Much Alive ... Barely

I'm still here ... no worries, please.

I've just been God-awful busy as of late, concentrating on school-related things, plus a little football on the side. It's been a cruddy-ass past couple of weeks, in which there are very few things going on.

Some a few of the highlights:

• Fantasy Football: In the SD League, I'm a perfect 3-0. In the MN League, I'm 0-3. Go figure. So far in my 3 losses in the MN League, I've lost by a total of 12 points. I'm there and I'm competitive, but just not quite there yet.
• UFC 63: I got good and drunk at Mike's place last weekend to watch a little pay-per-view along with Sean. Who knew that UFC could be so ... ahh ... entertaining?
• Homecoming in P-Town: Well, the school-folk hit my house up something fierce this year, dumping straw bales all over my lawn (spread out, mind you), then on Friday night during the Homecoming dance (which really wasn't a success), I got toliet papered, saran wrapped, baby powdered, and Vaselined. Happy? Not really. And the varsity football team didn't fare too well, either.
• 8th Grade Football: We dominated a conference rival yesterday afternoon, although the scoreboard read 12 to 6 in our favor. We kicked ass in every aspect of the game, and it was the first instance in which I really didn't get all too caught up in the game itself -- I actually COACHED.
• It's Official...: I'm a single male, once again. Satisfied? Yes and no.

Fantasy Football -- "Am I This Stupid?"

Man, I really do not know how to take this -- as an insult, or flattery?

I'm currently in 1st place and am the top point getter in the league so far this season.

I just got offered a trade (already!!!) just a few minutes ago through the South Dakota fantasy league I'm in. This guy -- who just so happens to be one of my old college professors over in Mad-Town, is offering me Randy Moss and Jake Delhomme, for Terry Glenn and Tom Brady.

Now think about this (a little analyzing is in effect): Randy Moss, playing for the piss-poor Raiders. Aaron Brooks is down-and-out for the next couple of weeks with a pectoral injury. Who's going to get him the ball?

Now, Delhomme wouldn't be a bad pick-up, but Steve Smith is still out of the line-up and Keyshawn Johnson is relatively a good target, but with the Panthers reeling right now with a 0-2 record, I'm not sure. This other guy should hold onto him, because Delhomme and the Panthers are up against the Bucs in Week 3.

His roster is already stacked with running backs LaDainian Tomlinson, Warrick Dunn and DeAngelo Williams, not to mention wide receiver Marvin Harrison.

As for me, I simply love Terry Glenn and Tom Brady both, who have been staples of points-getting in my rosters for the past couple of years. Glenn impressed me big time last night with that Cowboys win over the Redskins, and Brady (old Michigan Wolverine boy!) is now a great back-up to Donovan McNabb.

Do I trade? Um, no. It's way too early in the season to make deals.

I should be a smart-ass and counter his trade with another offer -- I'll be glad to take Tomlinson and Harrison off his hands!

Flippin' Cold

Take Saturday, for example. Humid, sticky.

It was absolutely crazy last weekend. I had some fun watching softball back near home, although I didn't "go all out" like I usually did back in August. I just took 'er easy, kicked back, and laughed at the antics of the other drunks who were sipping from a keg (which was nearly empty, when I showed up).

Later that night, there was a little cook-out on the west edge of town -- then things got a little hairy concerning the weather. It got so freakin' dark outside, the air cooled down, and the clouds were beginning to swirl. Here we all were, standing out in the middle of the street, looking up at the clouds, listening to the town's siren blare away -- a good indicator that there were some funnel clouds spotted.

Did we care? Not really! The county cops yelled at a few people through his PA to tell them to get some shelter, plus Mike got pegged pretty well from some dime-sized hail.

I retired early that night, tired from the morning's football jamboree in South Dakota (we didn't fare too well) and I decided to get out of there before the cop situation got any worse.

Then, Sunday. Cold. Just a tick windy.

It was almost unbearable, considering the contrasts between the weather on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't stay long -- my body simply was not adjusting too well for the cold weather -- and I drove back to my folk's house and enjoyed a little hot-tubbin', which was pretty nice in the cool weather.

My parents finally got their new addition done, with the deck finally completed with railings and all (who won't see it in this picture). Overall, pretty sharp!

But the week goes on with Homecoming Week here in P-Town. I'm in the process of shutting the house up (putting the storms down) and even had to fire up the ol' furnance today (thermo' read: 58 degrees). Also, I gotta watch out for those sneaky seniors as I'm sure they'll come around and toliet paper my house in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Another 8th grade game tomorrow ... which I'll admit, I'm not looking forward to. We didn't have practice last Friday (due to lightning) and didn't have practice today (rain and unbearable wind), so we'd better be ready. I'm planning on Wednesday to be a conditioning day, which I'm sure the players will love.

By the end of the week, I'm probably heading Back Home for another some-what crazy weekend -- UFC 62 is on. I'm still not sold on it, but I'll give it a chance.

At Their Best

Today, it was simply unbelievable.

Our game today was something else, in which all the right pieces and the right players came together in perfect harmony. Everything that we have done as coaches, well -- it finally sunk in. It was simply beautiful.

Last night, I watched "Remember the Titans". I had to find some personal motivation somehow and I had found it. Just being at school today, I was simply in the zone.

The players were all fired up, also. We got out to the field and we knew what we had to do.

Although it was a scrimmage, our offense and defense were run to perfection. We scored 12 times, while we didn't give up one single touchdown on defense. We probably gave up 50 yards of offense the whole day!

On the outside, I remained calm and composed, but in the inside, I was jumping for joy. It was like just for one moment, I finally found happiness and joy in coaching. It's something a person takes some pride in.

It got so bad at certain times that we knocked out their three best players -- when we were on offense. Our running backs literally ran over them. On defense, we probably forced 5 fumbles and picked off a couple of passes.

Damn, it was fun.

Tomorrow -- a conditioning day. Then, on Saturday, we're heading to South Dakota for a jamboree to face some bigger schools. If we can keep the same attitude that we showed this afternoon, we will never again be stopped.

Smack Down

It's time, baby.

Seriously, I'm just ready to kick some ass. Our second game of the season is tomorrow afternoon on the home grounds and I just REALLY want to win.

We barely lost our first game, and just for once, I would love to know what it's like to coach a winning team. Last season, I only had one really good win and I literally had tears in my eyes watching the players run like wild-boys and played to perfection.

With this bunch we have now, we have the players and the talent -- but again, it's 8th grade. There's an un-written law that everybody should play, but it's getting to the point where losing is getting old.

The other coach and I have decided that we're going to play the best players at certain positions, in that case, players will have to play both ways. This is totally going against our own personal coaching philosophies, but like we've told these players enough -- they have to PROVE themselves, and lately, it's getting down-right pathetic.

I know which players want to play -- they bring the smack down each and every day, offense or defense, and they simply want to HIT. Others, simply shy away from making a tackle -- which really sends me into a frenzy. Although I run the offense and we practically take it to the house every play, I usually get on the defense's case about not making the big defensive stop.

Tackling -- that's the main issue. All day on Monday and Tuesday, that's all we worked on. Sure, the players got beat up a bit, but that is what it's all about. They've got to deal with some pain. If they're hurt, I cannot coddle them -- they have to deal with it. It's the name of the game.

Tomorrow, I just want to win. Kick some ass -- all the way up and down the field.

Damn, I'm fired up.

Just Shoot Me Now

Cripes ... I just found out that I have to chaperone the high school's Homecoming dance.

Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in!

I cannot even remember the last dance that I had attended -- one when I was sober!

I remember my last high school dance of my senior year, somewhat vividly. All of us guys were all set to camp at the river that night near Mike's house, so I "stole" a 12-pack of beer from the cafe that I worked at and decided to have a little pre-dance party before we rolled in and crashed the joint.

Again, my life is complete drama. At that time, I was "dating" an extremely high-maintenance girl during a part of my senior year. During school that day, prior to the dance itself, I had asked her if she was going.

Tony: Are you going to the dance tonight?

Her: No, I'm visiting friends in a nearby town instead. Why? Are you going?

Tony: Yeah, probably.

But, of course, during that period of time in between the conversation and the dance itself, we decided to finish off a 12-pack of whatever-it-was and I had decided not to go to the dance because the ol' "battle-axe" wasn't going to be there anyway.

With enough liquid courage, we decided to make the trip into town anyways -- arriving around 11:00 in the evening with an hour left to go. We snuck into a side door into the gym and I was immediately gang-raped by a group of people telling me that so-and-so was looking for me. Well, about a second after recovering from the swarm-fest, I was literally yanked off my feet and dragged out onto the dance floor and was blasted by questions about where I was at.

Her: Where the hell were you? You said you were going to be here!

Tony (barely breathing): You said you weren't going to be here!

Her: Yeah, well ... I changed my mind!

Being half-drunk, I did the best I could. Her and I finished out the dance the best we could and I extended the invitation for her to come to the campsite that night. Stories were afloat about what had actually happened in the tent that night, but mind you, I was a gentleman and did not do a thing. Hopefully after 10 years, I can finally quash that rumor!

But for now, being an old fart at 28 years of age, I get to be one of those old fogeys who stands back along the wall in the gym, making sure that the teenagers don't "bump-n-grind" and do all that. Will I stop them? Hell, no. If they want to do it, be my guest. I'm not getting in between all that.

But, man! A dance ... I just might have to make a stop at the bar before I hit that dance up, just to take the edge off! Who am I kidding? ... I'd better settle down -- I'm not my brother!

I'll pull the "Nick Lachey" and keep a counter on me and see how many of these high school ladies ask me to dance ... now this'll be interesting!

Fantasy Football, Week 1 -- S***-F***-A**

One point made all the difference in my Minnesota Fantasy league, as I fell to Shane's team. Shane followed up with quarterback Brad Johnson in tonight's Monday Night game in the Vikings' win over the Redskins.

All up to the couple of days prior to the Vikings-Redskins match-up, all the so-called experts said that running back Clinton Portis wasn't going to play due to his separted shoulder. Then, he decides to be the "back-up" to Ladell Betts and Portis ends up getting a TD run. There's goes points that I could have had, instead of wide receiver Kevin Curtis' big ol' doughnut he put up.

But that's what makes Fantasy Football so great -- the Tuesday after and it's all 20/20 hindsight -- beating yourself up over which players to start and which ones to sit. Cripes...

I've got to start strong in this Minnesota league this year. Sean's brother Troy looks like the man to beat already with a huge showing in Week 1 with a win over the defending champion, Mitch.

In the South Dakota league, I actually dominated for once, extending my winning streak from last year's playoffs. I'm looking to defend my title there and it looks like that I could have the team to beat there this year!

You Know It's September When...

1. ...60 degrees is considered to be cold.
2. ...there's college football on all day on Saturdays.
3. ...you're bored as all-hell during the weekends.
4. ...you simply cannot sleep in any longer due to your job.
5. ...you constantly check your Fantasy Football teams on-line.

I'm just really struggling right now to find something to do. The Michigan - Central Michigan game is not on TV today and the Notre Dame - Penn State game doesn't start until 2:30 p.m.

How about that Ohio State - Texas match-up tonight? #1 vs. #2 ... can't get better than that.

NASCAR at Richmond International Raceway tonight -- Newman's far from making the Chase as he's mathematically eliminated for the first time since the inception of the Chase for the Cup. I'll dabble in that tonight to watch the excitment as there's a handful of teams trying to make that final roster.

Tomorrow will be a huge day in terms of Week 1 of the NFL. With two fantasy drafts again this year, I will once again be busy.

Next weekend will probably be the last great party weekend of the year (with the exception of New Year's) and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I can hold out for a while, since I have to get up pretty early next Saturday as we take our 8th graders across the border to Mad-Town for a football jamboree.

There's no way that I will be playing softball -- my knee ... good Lord, I should get it looked at. It just ain't right. I tweaked it yesterday during conditioning practice and it's pretty sore today, although I can still walk around without a limp.

Other notes:

• P-Town varsity lost last evening, 31-28. They pissed away the first half pretty bad, then gave up the opening kick-off for a touchdown in the second half.
• Home Town high school shut out their opponent for their first win of the season, 28 to 0.

A Feel Bad Moment?

After coming off our first loss of the 8th grade football season, I cannot say that I am disappointed in the boys. Our offense was stellar, we ran the ball well and our passing game was something that really surprised me. For once in my coaching career, our team has an offensive line!

Next week, it has already been decided that we're going to work hard on defense. Our tackling was piss-poor and we simply had no pass defense when the opponent went to the air.

With the other coach away on other business today and the varsity playing an away game tonight, I took over all the players and we had a conditioning day in which all we do is run.

We start off with typical warm-up drills, go into streching, then we do some 40-yard sprints. This -- was just the beginning.

I started off our conditioning with some ladders -- all the way to the 40-yard line. Then, we did some "Geronimo" runs: the players would run the entire circumference of the football field, but the player on the end of the line would sprint to the front until they heard my whistle, then it would start all over again. In the end, I figured they ran close to a mile.

Then, I made the players "sit" in a croutched stance for a minute (all the while they groaned), gave them a break, then made them croutch again for another 30 seconds.

Next, it was time for some "up-downs." The players would stand in place and stomp the ground like mad until I would blow my whistle -- they'd hit the dirt quick, then pop back up -- and start over again. I did "four-quarters" worth of these today, but after 2 quarters, I was starting to wonder if I was pressing them too hard.

We've got a huge lineman, like around 300 pounds, who started to cry. At first, I couldn't figure out what the noise was. He stood there, weeping, saying "I can't do this...", then I started to doubt myself.

I felt bad. I really didn't know what to do right away, but I offered him some help and just asked him some questions. But then I saw something that I hadn't ever seen before on a football field (or even when I was in high school football myself), all the players supported him. The lineman was literally gasping for air, so the other players helped him with his helmet and loosened his shoulder pads. It was the first time that I had felt that this was a true team, everybody supporting each other, no matter what.

This was happening all day long. I would encourage the team to get onto each other a little bit and they did it, plus a little more. It was just so neat to experience, something that really made me proud to be a coach.

We finished the other two quarters of "up-downs" later on, then ran some 100-yard sprints. When the players were coming back on their final 100-yard sprint, the lineman stood up and cheered them on. When all the players came back from sprinting, they all just huddled around the lineman and myself and cheered.

It was just cool as all hell -- just something that made me feel better about myself.

Closing Out The Week

Tired? Just a little bit.

With the first week of school finally coming to an end, already my students are thinking that I'm Attila the Hun.

"Where's the fun, Mr. Tony?"

No longer here, I would reply. Of course, it would mass chaos throughout the room.

It's a new approach, and like I've said before, I'm a much wiser person this year. The students just will not understand it, all of them thinking that this was such an easy class (from what they've heard), but I'm taking a more active approach this year.

Other than that, it's all typical. I'm always tired, no energy in my body around 8:00 in the evenings (a good indicator that I should hit the weight room after football's over with), and added to that the stress and the frustration of being a teacher in which it seems like we're constricted each and every day.

The freedoms of being a teacher/coach are starting to slowly whittle away. It's all purely political -- and it's seems like there is nobody here to defend us.

Add a pinch of personal life to the mix -- and life's no fun at all. I guess that's what adulthood is all about.

In the waning moments of my failed marriage, I received the official court documents from my lawyer (petition, pro se, a copy of the summons) and it just sort of hit me, thinking wow, this is actually happening. It's one thing to think about it and knowing that it's all over and done with, but seeing My Name v. Her Name on a court document -- damn, I just wished it had never gotten to this point.

Even though I had moved on, I guess there was always this faint glimmer of hope ... that this was just some sort of nightmare that I could hopefully wake up from. There are somedays in which I see Kate, when she stops over to pick up some of her things. Sometimes I think it's good to see her, to see her familiar face once again -- but at the same time, it's becoming increasingly difficult to see her, since she is the one who I'm cutting all ties with.

Soon, it will all be over with. As soon as I can get the chance to get to the post office, I can mail back the court documents (with our signatures) and within a week, I'll get my copy back with the judge's signature. Then, it will be completely over.

Yes, it will be an extremely depressing moment, knowing that once-support system is no longer present. But I have the prospect of being single once again, a time for freedom with less responsibilites. All I can do know is look forward to the future (and hopefully a summer filled with more excitement) with a smile on my face.

And oh, we lost our first football game of the season -- my 8th graders played tough, played hard ... but came up one touchdown short.

First Day, Second Year

With summer officially over in my head, things have turned back to teaching.

The first day of school is typically an easy one to deal with. There's meetings between the students and the principal, while I usually sit in on those or otherwise, I'm in my room deciding on what to do!

I had the fear that I was so unprepared for the first day -- but on the other hand, it wasn't so bad. As they say, the second year is usually easier than the first, and so far, they're right.

Of course, I've got some characters in my classes, but with my updated classroom management skills and being the wiser person that I am, I'm not really in the mood for anything pulled against me this year. Last year, I was quite the pushover. Now, they're getting a new Mr. Tony.

I basically laid the law down with these guys, as I took a few pages out of the new principal's book, who is very conservative in his way of administrating. I've come to the realization that I'm here to do a job to the best of my abilities. If the students don't like it, tough. It's my way and that's that.

My past experience through the summer has really taught me that a person shouldn't take much for granted. It's made me a wiser person, a more mature person -- making me see things in a new light. Although I doubt I will be in P-Town much longer (thinking about private sector-action, more on that later), I still have a job to do and I'm not going to let me students just "eek" by.

But, I'm still personable, hoping that I can still be approachable when a problem arises. I'm there for the students, doing what I can do to hope that these students succeed. I'm not going to sugar-coat anything.

It's just amazing reflecting on myself: how one person can change over a course of a year. It's extremely beneficial.

Milkin' It -- Labor Day Weekend

One word to finish up the last true weekend of summer: Wow.

It was simply a great weekend -- a true Labor Day weekend -- to hang out and relax one final time before I'm back to teaching. I made the most of it with a little football, a little beer, some great grilling, a little hot-tubbin', and a little super-late night party action.

It all started on Saturday at Sean's house, where I participated in my 2nd annual Minnesota Fantasy Football League Draft. It was all pressure-cooked, stress-filled strategy as we all picked our players (it really got thin towards the end, but by then, there were several Miller Lite cans on the floor and we really didn't care who we picked -- or so it seemed).

I wish I had my draft picks -- in order -- but I left my copy behind at Sean's so he could put them in our ESPN Fantasy Football tracker this season. My overall #1 pick was Rudi Johnson, a running back from the Cincinnati Bengals. Again, just like the South Dakota Fantasy Football League, I think I have a pretty stout team within one of the toughest "divisions" of the league. I'm matched up with Sean, Sean's brother Troy, and Sean's brother-in-law Matthew. As far as pure raw talent, our division is probably the toughest. If there was a team to make the championship this season ... it'll be from our division.

After chasing little kids around the house for a while, it was time to retire. It got later than usual with a quick stop at Woody's, then on Sunday, it was "lay-low-for-a-while-time" as I quickly recovered when Mike called and said that we were going to a garage party.

Seriously, when I think back on it, I should have brought my camera. There was so much shit going down (the good kind) that made my sides split. I hadn't been to a "garage party" in a such a while, but when it comes to partying with the boys from C-Wood, that's all they do.

Mike, Lacey, and myself probably took the world's longest road trip to get out there -- it was dark, it was foggy, and we were running into some-what familiar lake territory that it made for us to get a little lost. Our destination, Shane and Megan's place (Megan is Lacey's sister) and once we finally got there after travelling on gravel for about 20 miles, we immediately started hitting 'er up.

Since the rain was continually on-and-off for that evening, it was considerably tough to get a campfire started. Every once in a while, people would douse the fire with kerosene, which made things brighter and hotter just for a slight few seconds, then would slowly die away. But most of the time, I was around folks who I really didn't know a whole lot about, but I made the most of it, just continually drinking beer and laughing at the antics of other people -- and oh, there were antics.

After watching Mike and Shane go 1 and 1 in some ping-pong drinking game, everybody huddled around the small-ish fire since it had gotten so cold. Somebody started dumping isopropyl on the fire (yes, the stuff you put into your vehicle during the cold months to prevent fuel lines from freezing over) and we'd get these mini-fire balls -- nothing too dangerous.

Then, the thing that made the night worth it.

There's this guy -- the same guy who tried to get Lacey to drop the charges on her stolen car; I call him "Numb-Nuts" -- decided to make his own fireball with isopropyl. He would put it into his mouth, take a lighter, blow it out so there would be this giant fireball (watch "Revenge of the Nerds" for an example). Sure enough, he did it -- fireball and all, isopropyl dripping off his chin.

But I would also like to say that prior before that, Shane got a fire extinguisher -- just in case if things got out of hand (by this time, everybody was feeling "pretty good"). So Numb-Nuts stood there, looking like he was going to be sick.

Lacey: "Oh, my God. I think he swallowed some."

For a split second, there was actually some kind of worrying going on, and then ...

A blast from the fire extinguisher, directly into the face.

There was no fire to speak of, but all you saw was the white powder spewing forth from the extinguisher, directly into Numb-Nut's face. He immediately hit the ground, rolling around and yelling, "It's in my eyes!"

After it was all said and done, the kid popped back up and just laughed. It was like something from "Jackass." I myself could not stop laughing so frickin' hard -- it was possibly the best thing that I had seen in a long time. Plus, it happened to a guy who I already don't think too kindly of, so that made it all much better.

We decided to leave around 2:30 that morning, as an eerie fog seemed to drift across the place. We all had plenty to talk about -- one of the more memorable moments this summer.

On Labor Day, it was simply a day of rest. I "paid back my debts," so to speak, and helped out my parents with a little yard work and other small tasks (getting sunburned in the meantime). I even jumped into their new hot tub that they had just installed. Nice! Hot tubs now day have pretty much a water-jet for any muscle group.

But in the end, I had to get back to P-Town get things going, as far as the teaching goes. I was extremely tired from the weekend, but there's always more fun on the horizon!

Domination

On a cool and misty night in P-Town, the boys in green literally rushed the ball down the opponent's throats and won their first game of the season 39 to 8.

Surprisingly enough, we started out against a conference opponent, something that I haven't seen in a while. It was a team that was somewhat of a conference rival, a larger school in a higher class, a team that we didn't even get to play against last year due to several of their ballplayers being ineligible.

Worrying about the offensive and defensive lines, they came up huge and backed up their performance from the scrimmage the previous weekend. Things just seemed to run flawlessly, especially behind two different halfbacks (which both were over 100 yards) and a pretty decent passing game, despite it raining all day here and the mist really made the ball fairly slick.

This just might a decent football season, another team that should go deep into the section playoffs, but might again come up short of state. Hopefully they can prove me wrong -- and there will be stronger tests than this game tonight.