Coaching Soccer

In my daughter's blog she said "I think this must be why my Dad coached his kids' soccer teams--to give him an excuse to be the one yelling on the sidelines." 

I admit that I did keep up a steady stream of "helpful" coaching from the sidelines.  The reasons for coaching probably included the "yelling" part.  I think that if I was to coach another team of very young kids; I would encourage the kids to talk to each other on the field.  Young kids quite often keep talking and talking, but put them on a soccer field and they will not talk to each other.  In soccer other players can help their teammates by telling them that an opponent is coming up to them or that a teammate is open square, etc..

I also coached because I like sports and spending time with my kids.  I was introduced to soccer at a later age, it is a sport I probably could have been good at if I had started at a early age.  Running and thinking are a couple of my strong points.

Plus my kids were/are good at soccer.

To get back to the "yelling/coaching". I also believe that the kids on the field don't really hear us!


Coaching is not a natural way of life. Your victories and losses are too clear cut.-- Tommy Prothro



Make sure that team members know they are working with you, not for you.-- John Wooden


Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and getting them to believe in you.
-- Eddie Robinson


Coaching is a profession of love. You can't coach people unless you love them.-- Eddie Robinson



A successful coach needs a patient wife, loyal dog, and great quarterback - and not necessarily in that order.-- Bud Grant


I'd rather be a football coach. That way you can lose only 11 games a season. I lost 11 games in December alone!-- Abe Lemons



Overcoaching is the worst thing you can do to a player.-- Dean Smith



Either love your players or get out of coaching.-- Bobby Dodd


"The coach should be the absolute boss, but he still should maintain an open mind." -- Red Auerbach


Bad shooters are always open" -- Pete Carril



coach (n) 1 a horse-drawn carriage 2 a railroad car.

an athletic instructor or trainer.  • a tutor who gives private or specialized teaching.

ORIGIN mid 16th cent. (sense 1) : from French coche, from Hungarian kocsi (szekér) ‘(wagon) from Kocs,’ a town in Hungary

ORIGIN early 18th cent. (as a verb): figuratively from coach 1

Competence

In many of my jobs, I was very competent.  In the Navy, I was an excellent EOOW (Engineering Officer of the Watch - in charge of the sub's nuclear plant).  In my NRC days, I was probably the best Nuclear Simulator operator licensing engineer.  When I was an instructor, I was very good at the simulator.


The Chicago Blackhawks are very competent at playing hockey as shown by their Stanley Cup victory.  My wife is very competent in most every thing she does.  My kids are extremely competent as parents.


Why can't we have a competent President?  P.O. has failed as an ambassador for the US (he apologizes every where he goes for our faults(or at least his opinion of what are faults)), he has basically bankrupted the country with his budget (my grandkids and their kids will be paying for it), he has failed in protecting the country, and he has failed in his handling of the gulf oil spill.

P.O. is in over his head.  He has never run anything.  I thought he was at least competent; boy was I wrong!  The Peter Principle at its finest!


“Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence” Napoleon Bonaparte



“A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops.”  John J. Pershing



“The only foes that threaten America are the enemies at home, and these are ignorance, superstition and incompetence.”  Elbert Hubbard



No human being will work hard at anything unless they believe that they are working for competence.  William Glasser



Sincerity and competence is a strong combination. In politics, it is everything.  Peggy Noonan



The single most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence, because it's so rare. Daniel P. Moynihan



Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent.~Laurence J. Peter



Everyone rises to their level of incompetence. ~Laurence J. Peter


Incompetents invariably make trouble for people other than themselves.~Larry McMurtry



competence (n) 1 the ability to do something successfully or efficiently  • the scope of a person's or group's knowledge or ability  • a skill or ability. • the legal authority of a court or other body to deal with a particular matter
2 dated an income large enough to live on, typically unearned
ORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense [suitable, adequate] ): from Latin competent-, from the verb competere in its earlier sense ‘be fit or proper’ (see compete ).

BH Town

I listen to a lot of sports talk radio.  It is usually interesting when the local teams are losing. At the beginning of the hockey season, you could not find any hockey talk on the radio.  After all, there were the Bears, Bulls, White Sox & Cubs talk to talk about.

But now all you can hear is the Blackhawks' players or experts talking about the Hockey season.  For those of you who do not follow sports, the (hated) Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Final with a 2-0 games lead.

Those of us who are Redwing fans, it is very boring talk.  Last year when the Redwings & PIT were in the finals there was little talk about it, after the BH's lost.  My son is a big BH fan, whereas, my son-in-law is a RW fan.  Unfortunately, for us the BH have a very good young team who will probably be good for a long time.  But we RW fans' hope is that we will raise again!


Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps.- Tiger Woods



I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out. - Rodney Dangerfield



All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.- Gordie Howe



A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. - Wayne Gretzky



Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept. - Doug Larson


Hockey players wear numbers because you can’t always identify the body with dental records


 ”A fast body--contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet.” - Paul Gallico


Goaltending is a normal job, sure. How would you like it in your job if every time you made a small mistake, a red light went on over your desk and 15,000 people stood up and yelled at you.” - Jacques Plante


”It takes brains. It's not like a forward, where you can get away with scoring and not play defense. On defense you have to be thinking.” - Chris Chelios


”My former wife made me a millionaire. I used to have three million dollars.”- Bobby Hull



ice hockey  (n)  a fast contact sport played on an ice rink between two teams of six skaters, who attempt to drive a small rubber disk (the puck) into the opposing goal with hooked or angled sticks. It developed in Canada in the 19th century

What's going on?

I heard a radio news item that a person was arrested for throwing a rock at a Goose and killing it after someone called the police.  There was another item that a gang banger on his death bed refused to name his killer.

Both of these stories occurred on the South Side of Chicago.  The south side is notorious for gangs and murders.  Another thing they're renowned for is not talking to the police.  There are numerous killings there but no one will "rat" on the killers!  And yet a goose gets a call to the police!

Chicago's Mayor Daley (a dem of course) wants to outlaw guns for the normal people who only want to be able to defend themselves.  He is doing nothing to get the guns away from the gangs or crooks.

I love animals (but not mosquitoes) but feel that human life is more important.  What's going on here?


Chicago has 2.7 times the national average for murders; 2.18 times the national average for violent crimes.


murder (n)  the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another
ORIGIN Old English morthor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moord and German Mord, from an Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit mará ‘death’ and Latin mors; reinforced in Middle English by Old French murdre.

Hot!

Those of you that know me know that I hate hot weather!   I especially hate hot & muggy!  I think my response to hot & muggy causes my wife discomfort.  Since we do not have air conditioning (I know somewhere out of the middle ages (I guess I won't mention our lack of cable or sat TV)), I try to keep the house cool by keeping the drapes closed which makes the house dark and dreary and it still gets hot!

The last few days it has been near 90 F and muggy.  On Sunday, I bicycled from and back to the church.  I was drenched in sweat.  I almost didn't go back (my wife's Swedish Glee Club spring concert was at our church in the afternoon).

It seems that older people like hot weather, I guess that just goes to show that my lovely wife and me aren't old!


“What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance” Jane Austen


How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?



Don't knock the weather. If it didn't change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn't start a conversation.   Kin Hubbard



“There is no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” John Ruskin



Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?  Kelvin Throop III



Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning.  George Carlin



In Scotland, there is no such thing as bad weather - only the wrong clothes.  Billy Connelly



You know what they say about Chicago. If you don't like the weather, wait fifteen minutes.  Ralph Kiner



WEATHER, n.  The climate of the hour. A permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned. The setting up official weather bureaus and their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle. (DD)

Gifts

It is very hard for me to buy gifts for my lovely wife.  I have no fashion sense and don't understand winter / spring / fall / summer colors, so I buy things in colors that appeal to me.  My sister-in-law is able to buy clothes for my wife, I look at them when they arrive and they look bad, but my lovely wife puts them on and they are perfect on her.  I have tried to buy some jewelry for her but they don't work.  I bought her a Stand Mixer and that seems to be OK.

My kids ask me if I have any ideas at Christmas for gifts for her, but if I had any ideas I would use them myself.  I have tried asking what she wants, but that doesn't work (I guess after 41+ years of marriage I should know what she wants)!

Her birthday was a few days ago.  I think I finally got a gift she likes!  A friend of ours (she is in the Swedish Singing group with my lovely wife) is a piano teacher; so I asked if she would be willing to take on another student for 5 lessons (that number to see if my LW would enjoy it and if not could stop) and she said she would be glad to.  So my gift was the lessons!


If you want to say it with flowers, a single rose says: "I'm cheap!" Delta Burke


The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.   Johnny Carson


“Everyone is gifted - but some people never open their package”


Nothing’s as mean as giving a little child something useful for Christmas.



“Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.”  Bil Keane


"Christmas is the season when you buy this year's gifts with next year's money."



gift (n) 1 a thing given willingly to someone without payment; • an act of giving something as a present : his mother's gift of a pen.
2 a natural ability or talent 
ORIGIN Middle English : from Old Norse gipt; related to give

It is my fault...

It is my fault when my favorite sports teams lose!

Whenever I watch my favorite teams (Lions, Tigers, Pistons, Spartans, Redwings) on TV they lose.  When MSU was in the finals of NCAA Basketball Championship a couple of years ago, I made the mistake of watching it on the TV ; they lost!  When the Redwings were in the Stanley Cup finals last year I watched it and they lost!

Some people might incorrectly say that it is merely coincidence or superstition but as every democrat knows anecdotal evidence is the most reliable (even though the evidence shows otherwise (sorry couldn't resist a dig)).  Of course, some people might point out that some of these teams lose the majority of their games anyhow (Lions, Pistons) but others tend to win the majority of their games.

Conversely, when I watch my hated teams (like Yankees, or arrogant teams like White Sox or Bears) on TV they win!  Perhaps, I watch too much TV!

The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on. - Robert Bloch



“Win as if you were used to it, lose as if you enjoyed it for a change.”   Ralph Waldo Emerson



“Having nothing, nothing can he lose.”  William Shakespeare



“We lost because we told ourselves we lost”  Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy



No one ever says, "It's only a game" when their team is winning.  George Carlin



Anybody can win -- unless there happens to be a second entry.  Ade's Law



Don't believe that winning is really everything. It's more important to stand for something. If you don't stand for something, what do you win?  Lane Kirkland



Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts.' probably lost.  Mary Ashton Livermore



lose (v):  1 be deprived of or cease to have or retain (something) • cause (someone) to fail to gain or retain (something) • waste or fail to take advantage of (time or an opportunity)
fail to win (a game or contest)  • cause (someone) to fail to win (a game or contest) 
ORIGIN Old English losian [perish, destroy,] also [become unable to find,] from los [loss.]

Bike v. Car

Small hills and wind (in general except on a bridge or a hurricane) have no effect on a car.  Cars, in general, are not too much of a problem for other cars to see since they are about the same size and in the road lanes.  Cars use gasoline and emit noxious fumes.  Cars travel at 25-80 (or more with idiots at the wheel (assuming not on a race track)) mph.  Cars can carry 1-9 or so passengers.

On a bike going up hills increases the energy needed and hence increases the calories burned.  Into the wind with a bike has the same effect.  However, going down hills and with the wind does not seem to reduce the energy needed; this might be because we don't recognize the reduction as much as the increase.  Cars are a large problem for bikes, in a collision with a bike the care wins plus the cars do not seem to realize that we are there and hence do (to us) stupid and dangerous things.  Bikes use people calories for propulsion, which does not add to pollution other than the sweat odor.  When we bike, our speed is usually between 10-12 mph, up hills 0-8 mph and down hills 12-20 mph.  With our tandem we could have 2 passengers but usually the only one per bike (a friend of ours son has a four-dem) or with the bike kiddie cart 1 or 2 small children.

Long distances are a car's specialty; it takes a looonnng time to bicycle more than 20-30 miles; but on a bike it is much more likely to appreciate the scenery and notice people and other attractions.  If everybody would bike for short distances (1-15 miles round trip), then our health and pollution would be much better.

When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.- Sherlock Holmes


When you ride hard on a mountain bike, sometimes you fall, otherwise you’re not riding hard.- President George Bush


An engineer designing from scratch could hardly concoct a better device (BIKE) to unclog modern roads – cheap, nonpolluting, small and silent…- Rick Smith


The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community.- Ann Strong


Cycling to work is an important issue for business – the more who do it, the more our communities will support it. Healthy and green, cycling is worthy of the support of every business in the land.- Sir Digby Jones


Until mountain biking came along, the bike scene was ruled by a small elite cadre of people who seemed allergic to enthusiasm.- Jacquie Phelan


The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart. - Iris Murdoch


When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells


Marriage is a wonderful invention; but then again, so is a bicycle repair kit.
- Lord Charles Beresford


Bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of his own.- Louis J. Helle


bicycle (n)a vehicle composed of two wheels held in a frame one behind the other, propelled by pedals and steered with handlebars attached to the front wheel.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from bi- [two] + Greek kuklos ‘wheel.’

Kids Today

Kids!
I don't know what's wrong with these kids today!
Kids!
Who can understand anything they say?
Kids!
They a disobedient, disrespectful oafs!
Noisy, crazy, dirty, lazy, loafers!
While we're on the subject:
Kids!
You can talk and talk till your face is blue!
Kids!
But they still just do what they want to do!
Why can't they be like we were,
Perfect in every way?
What's the matter with kids today?
Kids!
I've tried to raise him the best I could
Kids! Kids!
Laughing, singing, dancing, grinning, morons!
And while we're on the subject!
Kids! They are just impossible to control!
Kids! With their awful clothes and their rock an' roll!
Why can't they dance like we did
What's wrong with Sammy Caine?
What's the matter with kids today!   ("Kids" from Bye Bye Birdie)

I was thinking about kids now and then (back in the dark ages when we were kids).  When I was young, we used to bicycle to the Detroit Zoo (it was then free to enter, we kids didn't have any money) which is on a very busy highway.  Now a days the kids are not allowed to go anywhere without being driven.  I saw the kid across the street come back from a soccer game in the family van; my poor kids had to bicycle to soccer games which were as close as the neighbor's game was.

We did not have any money and today if you look at the High School parking lot you will see cars, pickups, or vans that are much nicer than our Minivan.  It seems that every kid has a Cell Phone, in the olden days we used Carrier Pigeons (just kidding we had nothing to call home or our buddies).

Some advantages we had, we could get jobs (there is 30-40% unemployment in the 20-30 range thanks to P.O.).  Our teachers seemed to care more about teaching us then keeping Politically Correct speech in the classroom.  We were able to fail (believe or not we actually kept score in sports).  We were able to play baseball or football or etc. without coaches or team uniforms.

(Caveat : my grandkids appear to be raised in the correct (in my opinion) manner).

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told:  "I am with you kid.  Let's go."  ~Maya Angelou


We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.  ~Stacia Tauscher


You can learn many things from children.  How much patience you have, for instance.  ~Franklin P. Jones


A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often


Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.  ~William Stafford


Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.  ~Fran Lebowitz



CHILDHOOD, n.  The period of human life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth -- two removes from the sin of manhood and three from the remorse of age (DD)

What Not to Wear

During a sermon our pastor mentioned a show on The Learning Channel called "What Not to Wear".  He said that people (friends or relatives) nominate people who do not dress well and the show then does makeovers on their wardrobes after embarrassing the subjects and burning their old clothes.

To me this is the height of arrogance to tell someone that what they wear is not correct.  Of course, I only wear clothes now that I enjoy or that feel comfortable (when I was not retired I wore comfortable but more dressy clothes).  I wear shorts in the summer (short shorts compared to what most people (especially the young people) now-a-days wear) and blue jeans when the weather is not warm enough for shorts.

I don't care what other people think of my attire (actually the only person that I ask is my lovely bride and she is nice enough to say I look OK).  I do dress up more for Church since that is showing respect for the Lord.

What is the "correct" clothes to wear?  If you look throughout the ages the "correct" clothes changes with the year or season; like women's swimsuits : in 1800's completely covered up, mid-1900's a one piece suit, late 1900's bikinis (remember the "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"; then later thongs.


Song Lyrics: "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
Recorded by: "Brian Hyland"
Written by: (Paul Vance, Lee Pockriss)


She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was as nervous as she could be 
She was afraid to come out of the locker
She was afraid that somebody would see
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the locker she wanted to stay
Two, three, four, stick around we'll tell you more 


She was afraid to come out in the open
And so a blanket around she wore 
She was afraid to come out in the open
And so she sat bundled up on the shore 
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the blanket she wanted to stay
Two, three, four, stick around we'll tell you more


Now she's afraid to come out of the water 
And I wonder what she's gonna do
Now she's afraid to come out of the water 
And the poor little girl's turning blue
Two, three, four, tell the people what she wore


It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
That she wore for the first time today
An itsy, bitsy, teentie, weenie, yellow polka-dot bikini
So in the water she wanted to stay
(From the locker to the blanket) 
(From the blanket to the shore)
(From the shore to the water) 
Yes, there isn't any more


The finest clothing made is a person's skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.  ~Mark Twain


A dress that zips up the back will bring a husband and wife together.  ~James H. Boren


I base most of my fashion sense on what doesn't itch.  ~Gilda Radner


People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.  ~Lee Mildon


I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent.  A person, yes.  ~Robert A. Heinlein


Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.  ~Henry David Thoreau


If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties?  How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?  ~Linda Ellerbee



clothes (pl n)  1 items worn to cover the body 
ORIGIN Old English clāthas, plural of clāth (see cloth ).