Relax

So far this season the Keswick Valley Coyotes are 1-3 in league games with one exhibition win. It seems we either win or get beat really bad. We never seem to lose close. Not that I am discouraged by this. Despite my competitive spirit I am really focusing more on improving our play than winning games. I tell the boys to remember that this is the first year we have had a program in years and that the teams we play have been playing with each other for some time. The other thing is that I am a rookie coach and this is all new to me as well.

Aside from being new to this, I do understand that there are certain ethical rules that need to be followed by coaches. One of these rules is that if your team is up by twenty or more and are obviously superior, you call your players to pull the press. For those of you who don't know what that means, pulling the press means that you tell you players to get back to the defensive zone when they don't have the ball especially after scoring baskets. It is just common courtesy as there is no need to embarrass teams beyond what is needed.

Well last night we were playing against one of my old schools Albert St Middle. We were missing our top scorer from the last game which also messed up my top string as he is one of our point guards but that is what it is. Either way we were losing by a lot, maybe 35 or so and Albert St was still pressing the court! After they had just scored a basket the intercepted our inbounding pass and and got another, so I politely (I mean that too!) asked the coach if he could pull the press. Now I was completely calm here, I honestly wasn't all that upset about losing so bad as we have done it twice previously. But the other coach sternly tells me to "Relax."

Now I am a patient person, but nothing will stir up a person quicker than to tell calm person to calm down. It made me so mad. He was the one in the wrong and when I , very calmly, ask him to show some sportsmanship he tells me to "relax." Ben and I used to do that to stir each other up and man did it work. Anyways, despite my desire to hurt this guy and retaliate I didn't. But man that bugs me!

Snow Days and Satellite Eyes

While snow days are great I must admit that they are not what they used to be. When I was a kid, a snow day meant a day off school to lay around and watch TV, play in the snow, wrestle with the dog and so on. Ben and I would lay in for a while then usually shovel off the deck, jump off the deck wrestle for a while and then go inside and watch TV or if we were feeling adventurous we would walk to the store and rent a movie or video game.

Today not much of that is happening, I have some things to work on but I am here by myself today because Janelle has to work. I did shovel off the deck and jump off (the whole half a foot) but I can't even watch TV because, my guess is, the eye of the satellite is covered with snow.

This used to happen back when snow days were awesome too but when it did Ben and I would just grab the ladder, climb to the top of the house and clean it off. I remember holding the ladder for my brother on one occasion while he cleaned off the satellite. When he was done he jumped off the roof! Not into the snow or onto the deck but onto his brother, ME!

While I lay limp on the ground, he took off inside and locked me out leaving me to put the ladder away myself and promising I wouldn't get him back in order to gain entry to the house again.

I am sitting here chuckling to myself now. Good times.

The Name Game

Before you all start singing banana fanna bo banna that is not what I am talking about. For me the name game seems to happen almost weekly. I am talking about when someone approaches you and calls you by name with confidence. They know you, they know who your family is, they know where you are from and where you currently reside. They know where they know you from and probably have at the very least a hand full of stories about you.

You on the other hand have no idea who they are. Actually chances are (if you are like me) the only idea you really have is that you recognize them from somewhere and know them enough that you SHOULD know their name, but that is about it. You know you know them well enough that you CAN'T ask them their name. All you can do is stand there and hope that the bring up something familiar that will connect the dots for you.

Really the best thing you can do is just ask. Just ask them outright from the beginning. You have to do it at the very beginning of the conversation or not at all. You can't carry on the conversation and then ask at the middle or end who they are. My best attempt at tactfulness seems to leave me carrying on as if I know while I wonder throughout the conversation and still wondering at the end. Anyways, if I haven't seen you in a while and you come speak to me try to work your name in somehow to rescue me and don't be offended if I forgot, half the time I can't remember my own name... anyways, how is that for the first post of 2007?

Whatever,

Sam...

D'I mean, Dan