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.

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.

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.

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.

"Work In Your Rooms..." Day

For some reason, there was just so little to do for our in-service this year. Last year, it seemed like we had something going on every single minute of the day.

With the exception of yesterday, this in-service was a breeze, and at the same time, a bore. We are required to be at school for these in-services, but I have to laugh at these "work-in-your-rooms" days because it seems like they've run out of ideas to lecture us teachers on.

It just seems during these do-nothing days, you can kick back and watch a little SportsCenter or whatever. Nobody cares, just as long as you're in your room and you "look" like you're doing something. Today, I was actually trying to get something done, since I'm planning the work-based learning program this year and I had to coordinate a meeting for the parents and students participating that was held tonight.

Once I found something to do, it was amazing how the time flew by. Soon, I was counting the minutes and was soon pressed for time to get things typed up, printed off, copies made, so on and so forth. Before I knew it, it was 3:15 p.m. and I had to do some coaching.

Everybody was like that today, at least I wasn't the only one. I'm still not satisfied about things around the school and I still need a lot of things to be done, but everybody's like that. I'm upset that I don't have a software program installed on my computers, I'm upset with the state's educational standards, I'm upset at the school's financial situation, I'm upset with my personal life.

After a great rebound from a horrible summer with a great month of August, I'm sorry to see it go. But at the same time I'm welcoming the month of September with optimism and confidence -- a second-year teacher with a re-newed and wiser look on life. I just cannot take nothing for granted any longer.

"How's the football team doing, Tony?" you might ask. Solid, I reply.

Like I've said before, this 8th grade bunch is a very physical group of boys. I had most of them last year in 7th grade baseball and my expectations are high. Today, we just started some full-contact offense versus defense and already, I've got some kids who come to hit. Sure, you've got a few here and there that are complete "marshmellows," but they too, are getting better.

Our running game is already unsurpassed and these guys are outright smart. It took almost until the 2nd to the last game of the season last year for guys to know the plays and already, this team knows all the plays for one formation (10 in all). I've "dumbed" it down, made it simpler, and maybe that was our problem last year.

I'm looking forward to our game next Thursday as we open at home.

First Day of Practice -- Nasty!

Oh, God.

For some reason, I knew it was a good day to keep the cell phone on me this morning.

Today, during this cold and wet morning, our 8th graders finally took the field for the first time this season. They were all anxious as usual, strapping up and running all over the place.

After the other coach and I finally settled them down, we were set to go.

Again, I'm in charge of the backs, offensive and defensive, so after running a few drills, I decided to do a little route-running.

After running 7-yard outs and slants, I wanted to test our quarterbacks out. We went for a post pattern ... things were well until one of our best players dove for a ball across the middle.

Crunch.

That's all I heard, then came the immediate yelping. The kid's arm broke at the wrist at such an angle that I couldn't comprehend what I was looking at.

It just looked like the hand and wrist was shoved back straight off the arm bone. The bone itselt was close to sticking out the skin. He was naturally hollering, so I did my best to calm him down. My instincts kicked in like automatic -- I yelled at the other coach and told him to call an ambulance (because there was no way that we could have done anything for this) so he ran back to the school.

I forgot that I actually had my cell phone on me, so I quickly called this player's mother. All I had to do was keep the kid breathing deep breaths, settle him down, and just talk to the kid. I felt so bad -- not only was he a great player, but his season is over with from Day One.

The ambulance arrived, along with a police escort, and they stabilized his arm. It was painful for him as they were doing it, so painful in fact that he could not sit up on his own power. They put him on a body-board and hauled him off on a stretcher.

All the rest of the players were bummed, because they all knew how good this kid was. But since we've got such as great turnout for this year, we've got a lot of great players. Things will go on and we'll pick up the pieces and kick some ass -- hopefully in time for the first game on the 7th.

The Scrimmage

It was a beautiful day to watch some high school football.

I myself didn't have to do much, since it was completely for the high school -- no middle school. I just stood around, picked up on a few things, helped out whenever possible -- and did a "little" yelling.

The varsity looked sharp, on the ground and even in the air. Besides P-Town, there were only two other schools there, area schools in which are always there at the scrimmage.

Our featured running back was having a field day. It just seemed like everytime I watched the varsity or looked down the field while I was watching the JV team, he was in the end zone and just simply out-ran everybody else on the field.

I still have my doubts about going far into the season with the depleted offensive line, but hopefully they can prove me wrong. The defense is quick off the ball and they pursued well.

My main gripe was the freshmen, who I had as 8th graders last season. They still complain "what a waste of time...I didn't even hit anybody", they still lounge around -- some kid was so bored that we was literally pulling the grass out of the field: "my feet hurt...", and for some reason, they still cannot tackle. They still live by the "shoulder tackle," something that looks good on TV when the pros play, but in high school, it's all about the fundamentals.

But man, it was great to be back on the field. It's like a transformation for me -- all other things and thoughts seem to slip away and I just get into that zone regarding the formations, the plays, the players, etc. It's just surreal.

First varsity game is this next Friday night here in town, while our 8th graders don't play until the 7th. Lookin' forward to it!

So Far So Busy

It's almost been ridiculous lately. The past two days I've been getting barely 6 hours of sleep, getting a little anxious for football and the upcoming school year.

The past couple of days I've been spending my mornings at the school, waking up early to attend meetings with the coaches and getting this work program for the seniors in order.

Early this morning, we finally passed out equipment to our 8th graders. The anticipation and the expectations are so high with this team that I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season.

This year, I'm doing things a little differently, especially in the playbooks. Instead of 5-6 formations, we have decided on doing only two (so far), the I-Tight (which I code named "Indy") and the Flex-Bone. We will not have any split outs or anything like that -- we're going to concentrate on the running game (probably 80% of our plays will be runs), and later on, we'll include some bigger pass plays with another formation.

Another of our main focuses is to try to get the players to "know" the plays. If we can run them day-in and day-out with no problems, then we're going to be sharp. Some main questions that we are going to address is how is a specific play going to be run against a 4-4? A 5-3? A 6-2?

We just have to be aggressive, physical -- none of this finesse stuff. Push some people around! If you get knocked down, don't be scared ... punch 'em in the mouth! First middle school game: a home game on the 7th of September.

The varsity has a scrimmage this Saturday morning, which will be extremely satisfying to watch, considering that we've got one of the best backs in the area, although our offensive and defensive lines were depleted from graduating seniors.