvard or Yale along with Miami and Virginia Tech, providing an academically-prestigious 12th member for the ACC, as well as a guaranteed win for Duke in football and for Carolina in basketball. HW) *********** Now that the NBA finals are over, you're going to have to wait until next basketball season to get your Joumana Kidd fix. (That's Jason Kidd's wife, for those of you who don't read the tabloids, and if you ain't sick of seeing her, you ain't been watching the Nets on TV.) Joumana had been reported to be a candidate for the ABC Monday Night Football sideline reporter's job, left vacant because Melissa Stark is pregnant (her doctor evidently having advised her against lifting a microphone for even one night a week). So far as I know, Joumana doesn't seem to have a strong football background, either as a player, a coach, or a reporter, so I am assuming that her being married to Jason Kidd and not being bad looking were her main qualifications for the job. I was sorta hoping that Martha Burk would get a shot at the gig, but the job has been given instead to Lisa Guerrero, who's been "working" on Best Damn Sports Show Period (it's not), is not married to Jason Kidd but is good-looking. I personally despise sideline reporters and find them worse than useless. Worst of all are the bimbos, the ones who are on the screen solely to provide eye candy for all the Coors Light fools. But here's the best - producer Fred Gaudelli said he had considered some men for the job, but decided on Guerrero "since 40% of our Monday Night Football audience is women." What a crock. C'mon Fred - be honest. Women don't watch Monday night football to watch another woman. Women watch Monday Night Football because they like to watch men. Men like to watch women. Young men, who buy a lot of the sponsor's beer. That's who you're after, and we all know it, and you don't have to pretend otherwise. Find me a single woman in the entire Monday Night Football audience - besides Lisa Guerrero's sister - who would change the channel if you didn't have a woman on the sideline. *********** If there is anything crazier than what has been going on at the University of Washington, I'd like to know what the hell it is. Liar Neuheisel was fired - or so we thought - almost two weeks ago not (are you listening, Tony Kornheiser and all the rest of you fools of the national media?) because he gambled and got himself and the University in trouble with the NCAA, but because he lied. And Lied. And lied. (And, of course, stretched other things than the truth, including NCAA restrictions on recruiting.) The doofuses who run the athletic show at the UW didn't seem to worry much about money when they were doling out the bucks to Neuheisel, but now they're walking on eggs, for fear they might have to pay him a large settlement to send his sorry ass packing. They couldn't just get rid of him. Instead, they want to send him off without a cent, which is all right with me, except to do so they've had to give a "hearing." In the interim, everything is on hold, and offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson has been appointed "manager of football." (Coach Gilbertson is obviously a man with a good sense of humor, as evidenced by his comment on his new title: "the socks are all washed.") And as for Neuheisel - they've allowed him to go around acting like a guy who's going to get his job back. This I can't even believe, but on Tuesday, despite the fact that he was notified that he is no longer the coach, the f--ker met with the team! And now, surprise - the players are expressing support for him. Said star wide receiver Reggie Williams, "If you took a vote as to who should be coach, everybody would have their hands up in the air (for Neuheisel). Well, duh. I mean, if the guy is able to sell a college administration on lending him 10.5 million interest free, I guess he can sell himself to a bunch of college kids. Last I heard, there was a lot of support among the Alabama players for retaining Mike Price, too. No matter. That team meeting sure makes for a smooth transition for Neuheisel's replacement, doesn't it? What a way to poison the waters. Unless... unless.. NO! You don't suppose... Could it be that Washington's actually considering retaining - or rehiring - Neuheisel? Come to think of it, that wouldn't be a total disaster. It would create one very interesting chapter in the history of college football, and set us up for some highly interesting TV viewing this fall. (Reggie Williams, of course, has been such a devoted Neuheisel man right along that not so very long ago he was debating whether to forego his last two years of college to enter the NFL draft.) *********** Keith Gilbertson, who should be the Washington Huskies' head coach now, instead of its "manager of football," is highly respected as a football man by coaches and players alike. Former Washington center Ed Cunningham was an academic All-American, but he admits that in his early days at Washington, things weren't going well for him.. Cunningham, who's now a TV analyst, remembers how exasperated Gilbertson once got with him. "I constantly went the wrong way on plays," he told the Seattle Times' Bud Withers. "They'd call 34 Read and I'd run 35. Gilby (who at that time was the Huskies' offensive line coach) called me into his office and said, 'I know you're a smart guy. You're either the smartest dumb guy in the world, or the dumbest smart guy, but as soon as you figure out this is a game invented by PE majors for PE majors, you'll be a lot better off.'" *********** We're almost rid of Rick Neuheisel and suddenly Joe Paterno sticks his nose into our business. Coach Paterno has written to Washington's AD Barbara Hedges on Neuheisel's behalf, and Ricky's lawyers are making a big deal of the fact that nobody in the business is more respected than Joe Paterno, blah, blah, blah. Now, I respect Joe Paterno. In fact, I'm a long-time Joe Paterno fan. But like anyone with strong opinions, he's been wrong before, and this time, he's way off base. First of all, as a fellow recipient of Nike largess, he is not exactly a disinterested observer. One can't help thinking that the folks at Nike Headquarters asked the other coaches on Nike's "advisory staff" to pose as character references. Second of all, he can't possibly be attuned to what's been going on in Seattle over the last four years. If he has been able to follow the story, he's got too much time on his hands, which is not the sort of thing you want people around State College to start thinking. (Actually, I'm sure he's on the job at Penn State, because in his letter to Barbara Hedges, he seemed to think that the whole affair is about nothing more than the NCAA's ambiguous prohibition against gambling. Surely, as a member of the AFCA, he remembers the association's reprimand of Neuheisel. ) Nice try, Coach Paterno. Years ago, I heard Lou Holtz say that you once told him, "Lou, you can only coach one team at a time." Good advice. Coach Paterno, your Nittany Lions need you. We Washingtonians will manage without you somehow. *********** Time for an NBA affirmative action program, perhaps? Time for a little diversity in pro basketball? With all the millions of American kids going to basketball camps from the time they're tykes and playing basketball year-round from the time they're eighth-graders, how many middle-class white American kids were taken early in the NBA draft? One? Two? Notice how many Europeans were picked? There were guys with first names like Darko and Maciej, and last names I defy you to pronounce unless you are a fellow countryman. There was even a Frenchman, for God's sake! Time for a Head Start program for suburban kids. No more of this spending most of their "practice" time playing games, and most of their spare time cranking the basket down to eight feet so they can practice dunks. Back to the Basics! In all seriousness, the NBA draft illustrates that it is not a racial thing, a white-black thing. More important is what it says about the difference between the American approach - where the emphasis is on playing games and developing stars - and the European approach - where the emphasis is on fundamentals and team play. *********** With people like Rasheed Wallace and Ruben Patterson already on their roster, did the Portland Trail Blazers really need to draft a guy named Travis OUTLAW?   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

June 24, 2003 - "It's better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them." Mark Twain    2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He was born in Louisiana but his family moved to Pittsburg, California and he went to high school there, starring in football, basketball, baseball and track. He enrolled first at St. Mary's, but after the Gaels gave up football, he transferred to Arizona State, where he was a football and track star. After college, he played a year in the CFL with Calgary, then signed with the 49ers in 1954, teaming up with two other outstanding runners, Hugh McElhenny and Joe "The Jet" Perry. Together with QB Y.A. Tittle, they were probably the best backfield in the NFL, and were given the nickname "The Fabulous Foursome." In 1957 he was traded to the Detroit Lions, and after two years there were he was bothered by injuries, he was traded to Pittsburgh. He played with the Steelers from 1960 through 1965, gaining more than 1,000 yards in both 1962 (1,141 yards) and 1964.(1,048 yards)- in 12-game seasons. At 6-2, 225, he was a formidable blocker, and defenders all over the AFL came to fear and respect him. After one season with the Houston Oilers of the AFL, he retired in 1966. In his career, he rushed for 6,803 yards and scored 48 touchdowns. He had 186 receptions for 1,478 yards and 7 touchdowns. In 1987, he was installed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. *********** When the Dixie Chicks performed on Friday night, Natalie Maines (the mouthy, pudgy one) mentioned "the incident" in her introduction of a song called "Truth No. 2," which begins, "You don't like the sound of the truth coming from my mouth." She dedicated it to Michael Moore, the hairy-faced ass who gave the anti-Bush tirade at the Academy Awards. Wow. Really courageous. Really defiant. Really sticking her neck out. She was in Madison Square Garden. In New York City, for God's sake, where even Republicans are Democrats. *********** Nominated by Texan Scott Barnes for quote of the year: Texas Congressman Dick Armey was asked, "If you had been in President Clinton's place would you have resigned?" Armey's reply: "If I had been in the president's place I would not have gotten the chance to resign. I would have been lying in a pool of my own blood, looking up, and listening to my wife ask, 'How do you reload this son of a bitch'?" I say it may be the quote of the century (with 97 years still to go).   *********** Joe Marciano, special teams coordinator of the Houston Texans, is considered to be one of the best in the business, and he gives his old college coach at Temple, Wayne Hardin, a major share of the credit. Marciano came to Temple as a quarterback, and got to know and admire Hardin as a man who was great at working with quarterbacks. "Hardin was a master at finding the opponent's weaknesses," he told Scott Purks of the St. Petersburg Times. "He would have been the great offensive coordinator in the National Football League, where he could just concentrate on football." When Marciano missed his senior year because of a knee injury, Hardin gave him his first coaching job, as an assistant with the Temple freshman team. And then, after Marciano had graduated and gone on to coach in high school and college, Hardin hired him back as his special teams coach. "Wayne pointed out to me that special teams coaches were going to become more of a commodity," Marciano told Purks. "He said receivers and running back coaches were a dime a dozen and that I could probably go places as a special teams coach. Once again, Wayne Hardin was right on the money." *********** Two items of interest from Ed Wyatt, my correspondent from Down Under... 1 - John Malkovich is an acclaimed actor, known for quirky, intense performances (eg Dangerous Liaisons). He is far from a macho type, but here's what he had to say in an interview: "One of the few things I miss from my childhood is playing football. I still dream about it." (He played high school football in Illinois.) 2 - David Campbell will sing the national anthem at tomorrow's International rugby test match between Australia and Ireland. The son of legendary Aussie rocker Jimmy Barnes has promised a traditional approach. "I think it is really important to get it right, not make your own anthem up. You're part of a bigger thing." (Is he doing anything on Super Bowl Sunday? Maybe we could naturalize him for the day, just long enough to sing the Star Spangled Banner straight for once. HW) *********** Well gol-dang if ole Jim Dent ain't gone and got his ass in a sling. You remember ole Jim, don't ya? He's the guy done wrote that deal about Bear Bryant and them Aggies he took to camp out in Junction? And then ESPN made one of them movies about it? Remember? And then all them boys who were actually there at Junction (course, they ain't boys any more) saw the movie and said, "Uh-uh. No, sir. Didn't happen that way." Well, shoot. All due respect and all that, but what the hell would Gene Stallings and them know about tellin' a story? Don't they know you cain't go lettin' the truth get in the way? Anyhow, turns out old Jim done got hisself convicted for drunken driving in Bryan, Texas, back in 1999, and he got put on probation for it, and danged if he didn't go and violate his probation. And now that ole sonnuva gun's out in Vegas and they want his ass back in Texas. Betcha there's an ole judge back there in Texas who's just waitin' to hear the story ole Jim's gonna tell him. *********** Coach- I forgot to ask you this at the Detroit Clinic.  With your recommendation that we run the super powers with little or no motion, what do you tell the backs about "staying square to the line," a point you emphasized in some of your videos?  Doug Parks, Milford, Michigan It is a point that I don't even have to bother with any longer. Now, it's "Catch the ball and get your inside hand on the back of a blocker." *********** Hugh, I still (2 hrs later) haven't stopped laughing at your comment about the halftime show at the NFL Europe championship game: "sluts'n butts"! Mind if I use that sometime?! Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey (Feel free. HW) *********** Speaking of NFL Europe... The NFL probably wishes it had stuck to the old name (World League of American Football), because it doesn't like to have its name attached to anything that fails, and NFL Europe is failing. First of all, it is costing the league a lot of money (not that that keeps the NBA from subsidizing the WNBA). But second, and even more important, it is not fulfilling its role as a developer of talent. Just as you and I would have reservations about sending our promising players off to a camp where they'll be coached by someone we don't know, and possibly taught things different from what we teach, NFL teams are finding it is more useful to them to keep their better prospects home, where they can give them the work they need. It seems to me, an old minor-leaguer who drove himself nuts trying to convince people that one day the NFL would need to invest in minor leagues in the US, that the time is right. I think that people in second-tier cities (not large enough for the NFL but large enough to provide a fan base) such as Portland, Birmingham, Memphis, Salt Lake City, will support a springtime minor league. In fact, with most NFL teams now playing in football-only stadia that they don't have to share with baseball teams, it might even be wise for NFL clubs to field minor-league teams in their own cities. This would make great sense not only from the standpoint of player-development, but also fan development. As it is now, few young kids - the ones the NFL depends on to buy jerseys, jackets, caps and video games - ever have the opportunity to attend a live NFL game, and the long-term danger to the league is that these kids may grow up thinking of the NFL purely in terms of TV and video games. Worse yet, they may grow up not thinking about the NFL at all. Now, if we can just figure out a way for someone in the NFL office to come up with the idea... *********** For some time now, a dispute has been quietly festering at the United States Military Academy, intensified by the strong emotions generated by two hallowed Army insitutions - Army football, and the Academy's sacred honor code. Until now, it has been kept "within the family." But now, the disagreement has gone public, and it threatens to divide West Point men everywhere. It all started with the desire of a group of Army graduates to honor the greatest of Army football coaches - and one of the greatest of American college football coaches - Colonel Earl "Red" Blaik. Funds were raised for a statue of Colonel Blaik, and plans were made for the statue to be dedicated at Army's home opener this year. 2003 marks the 45th anniversary not only of his last team, but of Army's last unbeaten team, the famous "Lonely End" team of 1958, as well. (Those who are unaware of Coach Blaik and his incredible record as a coach need to read about him on this Web site - EARL "RED" BLAIK) There was no objection, of course, to the idea of a statue, but problems arose when donors of the statue specified that there was to be a plaque on it containing the names of all Army letterwinners who had played under Coach Blaik. All of them. Even the 23 who were dismissed from the Academy in 1951 - along with 60 others - in what was known at the time as the "cribbing scandal." And there's the problem. A group of outraged West Pointers - not necessarily large but vocal - are adamantly opposed to the idea of "honoring cheaters" - of appearing to excuse the conduct of men whose punishment for their actions entailed banishment from and severing all ties with the United State Military Academy. Forever. Colonel Blaik mentions in his autobiography, written in 1960 with Tim Cohane, of "Corps tradition that an honors violator should be 'silenced' for life, that is, never recognized by a fellow cadet or graduate." Essentially, at the West Point of that time all cadets took the same classes, and despite the fact that there were several sections of each class, often taught on different days, instructors found it quite easy to administer the exact same quiz to all sections. Now, it would seem the most natural thing in the world for most of us who had already taken a quiz to give a buddy a "heads up" - be ready for this or that - but at West Point it was a technical violation of the honor code. Furthermore, it was not enough not to have taken part in such "cribbing." The code says, "A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do," and that meant that anyone who "tolerated" it - who was aware that it was going on and failed to report it - was also in violation of the code. One of the football players dismissed was Coach Blaik's own son, the starting quarterback. It was a dreadful time for West Point and, as any coach can imagine, as difficult a time as a coach could ever face. (Again, for a more complete explanation of the episode, see BLAIK.) But Coach Blaik, tempted in his despair to throw in the towel, was persuaded to remain and rebuild the Army program, and rebuild he did, capping his efforts with the great 1958 team. So now, 50 years after the lowest point in Army football, the Superintendent of the Academy, General William Lennox, says that, just as it was after the Civil War, it's time for "reconciliation." No, no, says one of the most vocal of the protestors, a retired colonel. "When you dishonor yourself, you should be separated...that's the sanction; you're out." But the concept of honor isn't totally on the side of those who oppose the inclusion of the 23 names on the plaque. There's also the fact that including the names of all Coach Blaik's letterwinners was agreed to by the former Superintendent, Lt. Gen. Daniel W. Christman and the former Chairman of the Association of Graduates (Alumni Association). "To back out of that agreement," says present Superintendent Lennox, "is wrong; some would say dishonorable." Certainly, West Point is rightfully to be admired for its honor code. It has served the country well and will continue to do so. But I think it is regrettable that people who likely know very little about the actual incident of over 50 years ago (based on the fact that they routinely refer to those involved as "cheaters") are still willing to sit in judgment of, and to damn to eternal perdition, young men who committed (or maybe didn't commit) a rather trivial offense. Ironically, it was their very honor that ultimately led to their expulsion, since most of them voluntarily turned themselves in. It is even more regrettable - unconscionable, actually - to do away with the plaque entirely, as seems to be the current settlement suggested, because that means omitting the names of all the other men who helped Colonel Blaik take Army football to the very pinnacle of the game. Coach Blaik himself, in his autobiography, blamed the scandal on lazy instructors, officious overreaction by West Point officials - a "vindictive few" of whom were anti-football - and political pressure brought on by the public perception that while other young Americans were being shot at in Korea, West Point football players were getting away with cheating. A West Pointer himself and a man dedicated to the Academy's values, Colonel Blaik wrote, "The differences I have with the action taken against those cadets do not by any means imply that I believe in the Academy's high standards of honor. My objection is to the callous, inept, and sometimes evasive manner in which some of those in authority handled a most complex problem." "I shall always believe," he went on, "and not without good reason, that if football players had not been involved in such wholesale numbers, the violations would have been internally resolved." Allowing for the natural bias I feel toward Coach Blaik, I've tried to learn everything I could about the cribbing scandal, and it appears to me that a review is in order; that it is time, now that we have the benefit of historical perspective, to take another look at the way those young men were treated. This is, after all, an America that has pardoned draft dodgers.  *********** Well whaddaya know - here's the NY Times, whose handling of the falsehoods of its star reporter Jason Blair could have taught the Catholic higher-ups a thing or two about covering up, giving us a lesson in morality. Right. And I'm Coach Neuheisel and I'm here to tell you boys and girls about the importance of following rules and never, never telling a lie. So the Times this past week told us how cool it is that Canada appears about to legalize same-sex marriage. Cool. Now American gays can slip across the border, get hitched in Windsor or Vancouver (no Canadian residency required) at some place called Little Chapel of the Lesbians, and come back to the US where their "marriages" will be recognized, and they'll be covered by their "spouses'" employment benefits and be able to share in their "mates'" health club memberships. But wait - not so fast. Evidently, not everyone in America, it seems, will welcome them the newlyweds back. (Coulda fooled me.) "Couples who marry in Ontario and return to the United States seeking the same rights, responsibilities and obligations that heterosexual married couples receive should be aware that discriminatory laws in this country remain a problem," said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group. "We will continue working to end marriage discrimination in this country." *********** General Jim Shelton, who recommended Clark Welch for the Medal of Honor, is shown at left with Lieutenant Colonel Welch at the dedication ceremony of Welch Park, at Camp Rudder, the Army ranger camp at Hurlburt Field near Pensacola, Florida. The sign reads, "In honor of LTC A. Clark Welch, awarded Distinguished Service Cross, Vietnam" GENERAL SHELTON'S - MEDAL OF HONOR RECOMMENDATION CLARK WELCH - RELUCTANT HERO *********** Michael Josephson ("Character Counts") gives this advice to graduates: "By all means, set goals and go after your dreams, but know that your ultimate happiness will depend not on your plans but your ability to cope with unexpected turns and unavoidable ups and downs. You may not get what you thought you wanted, but if you're willing to adapt, you can get something even better. "   *********** We all know about Paul Revere, but who's heard of William Dawes? You should. He rode out into the Massachusetts countryside that same night. We all know about Martin Luther King, Jr., too - but how many of us know about Wyatt T. Walker or Fred L. Shuttlesworth or Ralph Abernathy? They put their lives on the line for the Civil Rights Movement, too. And, of course, we all know about Jackie Robinson, a man of grace and courage who often is portrayed as having single-handedly broken down baseball's racial barriers. It's impossible, of course, to minimize the importance of Jackie Robinson, but it took the death last week of Larry Doby to make some people aware of the fact that he was also first. Yes, Jackie Robinson did, indeed, break baseball's color barrier. National League baseball's color barrier, that is. Baseball was a lot different then. The leagues were like parallel universes. Players normally spent their entire careers in one league. (And, for the matter, on just one team.) Players and fans alike identified themselves with one league or another. Only at the All-Star Game and in the World Series did the two leagues ever acknowledge each other's existence. What happened in the National League was seldom of interest to followers of the American League. In those days, before every home had a TV and there was a game on TV every night, what went on in the other league was often a mystery to people who followed the other league. If you lived in cities such as Cleveland, Detroit and Washington, you had no chance to see Jackie Robinson play. But you could see Larry Doby. Just 11 weeks after Jackie Robinson broke in with the Dodgers in the National League, Larry Doby became the first black player to play in the American League. But despite an outstanding 13-year career in which he batted .283 and hit 253 home runs (twice leading the league), despite being the first black man to play on a World Champion (he batted .318 in the Cleveland Indians' 1948 win over the Boston Braves), despite becoming only the second black man to manage a big-league team, and despite being inducted into the Hall of Fame, he has remained in Jackie Robinson's shadow. That is unfortunate, because his job as a trail blazer was no easier and no less important than Jackie Robinson's. He experienced the American League version of every hardship, every slight, every taunt, every threat that Jackie Robinson experienced. "The only difference was that Jackie Robinson got all the publicity," Mr. Doby once said. "You didn't hear much about what I was going through because the media didn't want to repeat the same story." Just as Branch Rickey is given credit for opening the door to Jackie Robinson, so should the great Bill Veeck, owner of the Indians, be recognized for providing the opportunity for Larry Doby to play. Mr. Doby had lost his father when he was 8 years old, and he said that he came to think of Bill Veeck as a second father. "He didn't see color," Mr. Doby told The New York Times in 1997. "To me, he was in every sense, color blind. And I always knew he was there for me. He always seemed to know when things were bad, if things were getting to me. He'd call up and say, `Let's go out, let's get something to eat.' " To illustrate Bill Veeck's support of his man, the story goes that when Mr. Doby was first introduced to his future teammates by then player-manmager Lou Boudreau, 10 of them refused even to shake his hand. Owner Veeck didn't take kindly to the indignity. The next year, Mr. Doby recalled, five of those players were gone. Looking back on his early days as a baseball pioneer, Mr. Doby said, "It was a learning lesson for baseball and the country. If we all look back, we can see that baseball helped make this a better country for us all, a more comfortable country for us all. Kids are our future and we hope baseball has given them some idea of what it is to live together and how we can get along, whether you be black or white."       "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

June 20, 2003 - "Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." Dwight D. Eisenhower     2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)     A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY. His real name was Frank, but no one called him that. Instead, he went by "Pop." a nickname pinned on him early, partly because of his premature baldness and partly, it would seem, because he was 21 years old as a college sophomore. Pop Ivy is the only man to have been a head coach in the CFL, AFL and NFL. He played his college football at Oklahoma, where as an end in 1939 he became just the second Sooner ever to be named All-American. Drafted by the NFL Pittsburgh Pirates (who had yet to be renamed the Steelers) he was traded midway through his rookie season to the Chicago Cardinals where, with two years off during World War II to serve in the Infantry in Europe, he played both ways at end through the 1947. He returned to his alma mater, Oklahoma in 1948 as an assistant to Bud Wilkinson, helping the Sooners to win a national championship in 1950, until in 1954 he was hired as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League, which at that time was making a serious run at the NFL. Succeeding another Oklahoman, Darrell Royal, he stuck with the Oklahoma split-T offense Royal had installed, and in his four seasons at Edmonton the Eskimos won three Grey Cups. He was smart enough to land a top split-T quarterback, Bernie Faloney of Maryland, and built a slashing running game around four of the greatest running backs in CFL history, Johnny Bright of Drake and Canadian-born Normie Kwong at fullback, and Rollie Miles and former Mississippi State star Jackie Parker at halfback. Considered to eb an offensive innovator, he was astute enough to use both Bright and Kwong at the same time, in what was called a "twin fullback" formation. His CFL record in four years was 50-14. In 1958, he moved to the NFL, and into the black hole that has swallowed up so many other coaches, taking over as head coach of his former team, the Chicago Cardinals. In four years with the Cardinals - two in Chicago and two in St. Louis - he was 17-31-2. In 1962, he moved to Houston of the AFL, and in his first year there took the Oilers to the championship game, where they lost in two overtimes to the Dallas Texans (who would later move to Kansas City and become the Chiefs). In his second year at Houston, the Oilers went 6-8, and owner Bud Adams, not the easiest man to work for, fired him. He was only 47, but he was never a head coach again, working as an assistant and a scout with the New York Giants until he retired in 1984. His overall pro record was 82-56-2. Pop Ivy died this past May at the age of 87.   Correctly identifying Pop Ivy: Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Alan Goodwin- Warwick, Rhode Island... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois ("This week's subject is Pop Ivy, who was the 3rd coach in Houston Oiler history. Bud Adams sure must be a hard man to work for - Adams fired his first coach 3 games into his second season even though he won the AFL championship the year before. Anyway, coach Ivy invented the 'Lonesome QB' formation which some consider the forerunner of today's shotgun formation.")... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Joe Daniels- Sacramento... John Muckian- Lynn, Massachusetts... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa.. *********** Sammy Sosa, who could easily have just shut up and said that he didn't understand much English, instead digs himself deeper into the muck with every statement he makes. And get this - we wouldn't be saying what we're saying if we weren't... RACIST. Saying that he "knows who my enemies are," he said that he appreciated the players and fans who have supported him, including Pedro Martinez and Gary Sheffield. Both Martinez and Sheffield have gone on record as saying that Sosa has been treated unfairly because he's Hispanic. Okay, you got me there. Nailed me with the race card.If he's been a white Anglo I'd have overlooked it. But it's only fair that I get to play a race card of my own. I've never done this before, and I'm a little excited, so bear with me... Will all you racist pigs out there please get off Rick Neuheisel's case? Come on, now, admit it - you're only piling on him because he's white. Dishonesty has nothing to do with it.   How was that?   *********** Writes Steve Kelley, in the Seattle Times...   Sooner, rather than later, another news conference will be called and offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson will be announced as the head coach of the 2003 Huskies. It will be a lighter, happier day. But then, the NCAA investigators will roll into Montlake like so many IRS agents. And it won't be pretty. They will turn the athletic department upside down. They will check every e-mail, every cellphone call, every correspondence they can find. They will interview every coach, every assistant coach, every assistant athletic director, every staff member they feel is important to their investigation. When it slips into its investigative mode, the NCAA is like a giant Zamboni machine, sucking everything and anything in its path. The NCAA team will tear the place apart like police investigators armed with warrants. The NCAA is angry. It believes gambling of any kind is a big deal. *********** To ensure that the folks in Europe who attended the NFL Europe championship game last weekend got the whole NFL experience, they were treated to the same kind of sluts 'n; butts irrelevancy at halftime that NFL fans routinely see. Surrounded by the mandatory "Fire in a Whorehouse" dancers, three young tarts bumped and ground and sang something called "Freak Like Me." The announcer, no fool, said, "there are so many ways I can go with that." *********** The Wall Street Journal says it's because we're growing fascinated with rituals. I say it's more a matter of our society's obsession with child worship. Anyhow, the auditorium's capacity was 500. So, since there were175 graduates, that left room for some 325 guests. Nevertheless, the school issued 1,400 invitations to its graduation ceremony. If you've done the math, you already know that it doesn't work out, as hundreds of invitees discovered, much to their displeasure. When they found themselves turned away at the door, they tried to force their way inside the hall, and pepper gas had to be used to disperse the unruly crowd. Three people were sent to a hospital for treatment of burns. Most of the rioting on the outside went unnoticed by the graduates, who then went on to a prom and celebrated their graduation. This was in Brooklyn. On Tuesday. Did I mention that the "graduates" were 9 and 10 years old? Are you kidding me? "Graduation?" From elementary school? Graduation? From what? So who doesn't move on from fifth grade to sixth grade these days? (Or sixth grade to seventh grade, or whatever the hell.) So what's to celebrate? Who in the world ever gets held back?   Are their elders' expectations so low that they figure this is the end of the line for these kids? Is that why they were breaking down doors?   And "Prom?" For 9- and 10-year-olds? How sick is that? Does it bother them that at that age most of the girls are still virgins? *********** The residents of Benton Harbor, Michigan, are getting bad advice. They have been tearing their town apart, outraged at what many see as police brutality in their mostly-minority town, and one of their "leaders" doesn't think that's all bad. "I hate to see this happen, but sometimes you have to get your message across," the Reverend Edward Pinkney of the Bethel Christian Restoration Center told the New York Times. "I believe this: There's never change without conflict. Read your history." Uh, Rev - I've read my history, as you suggested. In fact, I've probably read it more thoroughly than you have. And I say you're full of it. In my lifetime, I have seen enormous changes brought about without any conflict whatsoever - change brought about by such innovations as the jet plane (maybe you don't remember taking two days to fly coast-to-coast)... television (uniting a nation and homogenizing its culture in a way that no politician ever could)... air conditioning (what do you suppose the population of Phoenix would be without it?), the computer (ask all those programmers what they would have been doing for a living, just 40 years ago). And, of course - as long as you're talking about big-time change - don't forget The Pill. *********** Anybody who has taken over a down program knows that it can be very frustrating at first. Try getting some of those kids who aren't used to be asked to do much to turn out for spring practice or go to a summer camp. A coach I know who was in that very situation was let go this past week, after the administration expressed concern at the number of kids who'd participated in his modified version of "spring practice," and the number of kids who'd signed up to go to summer camp. (It made no difference to them, apparently, that this was the first time anyone had attempted to conduct a spring practice, or to take kids to a camp.) Now, I am assuming that he had a contract, in which case we are not talking about a mere matter of non-renewal. But even if he didn't have a contract, at this late point it could be strongly argued that he had a right to a reasonable expectation of continued employment. Is there no lawyer somewhere who would take this on, just to watch those men in skirts squirm? *********** Now, this is what I call a real Double-Wing success story... Coach Wyatt, My name is Stuart Whitener. I am from Monrovia (Suburb of Huntsville, AL). I ordered some of your material two years ago and my 8-9 yr old team went 20-1 over the last two years. I am 38 and have been working in private industry the last 15 years and am in the process of a career change. I decided to go back to school in an accelerated Masters program to get a degree in Education. I thought I would stay at my current job for 3-4 more years while attaining this degree and then get into teaching and coaching. I mentioned this to a buddy of mine who was the head coach at the local HS but was moving on after this year. A week later he got a call from the local middle school principal who asked him if he knew anyone who would want to coach the MS football team. My bud told him about me and I called him up. Long story short, I am the new head football coach and PE teacher at the Sparkman Middle School, about 3 miles from my home (the state of AL will let me teach while going through this accelerated program but I must finish in 3 yrs). Needless to say, I will be running the DW. I hope to be able to attend one of your camps in the near future. Thanks for being so accessible. By the way, I am just up the highway from the Ardmore team that installed the DW part way through the season last year. Stuart Whitener, Huntsville, Alabama (You think I ain't proud? HW) *********** In spite of the 'festivities' in Portland this past weekend, I trust you had a great Fathers' Day. I received a real nice present from Nicholas - my son who just graduated and will be going to Marine boot camp next week. In the school's AV room, he found the tape of last year's football game where he scooped up the football and rambled 53 yards for a TD. (The Play!) He transferred it to a video tape that sets permanently on my VCR so that I can show everyone who visits. Awesome. Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** I have been closely following the Big East defection attempt by Miami (good riddance), Boston College, and Syracuse. I don't know how this one will end, but I'm thoroughly enjoying seeing Johnny Swofford (ACC Commissioner) squirm now that some of his ACC schools are jumping back onto the fence. As the spouse of a Carolina grad, I never thought I'd have anything good to say about the Dukies, but Praise Be To Duke! The Big East is surely pulling out all the stops to squelch this raid by the ACC, including a law suit filed in Connecticut Superior Court in Hartford. While several lawyers have opined that the suit is without merit, they may not know the pull the UConn Huskies have among us Nutmeggers. You'd be hard pressed to find a judge in the Constitution State who would not at least consider the merits of this suit, in my opinion. The Big East's latest counter attack involved a press release by several coaches of women's teams around the league, who contend that the loss of the three schools to the ACC will result in some of the remaining universities having to eliminate some womens' sports. Now that's really hitting below the belt, don't you think, Ms. Shalala? Alan L. Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island *********** To me, I think the photo of Rick Neuheisel on the deck of his $4.2 million dollar lakeside home could (should?) be a dagger to the heart of football. It was obscene. The house looked larger than a cruise liner. This could (should?) lead to a congressional investigation. I mean, how in hell can you justify paying a guy that kind of money (to go 7-6) and then talk about having to practice economies in the athletic department by cutting sports? God, it must anger the women, as well it should. It sounds to me as if colleges have fallen for the same twisted "reasoning" as corporations - "that's what we have to pay in order to get anybody good," they say, in excusing extravagant compensation packages. So the CEO's get enormous severance packages and their companies still go under.   *********** I have a 5th grade football team in --------- . I just e-mailed you a few days ago. I've been reading recent posted questions on your web-site. Question # 176 indicates that you now prefer no motion or short motion on the super powers. Do you still run motion on the other base plays? I have plans to put in the; super powers, powers, 47/56 C, 49/58 C, 2 wedge, 3 trap @ 2, 6/7 G, red red, & blue blue. How much motion do you suggest? Just a little motion is ideal. The biggest problem is that too many people have too difficult a time keeping the motion short, shallow and fast. No motion at all is preferable to too much, too deep, too slow. *********** I received a letter from a reader taking me to task for defending the California schools that violated their section's directive to use only Spalding balls in playoff games (the section had received a large sum of money in return for making Spalding the official ball). What the schools did was continue to use their own footballs, disguising them by painting big gold "S's" on them. The section referred to this as "doctoring" the balls. The essence of the reader's argument was that (1) what the section did was no different from a college league or conference adopting an "official" ball, and (2) since it was "illegal" for the schools to "doctor" the footballs in that manner, I was being inconsistent with my usual strict-adherence-to-the-rules stance by defending the teams and criticizing the section. First of all, the idea of an association grabbing the money and forcing the teams to use its sponsor's ball is NOT analogous to a conference doing so. A conference is a VOLUNTARY association from which an institution is free to withdraw. Not so with a state association or a California section. If you want to play, you must dance to its tune. What the section did is more analogous to a coach taking money from a shoe company, in return for forcing his field hands to wear its shoes, a sleazy way of selling something that isn't really his to sell, turning his players into moving billboards. As for the second charge, let's start with the words "illegal" and "doctor." Those schools may have violated a bureaucratic directive, but they did NOTHING "illegal," according to the rules of the game of football. Those people were using LEGAL footballs, as provided for in the National Federation rule book, and it is NOT illegal to "doctor" them in the manner they did - by marking them. It IS legal to mark legal balls (commonly done, for example, to identify them as your property.) The term "doctoring" is emotionally loaded and, just like the term "illegal," it was used to make those schools out to be the same as cheaters. Yes, I believe in following the rules to the letter. But this nonsense did NOT involve any rule of football. It was what some business types call "marketing discipline" - making sure that your distributor is selling your product. As for inconsistency on my part - I don't think so. I remain quite consistent in my dislike of - and opposition to - officious bureaucracy. *********** I don't know Wilson and I don't know Farnsworth. Coupla baseball players, and I don't watch a lot of baseball. But I saw this on ESPN SportsCenter Thursday night, and I laughed my ass off - Farnsworth, who pitches for the Cubs, threw high and inside to Wilson, who plays for the Reds. Now, I didn't think it was that bad a pitch, but Wilson, who didn't budge, would up getting nicked by the pitch. So what did he do? What could he do but the same thing all of those phony baseballers do when a pitcher hits them? He charged the mound. But Farnsworth, who I am told played football in high school, stood his ground, and when Wilson got close, he stuck him. Put a tackle on him. Not only did Farnsworth play football, but he was obviously well coached. He hit Wilson high, in the chest - in case those of you who teach tackling around the legs missed it - and stood him up, then kept his feet going and drove poor Wilson backward and buried him. Flat on his back. *********** A week ago, Portland "celebrated" its "gayness" with a "Gay Pride" parade. Everybody thought "Dykes on Bikes" were way cool. But straights on Harleys? That's different. So Portlanders are shuddering at the thought of the weekend of August 16-17 - of 2,000 or so Harley owners converging on the city. They will be here to celebrate Harley's 100th anniversary. It's safe to assume that they will not tear the city apart - their average age is 46 - and they will spend a little money while they're here - their average household income is $78,000. Most cities would welcome a convention like this. But this is Portland, where on the last Friday of every month, a group of idiot bicyclists calling themselves "Critical Mass" assemble to ride in large numbers through downtown, clogging streets and pissing off motorists, and the thought of - ugh! - motorcycles is abhorrent to many of its citizens. Motorcycles, you see, spew fumes and they make noise. Well, duh. It isn't called "Milwaukee Thunder" for nothing. So there is actually talk - I am not kidding - of possibly moving the get-together out of downtown, and even asking the riders to turn off their bikes at the city limits. *********** It's too late for this year, but you might want to file this away for next Flag Day: "To display the flag over the middle of a street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north on an east-west street or to the east on a north-south street. Got that? *********** I thought you might enjoy a few of the remarks of General Eric Shinseki, Chief of Staff of the Army, on the occasion of his retirement last week... We are an institution that lives our values: Loyalty. Duty. Respect. Selfless Service. Honor. Integrity. Personal Courage. The Army Values - - the bedrock on which our institution is built. Those values are demonstrated outside our ranks as well as within - - shared by Army families, as well as Soldiers. In these last months, at the toughest times of greatest sadness and hardship, I have again and again been reminded that Army families and spouses are the most generous people I know. As I was on the first day of my tenure four years ago, I am humbled to stand here on my last day as the 34th Chief of Staff of the United States Army. I thank the President for his confidence and trust in allowing me the opportunity to serve the Nation and this Army that has been my family for 38 years. To Soldiers past and present with whom I have served, you have my deep and abiding respect and my profound thanks. There is a magnificent Army out there - - full of pride, discipline, spirit, values, commitment, and passion. General Creighton Abrams reminded us that "Soldiering is an affair of the heart," and it's never been better to be a Soldier. We are a magnificent Army, and the Nation knows it and honors our profession. Soldiers represent what's best about our Army and our Nation - - noble by sacrifice, magnificent by performance, and respected by all. They make us better than we ever expected to be. And for 38 years now, Soldiers have never allowed me to have a bad day. My name is Shinseki, and I'm a Soldier. God bless all of you and your families. God bless our Soldiers and our magnificent Army, and God bless our great Nation. Thank you, and goodbye.       The book is now in print. Entitled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967". It is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

June 16, 2003 - "If you want to make God Laugh, tell him your future plans." Woody Allen      2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)     A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY. His real name was Frank, but no one called him that. Instead, he went by a nickname pinned on him early, partly because of his premature baldness and partly, it would seem, because he was 21 years old as a college sophomore. He is the only man to be a head coach in the CFL, AFL and NFL. He played his college football at Oklahoma, where as an end in 1939 he became just the second Sooner ever to be named All-American. Drafted by the NFL Pittsburgh Pirates (who had yet to be renamed the Steelers) he was traded midway through his rookie season to the Chicago Cardinals where, with two years off during World War II to serve in the Infantry in Europe, he played both ways at end through the 1947. He returned to his alma mater, Oklahoma in 1948 as an assistant to Bud Wilkinson, helping the Sooners to win a national championship in 1950, until in 1954 he was hired as head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League, which at that time was making a serious run at the NFL. Succeeding another Oklahoman, Darrell Royal, he stuck with the Oklahoma split-T offense Royal had installed, and in his four seasons at Edmonton the Eskimos won three Grey Cups. He was smart enough to land a top split-T quarterback, Bernie Faloney of Maryland, and built a slashing running game around four of the greatest running backs in CFL history, Johnny Bright of Drake and Canadian-born Normie Kwong at fullback, and Rollie Miles and former Mississippi State star Jackie Parker at halfback. Considered to be an offensive innovator, he was astute enough to use both Bright and Kwong at the same time, in what was called a "twin fullback" formation. His CFL record in four years was 50-14. In 1958, he moved to the NFL, and into the black hole that has swallowed up so many other coaches, taking over as head coach of his former team, the Chicago Cardinals. In four years with the Cardinals - two in Chicago and two in St. Louis - he was 17-31-2. In 1962, he moved to Houston of the AFL, and in his first year there took the Oilers to the championship game, where they lost in two overtimes to the Dallas Texans (who would later move to Kansas City and become the Chiefs). In his second year at Houston, the Oilers went 6-8, and owner Bud Adams, not the easiest man to work for, fired him. He was only 47, but he was never a head coach again, working as an assistant and a scout with the New York Giants until he retired in 1984. His overall pro record was 82-56-2. He died this past May at the age of 87. *********** Considering that the Australian National Motto often seems to be "No Worries, Mate!" and that Aussies tend to be much more laid-back than Americans, you might be surprised to learn that their sports teams put up with less - a lot less - from their athletes than ours do. In America, where an Allen Iverson skips game-day shootouts with such regularity that you have to wonder if it's a perk written into his contract, it's hard to imagine an NBA team cutting a guy for missing a practice. But that's exactly what the Wallabies, the Australian National Rugby Team, did to a player named Elton Flatley. Following a win over Wales on Saturday, Flatley, having evidently celebrated excessively, slept in the next day, missing a compulsory "recovery session". Whereupon the club, despite the fact that the Wallabies face a huge test (international) match against England in Melbourne this coming weekend, nevertheless dismissed Flatley. Just like that. And here's where it really gets difficult for an American to understand: in America, where players' unions would defend Lee Harvey Oswald if he were a professional athlete, and no player dares speak out against a teammate, no matter what the transgression, team captain and star scrum half (think quarterback) George Gregan says management had no choice. Sounding like an American football coach from the 1950's, Gregan said that although he felt sorry for Flatley, the players all understood the rules, and standards had to be upheld. "It's obviously a disruption to the team," Gregan said. "Flats has played really well so far this year. But the team has pretty high standards on and off the field and he fell outside of those. Everyone's aware of what it entails to be part of this team and what goes with it and everyone abides by it. So if you fall outside of it, it's pretty black and white." Pinch me. I think I'm dreaming. *********** Tommy Skipper, a high school senior from Sandy, Oregon, set a new national high school pole-vault record Sunday when he went over the bar at 18 feet, 3 inches, in the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. The winning vault in the NCAA championships last week was 17 feet, 10 inches. Tommy Kipper is also the Oregon state Class 4A (largest) 100 meters champ. He missed three months of vaulting this past spring with a broken thumb. Fifteen years ago his older brother Art, who died in a plane crash in 2001, set the national high school record in the javelin. Tommy Skipper and his older brother, Art, who set a national high school record in the javelin in 1988, are the only brothers ever to hold national high school track records. Art died in a place crash in 2001. *********** Like today's parents who want tougher educational standards but don't want you to give their kids too much homework, the board assigned to oversee the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to clean up its sex abuse scandal wants to deal firmly with the problem, unless it means talking tough about it. And so former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who had been serving as chairman of the board, will be stepping down. Other members didn't like the fact that he told the Los Angeles Times that the willingness of the Church's bishops to cover up the scandal reminded him of "La Cosa Nostra." *********** Women all over the place are indignant, to say the least, at discovering that they were not the only ones who'd been proposed to by an Army colonel. Over the Internet. Turns out that he's proposed to some 50 of them. E-mail proposals, that is. Over the Internet. And these women are hot. As in angry.They want him to be drummed out of the service. See, just because they're stupid and desperate doesn't mean that a guy should be allowed to "take advantage" of them. Over the Internet. What the hell did these women know about this guy? Nothing, obviously. Not that that necessarily matters. Because even when women know the worst about a guy, that doesn't stop some of them from acting like losers and throwing themselves at him. As further evidence, I give you Scott Peterson, now languishing in jail in Modesto, California, charged with murdering his pregnant wife, Laci, and their unborn child. He is reported to be receiving stacks of letters, many of them fan mail (and worse) from women. Of course, he is single now... *********** If you live in some benighted red county between the two coasts, some place where - ugh! - Republicans live, you probably don't get a lot of news like this in your traditional old newspaper... Dancing across the front page of the Metro section of Monday's Portland Oregonian was a young man dressed as a "white butterfly", readers were told (although truthfully, "fairy" would seem to be more appropriate). He was "marching" in Portland's Annual "Pride Parade" with a group calling itself "Poder Latino de Oregon," joining such other groups as the Portland Gay Men's Chorus, the Rose City Gay Freedom Band, Dykes and Their Dogs (I am not making this up), Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Dykes on Bikes and the (nobody could make this one up) Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center. As usual, the parade was held on Father's Day, an irony which the Oregonian seemed to take great joy in by leading off its parade story with a little bit about a baby boy who doesn't have a father (and, in the eyes of most of those at the parade, doesn't need one.) Hey- who needs a father when you have two mommies? Claire Busse and Lilian Salama and "newborn son Luke," wrote the Oregonian, were at the parade in hopes that they were starting a new "family tradition." The wee one is just two weeks old, but he wasn't too young to attend his first-ever "gay pride" parade. And as he grows older, the story went on, "both moms hope he will enjoy the annual gay pride parade festivities as much as they do." Happy Father's Day. *********** No fewer than five former western Pennsylvania high school players - Bill Cowher, Jim Haslett, Marvin Lewis, Marty Schottenheimer and Dave Wannstedt - are now NFL head coaches. Lewis and Schottenheimer are both from McDonald, Pennsylvania, and despite the difference in their ages, both had the same high school coach, Jim Garry, the coach at McDonald from 1959 until his retirement at the end of last season. *********** Although I liked the Nets, I was happy to see the Spurs win. They certainly are a real team, a strange collection of non-stars to go with the two big guys and form a unit that is better than the sum of its parts. Tim Duncan is super, and he and David Robinson are two classy people. Plus, it sure seems as if the Spurs have fewer tattoos than any team in the NBA and most teams in the NCAA. *********** Hugh, I almost got sick watching Barbara Hedges' half hearted "attempt" at firing Slick Willy Skippy. I'm surprised she didn't say that she had "the full backing of the UN on this". It takes a man (or a non-lib) to have a set of stones! Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey (It's all coming down to the fact that Ricki was caught "off guard" by an NCAA question about the pools. "He was not prepared for the questions regarding gambling," Barb said. "This was a very confusing time. Rick had been hit right between the eyes and he was trying to regroup." She went on, "I was certainly not prepared for it. His answers were not totally straight when he responded to them. He was scrambling for answers, no question." Imagine. They asked a guy a question and he needs time to "regroup" (Come up with a story). So he lied. What else would you expect the poor guy do, when they hit him "right between the eyes?" It came easy for him. Then he left the room, and - probably after calling an attorney - he came back in and admitted that he'd been "less than truthful" with his first answer. Think of it - Hedges had to know right then that he had just lied to NCAA investigators. Any administrator with stones would have fired his ass on the spot. But she's like the kind of administrator we see far too much of these days - the touchy-feely (nearly always female) elementary school principal who calls the bad kid in and winds up believing his story (those kids are experts at manipulating touchy-feely types) and believing that he's going to be good from now on, and sends him back to class with a lollipop. In Ricki's case, the could cost Washington $1.5 million.) *********** Now that Skippy Neuheisel's gone - I think, although he's still on "paid suspension," and promising to be good this time if they'll just give him another chance, pretty ple-e-e-e-ease - there seems to be some worry in Seattle about how the Washington Huskies will manage, with Keith Gilbertson taking over the program this late in thr going. Not to worry. True, there will be a new guy in charge, but the entire staff is being retained, and Gilbertson is well known to the players, having served as offensive coordinator and having recruited many of them. And, yes, Phil Snow, formerly of UCLA, will be taking over as defensive coordinator, but otherwise most of the staff has been intact for four years. In Pac-10 terms, that's a generation. Consider: Aside from Mike Bellotti at Oregon, who's going into his ninth season at Eugene, no other Pac-10 head coach has been at the job more than two years, and three of them and brand-new. Pete Carroll (USC), Dirk Koetter (Arizona State) and John Mackovic (Arizona) have two years under their belts; Jeff Tedford (Cal) and Buddy Teevens (Stanford) have one. Mike Riley (Oregon State), Bill Doba (Washington State) and Karl Dorrell (UCLA) are just starting. Riley is not a total virgin - he coached OSU once before, until he was lured away by the Chargers. Doba knows his staff and his players, having served as defensive coordinator under Mike Price. Dorrell, hired by a brand-new AD who's never worked in a big-time program before, looks as if he could be in over his head, but he does inherit a wealth of talent left by Bob Toledo. *********** So you can talk about the National Education Association and the Teamsters all you like, but I suspect there's another union, not nearly so well known, that is more than their match, where power and influence are concerned.. Now, I'm part Scottish, and I love the sound of bagpipes - the "pipes o' heaven" - but I certainly can understand why so many other people detest the noise they make - the "skirl" - and I've pretty much heard all the bagpipe jokes there are. So all I can figure is, there's got to be a very strong organization out there called the Amalgamated Brotherhood o' Pipers (or something on that order). And there's got to be a contract somewhere that says there has to be a bagpiper - a union bagpiper, o' course - on hand at every funeral, every public function for that matter, in America. *********** Just back from covering the French Open, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle calls Paris "Philadelphia without Right Guard." *********** John Torres is a youth coach who lives and coaches near Stockton, in the San Joaquin Valley. But at least twice a week he has to commute to his San Francisco office - 70-plus miles away - and on those days, he's up at 3:30 AM to try to get the jump on his fellow commuters. Like thousand of other Californians, he does it because he likes the idea of living in a nice home in a nice, quiet community, but he also has a job that requires him to commute to the Big City. The price of housing in LA and SF are such that the commutes of thousands of Californians just like him are incomprehensible to those of us who live in most other places. I've often wondered how coaches with families manage to live in such high-rent places. The answer, apparently, is in very cramped conditions - until they're able to afford to move out. A recent LA Times article told of the baseball coach at Carson High, in the LA area, who has resigned and will soon be moving to become basketball coach in Murrieta, abut 75 miles away. He told the LA Times that he was able to sell his 1,100 square foot house for $310,000, and then buy twice the house - a new, 2,600-square-foot home - in Murrieta for $317,000. "I'm looking at myself as a husband and father, and it was a no-brainer," he told the Times. Hard to argue with that. *********** Meantime, with the Women's World Cup semifinals scheduled to be played in Portland, my wife and I figure we'll make a killing renting out rooms to fans coming here from all over the world. Might as well turn it to our advantage, although we do realize we could be hurting ourselves financially with our house rule against women sleeping together. *********** Coach Wyatt, After your reading your most recent column (June 13th) and reading in the local papers regarding the expansion movement in the Atlantic Coast Conference, I was wondering why Virginia Tech was not invited to join the ACC instead of Syracuse or Boston College?  It would seem to me that VT could offer more natural and geographical rivalries to North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Duke, Florida State, Maryland, etc. than could the Orangemen or BC. Do you have any information or thoughts on this?  Thanks. Mike O'Donnell, Pine City, Minnesota There appear to be three reasons which Virginia Tech is out there all alone - (1) from a marketing standpoint, Virginia Tech, located in far western VA, near Roanoke, simply doesn't deliver the TV market that Boston College and Syracuse can; (2) Virginia Tech does not allow Miami to penetrate the large northeastern market, where a lot of its alumni live, not to mention potential students. Boston College, as the only legitimate football power east of NYC, is a natural, and Syracuse, combining strong football and basketball traditions, is the only other school that can reasonably be considered an eastern power (Penn State having gone Midwestern). (3) Miami, Boston College and Syracuse are all private universities, which I suspect is appealing to the image-conscious presidents of the ACC. Truly, however they rationalize this, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Pitt are being shafted. UConn, which has made a large investment in upgrading its football program, is left stranded, and I won't even get into Rutgers. (Maybe the Big East actually did Temple a favor by tossing it out - at least that gave Temple a head start on UConn and Rutgers.)   "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, subtitled, "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

June 13, 2003 - "In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you." Warren Buffett    2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)       A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Wayne Hardin is the most successful coach in the history of Temple football, and - the argument can be made - the most successful at Navy as well. He played college football his freshman and sophomore years for the immortal Amos Alonzo Stagg, and he coached two Heisman Trophy winners. Born in 1927 in Smackover, Arkansas, he moved west with his family, as so many folks did during the Depression, and wound up in Stockton, California. At Stockton High School he was outstanding in football, basketball, track and golf. Following high school, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, and served in the Aleutians for the remainder of World War II. When he got out of the Coast Guard, he enrolled at College of the Pacific, in his hometown of Stockton. There, playing for his first two years under the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg, he won four letters in football. With four more letters in basketball and three in golf, his 11 letters won are still the most in school history, and in 1997 he was installed in Pacific's sports hall of fame. (One of his teammates and fellow hall of fame members is Eddie LeBaron.)   Following graduation, he spent the 1949 season as an assistant at COP, then spent the 1950-51 seasons as head coach at Ceres, California High School. He returned to Pacific for the 1952 season, then was hired as head coach at Porterville JC, where he coached for two years. And then came the fateful call in 1955 from head coach Eddie Erdelatz at Navy. Navy had put together three straight winning seasons, and would lose only seven games over the next four seasons, when Erdelatz resigned ( to reappear a year later as head coach of the Oakland Raiders in the brand-new American Football League). Hardin took over at Navy at the start of the 1959 season, and in six years at Annapolis he had four winning seasons and one .500 season, beating Army five straight times. (No other Navy coach had done it even four times in a row.) Two of his teams went 9-1, in both cases going unbeaten until losing in a major bowl game. His 1960 team lost to Missouri in the Orange Bowl, and finished the season ranked sixth in the nation. It star running back, Joe Bellino, won the Heisman Trophy. His 1963 team, starring eventual Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach, went into the Cotton Bowl game ranked number two in the nation, against number-one ranked Texas. Navy lost, and Texas won the national championship, but the Midshipmen were ranked number two in the final polls, highest ranking in the school's history. From 1960 through 1963, his teams beat Notre Dame three of four years. (Navy's 35-14 win over the Irish in 1963 is the last time Navy has beaten Notre Dame.) One of his assistants at Navy was Steve Belichick, father of Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick. And then, after his great run, and a team that finished second in the nation, he had his first losing season. It concluded with an 11-8 loss to Army - his first. And that was it for him. Poof - he was gone. Just like that. It's difficult now to find an explanation, but there had to be something more than football involved in his leaving. He must have left under something of a cloud, because he wouldn't return to college coaching for six years. And even at that, the best job opportunity he could finally land was at Temple, a place short of talent, money and facilities, an urban school whose best years were in the long-distant past. After Navy, he coached the Philadelphia Bulldogs to the championship of the Continental League, a minor league, true, but a real professional league, far superior to anything referred to nowadays as "minor league." The Eagles were in the doldrums then, and the Bulldogs, the only winning team in town, gained a lot of media exposure, which brought him to the attention of the people at Temple. Wayne Hardin gave the people at Temple their best run of success ever. When he left after 13 years, he was the winningest coach in school history, taking the Owls to their second bowl game ever (their first since Pop Warner took them to the inaugural Sugar Bowl game, 43 years earlier). He had eight winning seasons and only four losing seasons, and compiled a record of 80-52-3 for a winning percentage of .604, second among Temple coaches only to Warner himself (whose winning percentage from 1933 through 1938 was .612). Until Coach Hardin arrived, Temple's best run was four straight winning seasons under Warner, but between 1970 and 1975, Hardin put together six straight winning seasons. His 1979 team went 10-2, with losses only to Penn State and Pitt (the latter by a point), and beat Cal in the Garden State Bowl, but his 1973 team may have been his best. That bunch of Owls finished 9-1, ranked second in the East only to Penn State. So well was he able to mix the passing game with the veer that Temple ranked #6 nationally in total offense (455.5 yards per game) , #9 in points per game (35.3), #16 in rushing yardage per game (263.5), and #20 in passing yardage per game (192.0). On defense, Temple ranked #23 in rushing defense (139.0 yards per game) and #1 in interceptions (26).   Correctly identifying Wayne Hardin- Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Jack Tourtillotte- Boothbay Harbor, Maine... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... John Muckian- Lynn, Massachusetts ("I was unaware of his success and long tenure at Temple, He also coached one of Massachusetts all-time "greats" the PRIDE of Winchester Joe Bellino.")... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota ("When we were running the split-back veer quite a few years ago, we used a number of Coach Hardin's thoughts in terms of having a predetermined, option-based running game as well as throwing the ball more from the split-back look. It was great fun and the kids really liked the approach.")... John Zeller- Sears, Michigan ( "I was in junior high when I first heard Bill Cosby's great routine called, 'Hofstra.' Hearing that, I thought Temple must have a sorry football program. But I remember noticing when I checked the scores in the Sunday paper that they seldom lost.")... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... *********** In having to help get a pro football team under way from scratch in Philadelphia, and looking for guys who could play, it was only natural that I'd come in contact with Wayne Hardin. It was 1974, and Temple was riding high, coming off a 9-1 season. The thing that struck me about the guy was how positive he was. That is a great trait in a coach, of course, but it can be very misleading to you when you're a director of player personnel depending on him for an objective appraisal of his players. To hear him tell it, all his kids were great players, all sure to play in the pros. Largely on his recommendation - and as a matter of good public relations - we signed a dozen of them. They were good kids and all that, and some of them were fairly talented, but they were definitely not pro material - only one of them, a center named Bob Paschall, made our club. The best of his players, a tight end named Randy Grossman, was drafted by the Steelers and went on to have a decent career with them. Coach Hardin was really high on his star QB, a guy named Steve Joachim who still had a year of eligibility left. Yup - he was a very good college player, but he never did a thing in pro ball. I certainly don't blame Wayne Hardin for trying to help his kids. I'm sure most pro personnel guys already knew to take his recommendations with a grain of salt, but seeing his kids sure did make me appreciate the coaching job he'd done. The handful of Penn Staters that we signed were head and shoulders ahead of the Temple kids. *********** Some of the wisdom of Wayne Hardin, from my 1980 Seattle clinic notes...  "Most people operate at 40 per cent efficiency or less. Wherever you go, assume that - and work for 60 per cent more.  "I don't know what 110 per cent is, and I hate the term. But I know what 100 per cent is, and I'm going to bust your ass to get it." *********** Good Morning Hugh, Wayne Hardin was a great coach - anyone who can win at Temple must be a good coach. Actually at one point in my coaching career I was a veer coach and found everything I could about this offense from the University of Houston to Holtz and came upon Hardin along the way. One must always wonder what happened at Navy - he was buried in the coaching world for a long time before coming up for air at Temple. As a youngster Dad and I watched Joe Bellino and Navy beat Army - Dad fought for the 45 th infantry in Italy was captured and escaped spending six months hiding from the Germans. He was a fanatic Army supporter and died a thousands deaths as Navy beat Army. I doubt Bellino could win the trophy today - at his size and weight it would be difficult. We did have the pleasure of watching him as a Patriot though. Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine (Joe Bellino was perhaps the single most exciting football player I have ever seen, but I have to agree with Jack T - he might not get to play all that much in today's game, and certainly not in a one-back offense.HW)   *********** Found on the Naval Academy Alumni site... In 1961, when I entered the United States Naval Academy the most important thing I did after getting my hair cut was shout "Beat Army!" As a Plebe, the intimidation by upper classmen was always on our minds. But the competitiveness and rivalry we shared with Army made going to the '61 Army-Navy game the perfect outlet. Freshmen weren 't eligible to play, so from the stands I watched the game with 100,000-plus fans it was thrilling. Thinking back on it, I was in a "dreamlike trance" and had no idea I'd be on the field against Army the very next year. To me, as a Plebe, one of the greatest "perks" for Navy 's '61 win was receiving "carry-on" until Christmas leave. In 1962, I got my chance to leave the stands and play before the crowd of 100,000-plus, including President John F. Kennedy. I'm positive that no one wanted Navy to win more than I did. The stress and pressure of that game was greater than I felt when I later played in several Super Bowls. Our coach, Wayne Hardin, enjoyed and practiced uniform variance. In '61 he had Navy wear florescent helmets. In '62, our helmets sported a skull and crossbones. As we ran onto the field, Army tried to "psyche us out" wearing white football cleats. Army Coach Paul Dietzel also played the "psyche game" at every opportunity nicknaming his team that year the Chinese Bandits. The game had all the right ingredients: two battling head coaches, two high-spirited teams, and watching every play, the President of the United States and a national television audience. All of which made me one very nervous quarterback. It was a thrill being a part of that historic Navy victory because it remains the most exciting, best game of my career. Every play clicked. Our team played a strong defense. We were "sky high!" It was because of that game (the skull and crossbones) that I was nicknamed "The Jolly Roger." The '62 game was my personal favorite, the most memorable even though the next year was ranked more important. In 1963, we were the No. 2 team in the country with only Army standing in our way to receiving a berth in the Cotton Bowl. Because it was also the last game of the season, it was one of the most dramatic. It was postponed a week because of the assassination of the President. The tragic death of the Armed Services Commander-in-Chief simply knocked the wind out of our sails, making the game an outlet for our grief and frustration. With Navy leading 21-7, Rollie Stichweh took over for Army and our offense never saw the ball again. Army scored and went for two points. At 21-15, they recovered the onside kick and were driving for a touchdown as the game ended. I vividly picture the team captain and my good friend, Tom Lynch, by then a very happy man, running off the field with the ball as the final whistle blew! One of my best friends, Skip Orr, was a receiver in that game and actually threw me a pass. Another best friend, Pat Donnelly, scored three touchdowns. Tom, Skip, Pat and I, along with our wives and families, remain close today. With a rivalry extending more than 100 games, the Army-Navy game is a national treasure. On a personal level, it provided me with some of my fondest athletic memories. I am honored and blessed to have played a role in this glorious history. Roger Staubach '65 *********** Happy Father's Day to you dads - and to your dads. Sports Illustrated this week has a nice Father's Day feature on famous athletes and their dads, and I was really impressed with David Carr's father. Listen to the guy: "The biggest thing a father could get from his son is to know that he loves and serves God. David is raising his kids right and his wife is a sweetheart. What more could a father ask for?" *********** California does not have state high school championships. Instead, it has "sectional" championships. California is so large, with so many high schools, that it's broken into "sections," each larger than most states, and each individual section pretty much handles its own affairs, as if it were an independent state. One section has recently had to deal with a problem which it refers to as teams using "doctored" footballs in sectional playoffs. Mission Viejo High and Trabuco Hills, I discovered, were both found by the Southern Section to be in violation of its sportsmanship policy. One of the coaches has since been fired. The other coach and his staff were sentenced to attend a two-day "ethics seminar," and his school has been banned from hosting any playoff games in this upcoming season. What did they do? I wondered. Did they apply a coating of stickum to their own balls? Put K-Y Jelly on their opponents' balls? Did they do something to make it fly straighter? Or did they maybe do as the Raiders once did, years ago, and write "F--K YOU" on the ball, so as to disconcert the opposing center? Intrigued, I read on. What the schools did, it seems, was paint a big, gold "S" on each of their footballs - they took the Wilson balls they'd been using all year and painted the Spalding "S" on them. What's wrong with that? you ask. Well, you see, the Section has a sponsorship deal with Spalding - Spalding pays the section $250,000, in return for which the section forces all participating schools to use the Spalding ball in the sectional playoffs for the next five years. (California is not the only place engaged in this dirty little game. Washington's state association has its own deal, only it's with Wilson.) The problem in California, according to the LA Times, is that many football coaches dislike the Spalding ball. No Matter. This deal means money in the section's pockets - money it can use to pay for tournaments in soccer, golf and tennis, to name a few parasite sports that don't pay their own way. Now, I am a stickler for rules and I hate cheaters, but I have to say that I am up to here with these greedy bureaucrats who sell something that isn't theirs, taking money from ball manufacturers as their payment for forcing teams to use that ball exclusively in playoffs. It is a very sly, subtle way of suggesting that teams - especially those that throw quite a bit - might want to also use that ball during the regular season, so that they'll be accustomed to it if they make the playoffs. Administrators in suits are taking away a basic decision that is rightfully the coach's. Bet the farm that the football teams never see a dime of that money. After all, the section has expenses - there are lunches to pay for, executive travel to association conventions, and, of course, trophies and travel expenses for parasite sports that, more and more, kids only play at their school when their clubs or elite teams or personal coaches don't have anything scheduled. Just one more way of screwing football - the one sport that high school kids can't play unless the school provides it Seems to me that the suits who run the section - and the sponsorship con game - ought to be the ones required to attend the ethics seminar.   *********** Good news - Tulane's trustees, despite enormous athletic department deficits, voted to continue playing Division I-A football.   Bad news - Tulane and its fellow Conference USA members will never see a nickel of the BCS bounty, if the greedy dogs who run the six major conferences have anything to say about it.   *********** Bad news - it required three Atlantic Coast Conference members to defeat the admission of Miami, and only Duke and North Carolina opposed it. By a 7-2 vote, Miami appeared in.   Good news - Virginia, now that it appears certain that Virginia Tech will be shut out of the ACC and forced to fend for itself, is under a great deal of pressure from Virginia Senator John Warner to reconsider its vote. *********** Hi Coach. Just heard a local radio interview with Ron Kramer. What a guy! What an athlete in his day as well. Apparently there is a little grass roots interest in trying to get him into the hall of fame. Are you aware of any resources that would be able to compare stats of his contemporaries at his position? I think one setback is that he ended up in Detroit instead of staying with the Packers. He asked Lombardi to trade him or else he had to retire because he had a son who lost an eye with a pair of scissors, his daughter was very asthmatic and his wife needed him home back in MI. Lombardi obliged and traded him. Interesting story. Adam Wesoloski, Pulaski, Wisconsin To tell you the truth, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have said that Ron Kramer was in the HOF. I think he suffers from having played on a team with so many other hall-of-famers, same as if he'd played on the Steelers in the early 70's. If he'd played on a lesser team, people would have had more appreciation for him. (He probably would have caught more passes, too.) I doubt that you can find any stats to support his candidacy. Unlike the two guys you usually think of from around the same time - Ditka and Mackey - he was not spectacular. Just very, very good - an essential part of Lombardi's offense. In many ways, he helped to define the position of tight end as it's now known. I'm not sure it was even called that when he started to play it. (He also was a two-sport athlete at Michigan - basketball, too).HW *********** Coach Wyatt, Last week you were again at your absolute best exposing that "human piece of fecal matter" Teddy K. for the typical ,left-wing hypocrite that he is. Just remember Coach, he was a sponsor and supported the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, that allowed a lot of these thugs to enter U.S. soil unabated and gave "easier" access to immigrants from all corners ( As long as they don't live in Hyannis Port, is there a Mass. Welfare Office in Hyannis Port ?) of the world. Coach hoping that Duke,UNC,and Va.(and hopefully Wake) destroy the ACC expansion Plan,and common sense prevails and not dollars and cents - See ya Friday John K. Muckian Lynn, Massachusetts   *********** Coach, this is Captain Parks reporting from the front lines in the battle against the soccer insurgents. I recently completed a 'search and destroy' trip deep into enemy territory, the Huron Valley Soccer Club located in our area. Results of the mission - an entire soccer team (minus the girls) of seven year olds signed up for my football team this fall, including the coach's kid. Casualties - none, other than my own psyche after having to explain how safe football was compared to the brutal sport of soccer (I even used your Mayo Clinic report to support my argument). I used their own logic against them. I explained how soccer, at this age group, relies too heavily on one or two kids carrying the load. Contrast this to the Double Wing system we employ where every player is critical to the success of the play. "No one is left behind." That would make even Hillary cry! I can't wait. Think of all the space in the mini vans I'll have to store equipment. Think of the 'wine and cheese' fundraisers I can schedule. Well anyway, my campaign is now in the occupation phase. Win the peace as the President would say (at least the current one, the last would debate the meaning of the word 'peace'). Doug Parks, Milford, Michigan (And the last President would spell it "piece." HW)   *********** Coach Wyatt, Funny stuff submitted by Coach Castro (and his appearing threatening to soccer moms). I think his experience is one we're all familiar with. Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina *********** Yogi Berra, a long-time resident of Montclair, New Jersey, wrote a a very eloquent op-ed column in the New York Times Thursday, praising the New Jersey Devils. "The team gets criticized just for being good. " he wrote. "A former Rangers coach said they're just a bunch of interchangeable parts. Well, I've always been a Rangers fan, too, and I wish they had more interchangeable parts. Good teams always have them &emdash; guys who play for the team, not for themselves, and the Devils typify teamwork at its best. "They remind me of the Yankees teams I played on during the late 1940's through the early 60's. We were a team of interchangeable parts. Casey Stengel, our manager, platooned guys all the time. In 1949, his first year, we had seven different first basemen. We had one player, Gil McDougald, who made the All-Star team at three different positions. Casey was known for being funny, but not with us. He could be pretty demanding. If you play, you better produce. If you don't play, tough. The team always came first. "That's how it is with the Devils. All the guys know their roles and don't try to be something they're not. Everyone contributes."   AFTER FOUR YEARS, IT'S NICE TO BE ABLE TO WEAR PURPLE AND GOLD IN PUBLIC ONCE AGAIN... *********** Steve Kelley- Seattle Times Rick Neuheisel is a career liar. He lied to boosters at Colorado who thought he was going to stay there forever. He lied to his last batch of Colorado recruits, who thought he'd stay there for the length of their college careers. He lied at Washington to his athletic director. He lied to NCAA investigators. Like Richard Nixon during Watergate, he lied to protect himself. And, when his back was against the wall, he lied some more. *********** Steve Kelley- Seattle Times - Neuheisel's teams reflected his personality. They were undisciplined. They were soft. They made careless mistakes that cost them games, just as their coach made careless mistakes that will cost him this job. *********** Blaine Newnham - Seattle Times - (Said) Ed Cunningham, the center on the undefeated 1991 team and now a sports broadcaster. "This program simply wasn't built around people who don't know how to conduct themselves. I don't want Rick to be the coach of our program anymore.The embarrassment we've had to deal with is tragic, a shame." They are bothered, I am bothered, by Neuheisel's lack of respect for the rules that translates into a lack of respect for those who follow them. One former player didn't want his name used. He was prominent when he played, but wanted in this situation to be anonymous. "He has repeatedly shown a disregard for the university," said the player of Neuheisel. "I'm disheartened and angered. I can't find one former player &emdash; black, white, young or old &emdash; that is willing to give him any slack on this." *********** Part of me was hoping that Skippy could save his job but have to serve an NCAA suspension of a year or two. Based on the sly ways he managed to visit kids despite prohibitions on recruiting, I figure he would have found a way to coach the Huskies from a submarine in the middle of Lake Washington.  *********** "I want to respond to the speculation that I am a candidate for the head coaching position with the San Francisco 49ers. I have not been contacted by anyone from the 49ers organization about the position. "I want to reiterate what I have said in the past. I am the football coach at the University of Washington and I am very happy with my position and I am not interested in coaching anywhere else. "I have been out of town the past three days on a family vacation and had hoped when I returned today that the position at the 49ers would have been filled and this speculation that I was involved would be proven pointless. Since that has not happen, I feel it is in the best interest of all parties to go on the record with this statement. "I understand that my name has been linked to this opening because I have a relationship with Terry Donahue that dates back to my playing career at UCLA. We talk occasionally about a number of subjects. I consider him both a mentor and a friend, but we have never discussed the opening with the 49ers. "My only concerns at this time are to fill the one remaining opening on our staff, since we hired John Pettas today, and to go about the business of getting our team ready to face the defending national champions at Ohio State on August 30." Rick Neuheisel's statement denying that he had talked with the 49ers about their head coaching position. He was unaware at the time that a Seattle reporter sitting near him in the San Francisco airport had overheard him telling someone in a cell phone conversation that he'd just met with 49ers' officials. *********** "Looks like your "favorite" coach is gonna lose his job…with the FSU trial and all going on , I don't see how UW can keep him. Skippy is slick but the NCAA has to find someone to make an example of. Sadly though this vermin will find another place to coach." Joe Daniels, Sacramento He will probably wind up in the NFL. I am not a socialist, as anyone who reads this page regularly knows, but there is one thing in here that really galls me... While in Buffalo last weekend, I was reading about the problems its public schools are facing. They are scrambling to come up with $1.2 million to save 16 high school sports - varsity only - next year. It would take $1.6 million to provide varsity, JV and "modified" (7th-8th grade) sports. Not that things are much better in most other big cities. It is demoralizing enough for their kids to live in the conditions they live in, without also being reminded of their inferior status when they play sports - if sports are even offered to them. In most cases, their schools' fields are in horrible shape and their gyms are decrepit and dingy. Their coaches don't have enough problems as it is, but on top of the crime and lack of respect for authority, they have to work with staffs cut back to mere skeletons of what they should be, and they have to make do with shabby, sometimes unsafe equipment. And with only varsity-level competition offered, they often find themselves throwing players who've never played the sport before into games against highly-skilled suburban-school kids. And there are rural areas in America where things are just as tough. Meanwhile, a short time ago, the University of Washington threw a bonus at Rick Neuheisel - a "loan" of $1.5 million. Just for being Rick. Stick around for six years and you don't owe us nuthin'. A little icing on the cake, on top of the $1.8 million a year (plus God knows how many lucrative perks) he was already making. Isn't it amazing to think what a difference $1.5 million - the money they were prepared to hand over to a guy who was already making $1.8 million a year - would make in the lives of inner-city kids (or rural kids) and the coaches who work with them? I think every football coach making more than $1 million a year should donate the amount in excess of $1 million to be used for the betterment of our game. They can make their checks out to me and I'll see to it that the money gets into the right hands. After I pay my country club dues, of course. *********** My biggest question for all those Rick Neuheisel defenders (I now know, by the way, where Clinton's defenders went) is this--- What was so special about going 7-6 in his fourth year at the University of Washington? And only a lucky-ass overtime win over Washington State kept it from being 6-7 and preventing him from "earning" his bowl bonus of $40,000 for playing in a non-BCS bowl game. (Make that $100,000 for playing in a BCS bowl game, $150,000 for playing in the national title game. True fact.) *********** Rick Neuheisel told a Seattle reporter he was "surprised at the venom" generated by him and his persistent troubles. "Surprised at the venom?" If he'd gone 7-6 in Tuscaloosa... or Austin... or South Bend... they'd have found a reason to get rid of him long before now. *********** Who will succeed Rick Neuheisel? Among all the helpful suggestions being posted on Web sites was this one, from a guy who obviously knows his football history better than he does his spelling - "Newt Rockney" (good ole Newt, a country boy from the hills of East Tennessee). *********** I have a feeling that naming Neuheisel's replacement might not be AD Barb Hedges' call. God knows it shouldn't be. How many bad hires is any one AD allowed? I think that Keith Gilbertson as interim coach is the sensible choice so that they can fire Hedges and get a new AD in place to hire Gilbertson (or his successor). I think a year under an interim coach is far less risky that dealing with the unseemliness of a hasty, mid-summer hiring, on top of this PR disaster. *********** The lesson that the present mess at the University of Washington teaches is that lots of sharp guys (or gals) in suits can play AD the better part of the time, but by far the most important thing any of them ever has to do is hire a football coach, and when the time comes to do that, you'd better have a football man in the AD's chair. *********** So call me a sexist pig. Like I care. But I challenge you to think of all the good ole boy athletic directors we used to have, the ones who ascended to the athletic directorship after their football coaching careers were over, and name one - just one - who would have excused the antics of Rosy-Cheeked Rick the way Washington AD Barbara Hedges did. *********** COLORADO "BIG MAN" COMPETITION... WHERE: Jack La Salle Trojan Field in Las Animas, Colorado WHEN: Friday, July 11, 2003, starting at 10:00 a.m. (in conjunction with Sanford and Lamar 7 on 7 tournaments on July 10 and July 12) COST: $50 per team or $10 per participant (if you don't have enough for a five-man team). Each competitor will receive a t-shirt. TENTATIVE EVENTS: bench press, 40-yard dash relay, 5-man sled drive, tire flip, agility run, team tug-of-war, tire toss, pickup truck push, eating contest CONTACT: Coach Greg Koenig - 719-456-0602   The book is now in print. Entitled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967". It is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD  BE INFORMED! HOT WEATHER FOOTBALL TIPS (THERE IS PLENTY MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB IF YOU DO A SEARCH ON "HEAT STROKE")

June 10, 2003 - "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt      2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)     A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He is the most successful coach in the history of Temple football, and - the argument can be made - the most successful at Navy as well. He played college football his freshman year for the immortal Amos Alonzo Stagg, and he coached two Heisman Trophy winners. Born in 1927 in Smackover, Arkansas, he moved west with his family, as so many folks did during the Depression, and wound up in Stockton, California. At Stockton High School he was outstanding in football, basketball, track and golf. Following high school, he enlisted in the Coast Guard, and served in the Aleutians for the remainder of World War II. When he got out of the Coast Guard, he enrolled at College of the Pacific, in his hometown of Stockton. There, playing for his first two years under the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg, he won four letters in football. With four more letters in basketball and three in golf, his 11 letters won are still the most in school history, and in 1997 he was installed in Pacific's sports hall of fame. (One of his teammates and fellow hall of fame members is Eddie LeBaron.)   Following graduation, he spent the 1949 season as an assistant at COP, then spent the 1950-51 seasons as head coach at Ceres, California High School. He returned to Pacific for the 1952 season, then was hired as head coach at Porterville JC, where he coached for two years. And then came the fateful call in 1955 from head coach Eddie Erdelatz at Navy. Navy had put together three straight winning seasons, and would lose only seven games over the next four seasons, when Erdelatz resigned ( to reappear a year later as head coach of the Oakland Raiders in the brand-new American Football League). He took over at Navy at the start of the 1959 season, and in six years at Annapolis he had four winning seasons and one .500 season, beating Army five straight times. (No other Navy coach had done it even four times in a row.) Two of his teams went 9-1, in both cases going unbeaten until losing in a major bowl game. His 1960 team lost to Missouri in the Orange Bowl, and finished the season ranked sixth in the nation. It star running back, Joe Bellino, won the Heisman Trophy. His 1963 team, starring eventual Heisman Trophy winner Roger Staubach, went into the Cotton Bowl game ranked number two in the nation, against number-one ranked Texas. Navy lost, and Texas won the national championship, but the Midshipmen were ranked number two in the final polls, highest ranking in the school's history. From 1960 through 1963, his teams beat Notre Dame three of four years. (Navy's 35-14 win over the Irish in 1963 is the last time Navy has beaten Notre Dame.) One of his assistants at Navy was Steve Belichick, father of Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick. And then, after his great run, and a team that finished second in the nation, he had his first losing season. It concluded with an 11-8 loss to Army - his first. And that was it for him. His record at Navy was 38-20-2, something that current-day service academies can only dream about, but poof - he was gone. Just like that. It's difficult, especially after all these years to find an explanation - service academy people are not notably loose-lipped. But there had to be something more than football involved in his departure. He must have left under something of a cloud, because despite his obvious ability, he wouldn't return to college coaching for another six years. And even at that, the best job opportunity he could finally land was at Temple, a place short of talent, money and facilities, an urban school whose best years were in the long-distant past. After Navy, he coached the Philadelphia Bulldogs to the championship of the Continental League, a professional minor league far superior to anything referred to nowadays as "minor league." The Eagles were in the doldrums then, and the Bulldogs, the only winning team in town, gained a lot of media exposure, which brought him to the attention of the people at Temple when they needed a coach. He gave them the best run of success in school history. When he left after 13 years, he was the winningest coach in Temple football history, taking the Owls to their second bowl game ever (their first since Pop Warner took them to the very first Sugar Bowl game, 43 years earlier). He had eight winning seasons and only four losing seasons, and compiled a record of 80-52-3 for a winning percentage of .604, second among Temple coaches only to Warner, whose winning percentage from 1933 through 1938 was .612. Until he arrived, Temple's best era was four straight winning seasons under Warner, but between 1970 and 1975, he put together six straight winning seasons. His 1979 team went 10-2, with losses only to Penn State and Pitt (the latter by a point) and beat Cal in the Garden State Bowl, but his 1973 team may have been his best. That bunch of Owls finished 9-1, ranked second in the East only to Penn State. So well was he able to mix a dro-back passing game with the split-back veer that Temple ranked #6 nationally in total offense (455.5 yards per game) , #9 in points per game (35.3), #16 in rushing yardage per game (263.5), and #20 in passing yardage per game (192.0). On defense, Temple ranked #23 in rushing defense (139.0 yards per game) and #1 in interceptions (26). *********** Comedian Mark Russell, the pride of Buffalo, thinks Hillary's book would sell better - and help her poltical chances more - if instead of being titled "Living History," they'd called it, "Bill's History." *********** Two leaders of Al Qaeda say that there is no connection between their organization and Iraq, according to a story in the New York Times. Damn. That's a tough call. Knowing what we know about Al Qaeda, and knowing what we know about the New York Times, who can we believe - them or George Bush? Real tough call. *********** Good morning coach: I hope you got a chance to see that fight Saturday night. As good as the first one, maybe better. Wow! What heart and guts those two have. You could build a great football team with a bunch of those kinds of guys. David Livingstone, Troy, Michigan *********** Is there anything in sports quite so revolting to the purist as the home team introductions at an NBA championship game? San Antonio or New Jersey, doesn't matter. How are fans supposed to take a championship series seriously when games are treated as if they are just another home game? Oh, that's right - they wouldn't have "Jewel" performing at halftime of an ordinary, run-of-the-mill game. Except - what, exactly, does "Jewel" have to do with the NBA? Considering the terrible TV ratings this NBA Final series is getting, and in view of the quality of the play Sunday night, should the league really be putting on halftime shows that might overshadow the games themselves?   *********** Coach, Please sign-up Salisbury Middle School Eagles for the Black Lion Award for the 2003 Season. This team will be a brand new program this season and this award was well received by the School Board when they asked us what else we would teach besides football during our approval process. I told them that I would give out the Black Lion Award not necessarily to the MVP of our team, but the player who who is unselfish, a team player, a leader, everything the Black Lions Award stands for. Mike Wilson, offensive coordinator, Salisbury Middle School, Salisbury, Maryland *********** Hello Coach, Major observation today. Another sign up day, and again with the soccer people. Analyzed crowd since theirs were way bigger than mine. More mothers - few dads - signing up for soccer with the kids. Mothers real bossy, protective. Reminded me of hens in front of hen house with a full nest of chicks. Had fun today with it. Wore a shirt with big helmet in middle of bold letters CAVE SPRING FOOTBALL. Might as well advertise that I'm the Antichrist. It was great so now I'm starting to learn were the popularity is coming from. I tell you the feminist movement from my generation is stronger than I thought. Our sign ups are going well there is still hope. Like they used to say in the Marine Corps, do not stir up the mothers of America. Regards, Coach Armando Castro, Roanoke, Virginia (Coach Castro is a big man. I'm sure that to many of those husbandless moms, he looks like everything they hate about American masculinity.) *********** This one is worth repeating... Harvey Mackay, is a successful businessman - owner of Mackay Envelope Company in Minneapolis - who has become well-known for his ability to pass along to others his ideas, both as a speaker and author. His first book, "Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive," is one of the best "advice" books I've read. In a newspaper column a while back, he addressed a subject that for some time now has vexed me in dealing with kids - that we have so deadened the spirit of competition in our society that an astonishing number of youngsters, if offered an automatic win in tonight's game without having to bother playing it, would choose the product - the win - over the process - the game - and go home. Without playing. Without competing. Without earning the "win." (You teachers all know that most high school kids would choose an automatic, effortless "A" with no learning accompanying it, over a "B" with a lifetime supply of knowledge.) Harvey Mackay wrote about a professor who stood up in front of his class of molecular biology students as they waited for him to pass out the final exams. After telling them how much he appreciated being their instructor, blah, blah, blah, he went on to say that he understood the pressures they were under, and how important it was to their futures that they get a decent grade in his class, and so, recognizing those pressures, he was offering a "B" - no questions asked - to anyone who chose to leave and not to take the final. With expressions of relief, a large number of the students rose, thanked him, and left the room. The professor turned to the handful of students who remained seated and asked, "Any other takers? This is your last opportunity." One more student got up and left. Of the original 30 students, seven remained. After closing the door, the professor handed out the finals, and as the students received them, they began to read the two sentences typed on them: "Congratulations. You have just received an 'A' in this class. Keep believing in yourself." *********** Cornell Johnson, a 6-1, 210 pound running back from Las Vegas (Nevada) Desert Pines High School, has been timed in the 40 at 4.5. This past season, as a senior, he gained 2,105 yards on 275 carries, and scored 37 touchdowns. Rivals.com gave him four stars (out of a possible five) and ranked him 13th-best running back in the country. He announced recently that he had secretly signed with Kansas State back in February, saying that he'd kept things hushed up until he was sure he'd qualified academically. Except, uh, Cornell. Your mother says you signed with Kansas. Apparently, Cornell thought that Kansas was located in Manhattan (it's not -it's in Lawrence) and that the coach he signed with coached for K-State. Wrong on both counts. His high school coach, Leon Evans, says he doesn't know what to believe, but he's sure that the lad hasn't signed with K-State because the Wildcats backed off long ago, when it appeared certain to them and most other colleges that he wouldn't qualify. "He is not, as far as I know, going to K-State," Evans said. "I'm not sure where that one is coming from. I wish I could tell you more, but Cornell won't talk to me about this stuff anymore. I really am in the dark when it comes to his recruiting." It could all be academic anyhow, since Coach Evans said that Cornell may not have qualified after all. "Cornell had a passing test score come back," he said, "but it is my understanding that the NCAA has thrown up a red flag on the score because of the improvement." (Unusual improvement in scores from one test to the next immediately alerts the NCAA to potential irregularities.)   *********** The President of Lewis and Clark College in Portland is still on the job, even though, thanks to him, the college is now $10 million poorer. He blew $10 million of the school's money at the race track. Just kidding. Actually, he gambled it away at Vegas. Still kidding. What he really did was listen to a stockbroker-alumnus who gave him a hot tip on an Idaho company that supposedly was going to build a power plant in California, and needed some short-term cash. Lewis & Clark, it just so happened, had a large sum of money lying around and needed to invest it in something short-term. And now, the money's gone. Now, you'd think that the school would have an investment pro - someone at least a little more professional than the president, at least - to do this sort of stuff, wouldn't you? Well, it usually does, but the guy responsible, the financial vice-president, had resigned, and the President, acting in his place, said, "what the hell," and (figuratively) rolled the dice. Without so much as consulting anyone on the board of trustees. It shouldn't have been all that difficult for him to find a board member to clear it with. Until three of them resigned at the news of his fiscal mismanagement, there were 34 of them. *********** Say what? I swear I heard some government geek say this on Fox News - "Every child in America deserves a head start." Sounds like Lake Wobegon, where every child is above average. *********** I know I sometimes have a tendency to go off half-cocked, and that sure is what I did the other day when I questioned whether Bruce Arena, coach of the USA soccer team (or Team USA, or FC USA, or whatever-the-hell cutesy-poo soccer name it goes by), was worth nearly $1 million a year. I should have waited until this weekend's big game, when FC USA trounced world power New Zealand, 2-1, in front of an overflow crowd of 9,116 in Richmond, Virginia. I take it all back. Talk about the pressure of big-time competition! Talk about rabid fan interest! You tell me that guy doesn't earn every nickel of his pay. *********** Hello coach: I hope this finds you well. Two months till camp. Can't wait. Well, Senator KKK Byrd was back on the floor railing against President Bush and the war in Iraq. He maintains that just because the coalition has not found any weapons of mass destruction, hearings need to be held right away. Said hearings would be to investigate the financial aspects of going to war for the oil. Duh! Why doesn't Bush just come out and say that was a big reason for the war. Here in Michigan we literally give our water (biggest fresh water supplier on the world) away to foreign companies who tap it, package it, and charge US for it! Not for long from what I read though. We could be the Saudi Arabia of water. Why are we paying for this natural resource, from the countries of all places, that want us dead? Am I that radical to think we should just take it? Anyway, back to KKK Byrd and WMD's (only in the democratic party right?), if we don't find any this time around, so what. They are either hidden really well or there are none. But, you bet if he had em' he would have used them, like he did on Iran to win that war, and the Kurds. Between those two events and the mass graves, Saddam is responsible for the murders of maybe a million people. The Demmies are unbelievable. I'm in the middle of things politically, but confess, they scare me a lot more than the Republicans sometimes. The stories I've read and seen on TV about Saddam and his sons are staggering. They were pure evil. The soccer players lived in a torture camp run by one of the sons HBO reported recently. There stories were spine tingling what that bastard (one of the sons) used to do to them after losing in the world cup and stuff. Byrd, who's believes the way to create jobs is to tax the shit out of us and build infrastructure. Really, he said one time on the floor that in his world, you give me 10 billion dollars and I'll create 5000 jobs building a highway, and that's what he did in WV building the rarely used Byrd Highway that stretches all the way across the state. David Livingstone, Troy Michigan (I demand an investigation of the Bush administration! Why didn't we hear about all this stuff before we went to war? I would never have supported going to war against any country - weapons of mass destruction be damned - that tortured soccer players! HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, On Thursday I attended the middle school district track meet. It's a good time to support our players who run track and talk to other kids about playing Cyclones football. The meet was held at Edmonds District stadium, which we call "home field". The stadium is beautiful with a fast turf surface, locker rooms, scoreboard, and a fully equipped concession stand. Just south of the stadium there's a 100 yard practice field where the high school was conducting spring drills. As I sat in the stands watching, I wondered how much more time I could spend on coaching if I had all this at my ready use. The high school coach from Florida who's going through a trying time needs to take stock of a few things. At the youth level our "home field" is the place where there are open dates - after everyone else is scheduled. We pay by the hour to use the fields. You want the locker room, extra charge. You want the scoreboard, extra charge. You want to use the field equipment, extra charge. The concessions are run by the district - they keep all the revenue. We find our own storage, do our own equipment reconditioning, pay our own insurance. The coach has to settle for PODS to store his equipment in. We asked to set an 8'x10" shed on school grounds for our practice equipment, sorry no can do. So we bring the gear to and from practice. This for an organization that has more kids than the high school varsity, jv, freshmen, and middle school combined. (Our practice field is shared during the week by a soccer club which, by the way, pays no rent for the field. They get away with it because the coach is a teacher at the school and she's managed to slide it by as a school activity.) Our six teams all practice on the same field along with the cheer program. We do this every year without the support of the school district, AD, or high school coach. We have a group of dedicated guys who do all this year in year out, all year long. Did I mention we get no pay? It's my opinion all coaches should be required to spend two years coaching and helping at the youth level. That way, they can get through their "trying time" and overcome their "adversity" once they reach the high school varsity level. Coach Glade Hall (On a Rant) - Edmonds, Washington ( I have often said that every coach should have some experience coaching at a small high school, but Coach Hall makes a good point in arguing for some youth experience first. I can assure you all that a major reason I was able to survive coaching in Europe for seven seasons was the fact that in the US I had a lot of experience coaching in the kind of situations - minor league, small high schools - where you constantly have to scramble and make do without the things that are taken for granted at large, well-funded high schools. HW) *********** Writes Jim Moore in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer... Other things on my twisted mind ... Neuheisel said the wagering happened at a pizza-and-beer gathering. (I've been to a lot of pizza-and-beer gatherings, but I can't remember any of my buddies throwing five grand in the pot and saying: "Gimme the Terps to win it all!") If I have this straight, he correctly predicted Maryland to win the 2002 title and Syracuse to win the 2003 title. Once he's unemployed, forget the NFL assistant coaching gig -- call 1-900-SLIK-RIK for Neuheisel's 2004 NCAA Tournament locks at $5.95 per pick, all credit cards accepted. I'll probably call him today, but not for an in-depth interview. I just want to know who he likes in the Belmont, and I'm leaning toward the Nets and the points in the NBA Finals, but if he's all over the Spurs, I'll reconsider. *********** You can book this one... First it was the Air Force Academy's superintendent, "reassigned" after numerous charges that female cadets who had reported rapes and "sexual abuse" were reprimanded or ignored. Then it was the superintendent of the Naval Academy, who resigned when an investigation, launched after he was accused of grabbing the arm of a Marine sentry, revealed "a general failure to promote good morale." Two down, one to go, right? Next to go, guaranteed, will be the superintendent of the Military Academy, if he doesn't do something about the sorry state that Army's football program has descended to, since the disgraceful firing of Bob Sutton. *********** Hugh:  I was surprised to see in your feature on Eddie Le Baron that you neglected to mention that the "Little General's" career can be connected to Walter Camp's through only one "degree of separation" -- Amos Alonzo Stagg, whose monumental career ended at COP in 1946 when Le Baron was a freshman. The link from primordial "scrummage" days at Yale through Landry and the 'Pokes which occurred one humid post-war summer in Stockton just tickles me, for some reason.Regards, Ted Seay - US Embassy, Fiji Ted Seay is correct. I didn't follow it up carefully enough. Coach Stagg left Pacific after the 1946 season to assist his son at Susquehanna U in PA, and since 1946 was also Eddie LeBaron's freshman year, I was under the impression that as a freshman he had not actually played for Coach Stagg, and I left that detail out. Subsequent research (on this week's "Legacy" subject, as a matter of fact) indicates that Eddie LeBaron did, indeed, play for Mr. Stagg, making him a "bridge" between the crude brand of football played in 1885, when Mr. Stagg was a freshman at Yale, and the modern NFL game popularized by Tom Landry. *********** "I was listening to 950 KJR-Seattle on the internet. After discussing Rick (Neuheisel) they went to a commercial - for a casino. ('The gambling age is now 18!')" Christopher Anderson, Cambridge, Massachusetts *********** COLORADO "BIG MAN" COMPETITION... WHERE: Jack La Salle Trojan Field in Las Animas, Colorado WHEN: Friday, July 11, 2003, starting at 10:00 a.m. (in conjunction with Sanford and Lamar 7 on 7 tournaments on July 10 and July 12) COST: $50 per team or $10 per participant (if you don't have enough for a five-man team). Each competitor will receive a t-shirt. TENTATIVE EVENTS: bench press, 40-yard dash relay, 5-man sled drive, tire flip, agility run, team tug-of-war, tire toss, pickup truck push, eating contest CONTACT: Coach Greg Koenig - 719-456-0602 *********** OPPORTUNITY!!! I got a call last Monday from Jet Turner. He needs some help. For the last five years at Ware Shoals, SC, while Coach Turner took the backs, his assistant, Jeff Murdock, coached the line. And then, in the off-season, Coach Turner took the head job at Clover High, and Coach Murdock was named to succeed him. Which is why Coach Turner was calling me. He'd just come off the field from his first day of spring practice, and he realized how much he misses Coach Murdock, and what a good line coach can mean in a Double-Wing program. He's looking for a line coach with Double-Wing experience. For the right guy, he's got a great opportunity. He has a couple of coaching spots to fill, and at least one social studies teaching job. Clover is in the northern part of the state, about 16 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina (NBA basketball and NFL football). Clover High is a 3-A school and rapidly growing, with about 1600 kids. Clover is also one of the best-paying school districts in the state - the football coaching supplement is $5,000. Coach Turner's e-mail isn't up yet, so if you're interested, you'll need to call him at home - 803-684-4482. ***********Good Evening Coach, Please keep my family in our prayers as we discovered Thursday that my wife has cancer. Although she is a tough "football mom", the road ahead of us will be tougher than we would have liked. Thanks, Akis Kourtzidis, Brea, California Coach- I have said a prayer for you and your wife that you and she may have years more of health and happiness. With your permission, I would share your note with my readers, but only on that condition. God Bless. Hugh Wyatt Coach, We firmly believe in the power of prayer and the more people praying for us the better. You have my permission to share it with all your readers. God Bless you too, Akis Kourtzidis (Let Kate Kourtzidis know how much we coaches appreciate football wives. E-mail her with your best wishes and words of encouragement - math4power@yahoo.com - She said email will play a major part in her recovery. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, I just saw the article about Kate Kourtzidis and her battle with cancer. She will be in my family's prayers from today forward. As I mentioned during the clinic in Detroit, I have been battling cancer for the last 14 years and recently underwent a stem cell transplant to try to finally get rid of it. I just received the 'all clear' at my one year anniversary and hopefully will be a 'pain in the arse' to my players for years to come. I'm going to email Kate and see if I can lend any support and/or insight. Living with cancer is a daunting challenge, but one that can be overcome with a good attitude and help from above. Doug Parks, Milford, Michigan   The book is now in print. Entitled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967". It is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD  BE INFORMED! HOT WEATHER FOOTBALL TIPS (THERE IS PLENTY MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB IF YOU DO A SEARCH ON "HEAT STROKE")

June 6, 2003 - "I feel you lose an honest relationship with a kid when you teach him a dishonest act." Bob Reade, winner of four straight NCAA Division III titles at Augustana (Illinois) College    2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Alonzo "Jake" Gaither survived a near-fatal bout with brain cancer in 1942, at the age of 39. Three years later, he became the head coach at Florida A & M, and he stayed there until be retired 25 years later. In those 25 years at FAMU he won seven national black college titles. Jake Gaither once called his three teams "Blood, Sweat and Tears." He said he wanted his players to be "A-gile, MO-bile and HOS-tile." At the time of his retirement at the end of the 1969 season, his record of 203-26-4 gave him the highest winning percentage (.844) among all college coaches with 200 or more wins. (His 200th win put him in the select company of Amos Alonzo Stagg, Glenn "Pop" Warner and Jess Neely as the only men to do so.) He was born in Memphis, the son of a minister. As a boy he worked as a ditch-digger, a bellhop, a shoe shine boy and a coal miner. He graduated from Knoxville College, where he met his wife. His entire coaching career was spent at FAMU, a historically black school, at a time when segregation in the large state schools meant the black schools had the pick of the great black talent the South had to offer. It ended just as northern schools began recruiting those kids, and just before southern schools would begin to do the same. Including his first team, which went 9-1, 14 of Coach Gaither's teams lost one game or less. Only three of his teams lost more than two games. No less an authority than Woody Hayes called him an offensive genius. Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd called his "Split-Line-T" (employing even wider splits than the conventional split-T) "one of the finest offensive ideas to come along in years." With his offense - and players such as Bob Hayes, Hewritt Dixon, Willie Gallimore and Ken Riley - he ran up a record of 62-5, and averaged 41.7 points per game over a seven-year period. He coached 36 All-Americas, and 25 of his players went on to play professional football. The great Bear Bryant didn't think it would work in the big-time, and he told Coach Gaither so. There has been a quote used in referring to Coach Bryant to the effect that "he could take yours and beat his, and take his and beat yours," but it appears that it was actually used by our man in wrapping up his "discussion" with Coach Bryant. A trifle agitated, he told the Bear, "I'll tell you what - I'll take my players and beat yours with it, and I'll take your players and beat mine with it." In 1975, Jake Gaither received the "Triple Crown" of coaching awards - the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (given annually by the American Football Coaches' Association "to an individual whose service has been outstanding in the best interests of the advancement of football"), The Walter Camp Award (awarded by the Walter Camp Foundation) and induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. An award given annually in his name is considered to be the Heisman trophy for players from historically black colleges. Interestingly, two recipients of this award - Jerry Rice and Richard Dent - have gone on to be named Super Bowl MVP's. Only one Heisman winner - Jim Plunkett - has been so honored. During the civil rights tensions of the 1960's, he was castigated by some because he chose to remain aloof from the fray and do what he did best - coach young men. Years later, he received a commendation from the Governor of Florida as someone who "broke through racial barriers before it was fashionable." Correctly identifying Jake Gaither - Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Scott Russell- Potomac Falls, Virginia... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Ronald Singer- Toronto... Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... Joe Gutilla- Minneapolis... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... John Muckian- Lynn, Massachusetts... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... Bert Ford- Los Angeles (" I went out of my way to find his book and won't tell you how much I paid for it. I'm just sorry I never had the chance to meet Coach Gaither, or even better to have played for him if even for a short period.")... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky... John Zeller- Sears, Michigan... *********** At the 1970 Coach of the Year Clinic in San Francisco, Jake Gaither, recently retired as head coach at Florida A & M, gave his last major coaching clinic talk, and he concluded with these words: I want to say something now. I have said it once or twice, but I'll say it again. I am sick and tired of hearing the term, "Black and white." I wish we could forget the term. As I look out in this room, unless I see an Indian, there is not a true-blooded American from the standpoint of descent. Where are you from? Ireland? England? Sweden? I came from Africa, they tell me. I'm not homesick! Wouldn't I be crazy to go over to Africa and ask those folks where I can find the Gaithers, my great-great grand uncle? They would think I was crazy. I can go to Statesville, North Carolina and find some Gaithers. I am an American. I want you to think in terms of Americans. Black, white, blue or yellow, we are all immigrants. You came from England, you came from France, you came from Sweden. I came from Africa, they say, but we are in America now. Everything I have, everything I hope to be, my loyalty, my love, my devotion, is to this country. I don't owe Africa anything. And I want to do this- salvage the good in your people. Salvage the good in my people. Take the bad in your people and try to make them good. Let me take the bad in my people and try to make them good. Let us put our shoulders to the wheel as Americans. That's the way God intended we should live. My friends, I'll be on the sidelines watching the coaches. I'll be athletic director, but I won't be actively coaching. I am going to turn it over to you, You do the job. You have this raw material, this new breed, to deal with, I hope before I die, I can see black, white, blue and yellow - American citizens - with our shoulders to the wheel, trying to make this democracy a better place to live. (It was reported that Coach Gaither received a standing ovation from the coaches in attendance, and more than 200 of them lined up to shake his hand.) *********** From the things I've read about Coach Jake Gaither, he was a man of great wisdom, and I'd love to learn more about him. I would certainly like to find out more about his overcoming brain cancer - I came across just one brief mention of that - and also about what I have been told was his influence on Bobby Bowden, when Coach Bowden first arrived in Tallahassee. *********** Coach What was the head to head record of Jake Gaither vs. Eddie Robinson ? I have never come across anything about those two facing each other, if they did play each other ,that would be a great book in waiting about two Icons - see ya Friday, John Muckian Lynn, Massachusetts (I think they met a couple of times in what was called the Orange Blossom Classic. Can anybody help? HW) *********** OKAY, OKAY! I have to apologize for an error in the playbook brought to my attention by a coach last week - on Page 22, on the first line of the QB's assignment, it reads, "Reverse out, hand off, bootleg right." The play diagram just above shows the QB doing the exact opposite, and the text should read "bootleg left." Don't expect an apology, though. I mean, I depend on you guys to do my proofreading for me - why didn't one of you catch that and tell me sooner? (Just joking.) *********** The good news for Washington Huskies' coach Slick Rick Neuheisel (or "Skippy," as he's referred to by those of us who do not appreciate the outrageous behavior that accompanies his boyish demeanor) is that May 31 has come and gone, and the NCAA ban on his off-campus recruiting - his punishment for recruiting infractions while at the University of Colorado - has been lifted. The bad news is that he soon may have no one to recruit for. He is in deep doo-doo with the NCAA for taking part in Final Four pools the last two years. Yeah, I know - everybody does it. But everybody isn't the head coach of a high-profile member of the NCAA, an organization whose fear of sports gambling borders on the paranoid. And everybody hasn't had the problems with the NCAA - and with his own institution - that Skippy has. And everybody doesn't play in an office pool that pays the winner $20,000, the amount Skippy reportedly won when he took Maryland last year. "I never in my wildest imagination thought I was breaking an NCAA rule," he said. Right. Of course, the NCAA places an amazing amount of emphasis on this in pre-season talks with players, but I guess you weren't listening when someone was going blah, blah, blah, advising your players not to gamble on sports. Now, it's possible the bastard may not get fired - he's got more lives (and lies) than Clinton - but if there's any justice, by the time you read this, Skippy and his tiresome act could be outta Dodge, and I could be wearing the purple and gold again. Washington's AD, Barbara Hedges (that should tell you all you need to know about whether cutesy-poo Skippy will keep his job) has not had a good record with coaching hires, going all the way back to the day she sold Don James down the river to the Pac-10 because an idiot alumnus had given a large "loan" to Billy Joe Hobert. Her hiring of Neuheisel over highly-qualified former Washington assistants Gary Pinkel (now at Missouri) and Chris Tormey (now at Nevada) was undoubtedly motivated by the need to match the Seahawks, after their hiring of Super Bowl coach Mike Holmgren (who has yet to set Puget Sound on fire). Neuheisel's replacement, should Barb be pressured to fire Skippy? Keith Gilbertson, on the current staff, has been head coach at Cal, but he didn't do anything great there. (On the other hand, who has?) The two guys they should have hired ahead of Neuheisel in the first place, Pinkel or Tormey, are currently employed, which in today's college sports doesn't mean a damn thing, except that this is not a great time to be stepping into a program, with spring practice over and all the assistants already in place. Don James would be great, as a ceremonial figurehead on a one-year basis - like Bud Grant coming back to restore credibility to the Vikings. And then there's Mike Price. He's available, I'm told. Don't laugh. His rap sheet's nowhere near as long as Neuheisel's, and it wasn't all that long ago that he was considered good enough to walk in the Bear's footsteps. And Portland's only three hours to the south. Portland has so many strip joints that a company that called itself "Sleazy Bar Tours" used to do a lively business escorting Japanese tourists around town. *********** Grrrr. I sat and watched and listened as those ugly, cowardly French bastards in the crowd heaped abuse and catcalls at the American, Serena Williams, as she lost in her bid to win her fifth straight Grand Slam event. *********** Why I don't believe Sammy Sosa: he had to know what he was swinging. Major league baseball players know their bats so well you couldn't slip a strange bat in on one of them without his knowing it immediately. *********** "There's been cheating going on in baseball for a long time." So said Henry Aaron when asked to comment on the Sammy Sosa incident. People don't say that about our sport, of course. Football people have more respect for the integrity of our game than that. Except, of course, for the cheating bastards who teach their offensive people to hold ("it's not holding if you don't get caught") and their defensive people to tackle your pulling linemen and take your blockers out at the knees. *********** It's rare that anyone in a school of education (normally an oxymoron) has anything intelligent to say, but when Alfred S. Posamentier, dean of the School of Education at City College of New York, says that it's time that teachers stopped making so much noise about being "professionals" and started acting like professionals, I have to say, "Hear! Hear!" He acknowledges the obvious - that in comparison with earlier times, teachers as a group have lost the respect of society - but says teachers "seem not have to thought out" the reasons why they are now held in such low esteem. "There is no single reason," he writes in the New York Times, "but a major factor has to do with the liberalism of the late 1960's and early 1970's. Teachers became less formal in the way they dressed and conducted their classrooms, and some wanted to be friends with their students. Discipline declined, and with it respect. Many parents, too, no longer saw teachers as commanding great esteem - often disagreeing openly with them on educational issues." Teachers' increasing reliance on their unions also deserves its share of the blame for the perceived lack of professionalism, he argues. Sure, unions have brought much-deserved improvement in salaries and working conditions. But unfortunately, those improvements also "embedded" in the pay structure the basic tenet of all union agreements - "workers at the same level are paid the same wage, regardless of what they teach or how well they perform." So how, he asks, can teachers believably call themselves professionals? "No real profession," he points out, "has a uniform pay scale. Doctors' and lawyers' fees depend on specialty, experience and reputation. At my university, medical professors are on a much higher pay scale than other faculty." Having taught subjects as disparate as weight training and expository writing, I have said often that there is a vast difference in the difficulty of the subjects being taught and in the out-of-school work they require of a teacher. (I haven't even mentioned the factor of scarcity - the ease with which a high school PE or social studies position is filled compared with physics or math.) Writes Mr. Posamentier, "With a dearth of teachers in fields like special education and mathematics, wouldn't it be appropriate to pay those teachers more, to attract more professionals into these critical areas?" He also argues for a system of merit pay, rewarding outstanding teachers, but I do have to differ with him there, simply because I have yet to see any way of recognizing better teachers that totally rules out self-promotion (not to mention kissing the rear ends of administrators, parents and students). Nevertheless, he writes, it is not impossible. "If the faculty union at City University of New York can agree to a contract permitting outstanding professors and those in hard-to-fill areas to get higher salaries, surely the teachers' unions can show some flexibility. That would be the beginning of true professionalism in the teaching ranks." *********** Let's see if I've got this right... If I ride my motorcycle, I have to wear a helmet. It's the law. That's because not doing so creates a public health hazard - if I'm injured, I could wind up costing the taxpayers money... If I drive my car, I have to wear a seat belt. It's the law. That's because not doing so creates a public health hazard - if I'm injured, I could wind up costing the taxpayers money... Schools take time out from school time to warn kids not to use tobacco or drugs... The Surgeon General posts notes on my beer bottle, telling me that if I'm pregnant I shouldn't take another pull on it... In King County, Washington (Seattle) there was an increase last year of 40 per cent in HIV infections diagnosed in public health clinics, and there's expected to be a 60 per cent increase this year. Gay and bisexual men account for 85 per cent of King County's AIDS cases. (Is it just me, or do you think it is unusual that they seem to like to say "full-blown" AIDS?) Anyhow, this preventable epidemic is going to cost the taxpayers A LOT of money. So why isn't anyone saying, "STOP?" *********** Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this week that he was "deeply troubled" by the justice department's detention of immigrants, as part of the War on Terror. The good senator likened the treatment of these post-Sept. 11 detainees to that of the Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II, "when the government ran roughshod over basic rights in the name of national security." Teddy, I'll say this slowly, so even you - with your booze-addled brain - can understand: those Japanese-Americans were mostly American citizens. These people who have been detained are NOT American citizens. Most of them are from the Middle East, and they were here illegally. Actually, though, the problem is not that you don't understand. It's because you're a Democrat first and an American second. You know damned good and well why they've been held, and if one of them had committed an act of terror, you'd be the first one to be "deeply troubled" by the justice department's failure to detain them, in view of the fact that they were Middle-Eastern and they were here illegally. *********** You thought cell towers were a blight on the skyline? Brother, wait till you see windmills. I first saw windmills 10 years or so ago when I was coaching in Denmark. They were not quaint little windmills with people in wooden shoes standing outside, though. These were giant, 200-foot-tall towers, with 100-foot-long, three-bladed propellers catching the winds that constantly blow off the North Sea, and turning their energy into electricity. Evidently, the only way that windmills can operate efficiently is in large concentrations, and there must have been several hundred of them, clustered in what I later learned was called a "farm." We have a few windmill farms in the Northwest, too, out in the lonely stretches east of the mountains. And then a couple of weeks ago, driving over the Contra Costa range from Oakland to Stockton, California, I saw the Mother of All Windmill Farms. God, it was ugly. In a great twist of irony - hypocrisy, maybe? - the same environmentalists who forced the timber companies and their thousands of good-paying, family-wage jobs out of the Northwest because they couldn't bear the sight of large clear cuts, seem to have no problem with the sight of these obnoxious contrivances crawling all over California's beautiful hillsides. To them, the windmills are a necessary tradeoff, because they actually think that one day they'll make dams or coal-fueled power plants - or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve - unnecessary. Yeah, right. At the present time, they produce less than one per cent of the power needs of the US, and even the most optimistic prediction puts the figure at six per cent by 2020. And should we ever get to that point, where the American countryside bristles with giant pinwheels, say good-bye to our feathered friends. Funny how those same environuts who cry crocodile tears at the very thought of a caribou being chased off a small patch of the Arctic wasteland sit in silence as windmills chop up migratory birds. (One windmill farm in California has been called a "condor cuisinart.") *********** Ever notice how any time advertising people want to make somebody out to be a doofus they give him a southern accent? Maybe they'd like to reconsider - when Newsweek recently came up with a list of the Top 100 High Schools in America, based largely on their students' scores on Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests, 13 of the top 25 schools turned out to be from south of the Mason-Dixon line. Four were from Virginia, four from Florida, two from Texas, and one each from Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina. *********** Can you explain in a few sentences what the terms "radar" and "robber" mean? "Radar" is a type of defense, loosely based on the split-6, made popular in the early 70's by a book written by Jules Yakapovich, a HS coach from the Buffalo area. It was fairly common in the Northwest when I started coaching high school ball out here in the mid-1970's. It is unique in that there are no down linemen - all the front men play in a crouch. ("Every man a linebacker!") Those who liked it called it the "stand-up defense." Those who didn't like it called it the "stand-around defense." One of its premises was that the defenders were turned out at 45 degrees and they read the block of the first man to their outside - if he blocked down, they immediately beat him to the outside, to the (presumed) point of attack. I once sat through a lecture on it and had the temerity to ask the presenter what he would do if I started wedging him (and his defenders, all thinking they saw blockers coming down at them, swam to the outside). He was a cocky bastard, and his reply was, "Your principal won't let you keep running wedges." (Those were the days before "involved" parents.) A "robber" is a secondary player, normally a safety, who tricks a passing team by appearing to be playing a conventional position in a conventional defense, but is actually luring the offense to throw a route such as a curl or a post or a "dig" to an area they assume will be clear if he plays as he is expected to play; when they throw there, he is able to unexpectedly break in front of the receiver, "robbing" him of the catch. *********** Coach Wyatt - Please sign up the Umatilla High School Bulldogs for the Black Lion Award for the 2003 season. I think I might have quite a scramble for the award this year as we are going to be going through a very trying time here during the season. The district, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to tear down the whole school including the gymnasium at the same time. We will be moving everything over to our Annex (previously the elementary school) about two blocks away. This means we will have no dressing rooms, no lockers, etc. Our weight room is going to be a former kindergarten classroom (about half the size of our current one). We are getting PODS (I call them military CONEXES) to store our equipment in, and we will probably be taking the old storage area that is adjacent to our booster concession stand and try to make a dressing room out of it. It is becoming a real challenge, but I just keep telling my players that "adversity is an opportunity for heroism." The best news is that they did not tear down the football stadium, and after this renovation we are actually going to have a practice area. We are the only team in the area that has to practice on their game field. I think it will all be worth it in the long run, and I just keep trying to have our guys focus on the task at hand and not problems that seem to surface. We are going to have to have a Black Lion attitude more than ever this year, and I am trying to really push that at this time. Thanks for being a part of this award opportunity. Thankfully, my 2002 recipient is going to be a senior this year. We start our passing league tomorrow night. Looking forward to working with that. Have a great summer. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida *********** Lansingburgh, New York High running back Kareem Jones has another season of the Double-Wing to look forward to, but at a news conference Thursday he announced his commitment to attend Syracuse in 2004. "Syracuse is a special place to me," he told the Albany Times-Union. "There's no need for me to think about it anymore. My dream ever since I was a little kid has been to go and play in the Carrier Dome." With a season to go, Jones, with 3,494 yards after three varsity seasons, has a shot at the Sectional career rushing record of 4,989 yards held by Leroy Collins, who went on to play at Louisville. Last year Jones rushed for 1,333 yards and 28 touchdowns on 129 carries as he shared the carries with fellow standouts Marcel Youngs and Shonte Freeman. Freeman will attend Division II C. W. Post. Youngs, who scored 35 touchdowns last year, has not yet announced his choice of colleges. The Lansingburgh Knights finished 11-1 in 2002, losing only in the state playoffs, 31-21, to Harrison High. WHAT: A wide variety of competitions to test the strength, speed, agility, and teamwork of your linemen. Enter a five-man team from your school. If there is enough interest, we will have both varsity and jv levels.  *********** There is courage and there is character. And then there is Australian footballer Jason McCartney. Last October 12, McCartney and his "mate" (it just means "buddy"), teammate Mick Martyn, were relaxing in a place called Paddy's Pub, a popular spot for Australian vacationers on the resort island of Bali, when terrorists bombed Paddy's and the club across the street. Although severely burned himself, McCartney helped other victims to evacuate the building, then yielded his spot on medical flights back to Australia so that those more critically wounded might be transported home first. Once back in Australia, he spent 10 days in intensive care. Now now, after an intensive eight-month recovery, on Friday night, he will return to play in the big leagues when his team, the Kangaroos, faces the Richmond Tigers. Unlike his teammates, though, he will be wearing a long-sleeved "guernsey" (jersey) and a special "pressure suit" to protect the burns he suffered on 50 per cent of his body. As a personal tribute to the 88 Australians who lost their lives in the attack in Bali, McCartney has sought the permission of the AFL to wear the number "88" in black on the front of his shirt. *********** Vice President Cheney was at West Point last week to address the graduates at the United States Military Academy, and he took time in the midst of the otherwise joyous occasion to honor those who had been killed or injured in the war in Iraq. He specifically mentioned the two West Point graduates who were killed, Captain James F. Adamouski of the Class of '95, and Lieutenant Colonel Dominic R. Baragona, Class of '82, and made mention also of First Lieutenant John Fernandez, a West Point grad and former Army lacrosse player who suffered serious injuries to both legs in Iraq but was on hand for the graduation. In view of the severity of Lieutenant Fernandez' injuries (he lost most of his left foot, and his right leg below the knee) those in attendance were amazed to see him rise from his wheelchair and stand for the National Anthem, and later do the same when Vice President Cheney came over to greet him after the ceremony. As the graduates received their diplomas they came over to Lieutenant Fernandez, saluted him, and shook his hand. *********** "I'm fired up about the fact that there are two ABA teams in the final...first time it's happened.  The NBA won't do it, but I would love to see a ceremonial jump ball between Dr J and the Iceman.  How great would that be?  I do hope the league sees fit to at least recognize the fact that the ABA brought some great things with them, including the 3 point shot and fast-break basketball." Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia Hell of a point. Interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about how NBA offense sucks. The NBA attributes it to better defense, in response to which the Journal asks, "then why haven't the offenses gotten better too?" The WSJ refers specifically to shooting percentage, which is lower than it has been in years and gets lower every year. John Wooden "suspects" that it has something to do with the fact that all players want to do is dunk and shoot threes. So, considering that the dunk is close to a 100% shot, how bad must they be at the rest of their shots? Only 15 players in the NBA this past season made 50 per cent of their shots - and four of them were from outside the US. Jerry West says it's the difference in coaching approach: the Europeans play on club teams, and spend hours drilling on the fundamentals, while American coaches tend to work on game situations, especially on defense. Former NBA player and coach Kevin Loughery says it's because NBA coaches are control freaks - "as a rule, you have less control over your offense than you do over your defense" - and, since coaches can't control a fast-break, they slow down their offenses, which enables them to call 75 per cent of the plays from the bench. But as a good measure of how the game had deteriorated, get this: Allen Iverson, an acknowledged all-star, shot .414 from the field this year; 20 years ago, there was not one single starter in the entire NBA who shot that poorly. *********** Hi Coach, Obviously, Rick Carlisle is not one of Larry Brown's better friends. While I understand pro coaches are "hired to be fired" as the cliche goes, that whole situation doesn't seem right to me. Let me get this straight, Carlisle leads the Pistons to the best record in the Eastern Conference and takes the team to the conference finals and is replaced by the coach of the team the Pistons beat in the conference semifinals? Maybe there were some problems behind the scenes that nobody knows about, but I really don't get it. I realize Larry Brown has a much better resume than Carlisle, but somehow I doubt that he is the missing ingredient in the Pistons' efforts to get to the NBA finals. I don't know if anyone else picked it up, but according to the Heisman Trophy Web site, John Elway did not win the award. Hershel Walker won it when Elway was a senior and Marcus Allen won it when he was a junior. (Correction noted.) One last thing, if you're not doing anything else on Saturday evening, tune in to HBO or find a friend who has it and watch Arturo Gatti vs. Mickey Ward III. I don't know if you saw the first two fights, but if you didn't, many fight people are comparing them favorably the Tony Zale/Rocky Graziano fights (at least they're as close as they can come to it in this day and age). Have a good week, Steve Tobey, Malden, Mass. *********** Amid all the excitement about the Women's World Cup being switched to the USA on such short notice (thank you, SARS!), there is the possibility that we could have one of the games RIGHT HERE IN PORTLAND. (Eat your heart out, football cities.) But there's no chance of our getting the final game here. It's going to be played in Southern California, either at the Rose Bowl (100,000+) or the Home Depot Center (27,000). The Rose Bowl, of course, offers the opportunity to play in front of a huge crowd, as well as to accommodate everyone who wants a ticket. The downside is that if the game should draw 27,000 or so, it's going to look like a bad turnout in a stadium of that size. Playing the game in new Home Depot Center - praised by soccer types everywhere as just perfect for the game (and for the sort of crowds pro soccer draws in the US) - would assure a sellout crowd, and in fact would create an enviable ticket-scarcity situation. The downside is that in the event of great demand, lots of soccer fans could wind up being turned away. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other, but I'm sure it matters to the folks at Home Depot, who've invested a lot in soccer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way out do some shopping. At Lowe's. *********** Coach, Bingo on Officer Rodriguez (and his great rendition of the National Anthem)! I was watching Indy and said, "Hot damn, they finally got someone who can sing it." I guess they learned from their "Aerosmith debacle." Gil de Ferran? Great driver. Great hero. Talks no smack. Just performs (and wins) the right way. As for Roger Penske...If you want to study the epitome of efficiency, organization and class, study the Penske Organization. I have been a fan of open-wheeled racing for many years and Notre Dame, Vince Lombardi, the New York Yankees or the Boston Celtics have nothing on Mr. Penske. "Commitment to excellence" should have come from Roger Penske, not Al Davis. Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina *********** COLORADO "BIG MAN" COMPETITION... WHERE: Jack La Salle Trojan Field in Las Animas, Colorado WHEN: Friday, July 11, 2003, starting at 10:00 a.m. (in conjunction with Sanford and Lamar 7 on 7 tournaments on July 10 and July 12) COST: $50 per team or $10 per participant (if you don't have enough for a five-man team). Each competitor will receive a t-shirt. TENTATIVE EVENTS: bench press, 40-yard dash relay, 5-man sled drive, tire flip, agility run, team tug-of-war, tire toss, pickup truck push, eating contest CONTACT: Coach Greg Koenig - 719-456-0602 *********** OPPORTUNITY!!! I got a call last Monday from Jet Turner. He needs some help. For the last five years at Ware Shoals, SC, while Coach Turner took the backs, his assistant, Jeff Murdock, coached the line. And then, in the off-season, Coach Turner took the head job at Clover High, and Coach Murdock was named to succeed him. Which is why Coach Turner was calling me. He'd just come off the field from his first day of spring practice, and he realized how much he misses Coach Murdock, and what a good line coach can mean in a Double-Wing program. He's looking for a line coach with Double-Wing experience. For the right guy, he's got a great opportunity. He has a couple of coaching spots to fill, and at least one social studies teaching job. Clover is in the northern part of the state, about 16 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina (NBA basketball and NFL football). Clover High is a 3-A school and rapidly growing, with about 1600 kids. Clover is also one of the best-paying school districts in the state - the football coaching supplement is $5,000. Coach Turner's e-mail isn't up yet, so if you're interested, you'll need to call him at home - 803-684-4482. ***********Good Evening Coach, Please keep my family in our prayers as we discovered Thursday that my wife has cancer. Although she is a tough "football mom", the road ahead of us will be tougher than we would have liked. Thanks, Akis Kourtzidis, Brea, California Coach- I have said a prayer for you and your wife that you and she may have years more of health and happiness. With your permission, I would share your note with my readers, but only on that condition. God Bless. Hugh Wyatt Coach, We firmly believe in the power of prayer and the more people praying for us the better. You have my permission to share it with all your readers. God Bless you too, Akis Kourtzidis (Let Kate Kourtzidis know how much we coaches appreciate football wives. E-mail her with your best wishes and words of encouragement - math4power@yahoo.com - She said email will play a major part in her recovery. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, I just saw the article about Kate Kourtzidis and her battle with cancer. She will be in my family's prayers from today forward. As I mentioned during the clinic in Detroit, I have been battling cancer for the last 14 years and recently underwent a stem cell transplant to try to finally get rid of it. I just received the 'all clear' at my one year anniversary and hopefully will be a 'pain in the arse' to my players for years to come. I'm going to email Kate and see if I can lend any support and/or insight. Living with cancer is a daunting challenge, but one that can be overcome with a good attitude and help from above. Doug Parks, Milford, Michigan   The book is now in print. Entitled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967". It is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

June 3, 2003 - "No general can accomplish the full work of his army unless he commands the soul of his men, as well as their bodies and legs." Civil War General William T. Sherman    2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES   click here for info ----->>>>> <<<<<-----click here for info THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")  AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He survived a near-fatal bout with brain cancer in 1942, at the age of 39. Three years later, he became the head coach at Florida A & M, and he stayed there until be retired 25 years later. In those 25 years at FAMU he won seven national black college titles. He once called his three teams "Blood, Sweat and Tears." He said he wanted his players to be "A-gile, MO-bile and HOS-tile." At the time of his retirement at the end of the 1969 season, his record of 203-26-4 gave him the highest winning percentage (.844) among all college coaches with 200 or more wins. (His 200th win put him in the select company of Amos Alonzo Stagg, Glenn "Pop" Warner and Jess Neely as the only men to do so.) He was born in Memphis, the son of a minister. As a boy he worked as a ditch-digger, a bellhop, a shoe shine boy and a coal miner. He graduated from Knoxville College, where he met his wife. His entire coaching career was spent at FAMU, a historically black school, at a time when segregation in the large state schools meant the black schools had the pick of the great black talent the South had to offer. It ended just as northern schools began recruiting those kids, and just before southern schools would begin to do the same. Including his first team, which went 9-1, 14 of his teams lost one game or less. Only three of his teams lost more than two games. No less an authority than Woody Hayes called him an offensive genius. Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd called his "Split-Line-T" (employing even wider splits than the conventional split-T) "one of the finest offensive ideas to come along in years." With his offense - and players such as Bob Hayes, Hewritt Dixon, Willie Gallimore and Ken Riley - he ran up a record of 62-5, and averaged 41.7 points per game over a seven-year period. He coached 36 All-Americas, and 25 of his players went on to play professional football. The great Bear Bryant didn't think it would work in the big-time, and he told our man so. There has been a quote used in referring to Coach Bryant to the effect that "he could take yours and beat his, and take his and beat yours," but it appears that it was actually used by our man in wrapping up his "discussion" with Coach Bryant. A trifle agitated, he told the Bear, "I'll tell you what - I'll take my players and beat yours with it, and I'll take your players and beat mine with it." In 1975, he received the "Triple Crown" of coaching awards - the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (given annually by the American Football Coaches' Association "to an individual whose service has been outstanding in the best interests of the advancement of football"), The Walter Camp Award (awarded by the Walter Camp Foundation) and induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. An award given annually in his name is considered to be the Heisman trophy for players from historically black colleges. Interestingly, two recipients of this award - Jerry Rice and Richard Dent - have gone on to be named Super Bowl MVP's. Only one Heisman winner - Jim Plunkett - has been so honored. During the civil rights tensions of the 1960's, he was castigated by some because he chose to remain aloof from the fray and do what he did best - coach young men. Years later, he received a commendation from the Governor of Florida as someone who "broke through racial barriers before it was fashionable." *********** OKAY, OKAY! I have to apologize for an error in the playbook brought to my attention by a coach last week - on Page 22, on the first line of the QB's assignment, it reads, "Reverse out, hand off, bootleg right." The play diagram just above shows the QB doing the exact opposite, and the text should read "bootleg left." Don't expect an apology, though. I mean, I depend on you guys to do my proofreading for me - why didn't one of you catch that and tell me sooner? (Just joking.) *********** While I deplore the latest LeBron James deal, it is Nike's business, and its executives are paid to know what they're doing. Nevertheless, if you like irony, try this one on for size... On or about the same day that Nike, from its headquarters in the Portland suburb of Beaverton, Oregon, announced that it had signed LeBron James to a $90 million endorsement contract... The schools in Hillsboro, Oregon, just ten miles to the west of the Nike campus, shut down for the year - 17 days short of a full school year - because they ran out of money. *********** You coach a minor sport that has never been able to pay its way at the college or professional level. You do not have near the pressures of a Division I football or basketball coach. In fact, most of the time your "team" is pretty much an all-star team that gets together every so often and plays a few meaningless games, until ever fourth year, it enters a tournament and basically plays the equivalent of one short season. In fact, if the team doesn't play well, it can turn out to be a very short season. And for this, you're paid close to a million dollars a year. Sound impossible? It's true. In the fiscal year from August 31, 2001 to August 31, 2002 Bruce Arena, coach of the U.S. national soccer team, made $961,802. Wonder if all those "official sponsors" of the team know where their money's going. *********** I had a little exchange with a coach who's taking over at a new school and plans to run the Double-Wing there. I thought that what I wrote might be useful to others in the same spot. Naturally, knowledge of the offense is essential to success in moving the ball. But, I went on, The biggest ingredient to your success, I think you will find, is having total agreement on your staff - no dissension whatsoever - that this is the way to go, and then the patience and persistence to get over the bumps you're going to encounter. You have got to hang together and support each other because as with anything new, there are likely to be some rough spots in the beginning. You will get second-guessed by people who don't understand - or like - what you're doing. Everybody who runs the double-wing knows about that. You and your staff have to be willing to stay the course. A lot of guys start out running it, but they run for cover at the first sign that "it isn't working" and they never get to see it succeed. That's one of the things we mean when we say "It takes a set of stones" to run this offense. But the rewards for your patience and persistence - for hanging in there and working at making it better - can be great. *********** "Man I would LOVE to apply for the job with Coach Turner. Only a dream though- it would be impossible for me right now. Anyway sign ups for my team are going great. Bad for the junior high though - I'm depleting their talent big time. Oh well the kids will get quality coaching. Have to tell you, I had hazardous duty yesterday. The sign ups for football at the teen center were at the same time and same place as futbol sign ups. I got to really experience the DIFFERENCE between both cultures. It was great. It was as if I was in a cabinet meeting of Hillary Clintonites and the Bush administration. Loved especially the look on peoples' faces when they would approach me and I would tell them I was signing up football. They would look at me with terror in their eyes. Or like I was "The terrible beast". Really enjoyed it. Anyway, regards to you. Always appreciate you.Blessings, Coach Castro - Armando Castro, Roanoke, Virginia *********** If the glove doesn't fit... If a lot of white folks had a difficult time understanding how a jury of black Americans could set O.J. Simpson free, seemingly for no reason other than that he was one of their own and they were convinced The Man was out to get him, it's only fair to follow what's going on in the mountains of Western North Carolina. It's a classic case of people looking out for one of their own. They're distrustful of The Man and they've evidently been willing to do what they can to protect him. Except this time, the "one of their own" is a white guy who, just like Simpson, appears to the general public to be guilty of a heinous offense or two. This is definitely not the ghetto. This is Appalachia. But there is a parallel between the two places in their distrust of lawmen. This is moonshine country, Thunder Road country, the Mother Church of stock car racing, where young men once risked their lives evading lawmen on narrow, winding country roads in a race to get the white lightning down from the hills where it was made to the towns where it would be sold. Eric Rudolph is a son of those hills, and until his capture Saturday, he'd been on the lam for five years. He is an accomplished woodsman, so it was generally suspected that he'd been living off the land in the densely-forested mountains and valleys he knows so well. Hundreds of FBI agents conducted a relentless manhunt through the years, checking out caves and abandoned mine shafts, and even scanning the countryside with military heat-seeking equipment. But when he was finally caught this past weekend and arrested on suspicion of being the person behind the bombings of a gay night club, a couple of abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympics, it was pretty obvious that he hadn't been living in the woods. When he was found, there he was, big as life, in the town of Murphy, rooting through a dumpster. The wonder is that he needed to scrounge for food, because he appeared to observers be rather well-fed. He also was reported to be wearing clean clothes and jogging shoes, and said to be "relatively well groomed." Said Officer Charles Kilby of the Murphy police,"He didn't look like he'd been living in the woods." In short, he was getting help from some of the local citizenry. A retired Marine lieutenant colonel who teaches sniper courses said he suspects that Rudolph may have been helped by white supremacists or marijuana growers known to exist in the Western Carolina hills. "He wasn't making sewing needles out of bear bone, or making clothes out of animal hides and living like the Iroquois," he told the New York Times. "I think he had a support group of people. Somebody probably bought food for him, too." News media who have descended on the Western Carolina hills have found it next to impossible to find anyone who will say anything bad about Rudolph. He is, after all, one of their own. *********** If you are like most coaches I know and you are offered a job that one of your friends still holds, you say, "I wouldn't work for somebody who would fire my friend just to hire me." But if you are Larry Brown and you're asked if you're interested in the Washington Wizards' job, you say, "I couldn't accept any offer as long as my friend Doug Collins is still coaching the team." Class act. *********** A year ago this past April, my buddy Art "Ossie" Osmundson was let go as football coach at Ridgefield High School. They didn't give him a reason. Didn't have to - they just "non-renewed" him. Technically, they didn't fire him. Coaches in most states are just hired on year-to-year contracts, and Ridgefield just didn't offer him a new contract, and that was that. Meanwhile, he was coaching the baseball team, as he'd done for years, and - what do you know? - his kids won the state Class 2A championship, making him the first guy in our quadrant of the state to coach state champions in football and baseball (he's still the only coach from these parts to win a state title in football). But most of those kids graduated last June, and this year's team was made up mostly of sophomores, with only one senior starter. No matter. This year, Ridgefield made it back to the state final game, finally falling when champion Othello scored three runs in the last inning. *********** PART II - TOUCHING OF STUDENTS (from a brochure issued by the Vancouver, Washington Education Association) MAKE NO MISTAKE - Any touching of students which can be misinterpreted by anyone may lead to trouble. When any school employee touches a student, it is NOT what the employee's motive was, but how the touch is interpreted by the student(s) or others that leads to allegations of sexual misconduct. The working definition of sexual harassment is "anything that makes a student FEEL uncomfortable." As unrealistic as it may seem, even touching elementary students for purposes of praise, reward or support should be carefully considered in today's climate of public hysteria over sexual abuse in schools. IN TODAY'S ATMOSPHERE, THEN, THE BEST ADVICE MAY BE TO AVOID TOUCHING STUDENTS AT ALL. Coaches, PE teachers, activity advisers, band directors and counselors seem more vulnerable to allegations than others. Touching a knee or thigh or giving a massage can lead to serious allegations. In fact, any situation that may place the employee in a position of hugging, patting, separating (as during an altercation) or otherwise coming in contact with a student is filled with danger. Remember, whenever you are making a conscious decision about touching, it is HOW the students(s) or others interpret the touching the determines if charges result. Over 90 per cent of employees accused of sexual misconduct are male. Most of these are on the secondary level. If you are male, you should be extremely cautious about touching students. Both gender and age of students are important when touching occurs. It is next to impossible to avoid hugging primary students. However, by the time a student reaches secondary schools, hugging should be avoided. Special care should be taken near prepubescent females. In this developmental stage, they are the most likely to perceive a neutral touch as an improper one. In particular, avoid touching these students on the back and shoulders. Remember, perception is the operative word here. Never touch a student's face, chin or ears. Never touch an angry student. Finally, if it is your practice to touch students, do so in the same fashion and frequency for both boys and girls. In either case, avoid any kind of frontal hugging. *********** Now that David Robinson is just games away from retirement, he faces any number of future options - I mean, he's smart, he's good-looking, he's wealthy, and he's well-educated. And his character is unquestioned. In fact, there's only one prediction his coach, Gregg Popovich, is willing to make about his future - "He's got more sense than to stay involved in basketball." *********** Serena Williams, the best women's tennis player in the world, has made it clear that she has no intention of pulling an Annika Sorenstam. Smart girl. She knows better. A few years ago, she challenged a guy named Karsten Braasch, a German who at the time was ranked 200th among men tennis players, to a friendly match. He beat her, 6-1, and followed right up with a 6-2 win over sister Venus. He said afterwards that the big difference was foot speed, because he was able to get to balls that would have been winners against female opponents. (Side note - at the time, he was a pack-a-day smoker, who liked to light up between sets.) Notes Allen St. John in the Wall Street Journal, women's tennis pros know where they stand in relation to male players because they regularly practice against top male college players. And although those men are not ranked among the top 200 male players in the world, - in fact, they are not even professionals yet - he notes that they "more than hold their own" against the best women in the world. So, good for you for not talking about playing in men's tournaments, Serena. So the men can beat you. So what? At this point at least, your game is more fun to watch. *********** I saw the press release from your soccer days. I'm glad you 'fessed up'. After the initial shock, I've decided to forgive your youthful indiscretion. I'll continue to be a loyal reader of the 'News'. It's certainly more accurate and readable than the NY Times. Boy, what I wouldn't give to be in a position to join coach Jet Turner in South Carolina. My fondest youthful memories come from when I lived in Camden, 70 miles south of Charlotte. I'm sure he'll find a superb assistant and I wish him the best of luck. Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** Coach Wyatt, Very funny stuff about your "experience" with the Washington Diplomats. I must say though, that the logo (soccer ball wearing a top hat) was pretty cool. My top running back from last season is playing soccer this spring. Since I like to keep up with what my players are doing in the "off season," I decided to make the trek to catch one of his games early one Saturday morning. (disclaimer--I had never attended a youth soccer game before.) First of all, the "soccer complex" had a clubhouse, a swimming pool and four full-sized soccer fields and several "mini-fields" so that the 4 & 5-year-olds could "compete," (if that's what you want to call it). This place was jam-packed, standing room only. Fortunately for me, I had ridden my motorcycle so parking was not a problem for me. However, if I had driven my pickup, I would never have been able to wedge my truck between the sea of mini vans that (over)populated the area. I made my way down to my player's field. Though he was obviously the best player on the field (he scored two goals in the first half), he had a look on his face that I wasn't familiar with. I realized it was the look of boredom. Here was a young man who had led us in rushing, touchdowns and tackles, who always performed with great intensity and here was performing at "maybe" 45% of his talent level...and was getting POSITIVE FEEDBACK from the cheering parents for this "low-intensity" performance! (Since when should kids receive praise for simply standing around with their hands on their hips doing absolutely nothing until the ball happens to roll in their area?) And then there were the "coaches." I actually heard his coach ASK if a kid would MIND playing a certain position! Then The Coach rotated everyone around until each kid had been able to play all the positions. And he was constantly cheering kids who were giving minimal effort. If a kid ran after the ball and tried to kick it and missed, that was a "good try!" EVERYTHING was a "good try" regardless of how inept it truly was. When I saw MY player being slackadaiscal as the ball casually rolled over to his area, he kicked at the ball but missed. He slipped and fell and took waaay too much time getting back to his feet. I had had enough. I was standing right there on the sidelines, I hollered out, "(Name Withheld) GET BACK ON YOUR FEET, SON! YOU CAN GET UP FASTER THAN THAT! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING OUT THERE? MOVE IT!" You could have heard a pin drop. It was as if I had farted in the middle of a violin concerto. The parents stopped clapping and turned to look at me. Parents looked at me as if I were from another planet. (Believe me, I certainly felt like I was visiting Bizarro World.) Even their coach looked at me like, "why are you hollering?" Anyway, I managed to keep my mouth shut for the rest of the so-called "contest." I have never seen such a nothing-happening waste of time for kids in all my life. I will say that the kids behaved impeccably after the game, both of the teams congratulating each other. (Although by the looks of their expressions, I had no idea which team won as both teams were smiling and laughing. Huh?) Anyway, I got home and told my family about the experience. If this is what we're preaching is an acceptable sport for kids in the U.S. today, then I have seen the enemy and it is us. Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina ***********Was your soccer job admission part of a 12-step process? Will it include having to sit through a 0-0 tie this coming weekend in your hometown? I like my Dad's reason for not liking soccer, "You turn your head to talk to someone for a second and you could miss the only exciting part of the game." Also, re: the letter about the mercy rule. Our league also does not have a mercy or slaughter rule. If there is a mismatch, it is the responsibility of the coach to 'manage' the game. If the league commissioners see a lopsided score, they call the rep and the coach in for a 'discussion' and 'education' on how to manage the situation (ie, don't pass, don't run sweeps, sub liberally if you're winning by a bunch). It truly boils down to coaches doing the honorable thing, and the vast majority of the coaches in our league understand this. Unfortunately, the disgruntled guys who spun off from our league to Pop Warner were 1-29 and were outscored 760-91 (33 pts coming in their only win), and the slaughter rule was in effect nearly every game over the 4 levels. Even though our PW teams had the ball the whole second half in most games, they were still shut out 23 of 30 games. Our teams were only about .500 overall, but our kids weren't humiliated in the few games that were mismatches. Sorry so long winded. Rick Davis, Duxbury, Massachusetts *********** How many of you have seen that Verizon ad, where adults are trying to use computers, but they're being harassed, and as the camera zooms out, it shows that they're in an elementary school classroom, and the little bastards are throwing and pea-shooting various-sized objects at them? Cute. Wouldn't you like to take the marketing people from Verizon - and the ones who at their ad agency who thought up that clever little ad - and lock them in an inner-city classroom for a day? *********** The front sports page of our local paper contained an article recently about the resignation of an area high school baseball coach. Now, football and basketball coaches come and go around here and little note is made of it, and since high school baseball is no more high-profile here than it is anywhere, I had to wonder what it was all about. Turns out he must have got the ear of a local sports reporter, one of these "gosh" and "gee whiz" types who's never strapped one on and doesn't have the faintest idea what goes on inside high school sports, and he poured out his soul. Told the young reporter that he was resigning because he just wanted to work with kids, and he wasn't being allowed to do so. He wasn't allowed to coach his kids the way they deserved to be coached. The stupid state rules - which prevent him from coaching their kids in the off-season - wouldn't let him work with his kids to prepare them for the - everybody together now - NEXT LEVEL. Without that off-season work, he whined, "You can't help the kids who want to get better." Wait, I thought. In addition to his high school team- which plays a regular season of 20 or so games - this guy coaches his own American Legion team all summer. Its roster consists mostly of kids from his high school team. We're talking at least 60 or 70 more games over the course of the summer. (The girls' basketball coach at his school told the same newspaper a few months ago that her kids played in - and she coached - 50 games last summer.) So what's the beef? The summer's the off-season, isn't it? Well, yes and no. You see, the coach told the reporter, "The best time to work with kids is in the off season in the fall and the winter." Oooooh. Now I get it. Did you catch that? He's one of those guys who wants to have his hands on those kids year-round. He's like to be able to make a kid choose between football and "fall baseball." You wanna play on the team next spring, you'd better be in the batting cage all fall and winter. Why does he say he wants to be able to do it? Why, to hear him say it, it's because he's totally dedicated to the kids. Just listen to what he told the gullible young reporter: "I coach because I want kids to have the opportunity to have (college) paid for them, like I did." Please. Like there are so many baseball scholarships being tossed around these days. In reality, college baseball programs will routinely "pay for a kid's education" by dividing up their limited number of full-rides so that three or four kids wind up sharing one scholarship. Now, maybe that reporter can't spot B-S when he hears it, but coaches can. We've all all run into guys like this - can't you just hear him now, telling parents that their kids need to be playing baseball year-round if they're going to have any shot at the "next level?" What ambitious parent wouldn't fall for that crap? Can't you hear him telling kids that if they expect to play in the spring, they'd better be playing baseball year-round? What kid isn't going to be intimidated by that? Sure, coach. But what if the kid's best chance - if he truly has any chance at all - might be as a basketball player or football player? He'll never find out, will he? *********** Dear Coach Wyatt; I saw your conversation with your Fiji correspondent, Ted Seay. (I can't wait until he comes back to the states. He, Dipper, John Torres, and the rest of the Lathrop Titans' staff are going to take me to a strip club. I wanna be like Mike Price! Actually, we'll probably just have dinner and draw plays on napkins.) As you know, my mother is a special education teacher in Washington state, and has been for eighteen years. She and I have talked about ADD and ADHD, and I've also had discussions with several coaches in Dipper's forum about those "disorders". Most of us tend to feel the same way. There are two interesting statistics that someone pointed out to me. Forgive me that I've forgotten whom, and don't know where they came from, but: 1) In 1980 kids under the age of fifteen drank an average of .7 cans of soda a day. In 2003, that average has climbed to 3.1 2) In 1980 kids in the same age group ate .6 bars of candy a day, on average. Today, that average is 2.8. Now, is it any wonder that kids today are hyper and can't pay attention in school? You dump that much sugar into a twelve year old and he's going to be bouncing around like a ping pong ball in a clothes dryer. I mean, 3.1 cans of soda per day? That means some kids are drinking one, or less, and some are having SIX OR MORE! I, uh... just HAPPEN to be looking at a Mt. Dew bottle right now. Eight ounces of this stuff has 31g of carbs-- THIRTY ONE GRAMS OF SUGAR!! And that's in EIGHT ounces, a can of soda has TWELVE! I'll bet if parents started cracking down on the amount of crap their kids ate, those kids wouldn't be labelled with a BS acronym. By the way, we're four days into spring training and I am tickled pink. We've got fifteen JV players from last years team, and we're expecting 16 or more incoming freshman. Last year we got six freshman and had just two JV players at spring practice. Varsity has a huge, talented turnout, too. I'm going crazy waiting for the season to start! Coach Feleciano told the kids yesterday, "We're not defending the title, we're working towards earning ANOTHER one." I love that philosophy! Very Respectfully; Derek Wade, Tomales, California *********** Russian women's tennis player Yevgeniya Kulikovskaya lost her second round match in the French Open Thursday, but, noted the New York Times' Christopher Clarey, she didn't hit a single bad backhand shot the entire match. Well, uh, actually - she didn't hit a single backhand the entire match. That's because, alone among professional tennis players, she doesn't have a backhand. She never learned to hit one. She hits only forehands, merely switching the racket from right hand to left as necessary. No one considers her to be a threat to the Williams sisters, but she is ranked in the top 100 women's tennis players in the world. *********** OPPORTUNITY!!! I got a call last Monday from Jet Turner. He needs some help. For the last five years at Ware Shoals, SC, while Coach Turner took the backs, his assistant, Jeff Murdock, coached the line. And then, in the off-season, Coach Turner took the head job at Clover High, and Coach Murdock was named to succeed him. Which is why Coach Turner was calling me. He'd just come off the field from his first day of spring practice, and he realized how much he misses Coach Murdock, and what a good line coach can mean in a Double-Wing program. He's looking for a line coach with Double-Wing experience. For the right guy, he's got a great opportunity. He has a couple of coaching spots to fill, and at least one social studies teaching job. Clover is in the northern part of the state, about 16 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina (NBA basketball and NFL football). Clover High is a 3-A school and rapidly growing, with about 1600 kids. Clover is also one of the best-paying school districts in the state - the football coaching supplement is $5,000. Coach Turner's e-mail isn't up yet, so if you're interested, you'll need to call him at home - 803-684-4482. ***********Good Evening Coach, Please keep my family in our prayers as we discovered Thursday that my wife has cancer. Although she is a tough "football mom", the road ahead of us will be tougher than we would have liked. Thanks, Akis Kourtzidis, Brea, California Coach- I have said a prayer for you and your wife that you and she may have years more of health and happiness. With your permission, I would share your note with my readers, but only on that condition. God Bless. Hugh Wyatt Coach, We firmly believe in the power of prayer and the more people praying for us the better. You have my permission to share it with all your readers. God Bless you too, Akis Kourtzidis (Let Kate Kourtzidis know how much we coaches appreciate football wives. E-mail her with your best wishes and words of encouragement - math4power@yahoo.com - She said email will play a major part in her recovery. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, I just saw the article about Kate Kourtzidis and her battle with cancer. She will be in my family's prayers from today forward. As I mentioned during the clinic in Detroit, I have been battling cancer for the last 14 years and recently underwent a stem cell transplant to try to finally get rid of it. I just received the 'all clear' at my one year anniversary and hopefully will be a 'pain in the arse' to my players for years to come. I'm going to email Kate and see if I can lend any support and/or insight. Living with cancer is a daunting challenge, but one that can be overcome with a good attitude and help from above. Doug Parks, Milford, Michigan   The book is now in print. Entitled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967". It is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) All monies after costs go equally to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, (sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.        --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD