I am testing a BETA version of Office 2010 and it has the ability to publish this directly to my blog from Word. Very cool… IF… it works…

We will see…

Yes, we will…

Friday Afternoons…

What is it about Friday afternoons that make me so non-productive?

Is it the anticipation of the weekend?  Is it the lack of other employees still being in the office?  Or is it simply the feeling of accomplishment that one more week has been conquered?

I am not really sure…

I just know that it is again a Friday, and I am trying as hard as I can to NOT get anything constructive done!!!

 

 

 

Famous “Friday” Clips for you:

Friday the 13th:

Friday Night Lights:

Friday:

Youth Sports Coaching – Challenging, but so rewarding…

Like many of you, once the calendar turns to August, my schedule really starts to heat up right alongside the temperature.  Do I have more deadlines at work?  No…  More outside networking engagements that eat up my free time… Nada…  Once August hits, I am about one thing every waking (and sometimes non-waking) hour that I am not at my REAL job: Coaching youth football!

Each fall, I coach no fewer than 2 teams, but usually more like 4 or 5.  This falls slate has me as the Defensive Coordinator for my son’s squad at Parish Episcopal School(5th grade).  In addition, I am D Coordinator for PES 8th grade, and an assistant defensive coach for the varsity squad.  You may have seen the recent news about our varsity squad here.  I also help run the Youth Football program at the Town North YMCA.  With all of this and the necessary practices, coaches meetings, parent meetings, and other administrative items, it is needless to say that there is hardly time to BREATH from August through November!

Many people feel it is very simple to coach/mentor young kids.  I was the same way… Until I started DOING it.  Getting your point across to kids of ranging ages is sometimes MUCH harder than it appears.  In addition, it is sometimes challenging to shift your expectation level to the level of child you are coaching.   A motivational tactic, might work great for a 10th grader, but falls well short of what a 5th grader needs, especially in terms of coaching football.  An aggressive, in your face, coaching technique that works well for a high school young man is WAY over the top for a young kid who may or may not still sleep with a night light!

All of this is extremely challenging, but I also find it extremely rewarding.  In my 7 years of coaching at PES, I have seen boys turn into men before my very eyes.  I have seen internal demons overcome.  I have seen confidence blossom.  I have seen shy, introverted, downright petrified youngsters morph into type A leaders.  This, is as they say, WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT and the reason I cannot get enough of it.

We are a couple of weeks into this season, and although I am already exhausted, I am walking on air with excitement.  I find myself truly having to challenge myself to concentrate at work each day instead of diagramming a new defensive formation.  I have to actually tell myself to finish my REAL work before I examine our roster.   I have even caught myself forgoing lunch so I can draw up more inventive ways to get to the QB or stuff the run!!!  But, I wouldn’t have it any other way!  I am 100%, FULLY, addicted at this point.

How bout you guys?  Have any of you had some similar positive experiences with mentoring/coaching/teaching youngsters?  What are some of the techniques you employ to garner positive results?

Why I LOVE and HATE the month of August…

The calendar just turned to month number 8.  We have finished the 4th of July fireworks, the pastel colors of Easter, and even March Madness has gone bye-bye… Groundhog Day was a blast, but gone.  Cinco de Mayo was oh so fun, but no more…  And mid April, well, SUCKED as always but at least it is over…

… Now it is August.  If you have ever been to Dallas, Tx. in August, you know that there is one certainty that you can count each and every year: IT IS FREAKIN’ HOT!!!

This is the number one reason why I HATE August.  I hate waking up in the morning at 5:30, turning on the news, and seeing the temperature is already 85!  I hate stepping out of my door and immediately starting to sweat.  I hate not stopping sweating until sometime later in September, October, or in extra hot and pathetic years, November.  Although the rest of the summer is hot in Big D, August takes it to another stratosphere of SIZZLING.

Another reason I HATE August: The anticipation (but not quite there) of Football season.  Yeah, it is great to see training camps starting up.  It is great to see college and high school teams getting back together and preparing for the upcoming season.  And it is even great for me to get back out there and coach my handful of teams.  BUT, it is just that… PRACTICES.  And many of them.  Just practices…  One after another, with no real game or competition against a foreign opponent to look forward to.  The NFL preseason games are about as exciting as a midseason WNBA game.  The stars hardly play.  There is no pressure to try to win, and the talent level on the field is severely limited.  But, at least we get sumthin’ in the preseason with NFL.  College football makes us wait until the VERY END of August to play ANYTHING!  What happened to the old Kickoff Classics around August 20th?  Those were golden for someone “Jonesin” football and NEEDING it a few days early.  Man, I miss those things…

With all of that being said, premature football is why I LOVE August.  Football is pretty much back baby!  It gives me something to look forward to and be interested in when I wake up.  First thing I do, login to the various sports sites and get an update on NFL Training Camp.  Who is doing well?  Did anyone get hurt?  Who is going to win the QB battle?  Same with the college stuff.  Same with my teams as I have to prepare for practices each and every day and attempt to get the most outta my squads…

While August may be the 8th month on the calendar, it may be the brightest month in terms of anticipation.  BUT, it might also be the dreariest month due to the blazing heat and because of the overabundance of forced and unfulfilled quick enough ANTICIPATION. 

August is an enigma. 

August giveth and taketh away. 

 

Just get me to September with a quickness…

Did I just see that Brett Favre has retired???

The story broke last night that Brett Favre will not come back for another season with the Vikings. I write this as I try to fight through a GIANT YAWN!

His on again, off again, flirtation with the NFL has grown so tiresome over the last couple of years and has hidden the fact that he simply does not have what it takes to compete at the NFL level anymore. Although this decision was painfully drawn out and kept the Vikings and the rest of the league on hold for a long time, I ultimately think it is the right decision. This will give Favre more time to possibly coach younger kids (he has mentioned he might like to do this), and promote more Wrangler Jeans.

My question is now who will the Vikings try to go after in his stead? My initial thought would be {GULP} Michael Vick. Is this crazy? Maybe so. He and Tavaris Jackson are kinda the same player right? But what about Sage Rosenfels? If the Vikes could start him and bring in Vick for a Wildcat look with AP in the backfield… This could be kinda a nasty combination… Of course, this means the end of the Viking line for Jackson, but I am not so sure they were that excited about him anyway.

Just some thoughts to kick around as we watch all of this play out through training camp. I am fascinated by what is going to happen with Vick and where he is going to land. Which team will have the guts to give him a second chance? Will this team’s fan base embrace or hate him? All great questions… What are your thoughts???

There is NO DOUBT that VIck can PLAY:

Got my Hangover On – FINALLY!

For those of you who know me, at least kinda in a superficial way, you know that I dig me some flicks. While I am no Siskel or Ebbert, I like to check out the new movies that are creating buzz and get good word of mouth. I NEVER miss a SuperHero movie. I usually get sucked into all of the Summer Blockbusters, and I ALWAYS want to check out the newest comedies.

Comedies seem to try to set the bar higher each year. One movie comes out with some outlandish shit, the next summer, a new movie tries to top it. I love this!!!

Well, this summer’s masterpiece is The Hangover.

I have literally waited with bated breath since early July when this mutha came out. Each week I found a way to sabotage my attendance. Not appropriate for the kid and he would rather see Ice Age. Gotta help a friend tear down a fence. Gotta work on the weekend. I was starting to think that this flick had officially “shot me the ghost.” Until last Saturday…

… The wife and I got an OFFICIAL REPRIEVE from the constant onslaught that is parenthood. The kid went to a birthday party at a ranch and was officially out of site out of mind for greater than a 24 hour period. This never happens! The stars had aligned! I frantically scoured the movie listing websites while sipping my Starbucks (at Starbucks with my lovely bride), trying to find the PERFECT time to see what I had heard was “The funniest movie of all time!” (from SEVERAL people). 5:05 pm – NorthPark. Done Deal…

This movie hit hard from the GET GO! I love sex humor, toilet humor, fart jokes, etc… This movie had Peh_lun_ty of all of this, and Mike Tyson to boot. While I will not bore you with the details of a lame attempt to review this movie, I will simply say that we were rolling the entire way through. The girl next to my wife was having what appeared to be epileptic seizures she was laughing so hard. The elderly gentleman in front of me missed most of the one liners, but when his wife whispered them back to him, he was cracking me up with his cracking up!

All in all, the movie totally ROCKED! The characters were great. The dialogue was great. The subject matter was great. It was the funniest movie I have seen since…. Last summer: Step Brothers

Next up to try to dethrone it as the DeFacto Funny Movie: Funny People Starts this Friday. I will probably see it a couple of months from now…

GOTTA Start Blogging again…

For some strange reason, I have taken a LONG hiatus from blogging. Blame it on FaceBook. Or maybe Twitter. Or even YouTube, I guess, but for whatever reason, I checked out for a bit.

Well I am back boys and girls. Stay tuned for some blogging brilliance!!!

First Post from Arizona

Wow!  I have been TOTALLY busy out here.  This is the first time I have sat down to post….

I have been volunteering with the Gridiron Greats foundation for the events leading up to Super Bowl 42.

I think I have done it all:  load boxes, taken inventory, driven people around, thrown away trash, setup signage, print out press releases, updated the website, etc., etc., etc….

But I think the coolest thing I have done was help out Telligent with the official Gridiron Greats Blog.  Telligent has created the number one blogging platform in the world; Community Server.

 

They have done a wonderful job creating the blog and it looks FANTASTIC.  They have had some of the biggest superstars in NFL history post a blog at the site (Mike Ditka, Conrad Dobler, Andre Reed, Kyle Turly, Darryl “Moose” Johnston, Jackie Slater, and many others).  This has raised the exposure to the website, which in turn has raised the exposure to the foundation’s cause.  Mad “Ups” to Telligent for what they have done.

We have two more days of events before I head home to big D.  I will try to update another blog or two prior to my departure.  Not sure I will be able to however as they have me running!!!

Oh, by the way… Pats by about 10… (But I want the Giants…)

Off to Arizona tonight…

 

Well, I am off to Arizona tonight for the big week.

Make sure you check out the blog from the Gridiron Greats events: blog.gridirongreats.org

Maybe I will see some cool people out there… Mike Ditka?  Gale Sayers?  Don Shula?  Dick Butkus?

Too bad I am not going to the game, but it shoud be cool to be out there in the middle of it all…

Keep an eye out for more blogs coming soon from Arizona…

One more day…

Yes, I know I am a broken record…

 But it is one more day closer…