Sunday, October 27, 2002

Warning: Longest personal journal entry in history, and it's only fall ball

I'M SO GLAD

Yesterday was another great day for CSU lacrosse in Las Vegas. I guess it's our kind of town. We played 4 games against 4 of the better teams here. It was a very competitive day, and the thing I ended up feeling worst about was the fact that we brought about 53 players, and I would guess that only 30 or so got actual gametime.

I like to address the team in the parking lot at the hotel before we leave for the field when we are away at tournaments. Our hotel is across the street from the fields here. Once we get on the field I like "leadership" to take over. Nothing has happened to change that through the years, but I do wish I had a better formula for pre-game on-the-field warm-up activities for 53 players on only a single half of the field.

10:30 a.m. - CSU 5 - Cal Poly 2

We started the morning with Cal Poly. I wanted to play them going in because I had been impressed with how well they had done as a first time team in St. Louis last May, and because we had we had never met them on the field. We didn't play all that well in this game. Poly is well-coached and very spirited. We gradually pulled away, though, for a 5-2 victory. The only remarkable thing for us in the game was that, once again, and as we had all fall, we dominated ball possession time. This is a result of our face-off dominance and defense. We had a ton of shots and their goalie "touched" the ball with his chest often. Can you say FINISH? We couldn't, and we were trying to squeeze the ball inside on passes way too much, too.

PHILOSOPHICAL INTERLUDE #1

On offense you must truly work hard without the ball to create a real opportunity, not to be confused with the illusion of seeing someone who seems open, but who is really not. You must recognize and time things just right. Otherwise you must move on to the next possibility. If you do not do this, you will always be somehow vulnerable. At least that's what I think, and I don't think this is exclusive to lacrosse, either.

As a defense we try to launch an assault whenever we can. We want the ball. If "you" get the ball or your goalie makes a save, we stalk you, trying to get it back before you get it over midfield. Right now our TEAM defense (10 guys) is buying our offense time for the on-the-job training that they need so much. We have a whole new attack unit, and they must learn about one another. Like anything worth anything, the sum must be greater than its parts. That's where the difference can "kick in".

BLACK SHEEP OR GREEN?

1:30 p.m. - CSU 10 - Sonoma State 5

Both teams lined up near midfield to stretch before this one, facing each other, staring one another down. The captains for both teams were practically face to face. I started to hear some "BAAAAH, BAAAHING" from their side, as in we (CSU Rams) are sheep, or whatever. I quickly got involved, something I don't usually do, but I knew that this was "not what I wanted". I didn't want us talking trash so early in our day, and it doesn't take much to rile our guys up, as we know. I hustled up to the mid-line, to where I was facing my players, with my back to Noma. We have a great rivalry with them. I told our guys to NOT SAY A WORD to them. After a few more sheep calls from behind me, both teams were mostly quiet for the rest of the stretch. This was what I wanted.

Later in the game I had to smile when the referee came to me and warned me about my players making audible "sheep-like" sounds.

This game was a re-match of the USLIA final last May, but bore practically no resemblance to that game. Everything is different now. Our extra man team did not perform well at all yesterday, which leads me to believe that I will infuse much more structure back into this crucial part of the game (Timmy) for the next season. God forbid they (my EMO unit) should actually have to learn and execute a couple of set "pieces" or plays. Had we actually executed only somewhat well in extra man situations (EMO su__ed), the whole tournament would have been a joke, because, we had a generous allocation of "man-up" opportunities all day long. Sonoma played way too much time with men sitting in the penalty box to ever make a charge at us. They obviously have a different plan for fall ball from mine, and I am convinced that we will see a much different "Sea Wolf" team the next time we play them in April.

.3:00 p.m. - CSU 8 - Chico State 5

SOMETIMES COACH CAN BE A MELON HEAD

When this "Best of the West" tournament was in the planning stages, I requested that we play a couple of top teams, and then one for our young gun team, the so-called "Green Team". I was assured that the Chico game would be that game.

We have a great "travel secretary," CB, who keeps us in place on the road. He always travels ahead of the team.

When we got here Friday night, Chico had already played and they were the buzz of the tournament, and we hadn't even been handed our room keys. I was worried about Chico, and I hadn't really thought about playing the defending national champs (Sonoma) yet, let alone BYU. Chico brought a ton of guys, a varsity and a J.V. They got jackets and stuff that looks nice.

I made a big mistake at UC San Diego last year. We got way behind them and they (UCSD) got fired up. I had started the "Underdogs", or J.V. Against a pretty good team, and we got behind, like 5-1 or something, before we started putting the "Dogs" back in. By that time, however, I had totally lost control of the flow of the game. We couldn't just get it back by pushing a "starter" button. We raced against time, but the hole we had dug was deep. We finally caught, and then barely beat the Tritons 8-7, in overtime, on a Timmy rocket as night fell. I was relieved at best, to say the least, even though a warped part of me enjoyed watching that UCSD team stand up and take charge of the moment. They (UCSD players) were so happy after the game, and I'm sure I looked like I had just been in a car wreck.

IT'S DE JA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

I vowed then that I would never make this mistake again. Yet, there I was, knowing all this, and still lining up the stars so the same thing might happen again. How many Houdini deals do yoi need? Anyway, the Jared's of my world came to me right before we started the game, with mouthguards in, slapped me around, and brought me to my senses, much to the disappointment of several people. I had told some players that they would start the game, but then I would not let them. We pulled ourselves together, but even so, within minutes, starters and all, we trailed for the only time that we did in all 4 games, 1-0. We answered with a Timmy, and never trailed again. Make no mistake, however, this was a struggle, and in some ways this Chico team gave us the best game of the day, never quitting, losing only 8-5, straight up, their best against ours.

PHILOSOPHICAL INTERLUDE #2

One thing that I decided this summer is that losing doesn't ever do that much for me. I don't need to lose to learn, and I don't want to lose just so guys can play anymore. This is the thing that makes me consider roster cuts. If Chico wants their J.V. to play ours, then okay, let's do that, but it was clear that they came here wanting a piece of us. Great. That's why we all compete. This was not a "J.V. game".

I don't want to see kids get discouraged because of my winning obsession. At the same time we have gotten this program to a place where it is clear what many of our goals are before the season ever starts.

We won, but we were tired. Fortunately we had a couple of hours to pull ourselves together for one more go around.

ONE MORE FOR MY BABY, AND ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD

7:30 p.m. CSU 7 - BYU 2

Four games in one day makes for a long day for the players, and, though I don't play, I had to "go to the whip", pounding a big cup of coffee before walking from hotel to field, just across the street. I began to sweat before the goalie warm-up ever started.

The reason I am most glad today is because we saved our best for last. By the end of the first half, with the Hard Rock Cafe's huge 75' neon guitar as backdrop, we led BYU 5-1. It was by far our best effort and cleanest game of the entire fall. Several "fans" came to me after the game and told me how much fun we are to watch. This is a good thing. This is what I want, any time of the year. We really didn't make that many mistakes against the Cougars and we attacked them relentlessly.

In the second half a bizarre sequence of events took place. We played what felt like the entire second half with 1-3 exta men because of all the brew-hahaing. For some reason we couldn't score much out of it, but at the same time we were still in control of most facets of the game, for the entire game.

We are playing a very physical game. BYU does not want to play this way. I do, because we are finally playing a smart physical game, no longer getting as many of the stupid turnovers and penalties from ill-advised and ill-timed pushes, shoves, and smackdowns. We are working hard to get in good shape in order to get in good position to where you can attack the ball and the opposing ball carriers. This is what we do.

Suffice to say that the second half was not a thing of beauty, but when all was said and done, it was a beautiful 7-2 victory. Beautiful because the best came last. Beautiful because it was pretty to watch, at least from my spot.

I HAVE ISSUES AND THINGS TO WORK ON, TOO

Gemp thinks I need a swear jar. With one of those we could pay for team parties all year long.

ACCUSATIONS

Certain players were on me all day yesterday, because they perceive that I only ever write good stuff in my journal about one guy on the team. Everyone else gets that sarcastic stuff, in their view. I had to point out that this is not true. I actually write good stuff about two of them.

K.J.

Now that the season is over I want to say something about KeltEn that he might want to read or hear. All I ask is that he gives me some time to work on this one......... Okay. I am very pleased with his beginnings in his second season with us, and his first as a starter. See? That wasn't so hard. The trouble is that then I always want to say, "but...." because I want so much more "out of" him. Bo, Kale, K.J. And Diz got a nice 4-man rotation going against BYU, and we were fresh the whole game on attack on this night.

KUDOS TO ALL

This game was a very nice team win. It confirmed to me that we are, indeed, the type of team that I thought we might be as the fall rolled along. I don't think many of the other teams "attacked" the fall season the way we did.

Alex was great in the goal, and as a leader, start of game 1 to finish of game 4. He cleared the ball flawlessly.

Players were coming up to me all day long and whispering in my ear how much they love Kale's move to attack. He is our rock and our rudder. His versatility often allows us to stay on course in rough seas. He could have just as easily ended up with a long pole in his hand all season, if that had been what we needed.

Our close defense (Schmid, Robi, and Price) is not really three different players. Rather it is, in my mind, a group of three. They were good individually, but great collectively. Our long stick clearing has had its moments as well.

All of our middies swarmed and fought hard for balls all day. We got a lot of them. It was awesome watching Phil face-off, flip the ball between his legs into Plonkey's stick on the fly, and then quickly off it would go to Jared or Tim for fast break chances. This happened multiple times.

Jared Katz, the rabbit, is just a great player who is fun for me to watch and easy for me to take for granted. He got us fast break chances all day and against every team. Have I ever mentioned that I could coach a million of him?.

PHILOSOPHICAL INTERLUDE #3

To everyone (whoever they are) who says that we (CSU lacrosse) have no class, I say, "please God, let me never act like some of these other guys who supposedly have it." If this is how you are really supposed to look and act as a coach or as a team on the sidelines, then I am a happy to be an oldish, short, sloppy, bald guy who runs a bunch of wild asses with no particular military decorum of any kind. Let me never humiliate myself, my team, or my university by anything I say or do on the field, no matter how much it may feel like everything is going against me. The greatest sin for me is to get a penalty on me. I try to never publicly humiliate my players. I will only do it in private, or in practice with just the rest of the team around.

FLY, BIRDIE, FLY

Last week, on the evaluations, I told rookie Pat Bird that if he did the work, and blah blah (or should I say Baaah Baaah?) that he would become a legitimate star one day. I had no idea that it would be a week later, on the last Saturday of his first October on the team. The players call him "O'Dowd" because he went to Bishop O'Dowd High in Oakland, Ca.. I call him the much more literary name of "Birdie". Either way, he left the nest yesterday with goals throughout the day, and two large ones in the nightcap against BYU. He is now a Ram-bird. Baaaaaah byyye.


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