*********** Coach Wyatt- I have been messing around with the iMovie on here and seems to be pretty cool. Our school only has 8mm cameras. Will that transfer over well enough to be worth it? I have heard both ways. Your editing articles have been helpful. Coach Jason Sopko, Forest City, Iowa Coach- If you start in 8 mm you will still have to "digitize" the signal on your tape, which is recorded in analog form, so that your computer can recognize it and iMovie can use it. Your computer can do all sorts of cool things with digital signals, but it can't digitize an analog signal - yet. There are three ways of doing this: 1. Record it digitally in the first place, on a DV or Digital-8 camera. I'd say get the DV camera. Make sure that it has the capability of recording from another camera. Look in the manual under "recording," and look on the body of the camera for "Audio-Video, or A-V input". If it is simply labelled "A-V out," as on one of my older models, it will not record. Some cameras will actually allow the analog to "pass through," digitizing it on the way into the computer without even having to go through the middle step of making a digital tape. It would be worth your trouble to convert your present 8 mm stuff.. I do it all the time with some of my old stuff which is recorded on 8 mm and Hi-8. The converted 8 mm image shouldn't be any worse than it is right now, and while it won't be as good as digital, you will still be able to do something with it in iMovie2 (Apple's basic video-editing software, which comes bundled with all Macs). The single biggest move I have made since getting into video production seriously has been the move to DV. Even if you're only shooting game tapes, and not doing anything else with them, you will not believe the difference in sharpness and clarity. I am beginning to see it now in the VHS tapes that coaches send me. I can spot immediately the ones that were originally shot on DV.
*********** Uh, Your Honor, maybe next time you should just put it in the form of an order... The Great State of Washington is currently in a state of budget crisis caused partly because of high taxes that eventually killed Boeing, the goose that laid the golden egg, and by state financing of a snazzy new stadium for the wealthiest owner in professional sports, one who could have written a check for the whole deal himself and never even known it was missing from his account. So last fall, the Honorable Gary Locke, Governor of the Great State of Washington, a man not heavily endowed with stones, called for "voluntary restraint" in hiring by state agencies. Wow. They sure must be afraid of the wrath of the Guv. In the last three months of 2001, since he made his request, the state payroll grew by 1,365 bodies. And you still can't get anybody to answer the phone. ***********Tubby Raymond, who recently retired after 36 years as head coach at the University of Delaware, is a native of Flint, Michigan. His coach at Flint Northern High was a man named Guy Houston, who was something of a legend not only in Flint, but throughout the state of Michigan. To illustrate the sort of power that a football coach - anyone in authority - could wield in those days, Coach Raymond reminisced for Tom Tomashek of the Wilmington News-Journal. "We had a kid who talked back to Guy one day and the kid was kicked off the team," Coach Raymond said. "The next day, he came back to practice. He had a black eye and a cut above his nose. "He said, 'Please, Coach, let me back on the team or my dad said he'll finish the job.' That's how big football was in Flint." Can't you just see it? *********** Coach Wyatt, I am curious as to why you omit the number 69? Omitting #69 from the TIPS - which I assume is what you're referring to - is my little joke, but also my way of saying that I have been around the game long enough to know to save myself the trouble of dealing with who gets to wear #69, which as all kids know, is a crudity. I know exactly what it means, too, and why a kid wants to wear it. Mainly, it's because he wants to draw attention to himself, on the order of "sweet towels" and wrist bands, and different-colored socks and shoes. I heard a coach at Delaware once refer to those people as the "Purple Plume Gang," guys who would just love to wear purple plumes sticking out of their helmets saying, "Look at Me." On top of all that, he wants to combine his individualism with sexual innuendo, and I consider it my responsibility not to let him use our team uniform to do it. I have never issued the number and never will. I have never bought a set of jerseys with the number 69.
*********** "God smiles on you some days, and this is my day." Steven Bradbury, Australian Olympic gold-medal winner in the 1,000 meter short track, thanks to a pile-up that wiped out the four guys in front of him. *********** Man. I am sold on short-track speed-skating! I thought it was exciting enough when that Apolo guy wiped out the first time I saw it, but then on Saturday night, I saw a relay! Talk about cool! This time, it really looked like Roller Derby. What sold me on it was all those hunks in tight-fitting suits, pushing on each other's rear ends. *********** What is with this "Team USA" and "Team Canada" and "Team Russia" crap, anyhow? It sure has a phony, soccerish sound to it. It always used to be enough just to say "USA"or "Canada" or "Russia," and it does take a little more effort on the announcers' part to say "Team USA." I am cynical enough to suspect that somebody stands to make a buck off of "Team USA" tee-shirts, or hats, or jerseys.
Judging by The Wall Street Journal's reaction, it must have read my mind: "No more ice dancing!"
*********** Coach, I was wondering about tapering off the workload during practice and the weight room at the end portion of the season, especially post-season play. Is it necessary to cut back on contact, conditioning, weight room work, anything at the end of the football season to keep athletes fresh and peaked for the post-season? Or is this just a myth? If tapering is a good practice, why is it effective? Thank you in advance for your consideration. John Bothe Oregon, IL It's a great question. Tapering/peaking is inherent to any sound periodization plan, including in-season as well as off-season. It's effective because optimal adaptation (and overuse/injury avoidance) seems to result by progressing from extensive volumes of intermediate intensity work to lesser volumes of more intensive work. We use a 3-week rotation during the season where the workload progressively cycles up and amount of work cycles down. In fact the 3rd week of each phase is extremely intense - e.g. high percentages on everything, and heavy negatives on hip sled and bench press. The trade-off is that reps/sets are very low and we eliminate half of the usual movements that week. Then the next week it's back to the full menu, lower weights, more (but still moderate) reps, etc. Obviously there are different ways to apply this concept. You should also consider whether you want to simply use a 3-4 week in-season cycle, or one that's designed around important competitions. If the cycle exceeds 5-6 weeks in length you'll probably want to be a little more creative with how you vary the program. Steve Plisk Readers please note: Our arrangement with Steve Plisk, strength and conditioning coach for all of Yale's sports, is that he will answer, to the best of his ability and to the extent that his schedule permits, questions from coaches, including youth coaches. I am frequently asked by athletes or their parents to have Steve recommend individual workouts. It is simply not feasible for me to ask Steve to prescribe individual programs for athletes, not is it our desire to interpose ourselves between any athlete and his (or her) coach. I believe it is important that any young athlete learn to work with his (or her) own coach, without "benefit" of outside advice. HW (See some of Steve Plisk's other answers to coaches) *********** We have had a very successful Youth program. We send some very good players up to ouor local HS but they do not get any opportunities to play. Our HS Coaches are infatuated with size. They just look at a kid and project him at a position by his size and that is it. They rarely do any live contact at practice so the boys cannot even earn a spot on the field. It is getting to the point now that our best local boys are going off to a private school to play ball. I have nothing against the private schools. The ONLY reason these boys are going is for an opportunity to play football. And the school they are going to plays in our state's largest Division - our local HS plays in the lowest Division. Just doesn't make sense that they get opportunities there and not at our school. NAME WITHHELD
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
February
26- "The line that divides good and evil is
not a line that divides good men from bad men, but a line
which cuts through the middle of every human heart."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: The "Little Round Man" spent his
entire career in the state of Georgia. A county in
Georgia is named for one of his ancestors.
***********
Maybe you saw players in the Army-Navy game
wearing patches in honor of various military
units. Winners of the Black Lion Award are
not only eligible to wear the Black Lions
emblem shown at left, they are all going to
receive one.
When I ran the Delaware Wing-T at Hudson's Bay High in Vancouver, Washington, we had Delaware offensive coordinator Ted Kempski come out once and put on a clinic, followed the next year by the late Ron Rogerson, Delaware line coach who'd just taken the Princeton job. I still have the notes. I once asked for - and was granted - the privilege of introducing Tubby Raymond at a clinic out here. I said at the time I felt like a parish priest introducing the Pope. Of course, the "wing-T" that Delaware has been running over the last few years is no longer your father's Delaware Wing-T. Much of it is still recognizable, but Coach Raymond has been wise enough to adapt to the modern game and the modern rules, and has attempted to incorporate the Wing-T principles with those of the run-and-shoot and the triple option. At its best,the modern Delaware offense has been very tough to stop. Nevertheless, it is the closest we got to seeing our stuff run - well - at the college level, and now, with Tubby's announcement on Monday that after 36 years he is hanging it up, I worry that if they hire the wrong guy, the Delaware Wing-T will be totally gone from college football, and we will all have lost a priceless resource. Two current members of the offensive staff are in the running, so there is hope. Delaware is not exactly a graveyard of coaches. In the last 62 years, it has had only three coaches, and they are all legendary: Bill Murray, Dave Nelson and Tubby Raymond. *********** I keep reading that Rosie O'Donnell is going to "come out" any day now, and announce publicly that she is a lesbian. Boy. You coulda fooled me. I keep thinking, "Can that be? My Rosie?" For years, my wife's been after me to take my nude poster of Rosie down from our bedroom wall.
Coach: You gave a much more controlled response to this action than I would have and I commend you for it. This coach needs to realize that I have seen three fights (one of which I was a part of) when someone pulled a cheap stunt like this. What does it teach the kids? Disrespect of your opponent? A lack of class? Not very good sportsmanship, that is what it teaches. Kids get enough of that from watching the pros, they don't need a coach modeling this behavior. As a note, I'm really disappointed that the other team wasn't inspired by this classless demonstration. The time a team did that to a team I coached, our kids were inspired and we outplayed them physically. Also, this coach would have found me waiting at the 50 yard line for him if he tired to pull this stunt. Mike Putnam, Stayton, Oregon My response was written to a youth coach for whom I have a lot of respect, and he just hadn't had the benefit of a veteran coach's perspective on the subject of ethics. Think about it for a minute - few youth coaches have the benefit of a veteran mentor to help them with these subtle but important aspects of coaching. He is a good man and a fast learner, and he took my words in the way they were intended. We all have our moments when we are new to the game. Back in my earliest days of coaching, I once took advantage of an opportunity to take a peek at an opponent's practice. (That's a real no-no, if you didn't know. I didn't know it then, but I know now - It's called "skunking.") The Lord must have been watching me and must have wanted to make sure I learned my lesson. We lost the game. *********** I assume the guy that was talking about running through the opposing team's end of the field is a good guy and still learning. I once had a coach bring his whole team to the hash mark for the toss and chant WE WANT YOU while pointing at us. Our kids never changed expression - just stood there looking at them, then went out and beat their asses. The next year we were playing them again for the Championship. Every year the Championship is played at a different field to let everyone share in the money that is made from the game. This particular year it was at their home field. However the team with the best record was still considered the home team. After the warm ups they went to their home field side of the field. We jogged down the visitors side to the 50, cut across to their side and said, "We are home team and wish to take this side of the field". Needless to say it blew their mind. They had to pick up all their gear, water buckets, phone lines, etc.The coach was mumbling and bitching when I said, "member the WE WANT YOU?" Oh yes, we beat them again. Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey *********** Coach, Thank you for talking to the coach about having his kids run through the other teams warm-up drills before the game. I believe we as coaches need to be held to certain standard. For some of our kids we coaches are the only male role model they are able to come into close contact with. So we need to make sure that we are careful about everything we say and do around our young men. I know that it is hard to control this especially in the heat of battle. But we need to remember that we are living in an age that I believe that our young people are growing up with a lack of moral and character role models, and what better sport than football is there that teaches both the mental discipline and self sacrifice and a true team work ethic? So as coaches lets not do anything to disgrace the game that we all love. Now coach don't get me wrong - I am not knocking you personally,but like coach Wyatt says chalk it up to a lesson learned. Tom Schroeder, Hugoton, Kansas *********** Regarding the note you wrote, good job coach! As I was reading the coach's email, I was already forming a response to him in my mind. I might have to tell you though, that other coach must have been a sissy-girl. No coach with cojones would have let that happen without turning that into a positive for his team. Just my two cents worth. John Torres, Manteca, California *********** Whew! We're off the hook! The Supreme Court just ruled - unanimously - that kids can grade each others' papers and tests. I made a practice of doing it in this fashion, believing that by taking tests home and correcting them myself, I was wasting a great opportunity to use the correction process as another way of teaching. (Not to mention spending a lot of my time doing it.) But trust some weenie modern parent to complain that his (or her) kid's "right to privacy" (sorry- can't find that in the Constitution) was violated by letting another student know how he (or she) had done on the test being corrected. And somehow the case made it all the way to the Supremes before being tossed. Don't know about you, but my biggest problem was keeping from announcing their grades to everyone else. I would call them up to the front of the room and, in confidentiality, silently point to their grade in the book (being careful to mask all the other kids' grades in there). Whereupon, they would turn and walk back to their desks to a chorus of "whatcha get?", and immediately begin telling the people around them what they got. COACHES WEIGH IN (SORRY - COULDN'T PASS IT UP) ON THE SUBJECT OF WEIGHT LIMITS *********** "I agree completely with your answer to the President of the new junior football organization. As you are well aware, I've coached at the 5th through 8th grade levels for 8 years and, based on my experience, all of the reasons you cited are correct. Specifically, I've seen 180 pound 6th graders, who, if forced to move up a grade, would get pummeled by 140 pound 7th graders. This past season we had a 220 pound 6th grader who, in spite of his girth and willingness to hit, did not hurt anyone this season. There is more to the physics of football than size. "Additionally, Pop Warner type organizations that allow participation based on weight eliminate football as a youth sport for many overweight (obese) children. In our league, where there are no weight restrictions on participation, I've seen kids' lives turned around because they could play. A few years ago, one kid, whose mom dragged him to practice every day, lost 25 pounds during the season. He eventually became a decent player and contributed to the HS varsity his last 2 years in school. Prior to his first year of football, he'd never played any sport at all. Finally, if your correspondent is looking for a set of rules to govern the weights in his league, I'd be happy to send him a copy of our rules. I don't have a electronic copy, but I can forward to him via fax or letter, if he wishes." Just let me know. Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** Hi Coach, Just surfing your news and saw your comments on youth football age wgts. As a youth Coach I have concerns over the age wgt. issue. Maybe I can get thinking differently on the subject. Maybe not, here goes: 1st(and this one you probably won't like) is that youth football is not a feeder system to high school, especially at the younger ages. I am very proud of the players I have Coached and that have moved on to HS and College and continued to play. Fact is tho most Kids play for a year or two before they decide that maybe football is not for them. But we Coach them just the same and hopefully they take some of the lessons they learn with them and it will help them later on in whatever they do. Trying to groom a eight yr old to play High school football is just not practical. We try and teach them about the game and instill a love for the game so they will stick with it. The older age groups are different. We definitely try and prepare them for the next level. 2nd, Coach as we know Mom has alot to say whether a boy will play football or not. And she will not like that little johnny will be going head to head with Monster Joey!! When the boys get to HS Age Mom has alot less to say and size will not matter to a real football player when it comes to deciding whether to play or not. So I think we will lose a great # of players to other sports, you know what one in particular. 3rd, There just is not enough players to allow Youth leagues to restrict a team to just one grade/age. Example if a team were restricted to just 6th graders you probably wouldn't have enough players to field a team. So now you have to lump several grades together to form a team. Without any kind of wgt restriction you now have younger players in lower grades participating with older players that can be much larger. Those younger kids are much more intimidated by the bigger kids. So again I think it would affect the # of kids in our program. 4th, and lastly Coach, for the amount of time I have Coached youth football there has been very few kids we had to turn away because they were to big. We usually have a place for them somewhere. And if we do have to move them up to an older team it usually still works out for them. It would not be the same for the smaller lighter players. With the wgt. restrictions it allows the smaller kids a chance to play this great game. Lets face it, there will be no place for them to play when they reach HS. And honestly the smaller kids way outnumber the bigger kids. So I think it would be bad for our community to do away with the wgt. restrictions. It just gives more kids the opportunity to play with kids there own size and age group. It gives them the confidence they will need to go on to the next level. Our organization is a Pop Warner league and we have age/ wgt requirements and I think we service our community and kids the best we can. Even tho I always do not agree with all the Pop Warner rules. Well I guess that is about the most rambling I have ever done in one single email ever!!! I know all the HS Coaches out there will not agree, and some I have spoken to would rather just groom the Future Big Potential Football HS players but youth leagues are for all youth players not just the future HS stars. And youth leagues can contribute to the area High Schools without just catering to the special players, but by hopefully teaching and sending them greater # of players that are confident and disciplined and know the football basics. Ken Brierly, Carolina, Rhode Island I appreciate the input. I don't feel so strongly about the issue that I don't allow for the fact that there will be well-reasoned disagreement, which is what I consider yours to be. I do feel the need to clarify one point, though, and that is the impression I may have somehow given that I think that youth teams are supposed to be feeders for high schools. I know that it works that way in some places, and to the extent that those places are able to make it work, more power to them. But in general, I don't think it is feasible or necessarily desirable. I think the purpose of youth football is to teach kids the basics of the game, teach them coachability, teach them good work habits and responsibility, teach them to be competitive, and instill in them a love of the game so they will want to keep playing. That, to me, is good coaching. I personally could care less what system the kids have run if the coach has done the job in those areas. If a youth coach is able to do that, that is all the "feeding" I think I as a high school coach should expect. If I have said or written anything that has given any other impression, I do hope that clears it up. The important thing is that it happens to be a point on which I agree with you heartily. HW *********** Our league has a web site forum area and during the season, they asked the question; "should we raise the weights?" I was happy to read your comments since I am of the same opinion. Although in my response I argued both sides of the issue, I was trying to point out that size alone should not be the determining factor. For what it is worth, her was my response back in September of 2001. Scott Roberts, Clarence, New York The weight survey is a great idea and everyone and their brother has an opinion on this subject. It will be very interesting to see the results. I have more questions/comments than suggestions and look forward to reading everyone's opinion. Having a son who is a 9 yr old 1st year Freshman, and already nearing the 100 lb limit, it would be easy for me to say "raise the weights", but I am not sure that would be in the best interest of our league. Many parents are already concerned about the safety of their children and I think the weight restriction relieves some of their concerns. Increasing weights to accommodate boys that are in the highest 5% of weight percentiles may not make sense. Link to National Center for Health Statistics shows a 100 lb 10 yr old is at the 95th percentile for his age. *********** Coach, Your letter from the gent who has questions regarding what kind of Jr football they should play is a topic I'm fully qualified to help with. Your welcome to pass along my email address to him in case he wants opinions from someone who's fought the battles. As you know we play by grade and age, not by weight. It works out fine in our system with our kids, all 750, league wide. Glade Hall, Seattle, Washington (Coach Hall knows these things quite well. A couple of years ago, after a disagreement with the board of directors of his league, he left that league and its financial security, and raised the funds and the support to play independent until hooking up with another league. HW) *********** Hugh: I agree to a point with your assessment on keeping kids of age groups together rather than using weight classes as the key factor. Unfortunately, I don't know what the right answer is. In our league of over 5,000 boys we use age as the primary factor but there are maximum weight classes with no striper rules. One of the reasons we don't go to an open weight per age group is that in some ways you are just promoting "fat and lazy kids" and what I mean by that is as follows: Most of the kids that we get who are significantly over the weight limit for their age group are not "bigger" kids (meaning height and weight) but rather normal height and rather obese. In the 1970's the weight class for sixth graders was 80lbs, in the 1980's it was 90lbs, in the 1990's it was 95lbs. and last year we bumped it up to 100lbs. Doctors and our own statistical research tells us that 100lbs. should include almost 93% of the sixth graders in the nation. Unfortunately, I think we are just seeing MANY MORE fat and lazy kids than ever before, no thanks to gameboys, satellite TV, home computers and no doubt overprotective parents that don't let the kids play outdoors at the sandlot all summer. So in 25 years, the weight class for the average sixth grader has gone up 20 lbs. - Is it evolution or too much sweets and not enough exercise???? Bill Lawlor, Hoffman Estates, Illinois *********** No sooner had Canada's hockey team had its ass whipped by Sweden than The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, executive director of Team Canada, began to start the "Us Against Them" talk. Everybody, he whined, is out to get the Canadians. "It almost sickens my stomach to turn on the TV," he said. "It makes me ill to hear what's being said about Canadian hockey." Uh-oh. He must have seen us damn Yanks over there, whispering and snickering. Man! Talk about paranoia. Losing will do that to a guy. "The Americans love our poor start," he went on. "They love it when we're not doing well. I don't think we dislike those countries as much as they hate us. They don't like us, and they want to see us fail." Uh, Wayne, not to interrupt you in the middle of your tirade, but most of us over on this side couldn't give less of a rip. I mean, c'mon. Olympics hockey is just a bunch of NHL pros from Canada or wherever playing another bunch of pros from one place or another, anyhow. We pretty much had a preview of the whole deal a month or so ago in the NHL All-Star gam - those of us who cared enough to watch, that is. I hate to tell you, Wayne, but the problem is not that American hate Canadians. Or even dislike them. Nothing of the sort. Canadians are not exactly a hateful lot, eh? The real problem, as I have heard Canadians say for years, and one that will last long after the Olympics are over, is that most Americans couldn't care less about Canada one way or the other. *********** I heard a woman caller on a radio talk show come up with one of the best suggestions I've heard on a long time. The subject was all this "celebrate diversity" nonsense that's being foisted on public school kids, often with the thinly-disguised purpose of promoting acceptance of the gay-lesbian lifestyle. One local school has scheduled "Celebrate Diversity Week," with gay and lesbian panelists scheduled to talk to the kids about - what? Apart from the obvious question about how, in the face of the appalling job we are doing educating our kids, we can possibly justify devoting teaching time to such matters, the caller said what we really seem to need nowadays is "Celebrate Similarities Week." *********** In case you didn't read this in your paper: Dear Ann Landers: As someone who reads your column every day, I took exception to the letter from Bill Phar, e-member of George Halas' taxi squad, who said football can be dangerous, and kids can get badly hurt. Nice going, Mike! *********** I asked Steve Plisk a question forwarded to me about rehab, and as I'd though he would, he answered me like this: We're getting outside my area of expertise here Hugh. I can provide links to a few useful sites (below), but as is the case with all aspects of the program, the practitioner's knowledge, skill and ability are the keys to a successful rehab program. Here are the links which Steve so generously provided: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons <http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/> A reminder to readers: Our arrangement with Steve Plisk, strength and conditioning coach for all of Yale's sports, is that he will answer, to the best of his ability and to the extent that his schedule permits, questions submitted to me by coaches, including youth coaches. It is simply not feasible for me to ask Steve to prescribe individual programs for athletes or their parents, nor is it my desire to interpose Steve or myself between any athlete and his (or her) coach. I am not a great believer in creating a situation where a coach has to compete with an outside adviser. It is my policy any time a young player (or a parent) asks me for advice to refer them to their coach. I believe it is important that any young athlete learn to work with his (or her) own coach, without "benefit" of competing advice. HW *********** Brisa Silva is a 5-7, 17-year-old sophomore basketball player at Los Angeles' Garfield High, and she's pretty good. In fact, she's very good. She's averaging 24 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.8 steals on a Garfield team that was 21-3 heading into last weekend. She has made 60 three-pointers, and the boys at Garfield are said to be reluctant to play her one-on-one. Her coach at Garfield, Ed Kikuchi, has officiated for 25 years and coached for 10 years, and he told the L.A. Times, "I've seen a lot of players. Out of the East L.A. area, she could be the best." From the first time Coach Kikuchi saw her dribble the ball up and down the court with both hands, he knew she was special. What is marvelous about this girl is that she did not get this way with the help of personal coaches, summer camps and elite travelling teams. Nor did she even have the benefit of playing at an inner-city playground against other talented kids. She did it on her own. The old-fashioned way. Practice, practice, practice. She started playing basketball at the age of five in her native Rosario, Mexico, practicing at a playground where the hoop never had a net. She arrived in the US at the start of her freshman year, speaking not a word of English, hoping to find the competition that would help her some day become a professional. What a lesson this should be for American parents, who are so eager for their kids to develop, mainly to get them off the hook of having to pay for their kid's college. Someone should tell them that it isn't working. They spend fortunes on the personal coaches, personal trainers and summer camps and put their families' lives on hold while travelling all over hell's half acre following their kids' travel teams, and here's a little kid in Mexico who jumps past all of them because of what's inside her. You doubt that there's something wrong with modern-day Americans and their approach? Then how come so many of the white guys in the NBA are European? They don't even have high school sports over there! To say the least, the numbers and advantages are all in favor of the Americans. Does it have something to do with the fact that American kids - and their parents - expect someone else to do the job of making them better?
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: His given name was Lynn Waldorf, but
everyone called him Pappy, a nickname he acquired when he
was prematurely gray.
*********** I'm just starting to realise, the more I learn the more I need to learn. Last night whilst cooking dinners I ended up drawing formations out on my chopping board using grapes,new potatoes and strips of Fillet Steak,my wife is starting to get concerned. Mike "Spike" Kent, Cornwall, England *********** This from the LA Times, sent me by John Torres, Manteca, California: The Interscholastic Surfing Federation championships are set for Feb. 23-24 at Oceanside Harbor. Watch out for Brett Simpson of Huntington Beach, Travis Mellem of San Clemente and the Gudauskas twins, Patrick and Dane, of San Clemente. *********** Coach Wyatt, I was offered and accepted the job at Columbia High School, in Columbia, MS this week. (Home of Walter Payton) Columbia has run the Notre Dame Box for 14 years. They were 11-3 last year and lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion 14-6. They graduated 11 seniors, 5 starters. At Columbia, we will have 3 of the top 50 juniors in the state. (seniors next year) I will inherit a senior offensive line headed by a 6'7" 345 lb. tackle If he can move, I may move him to center. We will also have senior FB Toney Mckinney 6'2" 225, (355 bench) and Cory. I really am excited about our prospects for the 2002 season. We will conduct spring drills in May. Steve Jones, formerly Florence, now Columbia, Mississippi *********** I glanced over at the TV, and I saw a bunch of guys in gooney spiderman costumes skating very fast around a small oval course, in a very tight pack. I said, "Hey! Everybody come quick! It's Roller Derby on ice!" So everybody came quick, and one of them said, "Oh! That's short-track!" Well, I'll be a son of a gun if it wasn't five guys racing!. On ice skates! They leaned into the corners as if they were on racing motorcycles, and just before the finish, the first four or five guys got wiped out, and the tail end guy, an Australian who avoided the mishap because he was so far behind everybody else, managed to stay on his feet and glide across the finish line. It was the first gold medal any Australian has ever won in the Winter Olympics. I'm sure his nation, one which takes all sports very seriously, is proud of him. (My son, Ed, who lives in Australia and works in sports over there, wrote, "Aussies found it very, very funny...comments like 'that's the Australian way to win the gold!' and the like.") Americans, on the other hands, were devastated, or, the TV announcers told us, I guess we were supposed to be. That's because among the people in the multiple-car (oops - multiple skater) crash was a rather strange-looking dude from Seattle named Apolo Anton Ohno, who had been hyped as the favorite. But in a national tragedy of near-September 11 proportions - to hear the announcers describe it - Mr. Ohno and Americans everywhere lost our chance for gold. The camera showed us close-ups of Ohno's dad-and-mentor, who at first reminded me of the kindly old mentor in The Karate Kid, but this time, when The Kid lost, Dad looked about as nasty and venomous as I've ever seen a human look. Whew! Good thing no judge had to answer to him!
*********** Say what you will about my fellow (or former) townsperson Tonya Harding, but she would have known how to deal with that French figure skating judge. *********** I had no idea how many of these Winter Olympics "athletes" were football fans until I noticed that no one on skis can make a landing or cross a finish line without giving the "touchdown" signal. *********** I am amazed that Al Davis has yet to ask the NFL to award a second Lombardi Trophy to the Raiders. *********** Perhaps the ultimate in pushy, whiny parents are turning out to be the parents of Miss America. They wrote a letter complaining to the Miss America officials that their daughter (who I sort of thought was considered an adult now) was not getting enough bookings (and therefore not getting enough appearance fees). They also complained that the officials had failed to give them their daughter's itinerary, and in general to prepare them for what life would be like as the parents of Miss America. *********** The first clinic of the year was held this past weekend in Houston, at Cypress Community Christian School, where head coach Brian Summers and offensive coordinator Jim Hanley were gracious enough to play host. An unusual treat was the tailgate lunch provided by Coach Scott Barnes, who drove down from the Dallas area with his barbecue setup in the bed of his pickup. Cypress Christian is a small school, and a great example of making good use of the Double-Wing. A new school, Cypress Christian has only been playing high school football for two seasons, and has had two winning seasons right out of the gate, despite playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores those years. I always enjoy visiting Texas, especially with kids and grandkids in Houston. I think Houston is a great city, despite the fact that as we all know from listening to Al Gore, President Bush did everything in his power while governor to poison its air. Houston must have as many restaurants of as many different kind as New York or Los Angeles. Maybe it's the fact that the Cajun Country of Louisiana lies just to the east, and there are a lot of transplanted Louisianans in the Houston area. The weather was fantastic - sunny, breezy, about 65 degrees - and everyone assured me that it is like that all the time, and invited me back in July to see for myself. *********** "I LOVE MY COUNTRY!" says the guy on the giant billboards along the freeways that thread through Houston. Hey, wait a minute - I know that guy! It's none other than our old pal Bum Phillips, selling Country Sausage. *********** Man! When the Houston Texans begin play next year, they are going to be playing in some stadium! Billed as the first football-only stadium with a retractable roof, it stands next to the Astrodome, and is so large it actually dwarfs the Astrodome, a building once called the Eighth Wonder of the World. *********** As you watch TV from now on. keep an eye out for "Time Buys." What that means to you is, keep an eye peeled for more of what you might call unconventional sports, in the places where the Big Four - football, basketball, baseball, hockey - used to be. The four major networks, tired of blowing megamillions on the major sports (where else did you think the owners were getting the all money to pay those louts?), are bailing out. The sports divisions of the four nets are said to have lost an aggregate $1 billion last year. They have clearly overspent for the prestige of broadcasting major sports, and now that they've discovered that the returns don't justify the costs, they are willing to settle for what are called "Time Buys." Basically, that means that the networks sell blocks of time - say, one, two or three hours - to independent production companies, which then provide the "programming" that goes on the air during that time. The production companies handle all the details and costs of producing the events and sell (and keep all the money from) all the advertising. In many cases, they also use the network's announcers, who are under contract anyhow, so it doesn't "look like an infomercial." And since everything's paid for, and the network doesn't have to please advertisers, it could care less about the show's ratings. The soccer World Cup is being shown that way in the US - ABC and ESPN are trading the time to the producers, in return for the programming. *********** We were going thru pre-game drills at one end of the field, and the other team was at the opposite end. As we finished our warm-ups, I got the boys in a line and told them to run down thru the opposite goal post -- slowly, in a perfectly straight line -- clapping and yelling our battle cries and told them to form a perfect circle in the middle of the field..we do this every day at practice, so they are pretty good at it..anyway, they pulled it off and I swear the other kids stopped their pre-game and just watched as the boys ran right thru them, around their goal posts, yelling in unison and forming a circle on the 50. My assistant said that was "cold", but I was worried about these guys..anyway, the other team never even got into the game -- they quit on the first series and we spanked them hard...I can only imagine what the other Coach was sayin', but he never mentioned it to me. Somebody would have to tell you this at some point, so it might as well be a friend...It is considered a fairly serious breach of coaching ethics to invade the other team's end of the field in pre-game. It is their practice field for that particular moment in time, and it is their practice, and you have no more right to go on it and do that than you have to go onto their practice field during the week and disrupt a regular practice. Chalk it up to learning. *********** If there is any event that debases its sport more than the NBA All-Star game, it would have to be one of those old varsity-alumni games that colleges used to play at the end of spring practice. At least most of those guys enjoyed being there. I mean hell, even in the Pro Bowl they at least block and tackle. I heard someone on ESPN complaining that the NBA Slam-Dunk contest held in association with the All-Star game has become a non-event, since none of the big stars gets anywhere near the NBA Slam-Dunk contest any more, with the result that the contestants are now pretty much no-names. I wanted to ask him if he'd seen an NBA All-Star game lately, since he didn't seem to realize that that's where the Slam-Dunk contest has moved to. All the big stars take part in that one, where they find there's no more defense to get by in that slam dunk contest than there was in the other one. *********** Joe Jackson, center for Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois, has committed to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to play football. This is very exciting for his coach, Jon McLaughlin, and for me, too, because I assisted Coach McLaughlin during preseason practice this past season. Joe, 6-5, 315, is a heck of a kid, and his signing by West Point is obviously a tribute to the coaching he's received at RC, but also to the academic preparation he's received, , and the upbringing of his parents.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
He played baseball in college against President George Bush (the elder). He was named one of the University of California's "Top Ten Sports Figures of the Twentieth Century." He had an 11-year major league baseball career with three different clubs, the Yankees, Senators and Red Sox; he was named American League MVP and three times led the league in RBIs. Born in the Bay Area, following World War II service he enrolled at Cal, where he was an All-American football player in 1948, and ran 67 yards for a touchdown in the Golden Bears' 1949 Rose Bowl loss to Northwestern, but he left school after his junior year, signing for $40,000 to play baseball with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. (Professional football, given the meagre wages it paid then, was never even in the picture.) After one year at Oakland, his manager - a guy named Casey Stengel - was hired to manage the New York Yankees, and his contract was bought by the Yankees. Dubbed the Golden Boy, he was expected to succeed the great Joe DiMaggio as the Yanks' centerfielder, but when DiMaggio retired after the 1951 season, Mickey Mantle won out in the competition to replace him, and in May of 1952 our man was traded to the Washington Senators. After two seasons, he was traded again, to the Boston Red Sox, where as a right-handed power hitter he was able to take advantage of the Green Monster, Fenway Park's close-in left field wall From 1954 through 1959, he was the Red Sox cleanup hitter. (Batting third? Ted Williams.) In 1958, he drove in 122 runs, and was was named American League MVP - ahead of Mickey Mantle. He quit baseball following the 1959 season, but returned after a one-year layoff in 1961. Although he batted .263 and drove in 66 runs, that one year was enough for him. His problem? Fear of flying. Jackie Jensen became synonymous with the phobia. Baseball was expanding. the National League already had staked its claims in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and air travel was unavoidable. Nothing - not psychiatrists, not hypnotists - could help him to conquer his fear, and he retired. He held a succession of jobs, and coached baseball at the University or Nevada-Reno and at Cal. He died of a heart attack in 1982 at age 55. Correctly identifying Jackie Jensen - Glade Hall- Seattle, Washington... Mark Kaczmarek- Davenport, Iowa... Mick Yanke- Dassel-Cokato, Minnesota... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee... Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin... Bill Nelson- West Burlington, Iowa ("I needed help from my principal, Bob Bowen, a big baseball fan")... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Tracy Jackson- Aurora, Oregon... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... John Zeller- Sears, Michigan... Al Andrus- Salt Lake City, Utah ("Jackie Jensen was a real slugger for the Boston Red Sox, and a tough guy, Built like a brick sh..house.")... Bill Mignault- Ledyard, Connecticut... *********** I wait in long lines while people for people to run wands over my body. My wife sits down and takes off her shoes for the inspector. Meanwhile, I take a look at the pictures of the 17 terrorists who according to the FBI are likely to do something nasty any time now, and wonder why, other than out of a political correctness that verges on national suicide, these morons at the Department of Transportation, so cowardly in their reluctance to offend young males of Middle-Eastern ethnicity, insist instead on frisking Grandma. *********** Hi Coach, Been awhile since I wrote but I have been keeping up on your news. I thought the Miami Linebacker made a great tackle. I also thought the announcers did a great job pointing that out. One of the things the announcer said that stood out to me the most was the fact that he pointed out the term "Eyes to the sky", which anyone that has your video knows that term well. That is all we teach our boys now.(and for the past two years) At some point and time some portion of the helmet will make contact during a tackle. Better the face mask than the top of the helmet. After watching the Pop Warner Superbowl on ESPN I would be much more concerned about the Everett, Ma. player that was pointing out all the "Battle Scars" on his helmet. Most of them were on the top of the helmet and some in the back of the helmet. After coaching for over 14 years( I know that is not alot compared to some of the others on this site) and spending alot of money on football materials, I consider your tackling video one of the best investments I've made. Thanks Coach. Hopefully I'll see you in Providence at the clinic. Ken Brierly, Carolina, Rhode Island *********** Coach, Glad to hear you are coming closer to Canada with your clinics. We are interested in your Detroit clinic. Do you know where it will be held yet? Bill, Chris and I plan to attend. Good news. Our Senior team won our conference final for the first time in 17 years. The kids that won have been double wing kids since starting 5 years ago. Cheers, Joe Robinson, South Secondary School, London, Ontario CANADA (These Canadian coaches have done a great job of running the Double-Wing - in a game whose rules that allow 12 men on a side, only three down to make 10 yards, and as many backs as you want in motion (in any direction) at the snap. The Detroit clinic will be at the Airport Marriott, just up the street from last year's clinic. Directions will be posted. HW) *********** My son is 13 years old and wants to excel in football. What types of strength and agility training exercises will provide the most benefit to a 13 year-old? The best thing to do is for him (or you) to contact the coach of the high school he will attend and see if he can get involved in their off-season program. And then see how it goes from there. Readers please note: Our arrangement with Steve Plisk, strength and conditioning coach for all of Yale's sports, is that he will answer, to the best of his ability and to the extent that his schedule permits, questions from coaches, including youth coaches. It is simply not feasible for me to ask Steve to prescribe individual programs for athletes, not is it our desire to interpose ourselves between any athlete and his (or her) coach. I believe it is important that any young athlete learn to work with his (or her) own coach, without "benefit" of outside advice. HW *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I am currently Offensive Co-ordinator of the Reading University team here in the UK. I have implemented the DW offensive system this year with mixed success, owing much more to our playing resources than your system. I have managed to get hold of one your older 'Dynamics' videos and playbook as well as the book 'The Toss' by Jerry Vallotten. Firstly thank you for your excellent material, it has allowed us to move the ball consistently in every game even though nearly every player on our team has been playing two way football (as opposed to the occasional player for most of our opponents - we only have a squad of 14); our A Back gained 172yds on 14 carries in our last game (mainly on 56 C ). I would also point out that to a novice coach having your detailed breakdown of an offence is invaluable in itself. I wish I could report that we won a stack of games thanks to your system, but at least it kept us competitive when our resources are so limited. My two questions are:- 1) Can I get any more of your material over here in the UK, I am thinking mainly of your 'Dynamics IV' and your 'Troubleshooting the DW'? 2) We have had some problem 'punching it in' in the Red Zone. We seem to have no problem getting there but finishing off drives seems to be a problem. Is there any advice you would give that may help in terms of practicing perhaps, or playcalling? Ron Courtney, Reading, England Nice to hear from you, and to hear that you're making good use of the system. It is actually very useful when your men are playing both ways, because my experience has been that men get tired more easily on defense, and therefore the more time you can spend on offense the less tired your men will get. Yes, I can ship my materials anywhere in the world. BUT - I only have the first tape - Dynamics of the Double Wing - available in PAL. So you will need a VCR that will play NTSC tapes. As for scoring from in close - you have probably noticed that people crowd in on you then because there is less field for them to defend. They will over-defend your power game, which means that you need to be able to throw. Nothing fancy - Red-Red to the C-Back, 58-Black-O to the X-end. *********** I don't know which one deserves this week's Medal of Freedom more, Senator Dum Daschle or Ted Turner. Daschle (ever seen the guy? Does he remind anyone else of Joe Isuzu?) carried Political Correctness to the outer limits with his statement on national TV last Sunday that the President went too far in describing Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "Axis of Evil." Imagine. Now we can't even say things that might offend the nastiest governments on earth. Maybe it's harming their self-esteem. I heard some woman on a call-in that North Korea represents no threat to us, because its people are starving. Duh, brainless - they are starving because their government, which controls their nation's economy (such as it is), would rather make and sell nuclear weapons to other rogue nations than feed its own people. Guess they figure that's supposed to be our job. Daschle is unctuous one minute, snarly the next (come to think of it, maybe it's Eddie Haskell he reminds me of.) What's really scary is that he probably has a secret plan to grant North Koreans instant citizenship so they can vote in the next presidential election. Turner, who wasn't wrapped too tight to begin with, shows what marriage to Jane Fonda can do to a guy. (When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.) In addressing an audience at Brown University, Turner said that the guys who flew planes into the Twin Towers were brave. Misguided, yes. Nuts, yes. But brave. Besides, they were hungry. (We all know about all the American terrorism during the Depression, when people were hungry. Or, for that matter, at Jamestown, where one winter was called "The Starving Time." Or on the Mayflower.) Teddy-boy tried to retreat when he was called to account the next day for what he had said, and tried to cop one of these "I was misquoted" pleas, followed by an "if I offended anyone" apology. Too bad for Teddy-boy. A Providence Journal reporter and a reporter for the Brown University paper were both on hand and both said, yup- that's what he said. Daschle or Turner. Turner or Daschle. Choices, always choices. *********** Coach, Thank you for the (Black Lions) patch. Our winner, Nick Hufford, thinks it's a neat award in light of his sacrifice of position for the team. One interesting note is that as of this week Nick has been chosen to play in the Iowa Shrine Bowl at the position he sacrificed to take. Neat huh! Mark Kaczmarek, Assumption High School Davenport, Iowa Congratulations to Nick Hufford. Not everyone is rewarded in that fashion, but don't forget, coaches, that Mike Munchak entered the pro football Hall of Fame this year at a position that he wasn't switched to until after he got to Penn State. *********** Shortly after President Bush took office, an old man approached the White House. He spoke to the U.S. Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Clinton." The Marine looked at the man and said, "Sir, Mr. Clinton is no longer president and no longer resides here." The old man said, "Okay" and walked away. The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same U.S. Marine standing guard, "I would like to go in and meet with President Clinton." The Marine again told the man, "Sir, Mr. Clinton is no longer president and no longer resides here." The man said, "Okay" and walked away. The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the same U.S. Marine standing guard, "I would like to go in and meet with President Clinton." The Marine, a little agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Clinton and I have told you already that Mr. Clinton is no longer president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?" The old man looked at the U.S. Marine and said, "Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it". The Marine guard smiled and said, "See you tomorrow!" Submitted by Scott Russell, Potomac Heights, Virginia *********** Brad Knight, coach at Galva-Holstein High in Iowa, sent me a copy of a nice yearbook that he puts together for his kids. When I complimented him on it, he had to admit that the credit belonged to his wife, who clipped and pasted all season long to produce the finished product, a wonderful keepsake for the kids. I asked him what her name was, so I could give her her props, and here's what he wrote: "Her name is Kala, and she is the biggest supporter of my teams (all of them). She rarely misses anything I am coaching...JH Wrestling, Head FB, Head Track, she is always there, and is always busy. She also knows the correct way to put together a blocking sled, helps with inventory, feeds our seniors at the senior dinner in the pre-season, and to top it off she can correctly diagram the super-power vs. almost any defense!" I often think that a coach's wife would make a great assistant. And as a bonus, she would provide a perspective that most of us could use. *********** Now there's a smart kid! Drew Gooden, star forward on the Kansas basketball team, took in an NBA game recently, and told the Kansas City Star afterward, "I saw about two guys sweating. It seems like the NBA is just pickup ball until the playoffs start. They're getting paid, so they're fat and happy." Speaking of Gooden, a recent article about the Jayhawks in Sports Illustrated mentioned the fact that he is the son of an American father and a Finnish mother, and in the summers he visits his grandparents in - are you ready for this? - Jyväskylä, Finland. Sometimes called the Unpronounceable Town, Jyväskylä is a small city about four hours north of Helsinki in the lakes region of central Finland, where I coached for two seasons. Kansas had a Finnish kid on the team a few years ago - the name Pekka Markkanen sounds right - and he was from Jyväskylä. At the time I remember wondering how he got from Point A to Point B, but now I'll bet dad Gooden's contacts had something to do with it. I remember one of the P-A announcers during the pre-game intros, pronouncing his home town phonetically as "JIVE-iss-kai-luh." Not even close. Try "YEW-vass-kew-laa", which is as close as I can get using English sounds. *********** A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed watching, on ESPN, the second part of "The Season," a chronicling of the past season at Arizona, John Mackovic's first season there. First all all, it was well done. I have to give Coach Mackovic credit for having the guts to allow the cameras inside his program, because they caught a lot of candid moments. I guess Coach Mackovic is considered to be something of a motivational speaker, but one of the things I got from watching the show is how far coaches' talks actually get with the kids. After being drilled by Oregon State, somebody shouts the obligatory, "You gotta believe!: And a teammate responds, "Forget about believin'! We believed the last two weeks, and we got smacked!" I did admire Coach Mackovic for the little heart-to-heart he had on the sideline with Clarence Farmer, a highly-talented sophomore running back who hadn't yet completely bought into what was expected of him: "This is our team," the coach told the young man. "Not your team. You don't get to do what you want - you have to do what we want. Now go sit down... Grow up... be a man." I came to really like the Arizona kids, and to admire the leadership of one senior named Anthony Thomas. I watched how hard everyone worked, and how much everyone wanted to win, and how devastated they were when they lost, and I thought, "tell me it's just a game." *********** Hugh, I hope all is well and you are having a great 2002. I don't know if you remember me, I set up a clinic that you gave to our youth group, Chantilly Youth Association, in 1999 at Oakton High School in Vienna, VA. I had not visited your site in a while and enjoyed reading about Don Holleder. We would like to register my team in this program. Chantilly Youth Association Vikings, Chantilly, VA On a side note, since we had you in for a clinic, I have been running a modified version of the Double Wing. Since that time, my teams have won three Fairfax County Championships and compiled a 31-0 record. I plan on attending your clinic again this March in Philadelphia and seeing what new developments you have come up with. Take care and see you soon, Brian Newell, Chantilly, Virginia *********** "Is that a clinic in Buffalo, NY or some other Buffalo in the country (Buffalo MN, etc.)? Last year a group of us, from the youth program, attended your Philadelphia clinic. That was quite a hike for us (we are from Avon, NY - south of Rochester) and would like to attend again. Please let me know for sure. "By the way, both of our youth levels used your offense with good success. I wanted to also let you know that the High school - Avon Central - started using your system this year with tremendous success. I wrote you a while back saying that our high school had been a doormat since the 1980's. This year the JV program lost maybe one game all season and the varsity went all the way to the sectional finals. Along the way, they beat a team they hadn't beaten since 1986 in overtime during the regular season and then beat them again in the sectional playoffs with some stunning end of the game heroics. "I enjoyed working with your system this past season. I look forward to improving upon it this season." Jim Lochner, Avon, New York There will be a Buffalo/Western New York clinic on June 29. The location is not yet set.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Jackie Jensen is the only man to have
played in the Rose Bowl, the East-West Game, the World
Series, and baseball's All-Star Game. "The only thing
lacking," recalled a college teammate, "was an Olympic Gold
Medal."
A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He is the only man to have played in the Rose Bowl, the East-West Game, the World Series, and baseball's All-Star Game. "The only thing lacking," recalled a college teammate, "was an Olympic Gold Medal." He played baseball in college against President George Bush (the elder). He was named one of the University of California's "Top Ten Sports Figures of the Twentieth Century." He had an 11-year major league baseball career with three different clubs, the Yankees, Senators and Red Sox; he was named American League MVP and three times led the league in RBIs. Born in the Bay Area, following World War II service he enrolled at Cal, where he was an All-American football player in 1948, and ran 67 yards for a touchdown in the Golden Bears' 1949 Rose Bowl loss to Northwestern, but he left school after his junior year, signing for $40,000 to play baseball with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. (Professional football, given the meagre wages it paid then, was never even in the picture.) After one year at Oakland, his manager - a guy named Casey Stengel - was hired to manage the New York Yankees, and his contract was bought by the Yankees. Dubbed the Golden Boy, he was expected to succeed the great Joe DiMaggio as the Yanks' centerfielder, but when DiMaggio retired after the 1951 season, Mickey Mantle won out in the competition to replace him, and in May of 1952 our man was traded to the Washington Senators. After two seasons, he was traded again, to the Boston Red Sox, where as a right-handed power hitter he was able to take advantage of the Green Monster, Fenway Park's close-in left field wall From 1954 through 1959, he was the Red Sox cleanup hitter. (Batting third? Ted Williams.) In 1958, he drove in 122 runs, and was was named American League MVP - ahead of Mickey Mantle. He quit baseball following the 1959 season, but returned after a one-year layoff in 1961. Although he batted .263 and drove in 66 runs, that one year was enough for him. His problem? Fear of flying. Baseball was expanding. the National League already had staked its claims in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and air travel was unavoidable. Nothing - not psychiatrists, not hypnotists - could help him to conquer his fear, and he retired. He held a succession of jobs, and coached baseball at the University or Nevada-Reno and at Cal. He died of a heart attack in 1982 at age 55. *********** Dude. Sw-e-e-e-e-e-e-t. Wow. Olympic Gold. A clean sweep of the medals in the men's halfpipe. USA. USA. USA. I'll bet if we could get Nintendo and skateboarding approved for the summer Olympics, we would kick some serious ass there, too. USA. USA. USA. *********** I was just devastated to hear that Pacabo Street finished 16th, after hearing an NBC announcer gush that she had worked "perhaps as hard as anyone has ever worked." *********** I scoffed when I read about Nike's new, $200 a pair (no, not each) Air Jordans. I mocked the sports-marketing giant. What do I know? Last Saturday, they went on sale for the first time, and people were lined up at 6 AM outside a store in Portland, waiting to buy the latest shoe miracle. One kid admitted that he'd had a hard time sleeping Friday night, so eagerly was he anticipating his purchase, He figured he'd bought 17 pairs (Do you ever say, "17 pair?" I do) of sneakers in the last year, nearly half of them Air Jordans. "I want to get every pair," said another shoe fetishist. "I'm a Jordan fanatic." (Sorry, should have said "Jordan fetishist.") One guy in his twenties is pictured on the front page of the business section. Said he makes $7 an hour as a sushi chef. He bought three pairs. He plans to wear one pair, and add the other two to his "shoe collection." Shoe collection. Keeps it all in a rented U-Haul. Now that's a good investment. About what you'd expect of a young guy nowadays. Grownups, a whole lot wiser, put their money into Enron. *********** David Crump, of Owensboro, Kentucky, promised to send me some materials on the Hal Mumme passing game at Kentucky. He is serious about the exorcist. Your UK material is in the mail. I hope this high flying stuff doesn't ruin the double wing guru!! I don't want to hear that after reading and viewing this material that you have become a Hal Mumme convert. Too much viewing of this material can cause loss of brain cells, a need for Viagra and the heartbreak of psoriasis. If this happens, it will have to be exorcised from you. I know a couple of good football exorcists that make house calls!!!All kidding aside, I hope that you find the material useful and informative. *********** I haven't seen all of " The News" the last few months, so maybe this topic has been discussed at some time, but the following is from a draft that I had started on shortly after the game, and never sent to you. "I also had a very strong reaction to the Miami player's tackling technique in the game Wednesday night, and the announcer's remarks, but they were some what different from yours. We have discussed this topic before, and I would again like to commend you for not only making a video about tackling, go ahead and see how many of them are available among the thousands of coaching videos produced, but also trying to educate coaches about safety, concussions, etc. Great job! "In this case, however, I have to disagree with your statement. The Miami player, in both of these instances, made primary contact with his facemask. As the condition of his facemask shows, this is not the first time he had done this, and was in sharp contrast to facemasks of the rest of his team mates on the defensive side of the ball that weren't beat up so badly, or so void of paint. "Our helmet representative has told me that you can tell what kind of tackling technique is being taught at different schools (high schools and colleges) by looking at the facemasks of the helmets that they send in for reconditioning. "I have no issue with any of the other points you made, and agree with all of them very strongly, but as the 2001 AFCA Proceedings Manual states (page 176): "Rule changes for the 1976 football season which eliminated the head as a primary and initial contact area for blocking and tackling is of utmost importance. "Coaches who are teaching helmet or face to the numbers tackling and blocking are not only breaking the football rules, but are placing their players at risk for permanent paralysis or death". The Miami player made a perfect tackle, if he had made it previous to 1976, but this is another example of exactly what our younger players don't need to see, or hear from "experts". "I think some of our analysts (both Keith and Tim) would do a better job if they talked only about things they knew about, and were less effected by "coach, (or fan)" speak. We need to teach players that they are to tackle with their shoulder pads, and that their helmets are strictly defensive in nature, they are never to use them to initiate contact, whether blocking or tackling. "Either we need to emphasize the tackling techniques that are currently legal, change the rules, or continue to look the other way and allow the "lead with the facemask" tackling technique (like the NFL does)because it is really a more efficient way to tackle, and I really think it probably is." This topic is certainly one with some "gray in the middle", please take the above comments in the spirit they were intended." Tom Compton, Durant, Iowa Tom: I appreciate and share your regard for the rules. It is obvious that you are concerned for the safety of your players and for the good of our game. But I have studied the tapes, and I must beg to differ with your contention that the Miami player made "primary contact" with the face mask. "Primary" means not just first in time -which is very hard to determine in most cases, since we are dealing with split seconds here - but first in importance. It would require a team of Philadelphia lawyers to take it from there, but at best, I think your case is highly debatable.
I happen to have in front of me the 1976 copy of the National Federation's "Football Rules - Simplified and Illustrated", and (shown here) it clearly illustrates the tactic the rules revision was designed to eliminate - "driving the face mask, frontal area or top of the helmet directly into the runner." In the illustration, the body is extended, and the face mask alone is the point of contact. In such a position, severe whiplash is not unlikely. It is my opinion, based on the upward blow that the Miami tackler struck, that he did nothing illegal except to strike the runner with his face mask as a part of his overall tackle, which is unavoidable in most tackles. Unless, of course, he were to duck his head... *********** I am interested in going to your clinic in Atlanta. We have gone 25 -11 in the three years of running the double wing; our best year was 12-2 and a trip to the state semi-finals. I attended one of your clinics in Birmingham about four years ago, and I was wondering what the topics of the Atlanta clinic were going to be. About how much time will be spent in introduction of the offense? I look forward in attending to learn anything that might give us an additional advantage over the "modern" teams that we play. Tim Cochran, Geraldine, Alabama I don't spend too much time "introducing" the offense. I do spend some time on things we've learned about the base plays, and things that could be causing problems, and wrinkles on them, and a fair amount of time on staying a step or two ahead of the defensive guys with some pretty cool adjustments and innovations. *********** Can you imagine what it would be like if the Florida Gators, coached by Steve Spurrier, were to face the Florida State Seminoles, coached by - Steve Spurrier? Impossible, right? Yes, thank God. But the Olympic figure skating pairs from Russia and the US both have the same coach. And, since he probably doesn't feel like commuting to Russia, the "Russians" have been training in - New Jersey. (?) Does this whole Olympics thing smell like a mackerel to anyone else out there? *********** Remember when we Americans used to believe - truly believe - that we stood for what was right, and God was on our side? Uh, I think God kinda has a right to expect us to be on His side in return. If you lived in a Middle-Eastern country and you saw the kind of TV and movie trash that we produce and export to countries such as yours, you might not take it as passively as American parents do - you might become violently anti-American, too. *********** Our local sports editor wrote a column recently, complaining about the ugliness of college football recruiting, and expressing relief that it is over for another year. He made some condescending comment about all the people with no lives who visit all the web sites devoted to recruiting. Uh, genius, I wanted to tell him, the reason people visit those web sites is simple: THEY ARE INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECT. Presumably, others read your sports section because they are interested in the Portland Trail Blazers, figure skating, and girls' basketball at the local junior college, because that's mainly what you feed them. Guess you and most other daily newspapers aren't interested in all those people who are interested in college recruiting. You might have tried seeing whether you could interest them in buying your paper by covering the subject a little better, but instead, you've neglected this area and effectively abandoned those readers to the web sites. *********** An Oregon murderer, on death row for torturing and killing his girlfriend's three-year-old daughter, has a lawyer working for him - at taxpayer expense, of course - trying to get him a better deal. Actually, it's hard to imagine a better deal, given that he is a convicted murdered sentenced to die. First of all, he isn't going to die - not at the state's hands, at least. Oregon, the home of the candlelight vigil, would never let it happen. So while he waits, on "death row," he enjoys a private room with color television. No associating with the rest of the prison riffraff. Too bad, They'd probably take care of the state's business for it. Talk about lawyers making it hard to like them - one of his lawyer's arguments is that her client was deprived of his constitutional right to a trial by a jury of his peers because (are you ready for this?) the law excludes felons from serving on juries. Actually, I think most self-respecting felons, which may seem like a contradiction in terms, would probably be harder on this guy than his original jury. Maybe they should let him out in the yard occasionally, just to see. *********** Be careful about sending your kid to Reed College. Reed, in Portland, is very well thought-of academically. But Reed has hired as its president one of these screwballs who have managed to infest American higher education, who try to show how enlightened they are by trashing our cultural heritage in the name of "honoring diversity." Listen to what this guy told the Portland Oregonian: "I worry about scaring off people who don't buy into the dead, white European model of knowledge." Now, I'm not sure what he means by a "model of knowledge." Sounds like edubabble to me. But so many people like this elite horse's ass find it fashionable nowadays to pander to minorities by attacking dead white Europeans, that I figure since I am white and European and I ain't dead yet, I might as well counterattack. So, you pompous asses - are you trying to tell me that people "of color" (as you are so fond of saying) can't benefit from learning about such dead, white Europeans as Shakespeare, Dickens, Homer, Burke, Churchill, DaVinci, Gauguin, Monet, Picasso, Kant, Gilbert and Sullivan, Caesar, Shaw, Van Gogh, Vergil, Rembrandt, Joyce, Camus, H.C. Andersen, Copernicus, Sibelius, Newton, Tolstoy, Beethoven, Mozart, Milton, Orwell, Keats, Luther, Goethe, Donne, Swift, Johnson (and Boswell), Brahms, Dostoevsky, Charlemagne, Stevenson, Erasmus, Columbus, Gutenberg, Curie, Magellan, William the Conqueror, Napoleon, More, Disraeli, Cromwell, Drake, Gladstone, Marx, Raleigh, Peter the Great, Wellington, Bach, Chopin, Haydn, Michelangelo, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Strauss, Elizabeth I? Let's face it - whether you like it or not, you can't change the truth - there have been an awful lot of dead, white Europeans that have made our American civilization what it is. Do you really think that all your multicultural mumbo-jumbo can hide the fact that you can't produce a list to match mine? (I apologize for cutting my list short. There are lots more where they came from.) *********** It was entitled "Question From a Non-Coach" and it was a good one --- Why would John Madden (and Rush Limbaugh) recommend that the Patriots run out the clock on the last possession . . . when the Rams had scored 14 unanswered points (and therefore had the momentum), the Patriots had had an interception for a touchdown called back (deflating them) & the Patriots' defense was exhausted . . . ??? I think John Madden was caught up in conventional NFL thinking, which is very formulaic, as if printed on one of those big laminated cards that you see the coaches holding on the sidelines. Those cards contain the pat, carefully-thought-out-in-advance answers to questions that they won't have time to debate when they come up in a game and an instant decision is needed. The possible situations - the "what-ifs" - have been hashed out and discussed at length in coaches' meetings when there was ample time to look at the pros and cons. But those pre-packaged decisions don't take into account all the variables such as those you've pointed out. That's where judgment comes in. That's where the field commander has to disregard all the intelligence and planning and go with instinct. In my opinion, John Madden was looking at the card, which at first glance said "go into overtime," and not allowing for the variables, such as the ones you mentioned. Don't let them kid you; they may know more of football's intricacies than you, but their judgment is not necessarily better than yours, and, in this case, it was not as good.
|
I
played and coached football prior to 1976, and I can assure
you that that sort of contact with the face mask was not
what the rules made illegal. What they outlawed was
something commonly called a "face tackle," in which a
tackler drove ("dove" might be a better word) face-first
into - directly into - a runner. 
He played baseball in college against President George Bush (the elder). He was named one of his college's "Top Ten Sports Figures of the Twentieth Century." He had an 11-year major league baseball career with three different clubs; he was named American League MVP and three times led the league in RBIs. Born in the Bay Area, following World War II service he enrolled at his home state's university, where he was an All-American football player in 1948, and ran 67 yards for a touchdown in the 1949 Rose Bowl, but he left school after his junior year, signing for $40,000 to play baseball with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. (Professional football, given the meagre wages it paid then, was never even in the picture.) After one year at Oakland, his manager was hired to manage the New York Yankees, and his contract was bought by the Yankees. Dubbed the Golden Boy, he was expected to succeed the great Joe DiMaggio as the Yanks' centerfielder, but when DiMaggio retired after the 1951 season, Mickey Mantle won out in the competition to replace him, and in May of 1952 our man was traded. After two seasons, he was traded again, to a club where as a right-handed power hitter he was able to take advantage of the stadium's short left field. From 1954 through 1959, he was the team's cleanup hitter. In 1958, he drove in 122 runs, and was was named American League MVP - ahead of Mickey Mantle. He quit baseball following the 1959 season, but returned after a one-year layoff in 1961. Although he batted .263 and drove in 66 runs, that one year was enough for him. His problem? Fear of flying. Baseball was expanding. the National League already had staked its claims in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and air travel was unavoidable. Nothing - not psychiatrists, not hypnotists - could help him to conquer his fear, and he retired. He held a succession of jobs, and coached baseball at the University or Nevada-Reno and his own alma mater. He died of a heart attack in 1982 at age 55. *********** Coach, I am just sitting here trying to do some class work for a PE class I am taking. It is a principle and analysis of team sports, and I am doing mine on football. I have to review a couple of articles and report on them and I was going through some of my back issues of Scholastic Coach to find them. I was also listening to the ESPN Sports Reporters, and they were talking about what a great Super Bowl it was. I felt it was a great game too, but I thought it was great in about all aspects except the final, winning points coming on an field goal. I feel that if the NFL wanted to help out the salary cap situations they should make it so that field goals would count only one point, and then only regular, position players could kick them and extra points. This would do away with those non-physical players that only kick in practice all week, and then kick winning field goals during games. I am fed up with this. I would like to see kickers be like Lou Groza, Jim O'Brien etc., and have kicking as an addendum to their regular playing resume. Of course, most people would say I am biased since I run the double wing and have only kicked two field goals in the last 5 years (that was with my starting QB who had an exceptional leg), and who goes for two point conversions after 90% of his touchdowns. I think we have only called one passing play for an extra point in the five years I have run the double wing. Even then, I called Red/Red/ pass and told the QB he was only to throw it if all the defensive backs fell down. We have never actually thrown the ball for an PAT. We have been extremely successful running for PATs by mixing up our running plays and not being afraid to use about any of them from three yards out. One of our most successful ones has been the criss-cross. But we will run wedge, sweep, G, Super Power or criss-cross for PATs. We did lose one ballgame 7-6 this year, but we scored three TDs that were called back in that game of phantom holding calls, and if I had it to do over again I would do the same thing. I am sure that we kicked less than 10% of our PATs and then it was usually late in the game and I did it to keep my kicker/WB appeased somewhat. Well, just wanted to get some things off my chest. I am getting ready to review your 1998 article on "Wildcatting the Double-Wing". Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida (You all know how I feel about field goal specialists. My proposal - and I'm stickin' to it - is that no player may kick a ball more than once in a game. I am open to negotiation on punters, and I might compromise at merely outlawing place kicks. I think it says more about the previous Super Bowl games than it does about this past one when I hear people gush about this one being the "Greatest Ever," the "Most Exciting." etc. For me, Super Bowls lost a lot of their interest once the two teams could be compared based on common opponents or, as with this year, head-to-head games. Yes, I'm an old fart, but I think one of the best games ever was Super Bowl Four (not sure they'd discovered Roman Numerals yet), the year following the Jets' supposedly-flukey win over the Colts, when the Chiefs dispelled any of the sense of NFL smugness created by the Packers' wins in games one and two. The Chiefs, loaded with AFL all-stars such as Len Dawson, Mike Garrett, Otis Taylor, Willie Lanier and Buck Buchanan, validated the Jets' win by hammering a very good Vikings team, 23-7. HW) *********** After a French politician complained that French school kids no longer knew their national anthem, some group, in typical liberal fashion, came out with a CD designed to teach the song to kids - but in a wide variety of musical styles, including reggae. Anybody who has ever attended a professional sports contest or watched one on TV knows that we are way ahead of the French when it comes to exposing the American people to a wide variety of national anthems, all called, coincidentally, "The Star-Spangled Banner." *********** The California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of state high school sports, is discussing a proposal to try to staunch the flood of transfers of high school students for athletic purposes. Under the proposal, the CIF would require school officials to certify that no member of the school's booster clubs or athletic departments had had any contact with prospective transfers.
*********** Back in World War II, our government, with the help of Hollywood studios, produced a series of films entitled "Why We Fight," just to keep the people fired up. (And possibly to inform those among us who were too brain-dead to understand about Hitler and Pearl Harbor.) Some cynics nowadays look back and call it propaganda, but not even modern Hollywood at its best could come up with anything on the same scale nowadays. They wouldn't know where to begin. That's because just when they got finished telling the public that our troops are in Afghanistan as part of a mission to preserve our way of life, along would come another story that makes Americans want to bring 'em all back and turn 'em loose here in America. On the kind of people who produce Grand Theft Auto III. Grand Theft Auto III is a new video game from Take Two Interactive Software in which, according to the New York Times, "players take on the roles of ex- cons, roaming a city, carrying out depraved missions for the mob, killing cops, picking up prostitutes, beating pedestrians senseless with a bat." According to one video game enthusiast, interviewed in San Francisco, "It doesn't have a moral. You just bash." Hmmm. Sounds as if he could be describing the people who play it.
*********** A teacher-friend wrote that he had a bad day Thursday - a kid caught snorting cocaine, another who brought a hunting knife which he said was going to be used to gut a rival, and a girl who threatened suicide. And these were sixth-graders! He wrote back, thankful that it was Friday, to say, "Mr. Cocaine got a 3 day suspension and 30 days in our "rubber room" across the county. Mr. Hunting Knife got the same sentence pending whatever the sheriff wants to do. In this county, that means nothing! The suicide girl is in a care facility and being watched. Whatever happened to running in the hall, throwing paper wads, skipping class, putting paper towels in the urinals and passing notes?" *********** Noticed some of the "trivial" lapses of integrity that have popped up since The Man From Hope was left off the hook? The Mount Holyoke College professor who lied about serving in Vietnam? The best-selling historians who freely used other people's work without, at the least, proper attribution? The big-time football coach who claimed the sort of graduate degree that other people have to work for? It isn't that easy to take a stand for honesty in today's America, as a Kansas high school biology teacher has learned. When she discovered that some 20 percent of the kids in her biology class had cheated on their semester products - copying them off the Internet - she gave them all zeroes. A zero on the project, which accounted for half the semester grade, meant failure for the semester. Her principal and superintendent backed her up. At first. But then mommies and daddies - defend our kids no matter what, right? - got into the act, and, in a manner which anyone who has ever taught in a small school district has all-too-frequently witnessed, they brought pressure on the school board, sending it into a debate on the meaning of the word "is." And when they were done, they had arrived at a decision designed to appease the parents while still giving the outward appearance that the wrongdoers had still been punished. Remember those people who said that, yes, Clinton may have lied under oath, but it "didn't rise to the level of an impeachable offense?" Remember them saying, "Yes, he should he punished, BUT....?" Their spirit lives on, in the school board of a small Kansas town. The board agreed that, yes, what the students did was wrong - of course they should be punished. But they shouldn't be punished that much. So instead of being given zeroes on a project that counted as 50 per cent of the semester's credit, the board ruled, they should be given half credit for their "work," and the project should count not as 50 per cent of the semester grade, but only 30 per cent. At least somebody in the district had a set of stones. The teacher resigned shortly after the board handed down its decision. *********** In answer to my question about what happened to big-play tight ends like John Mackey (although, to be truthful, there was only one John Mackey): "I'd have to venture a guess that the last time a real tight end, not Shannon Sharpe, saw the scoring end of a pass play for 50+ yards would have to be some time in the late 80's/early 90's with Randall Cunningham hooking up with Keith Jackson for the Eagles." Brian Beacraft, San Jose, California *********** Coach, The past two seasons in the D-wing we are 20-5! Three of those losses are to the State Champions that moved to class-A ball two years ago from AA. Prior to moving down they played for the AA State Championship. To sum it up in 1998 we changed to the D-wing and were a very competitive 2-8. The other team played for the AA State championship that year. Now we are their biggest rival and they have not lost to a single A school in 6 years! Which program do you think has come further? If you EVER need any help marketing your system do not hesitate to ask Jet (Coach Jet Turner) and me! Thanks for all your help. Our success would not have been possible without it. Sincerely, Jeff Murdock, Ware Shoals High School, Ware Shoals, South Carolina *********** Just two days into the Olympics, whose motto is "Faster, higher, farther," and I'm already sick of these stupid events where it doesn't matter how fat, high or far you go, but how the judges scored you. *********** I watched some girl skiing down those mogul things, and my first thought was, "what happened to the other racer?" I know, I know - there wasn't another racer. It was just another one of those dumbass, beat-the-clock deals, with "style Points" thrown in, based on something called a "helicopter." Terrific. One more chance for judges to get into the act. Sometimes I think the whole Olympics deal is just a front, so judges can travel to exotic places and stay in posh hotels and eat free. Meanwhile, the Winter Olympics, with the same-old, same-old of guys in sequins and girls in diving suits, is losing the coveted young audience to events like the X-games. Question: why not two skiers racing down the mogul course at the same time? *********** The Opening Ceremonies of the Winter Olympics were definitely better than any Super Bowl halftime I have ever seen. But I must say, not being one for extravaganzas, that I probably would have missed it if it had been time to walk the dogs.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He is the only man to have played in the
Rose Bowl, the East-West Game, the World Series, and
baseball's All-Star Game. "The only thing lacking," recalled
a college teammate, "was an Olympic Gold Medal."
Correctly identifying Prentice Gautt - Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Mark Kaczmarek- Davenport, Iowa... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Whit Snyder- Baytown, Texas... Joe Daniels - Sacramento, California... Glade Hall- Seattle, Washington... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky... *********** It was letter-of-intent signing day yesterday, and a local college which will go unnamed, signed a local kid, who will remain unnamed, from a local high school, which will, like everything else, remain unnamed. Evidently, the kid is talented. But he also is controversial. Partway through this past season, he transferred high schools. Were you paying attention? During the season. Deserted his teammates. There are some cynics who say it was to get more exposure in a better program. Who are we to judge? To say the least, there is some lingering bitterness. I don't know what sort of thinking went into the decision to recruit and sign the kid, but it would seem to me a risky move from a PR standpoint, considering how many area high school coaches now harbor the perception that, despite all their preaching about the importance of team play, a kid was rewarded for his selfishness, and others will be inspired to do the same thing he did. *********** According to the Rocky Mountain News, of Denver, the Colorado Amateur Hockey Association says out-of-control parents are partly to blame for the resignations of 150 youth hockey referees over the past two seasons. *********** Coach Wyatt, I recently purchased a great football book, it a must read for all football coaches. The name of the book is called "Run To Win" by Donald T. Phillips and it's about Vince Lombardi and his philosophy on coaching and leadership. I just wanted let you know about it and wanted to see if you have ever read it and if so what you thought about it. Do you know of any other good books on coaching football and leadership? Steve Spaziano, Warwick, Rhode Island *********** Don't know whether you heard about the survey of TiVo users after the Super Bowl. Actually, I don't know all that much about TiVo, except that it sounds like a pretty neat concept. Let's just keep things simple and say that it's an advanced - a very advanced - VCR. Anyhow, the TiVo people somehow determined what part of the Super Bowl broadcast was most re-watched by TiVo users, and found that the most-watched play was not the interception return for a TD, or Patten's diving pass reception, or the hard (if dangerous) hit on Proehl that caused a fumble. It was - if you can believe this - the game-winning field goal! A field goal was the most-watched play, and the second-most-watched part of the entire Super Bowl broadcast. Come on - who would want to rerun a field goal, unless it was a bunch of Patriots' fans putting it in the faces of the Rams' fans in the same room? I mean, who gets that excited about a field goal? And you say it was only the second-most-watched part? What was first? You say it was one of those Brittney Spears Pepsi commercials? Never mind. That tells me all I need to know about TiVo users.
Based on the book whose introduction you just read, I would have to say that this time the NCAA took it easy on Kentucky. The book was sent me by my good friend, David Crump, a long-time Kentucky high school coach who now lives in Owensboro, and is a friend of the author, Tony Franklin. Tony Franklin was also a long-time Kentucky high school coach, and he claims to have played a part in helping convince Kentucky AD C.M. Newton to hire little-known Hal Mumme from Valdosta State to succeed Bill Curry as the Wildcats' head coach. He then served on Mumme's staff at UK before disillusionment and disagreement set in and he left the program. And that's when Tony Franklin decided to write the book, entitled "Fourth Down and a Life to Go." And partly as a result of the book, the man who played a part in Hal Mumme's hiring also played a role in Mumme's downfall. But lest anyone think Tony Franklin alone brought Hal Mumme down, the book will convince you that Hal Mumme, and Hal Mumme alone, was ultimately responsible for the spectacular crash-and-burn that took place at Kentucky.
*********** I have lived in the West for over 25 years, but I will never get the East Coast out of me, so I still get a laugh whenever I say to a guy, "How ya doin'?" and he says, "Pretty good," or something like that, as if I had asked him a question and wanted an answer. And he never greets me in return! See, he thought I was really asking how he was doing, instead of just using the Easterner's version of "Hi!" or "Howdy!" or "Hey!" (or "Whazzup?") So I really got a kick out of one of the Bud Light commercials on Super Bowl Sunday. (Actually, I liked 'em all, including the one where the girl ponders at length before deciding which card to buy for her boyfriend, while in the next scene the guy plunks his six-pack of Bud Light on the checkout counter and, purely on impulse, just before the cashier starts to ring up the sale, grabs a card for her out of a close-by rack. Later, they sit at a table and she looks at the card he bought her and coos, at the thought of how sentimental and thoughtful he is.) But my favorite was the one in which the Texan walks into a bar full of Jersey guys, and one of them, in the usual manner of greeting, says, "How ya doin'?" And, thinking the guy really cares how he's doing, the Texan gives him a long-winded answer. And so it goes, one "how ya doin'" and one long-winded answer after another, as the Jersey guys look at each other in bemusement.
While our troops in Afghanistan will be eating MRE's, the NBA Players' Association has specified that the champagne served at the affair be Louis Roederer Cristal Brut. In case you want to impress the guys when they come over to watch the NBA All-Star game (I guess somebody watches), hurry out to your store and get some. Be sure to take money. In Pennsylvania, where all spirits are sold in state-owned stores, the retail price is $180. A bottle. Of course, if you live in Pennsylvania, you're out of luck. The NBA guys are going to wash down their canapes with every single bottle in the Commonwealth. There were only six cases in the entire state - 72 bottles - and the NBA got 'em all. One of my Christmas presents was a book (actually, a lot of my Christmas presents are books - my kids know me well) entitled "Tall Tales." It is by Terry Pluto, a sportswriter for the Akron Beacon-Journal who also wrote "Loose Balls," an incredibly good look at the World Basketball Association through interviews with the people who made it go. "Tall Tales" gives the same treatment to the early days of the NBA, when owners' lives were a a constant struggle to survive, and players scratched out a living playing a game they loved. And drinking beer afterwards. Lots and lots of it, by their accounts. And now, those players - old men, now - are going to stand around at a party in Philly and sip champagne at $180 a bottle? Depending on how it's poured, that's $18 to $20 a glass. Even guys that big, after playing a hard game of basketball, would have had a hard time putting away all the beer that would have bought, at 25 cents a schooner, back in the 50s and 60s. Using my conversion tables, I quickly tried to see how many 7-ounce bottles of Rolling Rock that would buy at a Pittsburgh tavern. How many Slim Jims. Or pickled eggs. Or White Castle sliders. Or 12-packs of Old Milwaukee. For the price of one bottle of NBA champagne, I could set up the whole house at the Big Foot Tavern. On Friday night, which is Karaoke Night.
*********** The next time parents tell you that they won't let their son play football because it's too dangerous - when you just know that he's out looking for a job so he can make enough money to pay for his car insurance - you might want to quote Dr. Jean Shope senior research scientist at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, has to say: "A lot of parents don't even realize driving is the most risky thing for their child. They worry about drugs or alcohol or something else, but it's being on the road in a car as a passenger or a young driver." According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, two-thirds of the teenagers killed in 2000 while passengers in a car were killed when a teenager was the driver. A study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health found that a teenager was far more likely to be killed in an automobile accident when there were other teenagers in the car. A 16-year-old driver was 39 per cent more likely to die when carrying one teenage passenger than when driving alone. When carrying two teenage passengers, the risk of death was 86 per cent greater. The opposite is true for adults, when the lone driver is in far more danger. The supposition is that adults tend to be more careful when entrusted with the lives of others, while teenagers are more likely to be distracted, or even to fall into "watch this!" mode. Whether the driver is male or female, having a male teenage passenger just about doubles the risk; on the other hand, though, having a teenage girl on board reduces the risk, but the risk jumps again when a male driver has two female passengers. Assuming you want your teenager to live, and not to cause injury or death to others, you should restrict the teenager's driving, recommends Tara Parker-Pope in The Wall Street Journal. Forbidding them from driving after 9 PM, and prohibiting them from carrying other passengers unless there is an adult in the car will greatly reduce risks. "The greatest benefit," she writes, "comes if the curfew and passenger limits are imposed until the teen reaches 18 years of age."
*********** I was listening to people call in to Rush Limbaugh on the subject of John Walker "Johnny Jihad" Lindh, and I was absolutely appalled by the number of people who agreed with Johnny's daddy, saying, in effect, "The role of a father is to defend your child, no matter what." Presumably, that would include lying and concealment of facts. Hey, jackass! I shouted at the radio. It's you and people like you, whose kids are never wrong - never lie, cheat, steal or use drugs or alcohol - no matter what, who drive teachers, coaches and police nuts all over America.
*********** All I know is what I read, and what I read is that the baseball coach at Mira Costa High, in Manhattan Beach, California resigned week, along with nine other members of his staff, in protest of the school administration's decision to "demote" an assistant junior varsity coach for using profanity. Last season. Baseball practice is due to start next week. You should pardon my profanity, but unless this has been a long-festering issue, this is a hell of a time for the administration to be dealing with an offense that occurred last season. *********** Last Friday night, like many other coaches who have written me, I tuned in to A & E's "Investigate Reports." We had been promised a look "inside high school football," and to a certain extent, the producers delivered on their promise. Their idea was to do a compare-and-contrast look at two vastly different high school football programs. They could just as easily chosen a public school and a private school, a small, rural school and a large, suburban school. They chose Stephenville High School in Stephenville, Texas, a classic small-town, crazy-about-football, kids-growing-up-like-kids setting, and Thomas Jefferson High School in south-central L.A., the stereotypical inner-city school where football survives largely because of the strength of character of its coach, and, without any hoopla, serves as a welcome escape for kids whose everyday lives are not always pleasant. There are obvious differences, of course. At Stephenville's home opener against Midland Lee, 10,000 people are on hand. When "Jeff" plays (in the afternoon of course, for security reasons) a tiny crowd files in - through a metal detector. The Stephenville teams comes charging onto the field out of a giant, inflated helmet; the Jefferson team bursts through a piece of decorated construction paper held by two cheerleaders. Jeff has a lot of scary things going on around it. Stephenville is described as, "the way things used to be and still ought to be," by one of its residents. Jefferson is all-minority- black and Hispanic. Stephenville is almost completely white, except for wide receiver Jeremy Madkins, whose dad, Dr. Jerry Madkins, is a Baptist preacher. Dr. Madkins is definitely a black man, and definitely a stirring, charismatic preacher, but I don't think the kids from Jeff would understand him, because he is also a small-town guy with old-fashioned values. He expects a lot of his son With his son sitting in the front pew, he tells his congregation (are you listening, Jeremy? I have a feeling he's talking to you) that there are things in life that are more important than football: "Honor...duty...country... God." Whew, Wish he lived near me. Stephenville has an indoor practice field and a large, staffed, training room. Jefferson has large areas on its practice field that haven't grown grass in years. After the game, the Stephenville kids go out and party. They do not go out and get rip-roaring drunk. "This isn't Varsity Blues," one of the team leaders says. "It's not like that here. We don't let anybody do that. The cool thing is to be a Christian." The Jeff kids go over to one of the guys' homes, where his mom cooks up a meal for them. Their chores may be different, but they still have chores. Stephenville's John Harrell gets up before 6 AM and feeds the horses; Jefferson's Edwin Flores gets up before 6 AM and fixes breakfast for his younger brother and sister. But there are two very important things that both schools have in common: kids who want to play football, and men of good character who coach them. Stephenville's Scott Lee is a fiery middle linebacker, who doesn't hesitate to get in his teammates' faces when they are not performing up to his standards. Part way through the season, as a long losing streak begins to take its toll on team morale, Jefferson running back Travonne Johnson gets in the face of a teammate he hears saying "F--- Jeff," and asks him for his helmet, the equivalent of tearing off a soldier's stripes. The coaches come off well. Neither one drools, or shouts vulgarities, or grabs face masks. They both spend a lot of time translating the lessons of football into lessons for life. Neither one is a "me" guy. The Stephenville Coach, Mike Copeland, and the Jefferson coach, Hank Johnson, live and coach worlds apart. But they have both been in coaching a long time, and I swear, when I looked back at the notes I'd taken, and the quotes I'd written down, I had to look twice to make sure which one of them had said them. In fact, there are points in the show in which the directors have so cleverly edited the video that the coaches finish each other's sentences. How about this one, at halftime of an early-season game, with his team down, 19-0. "I don't need to know how you are when you're up 19-0. I need to know how you are right now." There is no ass-chewing. He's just telling the kids that he's learning, too - he wants to see how they can take a punch. And it could as easily been Mike Copeland of Stephenville or Hank Johnson of Jefferson saying it. "Most people experience a lot of losses in life. You got to get those kids ready for that." Either one could have said that. I was impressed by both coaches. Coach Copeland has won several state titles, and, with the hopes of an entire community depending on his efforts, he is obviously under quite a bit of pressure to win. He doesn't let on that he is. He has a job to do. Unlike Coach Copeland, Coach Johnson can only dream about state championships, but he is no less successful at what he does. Success, for him, is "Seeing kids come in undisciplined... no direction... and leave as men." Travonne Johnson is going to leave as a man. "Tray" speaks to community groups about succeeding. He wants to be a doctor. Coach Johnson says he likes to joke with Travonne, saying, "If I'm around when you become a doctor, I'm going to get rid of my doctor, and you'll become my private physician. I'll trust you." Coach Johnson is a lot of things to his kids, not least of them a father-figure. He insists on sportsmanship. Following every game, the Jefferson teams forms a line and claps for the opposing team as it files out on its way to the bus. In an overall positive show, there had to be a few disquieting things, and there were. In what has to be the greatest example of the trophy-for-everybody mentality that pervades the administration of so many of America's schools, we are told that "With a record of 0-7, Jefferson is "on the verge of not making the playoffs." On the verge, did you say? 0-7 and they still might make the playoffs? Wouldn't want to hurt their self-esteem, I guess, by telling them they weren't good enough. And I was dismayed by one scene, the coin toss before a Jeff game. The Jeff quarterback has a young son, born out of wedlock to him and his girlfriend. The referee, who evidently hasn't seen the quarterback in a while, shakes his hand and says, "Congratulations on your fatherhood." Yeah. Congratulations. You knocked up your girlfriend. That was quite an act of manhood. The kid swears he's going to be a good father, unlike his own father, but before the season's half over, he's broken up with Mom and he's puttin' it in her face, nuzzlin' with a cheerleader. And then, toward the end of the show, we get blindsided by the folks at A & E. We go to a break, and they tell us they want us to take part in a poll: "YOU TELL US," they say. "IS THERE TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON ATHLETICS IN HIGH SCHOOL?" Huh? Where did that come from? I was just enjoying myself, watching a show about two groups of kids and the men who led them. Guess some fruit who resented the jocks back when he was in high school couldn't stand the fact that so much of the show was so - positive. And finally at the end, the host, a stuffed-shirt Ted-Baxter type named Bill Kurtis, one of these guys who every so often gazes downward reflectively, as if he's thinking of precisely the right word to use (when it's all written for him on the big cue card on front of him), wraps it up by saying, "The debate continues..." Huh? Debate? What debate? "..over whether high schools place too much emphasis on athletics..."
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: When he was a little kid, Prentice
Gautt dreamed of playing football for his home state
university, Oklahoma, but he was enough of a realist to
know that wasn't likely to happen - not at a school that
had never had a black player.
*********** "Hugh, In a Mike Martz interview he was asked how many plays the Rams put in for the game on Sunday. "Between, 260 and 275," he said. Do these guys really believe we think they're that smart? Or, is he pulling our legs for TV's sake?" Glade Hall, Seattle, Washington (I believe it to the extent that anybody can draw plays. The trick is to get your players to execute them. I can only figure if they really do have that many plays, they made a hell of a lot of poor choices Sunday. HW)
*********** No one will ever accuse the people at Stanford of not being civil. At most sports events, security people wear jackets with "EVENT SECURITY," or 'STADIUM SECURITY" lettered boldly on the back. At Stanford, the jackets read "STANFORD GUEST SERVICES." Makes you feel like you could go up to one of them and say, "Excuse me, but could you recommend a wine to go with cracked crab?" *********** A kid wrote in to the Vancouver Columbian newspaper Monday, attempting to defend street-racing. He has obviously been well-taught by some of today's social studies teachers about the Miracle of Diversity, and here are the the fruits of their teachings: "Street racing is a successful subculture internationally," the kid wrote. "It is a community where color of skin or religious preference hold no bearing. (Whatever "hold no bearing" means.) It is a tribute to American ideals that people from multiple ethnic backgrounds can congregate in an area to share a common interest." Wow. Dr. King would have been so-o-o-o-o proud. *********** For those of you who wonder what has happened to NFL offenses, I submit three questions: (1) Does anyone out there remember John Mackey, or Mike Ditka (the player)? (2) Have you noticed what hogs the NFL tight ends have turned into? (3) When was the last time you saw a tight end on the scoring end of a pass play of 50 yards or more? *********** I know he missed a lot of practices and games, but remember - it wasn't his fault! So tell me - in view of the fact that he claims a disability is behind his failing drug tests and missing practices, do you think Terry Glenn will file a discrimination suit if he doesn't get a Super Bowl ring? *********** What happens when you give a referee a microphone and a national audience? You get the Steelers-Patriots AFC title game, the longest non-overtime game in NFL history. If you thought you'd been hearing the NFL refs more than usual, you're right. It is the law of unintended consequences, popping up once again. It seems that more instant replay means more explanations. And more detailed explanations, at that. The NFL referees, concerned that if they didn't thoroughly explain what they were looking for and what was behind their ruling, the TV announcers would try, have gone on the offensive, with wordy recitations of the reasons for the reviews, followed by the rulings themselves and the rules that apply.
*********** One letter that never made it to Steve Plisk... Hi! Mr.Plisk my name is --- and I'm a junior at --- ,and I play football. We had a ok year going 5-5 on the season with a new head coach and staff. I played for half of the season. Well now since the year is over these new coaches insist on us being in the weight room. As a football player I know that I have to be in the weightroom to play on the next level. Now since it's the off-season We started our weight program in Dec. and my max for the bench press has not went up I weigh 160 my height is 6'0 and my max is 160 and I can't get passed that at all. Plus I'm trying to gain weight and my coaches tell me that I gain it being in the weight room lifting and addin more muscle. But I'm not getting bigger doing there workout. So Mr. Plisk I'm asking you can you make me a week workout so I can gain weight and get stronger for this upcoming season.Mr. Plisk I thank you for your time and I hope you can help me. Bye and I hope to hear from you soon! Dear ---- Our purpose is to advise coaches, not athletes. The advice we give to any athlete is to work with their coaches and do as their coaches suggest.
*********** FYI - The Pop Warner title game will be on again: ESPN, February 8th, 8:00 PM EST *********** I had a chance to watch about half of the Pop Warner championship on TV MOnday night. The Northwood Rams, from my old neighborhood in Baltimore, near old Memorial Stadium, were far too talented for the Everett (Massachusetts) Eagles. The TV coverage by ESPN was, to say the least, lacking. They crammed the game into an hour's time slot, less 12-15 minutes for commercial breaks, and when they were on, there were a lot of shots of fans, cheerleaders and coaches' sideline antics. (Actually, I'm not real excited about TV showing coaches at any level on the sidelines during games.) When they did show us the game, they too often zoomed in so tight you couldn't tell what was happening.
One way or another, Georgia Tech will get to the truth. It's just that at some places, it takes a little more doing than at others. George O'Leary left Tech for greener pastures - Notre Dame - until the Irish learned of, uh, "discrepancies" on his resume, in the form of falsely-claimed playing experience and graduate work. Georgia Tech had never questioned his claims the whole time he was there. And then, all the while Mac McWhorter, the interim coach who'd replaced O'Leary, was preparing the Yellow Jackets for a bowl game, under an impression given him by the athletic director that he had a shot at the permanent head job, the duplicitous Tech athletic director, Dave Braine, was actually skulking behind the scene, maneuvering to hire Chan Gailey Now it appears that Gailey and Tech are an even better fit than originally thought. Turns out that two of his recently-hired assistants have, uh, "misleading biographies." Tech announced on Saturday that defensive coordinator Rick Smith had been forced to resign after a three-man investigative committee concluded that he had misrepresented himself in his biography. Receivers coach Tommie Robinson, although determined not to have earned a master's degree listed on a school press release, was allowed to remain. "Who would have ever dreamed that you would find three bios at one school that were inaccurate?" asked athletic director Braine, who actually sounded surprised to learn that some people in this world were dishonest. "I don't think it's normal." The scary thing is that in an institution that exemplified dishonesty in the way its administration deluded and then discarded interim Coach McWhorter and his staff, it seems all too normal.
*********** Whew! At least football coaches aren't the only ones! The soccer coach at UCLA was let go when it was revealed that the "degree" he claimed he held had basically been purchased through the mail from a Louisiana diploma mill.
MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me!
|
*********** Random Super Bowl observations...
*********** A pre-Christmas article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution told of a Conyers, Georgia woman named Patty Rasmussen, and her search for the perfect prayer card to insert in her Christmas cards. She chose one depicting Michael the Archangel doing battle with a demon. St. Michael is especially appropriate, because he's the patron saint of paratroopers, and Patty's son, Matt, a West Point graduate and second lieutenant, was at the time in Ranger training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Patty, who is a free-lance writer and writes a column for the Atlanta Braves' in-house paper, "Choptalk," especially liked the prayer card she selected because of the way St. Michael is dealing with the horned demon: "I love the way he's beating the crap out of him." Patty, I should tell you, is the daughter of General Jim Shelton, friend and former footballer, making Matt Rasmussen his grandson. Jim says he is very proud of Patty, "even if she was partially raised by a vulgar old man." On the reverse side of the prayer card is this "Prayer for Those in the Service."
*********** Coach: Read the post about the Pop Warner Super Bowl. The play in question (in which a defender came in low and took out a blocker at the knees) was talked up quite a bit. I recorded the play. I agree with your other correspondent; that was one of the most flagrant fouls by a defensive player. The only good thing the player did was to keep his head out of the way. He hit right on the FBs right knee. To here the commentators on the field and then at the network comment on how good the play was is unbelievable. Somebody at Pop Warner should make sure these "Professionals" learn the rules before calling the youth football games. I've read and re-read the rules about offensive/defensive clipping and blocking below the waist in preparation for trying to teach kids the rules, keep them safe, and have a good game. For the officials, and announcers to completely ignore that flagrant violation of the rules is very disturbing. I was always taught to take on the lead blockers, but never to cut them at their knees. My high school coach was a hard-nosed coach, but the rules concerning blocking and tackling were always respected and emphasized. The NFHS rule book does have an out for blocking below the waist outside of the "free" blocking zone, but it requires active pushing down of the blocker by the blockee. I have to admit I can never ever recall the contain or force players on defense ever being called for blocking below the waist in a high school game. And I have seen many occasions in both college and pro football where this action by a cornerback of safety has led to a sever knee injury. In the same game, the official on that side of the field called a clipping penalty for a crack-back block on the offense even though he was out of position to see the entire blocking sequence. (From the replay, it is my opinion that it was a legal block.) He may have erred on the side of caution, which at this level of play is appropriate, if not infuriating to the coaches. However, he did not call the foul on the defense earlier in the game even though you can see him in the same frame. I am wondering if there is some implied leniency given to the defense on these types of infractions? Maybe you could contact someone at the NFHS to review this play and make it a prime casebook example for the officials for next season. If officials at all levels of youth football want this type of safety violation stopped, they are going to have to call it in a game. As coaches, we have enough trouble coaching our players on offense not to clip or block below the waist on kick-offs, punts, sweeps, etc. The same rules apply to the defense, but I can not say that I've ever seen or heard of a blocking below the waist or clipping call against the defense. I call these moments "coaching" moments. On our team, I tell the referees to call the penalties as they see them, rather than warning me about it on the sideline. Until young players are called in a game for a penalty that you spend a lot of time talking about in practice, they will not consciously change their actions. I remember one time last year when my son got called for blocking below the waist on a kickoff in a tight game. His foul was not particularly flagrant, was away from the play, and resulted in the kickoff return to the opponents 2 yard line being reset inside our 25 yard line. The potential TD that we could have had had we not fouled would have been the difference between our team losing the game or winning. After the incident, I asked the whole team what did I mean by standing in front of every punt, kick-off, and return team practice and yelling "No blocking below the waist." The typical youth response was the result. I was finally able to drive home the point that I've been attempting to do for two years; and all the help I needed was for one official to make the proper call. Officials and coaches at the youth football level have a great challenge and responsibility to teach proper techniques for safe blocking and tackling. Officials have the challenge of trying to officiate a game in which every play probably has minor infractions for holding, etc. But major infractions of safety rules should be evenly enforced on both the defense and the offense, particularly those infractions which could lead to permanent injuries. Michael Morris, Madison County, Alabama *********** I'm against putting youth sports on tv for several reasons. I'm sure the Pop Warner operation is getting a hefty sum from the NFL and Walt Disney for their services. Espn can't just waltz in and televise games without being charged. Leave the kids out of the money machine for once.
*********** FYI - The Pop Warner title game will be on again: ESPN2, February 4th, 8:00 PM EST
*********** Chad Hutchinson hasn't played football since his sophomore year at Stanford. That was 1997. He left school to try his luck in baseball, but now, a hard-earned lesson in the realities of baseball behind him, he is ready to double-dip, signing a contract with the Cowboys. "Baseball was something that I enjoyed, but I felt like I really needed to explore my passion for football," Hutchinson told the Dallas Morning News. "It was always in the back of my mind. This is where my heart is. I want to thank Jerry Jones for giving me the chance to make my dream become a reality. It's an amazing opportunity for me." While he "explores his passion for football," he will be paid $4,000,000 over three years - including a $3,000,000 signing bonus. I would certainly agree that that is turning a dream into a reality. Yes, Hutchinson threw for 2,000 yards in 1997, but Stanford was still 5-6. Yes he is big - 6-5, 230 - but Ryan Leaf is bigger. And Ryan Leaf threw for 3968 yards that same year. And to keep things in perspective, while Hutchison was taking Stanford to a 5-6 season, Ryan Leaf was taking Washington State to the Rose Bowl, something that happens once every 67 years. And the Cowboys already have Ryan Leaf. Wonder if Dave Campo was consulted on that one. *********** I am trying to locate a supplier of the smoke/dark coloured eye shields but don't seem to be having any luck. Can you help by putting me in touch with a source for these shields? (I can't speak for the NCAA rules, but National Federation rules, which govern all high schools except those in Massachusetts and Texas (which use NCAA rules), prohibit any eye shields which are not clear.) *********** Teachers in Coventry, Rhode Island were paid a visit by their friendly state labor inspectors, who ordered them to remove all fixtures - carpets and furniture - that were not government issued. *********** In response to my wondering if I remembered correctly that Wilt Chamberlain's Overbrook High team had lost a game to a Western Pennsylvania team came this, from Todd Bross, in Sharon, Pennsylvania (definitely Western P-A). Yup, 1954 I think. Farrell - 59 Overbrook - 58 MORE ABOUT DON HOLLEDER AND THE TYPE OF MAN HE WAS "Major Holleder overflew the area (under attack) and saw a whole lot of Viet Cong and many American soldiers, most wounded, trying to make their way our of the ambush area. He landed and headed straight into the jungle, gathering a few soldiers to help him go get the wounded. A sniper's shot killed him before he could get very far. He was a risk-taker who put the common good ahead of himself, whether it was giving up a position in which he had excelled or putting himself in harm's way in an attempt to save the lives of his men. My contact with Major Holleder was very brief and occured just before he was killed, but I have never forgotten him and the sacrifice he made. On a day when acts of heroism were the rule, rather than the exception, his stood out." Dave Berry By the way... to make sure the record is correct... There is no "n" in "Holleder." The correct pronunciation is NOT "Hollander" - there is no "N". It was common, when Don Holleder was playing, for announcers to mispronounce his name "Hollander," and evidently it was a sore spot with his former wife, since remarried who, when I spoke with her, evidently thought I'd said "Hollander," and was quick to correct me! |
*********** It was such a cute story. My wife was reading a story in her teachers' union monthly about some high school teacher who had recently married some guy she met through an Internet dating service. Cute. Especially the part about the kids in her class enrolling her and sending in her details, unbeknownst to her. During class. See, she was, by her own admission, up at the front of the room grading papers. The kids were hard at work on their computers. Not so hard at work, though, that they weren't able to take a little time off to play dating games on behalf of their teacher, who remained totally unsuspecting, even while occasionally providing them with answers to certain personal questions. So, to make a short story of it, the kids entered her, she met Prince Charming, and they got married. Cute. And for this, school districts beg taxpayers for more money to buy more computers. And politicians rave about the need to wire every school for Internet access. It gets worse... Remember my story about the kid at La Center, Washington, who posted nasty things on the Internet about his former coach at Ridgefield High School? Remember my writing that while the Ridgefield principal essentially told the kid he wasn't welcome on their property, his own school apparently hadn't disciplined him? Well, I was wrong. He sure was disciplined. Wait till you hear what they did to him - they took away his Internet privileges! Uh, that's because, as it turns out, he'd posted the scurrilous note on a school computer. During class time. Using the school's Internet access. While supposedly under the supervision of a teacher. (I won't go on to ask the obvious: "what the hell class was that?") Ooo-whee. Time for "Let's Play Lawyer" - raise your hand if you think you see a possible liability suit anywhere. *********** Sadly noted:- The passing of NFL great Dick "Night Train" Lane, one of the few defensive backs of his time who would be a standout even in today's faster, pass-happy NFL. He was big and he was fast, and he was way out on front of the pack as a pass interceptor. *********** The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. If you're like most Americans, I'll bet when you think of the Americans with Disabilities Act, you think of trying to prevent discrimination against and provide opportunities for blind (oops- visually impaired) people and people in wheelchairs. Of little children who have trouble walking, and grownups who can't fend for themselves. I'll bet the Congress that passed it and the President who signed it were thinking that way, too. Somehow, I doubt that anybody was thinking of millionaire, malcontent professional athletes, but here we are: Terry Glenn, who despite his infrequent appearances at practices and non-appearances in games is still referred to as "New England Patriots' receiver Terry Glenn," is suing the NFL, claiming that a disability has prevented him from complying with the league's substance abuse policy. See, he failed a drug test and was suspended by the NFL for the first four games, and when he heard the news of the suspension, he vanished from the team and was suspended for the season by Coach Bill Belichick. An arbitrator overruled Coach Belichick, though, and he returned to the team. He played in four games but was suspended back on January 10 for "multiple unexcused absences." But it wasn't his fault! He has a disability! And not only can you not discriminate against him - possibly by expecting him to live by the same rules as anyone else - you have to make every reasonable effort to accomodate his disability! The real reason, it turns out, is not that he is a drug user, or that he is a malingerer, or that he is untrustworthy or unreliable. Those are merely manifestations of his disability, which, he claims, is chronic depression. Now, this is not to minimize chronic depression or the people - and their families - who live with it. It is serious business. Which is why this case angers me - I can't avoid the suspicion that a law enacted with all the best of intentions is being perverted to serve the purposes of some questionable "victims." *********** Brian Cox, of all people, was quoted the other day as upset at the lack of black people in NFL coaching, management and ownership positions. He should have stopped there. He may have had a point. I'm sure there are lots of qualified black men who are able to perform in NFL front offices. The Ravens' Ozzie Newsome, as just one example. But Bryan Cox, it developed, wasn't exactly leading a charge for his brothers. Oh no. it was more personal than that. He went on to say that he, himself, would be more than willing to accept a job with an NFL organization when his career as a player is over. Wow, I thought when I read that. This guy really is clueless. Fearless prediction: The only way he is going to go to work in a management capacity for any NFL team is if he buys the team. This is Bryan Cox, who for much of his career has gone out of his way to demonstrate quite clearly that he wasn't too interested in what other people thought - the sort of guy that teams tolerated, only so long as they felt he could play - the sort of character who would have been on the bus home in a heartbeat if he weren't so talented. So lest he tries to play the race card in his case, permit me to introduce into evidence a certain white guy named George Herman "Babe" Ruth. Yes, that Babe Ruth. The best baseball player who ever played the game. And a total bozo, who despite his best efforts to find a job in baseball after his career was over was instead dropped like a hot potato. The traits that were tolerated in Ruth when he was hitting 50+ home runs and packing ball parks around the American League made him persona non grata when he was used up. And Bryan Cox is no Babe Ruth. However, although I am not a licensed personnel consultant, I would suggest he consider a job as a sideline reporter. Nobody cares how big a jerk you were as a player, and there's no talent required.
Do you know what they said? Do you know what they accused him of? They said that he (are you ready for this?) took some time off! Imagine a college kid doing that? His crime, one which will no doubt go on his permanent NFL personnel record, was that, after months of non-stop big-time college football, he evidently kicked back for a while after the Tigers' Sugar Bowl win over Illinois. And ate. I think we've reached a hell of a pass when a kid can't take a few weeks off after his senior football season, especially when he lives in a place with the kind of food they serve down there. *********** If anybody ever needed an argument against 16-year-olds driving, here it is: A 16-year old Portland kid was involved in a street-racing incident in which a young woman in his opponent's car was killed. He is in deep trouble right now, according to a member of the Multnomah County Sheriff's Department: "He's as guilty as if that young lady had been in his car and he crashed into the pole. No difference." You wouldn't know it, though, to read some of the kid's quotes in the Portland Oregonian. (Did I mention that he left the scene?) "Everybody races," he told the paper afterward. "People do it all the time." Street-racing is becoming a major problem in the Portland-Vancouver area, with several recent fatalities. It happens that just a month ago, our same 16-year-old was watching a race in which his car was being driven by a friend. A sheriff's sergeant arrested him, ordered his car towed, and sent him on his way. "I made him walk home that night, hoping it would teach him a lesson," the sergeant said. Whew. Does that officer have a lot to learn about these kids. And their parents. The kid, of course, didn't seem to learn much of a lesson, since four weeks later he was involved in the fatal race. And as for the mother, she was, according to the Oregonian, "infuriated." She told the Oregonian that no police officer had the right to "send her son out into the night on foot by himself." "They never punish any police," she said.
While Coach Campo recovers from hip replacement surgery, "Coach" Jones has been doing the leg work, interviewing candidates and bringing those he likes in to Dallas and sending them over to the Campo residence to spend a little time with the guy who, on the organizational chart at least, will be their boss. "I think we've made some significant progress on finding the right person," Jones told the Dallas Morning News.
*********** Hi Coach, That guy you mentioned who sang the National Anthem straight up (before the Steelers-Patriots game) was Pittsburgh Rock n' Roll legend Donnie Iris, of Donnie Iris and the Cruisers. Donnie is as Pittsburgh as it gets. (disclaimer - I am a HUGE fan) He has been in the "game" for a long time, and recorded a lot of albums, and a few single hits. You may remember one called "The Rapper" by the Jaggerz - early 70's. That was Donnie. He is a no nonsense in-your-face, at -the-bar-Friday-night , cold-beer-good-friends, hit-the-high-C-when-he-needs-it, Fender Strat-screaming, kick-your-ass rocker. And I guarantee he would have been the scrawny kid on the team that caused opposing teams hell. He has a set of "rocks" (joke intended).
*********** Coach, I read with great interest the story about the coach who applied for a job, interviewed for it, was one of the finalists, did not get the job and learned about who did from the local paper. Although it happened in a different line of work, something similar happened to me last summer. Not getting the job did not bother me too much. Somebody has to win, somebody has to lose. That's life and I can accept that. But when you are told you are one of the finalists for the position and led to believe that you are the leading candidate, it just seems like common courtesy for the employer to somehow get in touch with the finalists that didn't make the cut and say "We hired somebody else. Thanks for your interest." That doesn't seem like such a hard or time-consuming thing to do. It would be one thing if I was one of the dozen or more people who never survived the initial screening and obviously there isn't enough time to get back to everyone who applied for the job, but when you're one of three or four finalists, they owe you that courtesy. Maybe it's a liability issue, I don't know. Maybe some lawyer told them that even saying something like that could be used against them in court. Never mind that I was not going to sue. It just wasn't worth the trouble. I may have mentioned this to you before, but in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a coach. I am a sports editor. I read your site because I find it entertaining and also because I want to learn about coaches and coaching. After all, I spend a lot of time dealing with coaches in my line of work and I find it helpful to get your point of view (and those of other coaches) on as many different topics as you cover on this site. The position I applied for was another sports editor's job in another part of the country. After the interview (it was done over the phone), the managing editor told me he would make a decision within a week and be in touch with me. Two weeks passed. I called him and left messages. I emailed him, and I never heard from him again. Eventually I went to the paper's Web site and found out the position was filled. When I do season previews for various teams, sometimes a coach will inform me that he hasn't made his final cuts yet and ask me to hold off on the story because he doesn't want the kids to find out who made the team and who didn't by reading the paper. Now I know why some coaches ask me to hold off on those stories. .Take care and thanks for listening Steve Tobey Malden, Mass. (Steve- It doesn't bother me in the slightest that you are not a coach. I think that coaches can benefit from other perspectives that are similar to or parallel to theirs, and I think that other people can benefit sometimes from understanding coaches a little better. Actually, although my readership seems to be mostly coaches, many of them are youth coaches who in their real lives are lawyers, servicemen, firemen, real estate agents, plumbers, police officers - maybe even sports reporters, if they happen to work for an AM paper. Your insight is quite helpful, especially as it relates to coaches' feeling an obligation to tell kids face-to-face when they've been cut. HW)
This appeared on the site of Americans for Tax Reform (www.atr.org), on their "Liberals Lie" Page, and is reprinted with their kind permission as a service to football fans everywhere - you might want to keep it at the ready in case some faculty harpy starts spouting femmie nonsense in the faculty room... "We know that on Super bowl Sunday, for the last 10 years, that I've been keeping data, that there's an increase in the number of women who are seriously hurt, who call battered women shelter's and who use the police." -Lenore Walker, Denver psychologist and author of The Battered Woman, Good Morning America, (1/23/93). INTRODUCTION: * In 1993 several feminists concocted a myth based on false statistics that women are especially beaten on Super Bowl Sunday; that beatings increase by 40% on that day alone.(1) WHY THIS IS A LIBERAL LIE: * It was a 1993 press conference by Sheila Kuehl of the California Women's Law Center which started this lie. At the press conference Kuehl cited data from a 1989 Old Dominion University study which found a link between domestic violence in Northern Virginia and games played by the Washington Redskins in the 1988-1989 season.(11) Linda Mitchell, an employee of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), added credibility to Kuehl's story. A REFUTATION: * The truth is nobody really knows for sure the number of battered women every year, let alone on Super Bowl Sunday. In Who Stole Feminism: How Women have Betrayed Women, author Christina Sommers looked at this very lie and uncovered various contradictory published statistics saying that that women are beaten every 18, 15, 12, 10.5, 10, 1.9, 7.4 and 5 seconds.(13) CONCLUSION: * Sniechowski and Sherven have also noted that, "solutions will only emerge from an unbiased look at how the two people are participating in a situation of ongoing brutality. That however, is politically incorrect, and the denial surrounding co-responsibility is enormous."(23)
|
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Jock Sutherland doesn't look like a
modern version of a football coach; he looks more like a
professional man, which, in fact he was. He was a
dentist, and he was frequently referred to as "Doctor",
but he was some football coach. He turned out some
powerful teams, noted particularly for the hard-nosed
brand of football they played.