"Making A Difference"

I was at work today and for whatever reason these two guys probably in their mid 30's were talking about putting a flag football team together. I kind of just laughed to myself because neither one of these guys looked very athletic at all. It did make me recall my recent experience with flag football though. I came home tonight and found the tournament bracket in a box in my bedroom. I thought I would share the story with you. I am suprised that I hadn't before.

When I worked as the sports director for The Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas one of the clubs put on a 12 and under 7 on 7 flag football tournament. Seven out of the eight clubs that were in the tournament had a weeks notice about the event. My club that I worked at had 2 days notice thanks to my boss for not tellling me right away. My boss was fired a few months later, I know shocking right. I coached the team I put together a group of 9 kids and had two days to get them ready to go. A couple hours of running over the plays I wanted to use and the system I was going to use to call the plays in from the sidelines. The tournament took place on a Friday over the summer. It began with pool play and then the top 4 teams advanced to the tournament. The rules stated the coach could be in the huddle after every play. I wasn't going to do that though. I figured if I could speed up my offense I would catch the defense off guard by calling the plays from the sideline by saying a color followed by a U.S. state and that would symbolize which play to run. I was suprised that it worked. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to do that for very long. Let me introduce you to the O'Shea and Deion show. These were 2 twelve year olds on my team that were already playing on a pop warner team, so they had a decent knowledge of the game. I would rotate them between quarterback and runningback after every play. Most of the time it would be a sweep to the left or the right with a pass here and there.

The games were scheduled for two 12 minute halfs. Our first game didn't start as planned. We were down 7-0 and my quarterback threw a pick 6 so now we were down 14-0 at halftime. Now the area where I worked in Las Vegas is the 3rd worst neighborhood in the country as far as drugs, gangs, and crime rate are concerned. The kids I delt with on a daily basis were for the most part from a rough home life. The kids didn't really respect authoritative figures in their lives. Every day at work was a struggle with the kids, but something I enjoyed doing. I remember looking at those kids faces at halftime. They were upset and pointing fingers at each other for whose fault it was for losing. I clapped my hands together to put a stop to that talk and told the kids to forget about that stuff. I don't remember word for word how I said it, but I explained to the kids that there is going to be times in life as you grow up where things don't always go your way, it's up to yourself on how you can change the situation. I told them you got two choices right now. You can continue to pout and we will lose this game, or you can suck it up and try to win this game. Now I will be honest with you I didn't expect us to win that game. I've seen these kids lay down and quit numerous times since I began working with them. I figured everything I said went in one ear and out the other. I was wrong.

The second half of that game couldn't of gone any better. We came out and scored a touchdown in 3 plays. We never looked back after that. We ended up winning that game 21-14. I was as proud as I ever was while I worked at that club. I was happy for those kids. Seeing the joy on their faces after that game and them joking around with each other was great to see. We won the #1 seed during the pool play and it was time for the tournament. The coach from the other team took this thing a little to seriously and approached me before the game and told me that "They would take it easy on us." We didn't play them in pool play so I was just like "Umm okay." We ended up winning that game 35-0. Thanks for the warning coach. We ended up playing the team that we played our first game against in the finals. Some of the kids looked concerned because we really had no business winning that game. We came down and scored on the first possession and then Deion made a interception that was amazing. The kid from the opposing team dove for a catch and kicked the ball in the air. Deion dove and caught it and got up and ran it back for a touchdown. We were up 14-0 in a matter of minutes. We won that game 42-7. I had to take Deion and O'Shea out with a few minutes left because they were both playing safety and intercepting almost every deep pass. I wish I would of left them in because they found a water cooler and doused me with it.

I was extremely happy for those kids. Some of them had never won anything before in their lives. We got a team trophy and medals for the kids, along with a free pizza party that followed. Usually when the kids ate together they always found something to argue about and I would have to break it up. Today though was different. They ate and were laughing about whatever they were talking about. I sat there and just watched them. They took what I said and stood up for themselves instead of quitting like they had in the past. In the van ride home I let them listen to whatever they wanted to on the radio and they were having a ball singing along and dancing to the radio. I took the long way back to the club and drove the kids down the Las Vegas strip to keep this celebration going as long as I could. The "Teach Me How To Dougie" song came on and the kids were all dancing to it. We were at a stoplight and they asked me to try it. I did and it was not pretty. The kids were laughing at me, but I didn't care. The boys were pointing and talking about the girls they saw walking on the strip. I was trash talking back and forth with them about certain things. It was a pretty fun day all in all. After that day I began to notice I didn't have too many problems with those kids I took on that football trip. I use to have to kick Deion and O'Shea out of the gym on a weekly basis for causing problems. Now they were wanting to help me with the little kids activities.

Unfortunately I had to move back to Indy. I wish I could have stayed out there and continued to work with those kids. I was finally making some progress with them. I didn't tell any of the kids I was leaving. It would of been to hard to answer their questions that they would of asked. My second to last day there I was sitting in my office towards the end of the day. Deion's little 7 year old brother Tyrice came up to me with a picture he had made. He handed it to me and I looked at it but couldnt really tell what it was. I saw a person and some grass but that was it. I asked him what it was, he was smiling from ear to ear and he told me it was him playing footballl and that he was going to play on my team when he got older like his brother did. I will never forget that day. I was at a loss for words. I think about those kids every day, and hope they are doing well.

Photo Fantasy Finish

Well I didn't plan on writing a entry for this week but the storyline unfolding in my fantasy football league is too good to pass up. I will first fill you in on how our league works, as it isn't like most of the regular leagues. The league I am in has two different aspects to it. We have one that is a regular fantasy football league combined with a pick em against the spread. The pick em makes us pick every NFL game against the point spread. Whatever place you are in both leagues is your point total. You following me so far? For instance if you are in 3rd place in fantasy and 4th in pick em, you would have 7 total points, which would put you in around 3rd place overall. Whoever finishes in last place in our league gets kicked out for the following year and must drop down to our feeder league AKA our minor league fantasy league that starts next year. Yes you heard correct we have a ten person major and ten person minor league starting next year. The loser from the major league gets the boot and the champion from the minor league gets the call up to the bigs.

The drama that will unfold on Sunday will be epic. Nicholas Alfonso Elroy Pickens Fredrick Kerr is currently sitting in last place and stressing out about being kicked out of the league. He needs to have a good week in pick em in order to save himself from being sent down to the minors. Personally I hope he can pull it off. His comic relief on the message board along with text messages throughout the week are top notch. He will be greatly missed from the league next year. Since we have a feeder league I sent him this text last night using ESPN 30 for 30 lingo. "What if I told you that Sunday is his last supper? ESPN 30 for 30 presents a Kerricane in the feeder league. After he received that he replied with, "What if I told you he got back up and won the fight." He then said , "This league needs me. I wont accept a spot in the minors. I would rather hang them up." Kerr if you're reading this, I have a going away song for you. We are going to miss you homie. I will pour one out for you at the draft next year. http://www.youtub.com/watch?v=ggNymSJ52Fw See the picture below for Nick Kerr.

As for who will be the league champion. It's all going to come down to the final standings in the pick em, as Jeff Schmaltz is in 1st place overall followed closely by 2nd place Nate Godsey. Nate is currently in 1st in pick em followed by Schmaltz and then me. If i can pass Schmaltz in pick em and Nate keeps the lead over me. Nate will win the whole league and capture the trophy from his brother Joel who won the league last year. If I fail to pass Schmaltz in the pick em then Jeffrey Deery Schmaltz will become a champion in just his 2nd year in the league. Gentlemen I can be bought. It should be a great NFL Sunday this weekend. Here is a photo of the two duking it out for the league title this weekend. Nate is on the left and Schmaltz is on the right. Disregard the gentlemen wearing SPF 30 on his nose in a 25 degree Colts tailgate a few weeks ago.

Lockout 2011

Merry Christmas to everybody a day late. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and is looking forward to bringing in 2011, I know I am. The Colts got a big game today and I just got home from church where I talked to the big guy and I am pretty sure Indy will take care of business today. Now that the season is coming to a close and my fantasy season is all but over as I sit in third palce and can't make up any ground on first or second, it has me thinking about next season. I then remembered that there is a good chance there won't be a NFL or NBA season next year. The casual fan (females and most males) who don't follow the collective bargaining agreements aspect of the two leagues just assume that they won't allow a lockout to happen. I just shake my head at them because it has happened before, why can't it happen again? Both leagues are far from any type of agreement to go forward with next season. That is a fact, which would mean no Super Bowl for Indy. That would also mean no season tickets for my friends and I to go to Colts games, which means no tailgates, and no stories to talk about what happened at the tailgate the next day. Trust me there have been some stories to tell from this season. Nate, Kerr, SK, Reed, Joel, Josh you guys know what I am talking about. It's been a pretty "Ravishing" season.If both leagues are locked out next year I then wondered what I would do with my free time with no fantasy football. I would be lost, fantasy football consumes my life in the fall. The trash talking on the message board, changing my team name from week to week to embarrass my upcoming opponent. So what should I do with my free time? I suck at golf so I won't be playing any of that. I'm not going to join a WNBA fantasy league or watch more women's basketball. I would rather sit in a bathtub and slit my wrists then do that. I might travel the country and attend college basketball games that Gus Johnson calls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zB2KOhEceNM I would consider a college football fantasy league but there are way to many schools and we would have to limit them to a certain number of conferences. I would probably make a road trip to see the Gators play in the swamp for the first time ever. Every time I've seen them play it has been on a neutral site. (Jacksonville, Atlanta, New Orleans) I might make my return to coaching CYO football at Holy Spirit. If all else fails I guess I can pick up a foot fetish like Jets coach Rex Ryan has. What I do know is that I will be depressed no matter what. Fantasy football is my crack. I hope everyone has a good new years, but don't puke before midnight, it's trashy. God bless.