Father of Six

Tami, Boomer and I loaded up the car Wednesday evening, September 24th and drove to Hays, Kansas. We drove through a pretty wicked thunderstorm between Oakley and Hays. Lightning, hail, and heavy, sideways rain.

On Thursday, September 25th, we drove to Lexington, Missouri to Dad and Susan’s house. Sheila was there too, as she had plans to go to the NASCAR race on Sunday at the Kansas Speedway with her brother Dennis, who would be arriving on Friday evening. We stayed up to watch the Oregon State Beavers upset #1 ranked USC Trojans. Boomer Sooner!

On Friday, September 26th, Tami, Boomer, Dad and I drove to Pittsburg, Kansas. We checked into our hotel, and then drove to Columbus, Kansas to my sister Robi’s house. Her husband Mark made buffalo chicken legs, and brats for dinner. Tami, Boomer, Dad, Robi, niece Maria and I then drove to Coffeyville, Kansas to watch Maria’s high school football team, the Columbus Titans, play against the Coffeyville Golden Tornado. The Titans staged a 4th Quarter comeback and were victorious, 20-7.

We drove Robi and Maria back to their house, then we headed back to our hotel in Pittsburg.

On Saturday, September 27th, Robi, Maria, niece Valerie and her girls Laila and Geogia, met us at our hotel. From there, we went to Pittsburg State University (home of the Gorillas) for their football game against the Mules of Central Missouri University. It was a beautiful day and we took photos as we strolled through the campus. We then went to the pre-game tailgating event, affectionately called “GorillaFest.” We each had a fantastic barbequed pork sandwich. The day got better (and hotter) as the Gorillas handily defeated the Mules, 49-28.

After the game, we all went to Robi’s house, where Mark prepared his superb spaghetti and meatballs, and salad. Awesome! We had a fire in the pit and the evening was just outstanding. Before heading back to the hotel, Robi gave us a tour of the school where she works, and all the exceptional art and murals she and her mother-in-law, Dorthy, had created together. You should be very proud, Robi!

On Sunday, September 28th, we left South-East Kansas and returned to Lexington. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Kansas City Chiefs embarrass the Denver Broncos. That was unexpected. Later, Dennis arrived from his day at the races. I hadn’t seen Dennis in more than 20 years, and Tami had never met him. It was a good, albeit brief (i before e, except after c – that rule didn’t apply just now) visit.

On Monday, September 29th, Tami, Boomer, and I loaded up the car and drove back home. As usual, it was a long day, and the wind was howling across central and western Kansas.

A most excellent visit. I’d like to make this an annual trip, probably later in the fall.

We (me, Tami, Boomer and Nana) went to Tim and Jeanne’s to watch the Super Bowl. Mom and Vern were there, as were Tim’s sons Nick and Zack. Boomer loves Nick and Zack, as evident in the picture.

Tim and Jeanne put out a whole spread – taquito’s, cheese sticks, japaleno poppers, bbq pork, cocktail weiners, pretzels with mustard, buffalo chicken, chips and dip, a cheese tray, a fruit tray, pistachios … and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Here are mom and Vern at the table.

For dessert they had an equally impressive assortment of sweets, cakes, cookies, brownies and ice creams. Have a look.

While we all watched a very entertaining game (especially the 4th Quarter) Nana warmed herself by the fire.

Here are our gracious and generous hosts. (Notice the Mardi Gras beads wrapped around the lights?)

I had my chest x-ray and CT scan this morning. I won’t know the results for a few days but I’m expecting them to be clear. I dislike the CT process – fast overnight, drink two pints of goo, wait 45 minutes, get injected with iodine, feel warm all over, then feel like you’ve wet yourself, and spend the rest of the day with a serious case of IBS. Not fun at all.

I’ll be going to the Heritage Football Booster Club meeting this evening. The season is over with a loss in the quarter finals to Grandview and a 10-2 record.

Tami and I went to the gym this morning before my clinic visit. She rode the stationary bike and I did an extended BFL 40 minutes on the treadmill.

After all the drama reported earlier cleared and settled, my little league football team won the Super Bowl 37-12.

Tami and I went to New Orleans for yet another football weekend. We met up with Tim and Jeanne, and Tom and Deana. We saw Slidell High School play Northshore Friday night, Tulane play Tulsa Saturday night, and the Saints against the Jaguars on Sunday. We managed to go on the Honey Island Swamp tour too. Fun time, good food, and good friends. Photos below.

My dad and I took our annual trip to Iowa for (what else?) some football. We saw Carlisle High School play on Friday night, and Oklahoma play Iowa State on Saturday. In between we ate well, including some fantastic German food at a bier haus in Des Moines, saw some beautiful countryside, and enjoyed each other’s company. Here are a few photos.

Oklahoma played Colorado in Boulder on September 29th. Brittany and Danielle (with their friend Savanna) bought tickets, rode the bus, and saw them play. They had a great and exciting time. The Sooners were ahead and had the game well in hand … the quit -playing in the 4th quarter. Colorado won the game 27-24, but it didn’t dampen the spirit of the girls, and their love of the Sooners.

Good Morning to all.

I mentioned in my last post that I was helping coach a football team of 12-year olds, and that there was some associated drama.

Here is the quick story. I had a really big itch to coach football that needed to be scratched, so I contacted an associate at work who I knew was involved with the local youth football league. He put me in touch with the head coach of a team that was looking for some help with defensive backs and wide receivers. I joined the staff with three weeks to go in a eight week season, with the distinct possibility for post season play. The team finished the season undefeated at 8-0 and was looking forward to running the playoff tables.

Then disaster struck. A parent from an opposing team filmed one of our practices and submitted it as evidence for violating team practice rules. (A poorly written and essentially inconsequential rule, and as written there is no question that the head coach had violated league policy.) The league originally chose to suspend the head coach for the rest of the season (playoffs) and let the kids play, as they were rightly judged to be innocent of any complicity in the matter. That suspension evidently wasn’t good enough for the “investigating parent” and they pushed for a harsher sentence. The league board succumbed to the parental pressure and suspended our team from post-season play. We were out of the playoffs and our kids were devastated.

Our parents got together and determined that a number of grievances were apparent, and decided to take action. They filed a lawsuit. The courts ruled in favor of our parents, and the team is now back in the playoffs. Our head coach has been suspended for one year.

I have a number of personal values and principles that have put me in a very compromised position. I made a commitment to these kids to help coach their team. But I also am a very strong proponent of fair play, sportsmanship and personal accountability. To be associated with this situation is something that I am very uncomfortable with. And I failed myself by not being aware of the league policies. I put my trust in the other coaches and now I am guilty by association.

At the end of the day, I have made a commitment to these 12 year old young men, and I intend to honor that commitment. After the dust has settled, I will take all necessary and appropriate action.

Meanwhile, our team plays in the first round of the playoffs at 10:30 this morning, and I will be on the sidelines.

(The situation has received some unfortunate publicity. I was shocked and embarrassed to see that a local television station did a report on the situation on the 10 o’clock news last night. This is the link to the story. And by the way, I wasn’t contacted to comment.)

Some days things just work out and you get to enjoy your favorite past time with a mega dose.

The rivalry game between Heritage and Arapahoe was moved to 4pm to cut down on some student extra-curricular activity. This gave me a chance to squeeze in one half of 5A football.

Heritage has been much maligned in recent years, with fewer students going out for the team, and parents calling for the coach’s job. They have a good thing going this year and took it to Arapahoe in the first half, scoring four touchdowns to open an insurmountable 26-7 lead in-route to a 43-13 win.

This is what an offense and defense looks like in a 5A 11 man football game. Heritage in white, Arapahoe in black and gold.

It was now 5:30 pm and I was off to Deer Trail, Colorado to see the 6-Man game between the Deer Trail Eagles and the defending State Champion Idalia Wolves.

Oklahoma played a rare Friday night game against the in-state squad at Tulsa. I have Sirius radio in the Durango, so on my drive out to Deer Trail, some 65 miles from home, I listened to the pre-game and part of the 1st quarter.

On Oklahoma’s first possession, they drove the ball smartly to the Tulsa five yard line, where upon they committed two mistakes. First, an offensive lineman was flagged for a 15 yard personal foul, and then on the next play Sam Bradford threw an interception. Tulsa went the other way and scored a touchdown on their first possession, 7-0 Golden Hurricanes.

After trading possessions on a punt by Oklahoma and a turnover on downs by Tulsa, Oklahoma finally got going with a 8 play, 72 yard drive and a touchdown to tie the score at 7-7.

Time for some 6-man football.

6-man football is a lot of fun to watch. It’s a full contact track meet. The field is 80 yards instead of 100. Teams need to get 15 yards for a first down. Kicking an extra-point is worth 2 points. These are the main rule differences between 6-man and typical 11-man football.

Compare and contrast the photo above with the photo below.

Idalia is in white, playing defense of the left. Deer Trail is in red, on offense on the left. The quarterback is under center, standing sideways. He’ll take the snap and either toss it back to the kid who looks like he’s ready to punt, or he’ll throw a quick pass out to number 12.

Deer Trail ran this formation for the entire 1st half and their deep back had a very strong arm. He over threw two receivers early in the game that could have easily been touchdowns. Later he completed intermediate length passes over the middle, but the drives eventually stalled on incompletions. The deep back for Deer Trail was taken off the field on a stretcher and ambulance right before the first half ended after being tackled by an illegal facemask grab, which the referees missed. I’m not sure how badly the kid was injured.

Another unusual thing about 6-man football is the fact that spectators park their cars right on the sidelines. They either sit in their cars, or the pullout the lawnchairs. Check this out.

Meanwhile, Idalia runs a pretty plain offense. It’s like an I-formation, but with only three linemen. They just line up and come right at you, hoping to out-muscle you, then out-run you. They are pretty effective, with state championships in ‘98, ‘00, ‘01, ‘03, ‘05, and ‘06. They were also runners-up in ‘99 and ‘02.

Here they are running a single back formation while going for it on 4th and one.

Notice the Deer Trail defensive formation. They are all standing up, with two defensive lineman, three linebackers, and one safety. I think Idalia ran a hand off to the pulling guard play in which the quarterback handed the ball to the guard and he rumbled for five yards and the first down.

They opened up a 44-0 lead in the first half, then played their 2nd and 3rd stringers made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores in the second half and won comfortably, 50-6.

I got back in the car and headed for home at a little before 9pm.

Oklahoma was now up on Tulsa 42-21 in the fourth quarter. But the game and the scoring wasn’t over. The Sooners scored three more times – on a 1 play, 40 yard drive, on a 4 play, 29 yard drive, and finally on a on a 5 play, 47 yard drive to make the final score 62-21. Getting the ball in the opponents territory on three straight possessions makes the going pretty easy.

I got home at about 10:15.

And I got up at 5am, went to the gym, and swam a 2000 yard workout this morning.