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March 27, 2009
The Big Boys just Keep Winning
This is starting to become boring. The Final 8 are set and all three number one seeds have advanced, two number two seeds and two number three seeds.
The writing becomes redundant since youth football is the same as the NCAA Tournament, the big favorites win.
The answer I can give to a youth football coach who complains he can never compete is to
- Leave for a bigger program
- Recruit better
- Make your program bigger
The first one can happen over night and the last two will take some time. There is no question that the most satisfying would be the latter two options.
March 25, 2009
Connecticut Cheaters? So it aint so!
Jim Calhoun a criminal? It never seems to stop. Now even the squeaky- clean programs and coaches are being accused of cheating. We are not talking about minor cheating, but major rules violations.
I hate when I hear stories like this. It opens the floodgates and gives a sick “validation” for youth football coaches who cheat. Youth football players see this crap going on and they start to believe everyone cheats.
It is harder and harder to teach ethics to the youth football team when day after day these type of stories keep surfacing.
March 24, 2009
Direct TV gives 1 Billion Dollars to the NFL
One Billion dollars. I will say it again One Billion dollars. That is what Direct TV has agreed to pay the NFL to keep their exclusive rights to broadcast every NFL game.
I think I missed the boat when I decided I wanted to volunteer as a youth football coach. I made the statement 20 years ago that I never want to be paid. I do this because I enjoy coaching kids and want them to have a good experience before they go to high school.
What an idiot I am. Maybe, just maybe if I went in another direction I could have gone from youth football coach to NFL scout and be cashing in on some of those billion dollars.
Oh well, I will remain happy and look forward to my youth eight-year-old team in the fall.
March 23, 2009
TO Blows off the Opening Mini Camp
The cancer known as TO continues to amaze me. I cannot believe the arrogance of the piece of garbage. The Bills are getting what they deserve. Most players would realize that his list of options is shrinking and he should try to get Buffalo happy. Not TO. This piece of trash passes on the perfect opportunity to do some good will. I get sick as I hear Edwards (Bills QB) making up excuses for TO not showing up.
Thank God, I am coaching youth football and not the NFL. I would not be able to tolerate such self-fish behavior.
March 22, 2009
Different Day Same Old Song
Sunday played out like Saturday, which played out like Friday, which played out like Thursday. The favorites just keep on winning.
CBS is pissed since the spent billions and all they care about is the “Cinderella story”. Boo Hoo CBS not this year. Not even in the sweet sixteen.
This year the tournament is running pretty much as it always does…the favorites win. Youth football is the same way…pretty much the favorites win. As I stated in the last post there just are not many upsets in youth football.
Year after year the bigger programs, with the higher number of players and better equipment win in youth football.
March 21, 2009
Better Teams Winning…the Story in the NCAA
Following up my last post on this page, the favorite teams just keep piling up the wins. The NCAA tournament is very similar to youth football in this regard. It s scary how similar this trend is.
As I have posted here before and mention in my books, in my 22 plus years of coaching youth football I have seen only a handful of true upsets. Again, I am talking about a very bad team beating one of the best teams. Too many people get all uptight when a lesser team beats a favorite in the tournament, but it is almost unanimous that these two teams were not that far apart in talent or skill to start with.
March 20, 2009
NCAA Where are all the Upsets?
I hear all the public asking the above question. The media, public and “non-interested” (no money on the game) fans all want to see David slay Goliath. This tournament is probably done more for the persona of “upsets” than any other sporting event.
The reality in the NCAA’s just like in youth football the underdog winning is a rare event. The team with the most talent is going to win 99.9% of the time. I am not talking about two close or evenly matched teams. I am speaking of David versus Goliath. It just does not happen that often.
In over 22 years of coaching youth football and being involved in over 1,000 youth football games
I can count on one hand how many times David has slain Goliath. Moreover, the hand I am talking about has no pinkies or thumbs.
March 19, 2009
Drunk with victory
This is an old betting term in the sports world. It means when a garbage team beats an opponent they have no business competing with that they are so “drunk with victory” they forget to show up the next game. While coaching youth football, you will not see many upsets, but when you do many times this happens.
This not only applies to youth football as seen in the 76ers last night against the Suns. The 76ers hit a shot at the buzzer the night before to beat the Lakers in LA. Talk about being drunk! Less than 24 hours later, they travel to Phoenix and are popped by the Suns.
As you coach youth football, please remember this little tidbit as there may be a time when you are facing a drunken opponent!
March 18, 2009
Lakers and Celtics Lose – Bad Karma!
How often does this happen? The best team in the west and the best (?) team in the east both lost. Both teams need wins to secure the all-important home court advantage in the playoffs.
To make it even stranger they both lost to terrible teams. The Celtics lost to the Bulls who decided on St Patty’s day to really stick it to the Celtics and wear uniforms in the Kelly Green Boston Celtics color. The went as far as to have the Celtics wear their home whites on the road!
The Lakers found a way to lose at home versus the 76ers. Both the bulls and the 76ers are trying to get the last few playoff spots in the east. Both teams are also very bad.
Youth football is different from pro sports. Upsets like the example above are rare. Most of the time the youth football teams with the better talent and better coaches win most of the games.
March 17, 2009
Cry baby Cutler or Meathead McDaniels?
Have you ever seen a bigger cluster**** in recent memory? What was McDaniels thinking when he took over the Broncos? It is one thing to want to bring your old “posse” with you to make the transition to the new team easier, but it is quite another to crap in your own bed.
McDaniel’s blatant pursuing of Cassel and lack of respect for Cutler put him in this ridiculous predicament.
Cutler on the other hand makes millions of dollars and is too stupid to realize this is a business. Shut up and play cry baby.
Crap like this makes coaching youth football harder each year. It is bad enough when your youth football players pick up the terrible habits of the pros, like not wrapping up on tackles and taking handoffs wrong, but now they have to witness this immature behavior.
God help us all!
March 16, 2009
NCAA Tournament Selected
Today is one of the most anticipated days of the years in sports. Fans, alumni, students, players and coaches gather around the old boob tube to find out if their tem is going to “the big dance”, and if so where, against who and at what time.
CBS has really locked up this monster, and will be broadcasting live video streaming via the web every game live. Take that Direct TV!
You may wonder what this has to do with youth football and my answer is plenty. What pisses the college football fan off more than anything else is how “right” hoops have it. I even heard coach Bobby Knight suggest blow this thing up to 128 teams, then no “bubble teams” can complain anymore. You would need to add one more day of games and just give all the top 64 teams a home game. Not a bad idea.
College Football cannot even get the correct two teams to play each other let alone attempt a playoff system. In youth football there is usually a playoff system, consisting of four to eight teams. It may not be as big as the NCAA tournament, but do not tell that the the players, parents and coaches involved. A trip to the playoff is the “cherry on top of the sundae” reward for having an excellent regular season.
All youth football coaches should be proud when they can lead their young men into the playoffs.March 15, 2009
Louisville Big East Champs
Little Ricky Pittino can rest a little easier after Saturday night. It was quite an accomplishment, winning both the regular season and tournament championships of the Big East. This happens frequently in youth football. One team will win both the regular season and playoff championship.
What makes Louisville accomplishment even more special is it was done in a league that featured both Connecticut and Pittsburgh. Both of these teams have spent most of the year as the number one team.
Just like youth football, sometimes we need to take a closer look. As great as an accomplishment as this was I do see a few points that need to be addressed. First, they did not have to face Connecticut or Pittsburgh. Louisville also faced Syracuse he just played a six overtime game on Thursday and an overtime game on Saturday. In addition, they only faced Connecticut and Pittsburgh once each this year and both were at home.
College is much like youth football in that the schedule in the regular season can make a big difference in how your season goes. The seeding in the playoffs can also have a huge difference in your outcome. I always get a good look at the schedule and through scouting; I can usually get a good idea on what we need to do as a coaching staff to try to do the best we can.
March 14, 2009
Holt Released by the Rams
In today’s headline, we see that the Rams and Holt agreed to part ways after a very successful career. I believe that Terry Holt asked to be released so he can pursue playing with a contender. The Rams were happy to dump salary on an expensive veteran.
It is nice in youth football we do not have to concern ourselves with this BS. Our biggest concern is if our current stud players want to go and play for another youth football organization. This common occurrence can be the result of many factors.
Some parents do not like the philosophy of your current youth football program so they look to play elsewhere. This is usually related to the amount of guaranteed playing time. Sometimes a smaller town will try to start their own program so some players may leave to be closer to home.
I just hope that when we lose any kids to our program that it is not because of the coaching or the organization itself.
March 13, 2009
6 Overtimes
Yep, the title says it all. Six overtimes it took to decide the winner in the Syracuse versus Connecticut games on Thursday night. This was an amazing game as neither team was willing to quit. In youth football, overtime is handled in a variety of ways.
The current league I am coaching in uses a version of the Kansas City overtime rules. The basic rules go something like this:
- Coin toss to determine who chooses to go on offense or defense first
- Offense start from the 10 yard line going in and has four downs to try to score.
- After the four downs the opponent get four downs from the ten going in.
- All scoring is the same as during the game.
- If there is not a winner after two set of downs from both teams, they flip the coin again at midfield.
- Now the team on offense gets the ball placed on the 50-yard line (or mid field if less than a 100-yard field).and runs four plays.
- After the four plays are run, the opposing team now takes over and has four plays to cross the fifty going the other way. This means the team with the most yardage will be declared the winner.
- If the first team scores from the fifty, then the opponent starts from the 50 and must score in four plays to extend into another overtime.
March 12, 2009
LT to stay a Charger
Finally, we see some good news coming from the NFL. Tomlinson has signed a three-year contract to remain with the Chargers. This is a great move for Tomlinson, the Chargers, the NFL and the fans.
I am sick and tired of watching Jordan in a Wizards jersey, Farve in a Jets jersey and Malone in a Lakers jersey. I hope that this move will allow LT to retire a Charger.
We always want to preach loyalty to our youth football players. We want them loyal to the team, ore program and our philosophy. Coaching youth football gets harder when each premadonna runs away chasing the big bucks. It goes both ways as we watch teams dump out players like yesterday’s trash.
I know I will be able to use LT as an example of a great player doing the right thing. All youth football players like to hear stories of their favorite sports heroes, so let us hope LT has a year for the record books.
March 11, 2009
Every Dog has his Day
Today I watched the beginning of the Big East Tournament and I could not believe my eyes as DePaul with a 0-16 conference record found a way to beat Cincinnati by ten. How does teams that has not won, or compete all year find a way to get up and win a big game? There is no answer as this happens on a regular basis in sports.
I should clarify in older sports. I have been coaching youth football and basketball for over 22 years and I can equitably state that upset are RARE in youth sports. I have seen many under talented teams compete for a while but I would have to guess that over 99% of the time the team with the better talent wins. If the opposing coach is a moron with great talent, he will still win his fair share of games. I have a theory in coaching youth sports that is this
A great coach with great talent will be great
A great coach with average talent will be good.
A great coach with bad talent will still be BAD.
On the other side, a bad coach can screw up great talent. A bad coach with average or bad talent will be awful.
In coaching youth football, it just seems to me that the talent usually rises to the top.
March 10, 2009
Quicksand in Youth Football
There is a term in football called quicksand. This mean when things start to go bad, they spiral out of control, as if someone caught in quicksand. There is nothing more frustrating while coaching your youth football team them having them hit “quicksand” during a crucial part of the game.
A reminder of this phenomenon happened Monday night in the Bulls Heat game. This was a game where both teams found ways not to win. At the end of regulation, Rose from the Bulls missed a lay-up for the win as time expired.
At the end of the first overtime Wade from the Heat passed up an easy dunk at the buzzer and instead attempted some under the basket reverse lay-up **it.
At the start of the second OT, it was starting to look like one team was going to win by default. Sure enough at the end of the second OT, the bulls had a chance for a last second shot, but Wade stole the ball with three seconds left and threw up a three pointer from just over half court to win the game.
No matter what the Bulls tried, it was destiny they were going to blow this game. Bad things happen to bad teams and make no mistake about it the Bulls are a bad team.
As a youth football coach there is not much you can do as things fall apart at the critical points in a game. I always take a timeout and speak calmly to the players. Never start screaming or showing panic as the players will notice this and will choke for sure.
You are coaching kids, and youth football should be fun, so please try to just lighten up the mood if things get too intense.
March 9, 2009
North Carolina versus Duke
One of the biggest college basketball rivalries took place today. I have written many times in the past that natural rivalries run wild in youth football.
I always have my players “up” for the big game. I bring an extra level of intensity to my youth football practice when we are facing our rival. The players always seem to respond well to the coaches extra intensity. I always make sure that the team is ready to go, but we want to play fair.
The North Carolina versus Duke Game is a great example of two class programs, competing at the highest level without cheating or playing dirty. The opposing coaches admire and respect each other.
While coaching youth football I try to emulate the examples shown by these two great men. They are great coaches, but even greater men.
March 8, 2009
Owens a Bill
It was a short-lived celebration. The cancer known as TO has been picked up by the Buffalo Bills. I feel as “I am surrounded by idiot” (thanks Lion King). What do they think they know if buffalo that they will be able to do to control this out of control adolescent?
Youth football coached around the globe gave out a scream as they heard this news. This is as bas a license to steal. The NFL and each team are saying you can be the most selfish, arrogant, self-serving SOB and it does not matter. You will still get your millions. I call this the bigger idiot theory. TO can continue his ways as long as there is a bigger idiot out there to hand him cash.
On my youth football team, a player like that would last about a minute. I would have him suspended or get his cash refund ASAP.
It makes me sick, watching the messages our youth athletes get from the pros.
Smoke up….I’m Michael Phelps
Be a Jackass….I’m TO
Be a miserable SOB….My name is Manny
Shoot up…………..My name is ARod
The one thing each of these boobs has in common is they are all millionaires without any respect for their fellow man. Pity.
March 7, 2009
Celtics vs. Cavs Battle of the Heavyweights
Watching the Cleveland versus the Celtics tonight reminds of the great rivalries during the youth football season. I sure there is a team of two in your league that is a natural rival. It may be the neighboring town or a long time foe.
The funny part is that usually there is something big on the line every time you play each other. Tonight’s basketball had great importance as far as the advantage for home court advantage during the upcoming playoffs. When coaching youth football there is nothing like hosting a home playoff game.
The Cavaliers need to win tonight, as this would give them a three game advantage over the Celtics in the loss column with only 21 games to play. Cleveland has only lost one game at home so far, and the history between these two teams proves the home team is unbeatable.
You will find this to hold true with some of your youth football rivals. There will be certain teams you just cannot beat on the road and vice versa.
If there is, one thing I have learned in all my years of coaching youth football is the history usually repeats itself.
End Result Celtics win at home again.
March 6, 2009
T.O. gets fired
When I heard the news that Terrell Owens from the Dallas Cowboys was fired, I jumped for joy. When coaching youth football, nothing is as big a setback and distraction as a selfish player. These players are an absolute cancer to the team. Youth Football is a team sport and when you have a player who puts himself above the team, you are headed for trouble.
As a youth football coach we have many great options that will not cost us 9 million bucks, as Jones had to spend to rid himself of TO. I always put the entire youth football team first, and depending on what the player has done will have an impact on the punishment. Sometime it will be a practice or game suspension.
I believe that we are hopefully starting to see a change in the way Pro teams handle players like, Manny, ARod and TO.
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