Yep, I'm Watching the Olympics

Yeah, I'm watching the Olympics. They have lost their luster a little bit over the last 20 years or so; we have so many new competitions that have cropped up and much more international competition that makes the Olympics seem not so special. But I am one of those who will continue to tune in. You see, I don't just like sports or even love sports. For better or worse, sports are a part of me. They are interwoven in my fabric, they run through my body, in my DNA. I have been this way as long as I can remember and it will never change.

I watch sports that I would not ordinarily watch. I never watch swimming, but I really get into Olympic swimming. I've noticed Michael Phelps has lost his fire. He's still great but after living in the pool training like a madman for at least 15 years it's wearing on him. Who can blame him? And how about Missy Franklin? She swims a semi in one event and turns around 10 minutes later and swims in the backstroke finals. And wins the Gold! Do you know how tough that is? It was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in sport. I rarely watch gymnastics but I watch the Olympics. The men had a tough time but the women really turned it on. The pressure on those young ladies is unbelievable and it was great to watch them win the Gold. And what about the parents in the stands? They are so stressed they can't think. I've been there, I know how that is. I will also be watching track and field although I rarely watch track otherwise. The sprinters are sensational as well as many of the other events. If Lolo Jones doesn't win a medal she'll still be a star because of her personality and stunning looks. I haven't watched any basketball and very little boxing, which used to be one of my favorites. I love wrestling but they won't give it much coverage.

Yep, I'm watching for all those reasons and because it's history. It's tradition. It reminds me of when I was a young boy and our whole family would gather around the TV and cheer for the USA. I think it's still fun. Chiefpigskin.com

Controversial Comments

“Johnson Puts Foot In Mouth” was the headline. “Says slavery has benefited athletes” was the byline. Gee whiz, this makes it sounds like Michael Johnson says slavery had a good side? No, no, NO! Of course that’s not what he meant. Slavery is wrong, period. Any right minded person knows that. But is Johnson saying anything out of line? You be the judge.

Four time Olympic gold-medalist sprinter Michael Johnson was quoted as saying he believes slave descendents make superior athletes – and that such a controversial topic shouldn’t be avoided but discussed openly as the world begins to turn its attention to the London Olympics. “All my life I believed I became an athlete through my own determination, but it’s impossible to think that being descended from slaves hasn’t left an imprint through the generations,” he was quoted as saying in an article in the British newspaper the Dailey Mail. Now how could being descended from slaves have anything to do with superior athletes? Simple. Survival of the fittest, selective breeding. “Difficult as it was to hear, slavery has benefited descendants like me – I believe there is a superior gene in us.” Maybe it’s that word “superior” that makes people uncomfortable. At any rate, Johnson caused quite a stir.

I have two thoughts that come to my mind. First of all, isn’t this what we teach in our classrooms of our public schools, Darwin’s theory of evolution? Heck, here in Illinois science teachers MUST teach evolution and survival of the fittest. Creationism can’t even be mentioned. So Johnson brings up a point that we teach to our youngsters and he gets ripped. Well then, don’t we believe what we teach? Secondly, when I was in high school way back in the 60’s we used to throw around this idea. We were a multi cultural community and we were comfortable discussing this idea with all races. None of us, white, black, or Hispanic thought it was a big deal to speculate why the black athletes were so fast and athletic. We never came up with a definitive answer, we just discussed it.

That’s all Johnson is asking. Can we discuss it? Or is this too touchy of a subject? Maybe it is. I’ll be watching the Olympic track and field games because Johnson will be an analyst. I’m curious to see if anyone brings it up to Michael or will they just ignore it? I do enjoy the Olympics and good luck to all the athletes as the games begin this weekend. Chiefpigskin.com

Puttin' on the Uniform

I happened to notice a post on a forum the other day from a football coach who had just handed out equipment to his players. He was so excited and the kids were excited just to get their equipment. It made me think a little bit about the magic of putting on a uniform. It doesn’t just have to be a football uniform but I just happen to believe, based on my own experiences, that the football uniform is the most special. And I can give you a lot of stories to back up my belief. Anyway, one particular story involving my son and me came to mind.

It was early August of 1992 and we had just finished our football camp the week before. We hadn’t handed out equipment yet, that would be done the day before official practice started around August 10th. Now it’s important to know that my son had never played organized football before. I was never sure if he was ready for it so he played a lot of other sports. So here he was 14 years old and he had never put on a real football uniform. I don’t count the one I got him at K-Mart when he was 7. Well, I was on the football staff and I had a key to the equipment room so I asked the head coach if I could get my son’s equipment early. One afternoon I said, “Let’s go get you fitted for your football gear.” He was pumped. He had waited for this day for a long time.

We got to school (which was right across the street) and got out some gear. Helmet, shoulder pads, practice jersey, pants, and pads. Got him all fitted so everything fit well. He only weighed 105 and stood about 5-2 so I had to get some small stuff. Once we got everything fitting well he put it all on and he went and stood in front of a big mirror. We both just stood and looked in the mirror. He with his uniform and me standing next to him. I don’t know who had the bigger smile, him or me. I slapped the top of his shoulder pads a couple of times to simulate a hit. “How’d that feel”? “Good,” he replied. More smiles.

Who would have thought that just putting on a uniform could be so much fun? We had BOTH waited for this day a long time. Practice was just around the corner and he was ready to go. This is the time of year that anticipation for the season starts to mount. The first order of business is “Puttin’ on the uniform!”
Chiefpigskin.com

Team USA

I’m not a basketball coach. I’m a football, wrestling coach of 30 years. But I know this; if the USA basketball team plays as a team, no one will beat them. Heck, LeBron has nothing to prove, Kobe has nothing to prove, everyone knows how good they are. That’s why I was encouraged to see LeBron get only 7 points and Kobe 5 in their exhibition against the Dominican Republic. In my mind, as long as these guys don’t care who gets the glory, no one can beat them.

I’m not a LeBron hater, but I was irritated with the way he handled leaving Cleveland. Made too big of a show of it. And I’m not crazy about superstars getting together to make a super team. Can you imagine Jordan calling Magic and Bird on the phone and saying, “Hey, let’s all sign with the same team and win championships?” Wouldn’t have happened. So, having said all that, those guys ARE free to do as they please professionally and I’m OK with LeBron.

But, I am impressed with his attitude on the Olympic team. I think he is really OK with doing whatever it takes to win. It seems Coach K has these guys buying into that. It’s not about x’s and o’s, and it’s certainly not who can do the fanciest dunk. It’s about being unselfish, and I think these guys will do what it takes. They did in the 2008 Olympics, and I hope they’ll do it again. By the way, did anyone think Deron Williams would be this good? Did anyone think Kevin Love would be as good as he is? Chiefpigskin.com

Moving Forward

On June 28, 2010 I posted my first blog. That makes Football,Fathers,Husbands,and Life just over two years old. I have always assumed that the majority of my readers are men and most of those are football coaches. I have noticed, however, that there are a few other followers that may fit different categories. I came up with the name of my blog because my main focus was football. But I also felt that after 40 years of marriage and 4 children that I might be able to give younger parents and younger husbands some advice and tips that I had learned along the way. I hope I have done that. I added the word Life at the end of my blog just so I could write about anything else in life I wanted to.

I started this blog because my son told me I had a lot of good stories to tell and I figured this was also a good way to eventually leave my stories, thoughts, ideas, and opinions to my children, grandchildren, and beyond. I didn't want to write a book so I just started telling short stories. Eventually I'll have a pretty good collection of my stuff that hopefully my family after me will enjoy.

So, moving forward I have made it my goal to try to post 2 articles a week. Even though my focus is on Football, Fathers, and Husbands, I will continue to write about other subjects, do an occassional book review, and tell stories about my youth.
Hopefully I'll share something I've learned in life from those older and wiser than me.

Oh, by the way, football, and particularly high school football is just around the corner. And I love high school football. I can't wait! Chiefpigskin.com

Book Review: Rise to Rebellion

Independence Day seems like a good time to do my next book review. Today, the 4th of July, is a great day of remembrance for the birth of our nation. Our forefathers had unique vision and wisdom as they pieced together a plan that was a radical and revolutionary idea. Was it perfect? Heck no. We still had slavery in some areas, women were second class citizens, and the power was with the land owners. But the founders of our nation knew that things were going to change and they created a document, the constitution, that was a living document that could be a amended and grow as time went along. Most of them KNEW that eventually we would get freedom for all. But there had to be a starting place and they had the guts (they were, after all, considered traitors to the King and subject to execution by death)and wherewithal to bring together all thirteen colonies to forge a new nation. They had to make compromises to get everyone on board. These compromises were not easy and there were many times the plan just to get organized nearly failed.

"Rise to Rebellion" by Jeff Shaara tells the story of the events leading up to July 4th 1776 and the amazing sacrifices and innovative ideas of our forefathers. It is told in a format called historical narrative. I really like this style because it gives a feel of bringing the characters to life. The author takes the liberty of putting in actual conversations as they might have happened based on historical records and letters. It gives a much more realistic feel to the story. You will be truly impressed by the actions of these brave men and women.

It has become fashionable these days for some to criticize our founders for not going far enough, that there were still injustices. Yes, that's true, but after reading this book you will appreciate even more that they did all that was possible AT THAT TIME. They lived in a different era and I will not judge them. This is one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it to anyone, especially history buffs. Heck, if you're an American you should read this book. If I had to rate it on a five star scale I'd give it at least four stars.

Enjoy your holiday and "Happy Independence Day!" Chiefpigskin.com

Lucky or Good?

I’ve never believed in luck. What is luck anyway? A football that takes a funny bounce? A baseball that takes a bad hop? A ball that just barely catches the out of bounds line? If those events go your way, you’re lucky. If they go against you, you’re unlucky, right? Nope. Those things are going to happen every game,that’s just sports.

The year was 1966. We were playing a sophomore football game at Glen Oak Park in Peoria, Illinois against Spalding Institute. I didn’t start that day and was getting limited playing time. I played a little corner and a few plays at running back. It was about the middle of the third quarter and we were trailing 14-0. Spalding had been running a little counter play that was killing us. I remember our coach just kept yelling at our linebackers “Stay home! Stay home!” He was so frustrated and started looking up and down our sideline. He looked at me, grabbed me, and spat out the words, “Grant! Get in at linebacker and STAY HOME!” I asked no questions and hustled in.

Now you have to remember from some of my previous stories that I was bit undersized for linebacker (5’4”, 120 lbs.) but Coach knew I would hit and not back down. I had never played nor practiced linebacker but I figured what the heck, “I’ll line up where I would in a sandlot game, find the ball and tackle the ball carrier.” That’s what you do on defense, right? But I remembered the “stay home” part and I would delay just a bit before getting on my horse and running down ball carriers. Finally, they ran a counter back to my side. Now, you tell me, was I lucky or was I good? I saw the ball going away but I delayed a count or two. Just as I was getting ready to pursue a ball carrier came right back at me from the other way. No one blocked me and I was just kinda standing in the seam that he had been hitting on the counter all day. He was so shocked to see me he almost fell down by himself. We collided and went down in a heap. I was as surprised as he was that we had come face to face. Coach was screaming on the sidelines, “That’s how you play the counter”, over and over. All my teammates were hitting me on the helmet and back congratulating me on such a fine play. Heck, the guy RAN INTO ME! They tried one more counter later but they couldn’t run it.

Yeah, we ended up losing that game 20-0 as we did most of our games. Coach gave me a pat on the back at the end of the game and just kinda chuckled. And I’ll ask again, “Was I lucky or good?” I don’t believe in luck and I really don’t think I was that good. I’ll just say I did what I was asked to do and then just played football. I tackled the ball carrier. Chiefpigskin.com