How I Think Youth Sports Should Be

A conversation in the office this afternoon sparked an idea for this week's blog. While I should be writing a paper for my class I decided to instead grab an ice cold beer and write about how youth sports would play out if I were in charge of things. I will look at it from a variety of different perspectives.

The Kid

First of all the kid is the most important part of this process because it is all about them. I don't think any parent should force their kid to do something they don't want to do. I am OK with them trying to get them to try something out to see if they like it but if they say they don't then don't force it. I also hate money being involved with kids. If it were up to me I would get rid of all the AAU organizations, eliminate fees to play and ban paying coaches for anyone under the age of 13. Once they get to high school you can get your greedy hands on them but before that let them have some fun. 

The Coach

The coach should be a volunteer. It should be a parent or a person who loves the sport and has a little free time to help out in afternoons and on the weekend. As a coach the rules would be:

1: During the season every kid gets a chance to start

2: Equal playing time for all kids

3: Each kid gets to play in every game

4: You teach the fundamentals and don't drill them into the ground

5: Never yell at a child on the team

6: Make sure the kids have fun by playing games at practice and joking around

I took this approach when I was a coach back in the day. I am proud to say I retired with a perfect record in my career as a head coach. I was 12-0 and knew that it was the right time to call it quits. I led the Lopez Elementary 4th and 5th grade girl's basketball teams to 6-0 records each. I would like to point out that one of my star 4th graders, Paige Applegate, went on to average 10 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals per game in 2009-10 at Rocky Mountain H.S. On the other hand I am depressed that she has now graduated from high school.

Here is a picture of my two unbeatable squads in the Fort Collins recreation league

The Dad

My version of the dad would be really laid back. In fact all of the dads would not care about the outcome of the game. They would all hang out together and cheer on their kid but wouldn't put any pressure on them at all. I remember in high school when the dads all parked their trucks along the fence on each side of the field and some would sit on the tailgate and watch the baseball game. I think if they should all bring a six pack and just chill in the stands, drinking beer and talking about women and sports. There would never be any fighting or yelling at players, coaches and officials. 

The Mom

Don't hate me ladies for writing this but I would make sure the moms take turns each week bringing snacks and juice boxes for the kids. Every game becomes like a little kids birthday party. The moms all did this for my teams and it was amazing. They even chipped in to buy me a gift card after the season for volunteering. During the games the moms could sit around and talk about American Idol or Dancing With the Stars and decide who the Bachelor or Bachelorette is going to give the boot.

The Venue

People should chip in to take care of fields and gyms so kids would have a free place to go and play but when I was growing up we didn't need any of this. My buddies and I would get 10 guys together and head to the park with a nerf football. We spent hours playing out there and having fun. During recess at school we either played football or kickball for the most part. Most of the kids joined in be it girls or boys and we all had a blast. We weren't seven years old, paying $500 for a personal quarterback coach and several thousands more going around the country to play in basketball tournaments all summer long. Instead our parents were buying us snack packs with that money and teaching us good values and about hard work while letting us be kids and have fun.  

Movin On Up to the East Side

My blog is getting out late this week but for good reason. I have spent every evening this week moving from my apartment to a new, much nicer place. I have a hard time staying in one place which is why I went to two different colleges and moved to a different state each of my first four years out of college. Now that I have been at Duke for an eternity (four straight years) I needed some kind of a change. I did not change jobs or move to a different state but I did graduate from my one bedroom apartment to a beautiful townhouse.

My townhouse is almost everything I have always wanted. It has two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and large closet. There is an upstairs loft as well with big glass windows on each side looking outdoors. Downstairs there is a large living room/dining room with hardwood floors and a fireplace. The kitchen is spacious and has a bar overlooking the living/dining room. One of my lifetime dreams was to own a refrigerator with an icemaker in the door and now that dream has come true. To many of you it might be sad that one of my dreams consisted of this but I always said small dreams are attainable, big dreams are just that ... dreams. My place also has a garage and outside the back door is a walking/running path that leads around the townhouse community and around a lake just down the road. The only two things that would make this place better is a downstairs with a pool table and it being in the mountains.

In the words of the Jeffersons ...

Well we're movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.

I have never taken anything I have had for granite and have worked my way up to where I am today. I think back to some of my early places through college and after. My first two years at Colorado State I had a studio apartment with a Murphy bed. For those who don't know what that is, it is a bed that comes out of the wall. My first year after college I lived in a 3rd floor place in New Hampshire. It wasn't much to look at and I had zero furniture. I moved out there with only what I could fit in my truck. For the first several months I slept on a sleeping bag on a hardwood floor. Then people I worked with found out about it and donated several furniture items including a bed. My intern year at Duke I lived in the basement of a house where the son of our Athletic Director lived. I had my own kitchen and bedroom and advanced to a futon. My first full time job was at Alabama where I slept on an air mattress for four months in a nice one bedroom apartment until we received a month's paycheck as a bonus for making a bowl game. That bonus went to a new bed and couch which are two of the best purchases I ever made next to the washer and dryer I bought right away in Tuscaloosa. All of this has never been bad because through it all I remembered my dad's story about living in a bread truck in Oregon after he finished college. He didn't think that was so bad and for me I figured I always had it better than that because of what my parents instilled in me.

Now I am living large with my new place. I don't make a lot of money and will have to scrape by to afford this new lifestyle but to me the money is well spent because I know I will enjoy going home every day. Happiness is greater than money any day of the week.     

What Happens in Vegas ... Goes in My Blog

For the second time this summer I took a trip with the help of a free hotel from the ESPYs. This time it was myself and my buddy Forman taking our talents to Las Vegas AKA the City of Sin, the Entertainment Capital of the World, the City of Lights and Glitter Gulch. It was a two-man wolfpack with hopes and dreams of striking it rich or at least finding some good looking girls to spend the weekend with.

I would like to start with the girls. About the only way to keep from blowing through your life savings in the casino is to go to the hotel pools. We had three in our hotel, the Cosmopolitan, but one charged a cover (dumb) and the other we briefly looked for but could not find. Thus we spent our time at the Bamboo Pool. This is where we did the bulk of our socializing with the ladies. Oddly enough all of them we talked to were from other countries. There was a tremendous Canadian who was told to leave the pool by her brother because he wanted to hang with us and drink beers. A large group of Australian girls who were defensive about their country despite us only saying positive things. My favorite was two french girls who were talking back and forth. I said "You are speaking French right?" and the reply I got was a head nod yes. Unfortunately the only thing I can say in French is "It is beautiful outside isn't it" and at that time it had just poured rain and was still really cloudy.

Away from the pool my favorite girl was the one who asked me for my hotel key so she could get into a club. I said "as long as you drop it back by the room". She never dropped by but I wasn't back in the room until 3:30 a.m. so in that four hours she could have tried to. There was an Asian girl who wanted her picture taken with Forman but he had many drinks in him and at that time couldn't get out any real words. One of the great things about Vegas is there are always girls dancing on tables, in boxes or serving you drinks. I would have to say some of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen were in our hotel. One night when the tables were turned and it was me who was feeling the alcohol affects more we were walking to dinner when a parade of Planet Hollywood girls came by us singing "Vegas, Vegas, something something". I don't remember all the words but one of them tried to throw beads on me because I was dancing alongside of them. I am not sure why they were all laughing though.

On to the gambling. I lost quite a bit of money and was depressed for about 30 minutes but then realized that in the grand scheme of things I knew I would lose and was really just paying $50 per rum and coke. That is about the price of a drink at the bar in Vegas anyway (kidding it is really only $20). Once I was down a few hundo after the first day and morning of the next day I wised up. I started playing a horse racing game in the MGM that took quarters or penny slots the rest of the weekend. I probably broke even or won a little bit by doing this. I hit several big bonuses and will now stick to the penny slots even though I never really know how I am winning.

Vegas was not all gambling and girls, however. We had some impecable timing. We were riding an escalator to go eat at Burger Bar in Mandalay Bay when we saw a sign advertising a Pete Rose appearance at noon. We checked the time and it was 11:55 a.m. About 10 steps further and there he was. I took a picture of him while he was talking on his cell phone and Forman struck up a short conversation about Jeter's 3,000th hit. Ironic that we met Pete Rose in a casino.

Forman had never been to In-N-Out Burger so we ventured to try it out. The Fire Marshall would have closed the place down if he saw how many people were in there. It was worth the wait but we had to eat outside where it was really hot. Literally 30 seconds after we threw our trash away it started to pour rain ... again really good timing.

Two other quick mentions about our trip. We love Earl of Sandwich because the food was cheap and tasty and it was across the street from our hotel. We ate there every night for dinner. Also I have to mention the show Recycled Percussion we saw. The great thing about it was they gave everyone in the audience a drumstick and a selection of a pot, pan, bucket or other household item in one of four big trunks. They allowed us to be a part of the show which was pretty cool. I never got to play drums on pots and pans growing up so it was like going back in time to right my childhood in a way.

Patriotism: God Bless America

Fresh off the 4th of July I thought this would be a good time to talk about being a red-blooded American and my thoughts on patriotism. I hopefully fall into a category of a large group of people that absolutely loves the United States of America. I think most people would agree that there is no better country on Earth that is better than ours ... especially if you have been across our borders to Canada or Mexico or to any other country around the globe.

The 4th of July is obviously the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776 to declare independence from Great Britain (not sure what is so great about it and probably why it should be called England). They probably still haven't gotten over the fact that we won the Revolutionary War and then had to save their butts in two World Wars as well. This holiday to celebrate independence is way better than any other country. Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores) or El Grito de la Independencia (Cry of Independence) is what I guess would count as Mexico's independence on September 16 but who has heard of that. And if Ashley is reading this it is not the Cry of Doloros. Canada Day is July 1 and used to be called Dominion Day but they didn't colonize until 1867 so it took them nearly 100 more years than it did us. The only independence day other than our own that I even knew about was Bastille Day which is July 14 and is France's day of independence. I only knew that because it is my grandma's birthday and saw it listed on the calendar so I googled it a few years ago.

Who doesn't love the pageantry that goes along with the 4th of July. Nothing says America more than people getting together with friends and family to grill some burgers and dogs, drink some beer and watch fireworks. You take that and add in some apple pie, Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA playing in the background and an apache helicopter flyover and you have yourself the perfect day to celebrate this wonderful country.

I feel like people should show their patriotism all year long and not just on certain occasions. I believe the pledge of allegiance should be said every morning in schools. That was one of my favorite parts of school growing up because I loved looking at the stars and stripes. I even had a large U.S. flag hanging on the wall behind my bed when I was in college so Iit was a reminder of how great I had it every morning I woke up. I am also a firm believer in every American putting their hand over their heart when the National Anthem is played (and no hats people). I also think that any time you hear the Star Spangled Banner regardless of where you are at you should stand still and for the love of god stay quiet. One of my biggest pet peeves is people talking during the national anthem - it is less than two minutes for pete's sake. I also think people should be more patriotic when people are representing the USA in the Olympics or World Cup. When I was in Germany for the World Cup in 2006, all the other countries were so much more passionate about their teams and it pissed me off.

I would like to close with some pictures of my top five patriotic performers.

1. Hacksaw Jim Duggan - My favorite wrestler of all time. Not only did he carry around an American flag but he also toted a 2x4 which is amazing. He would constantly chant "U.S.A. ... U.S.A. ... U.S.A." I was reminded about the 2x4 the other night when "The Rock" used a 2x4 to bring justice to his hometown in the movie Walking Tall.

2. Butterbean - no doubt my favorite boxer of all time and really the only reason I have ever watched the sport of boxing because it is so boring. He rocked the patriotic trunks and fists of justice, making the sport exciting because with any punch he could knock a guy across the ring and end the fight. He never had many fights scheduled for more than three rounds but he never really needed to.

 
3. American Gladiators - I loved this television show and nothing says America better than competitions with people jacked up on steroids. I mean baseball, America's pastime, is full of these athletes. The only Americans love more than baseball is suing each other so you know American Gladiators would be a hit. My two favorite things about the show were obviously the red, white and blue uniforms of the gladiators but the events were great, especially assault and of course the eliminator.

4. Super Dave Osborne - a comedian who played the role of a stunt man and had his own variety show in the late 80's and early 90's. He acted as though he would perform extremely dangerous stunts and something always happened where he ended up seriously injured. He was very funny and a great entertainer. His outfit included red, white and blue with gold stars shouting I love America.

5. Apollo Creed - hard to root for because he fought Rocky and I suppose people all rooted for the Italian Stallion since he was the movie's underdog. I on the other hand wanted Apollo Creed to dominate because of this outfit he entered the ring in.

USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA ... USA