Wednesday, October 8, 2003

DOG, A METAPHOR FOR ALL SEASONS

I was thinking about how many different ways that people use the word, "Dog". There must be as many ways to use dog as there are ways that Bubba cooks shrimp (Forest Gump reference). You got yer dog-tired (energetically spent), yer dog days (really hot ones), and yer dog-gone (profanity, light). We got Big dogs (as in "We’re #1"), and Top dogs (as in the Boss). There is the famous All American hot dog (the one in a bun), there are hot-dogs (the show-off kind), and of course, there is "Hot dog!" (as in "Oh, goodie!"). Lest we forget, without an under-dog, there could never be a "favorite"?

Other colloquial uses for dog, the word, include dogleg (golf, and always accompanied by either left or right), and the ever-popular dogma (plane of thought). The word dog has a pocket thesaurus worth of meanings all by itself when used in different tones and contexts.

BRING THE DOG HOME

I use dog all the time in coaching. For example, in ground ball situations, and after all these years, I still say, "like a dog" at some point pretty much every day in practice. I say it when someone doesn’t get their butt, and or face low enough to the ground or they are being lazy or whatever in scooping up the ball. Many of my "catch phrases" for coaching have come and gone, but "Like a dog" endures. The players often bark back at me.

Anyway, if individuals go after loose balls the way dogs that really want the ball do, then I am simply one happy coach. It’s a good visual.

FETCH PLUS

Of course we humans theoretically have the added advantage of being able to communicate to one another on a higher level than dogs (at times), thus potentially adding to the overall getting-the-ball-off-the-ground and into-our-possession cause. How teams talk to one another on the field is a huge part of this lacrosse game playing thing. I continually want more from everything, including ground ball getting. I feel that "like a dog" is no longer enough. It must evolve to,"Like talking dogs" so we can begin to create team opportunities with the way we attack the loose ball situations.

IT’S ALL RIGHT MA

All this "dog thought" came about because the most recent "dog" simile for me has unfortunately been, "sick as a dog" (as in I don’t feel good a lot). After over-amping myself last Saturday in our two scrimmages I was brought to my knees by some kind of contagious crud. Not being able to move or think the last few days definitely has cramped my coaching and writing styles, along with everything else in life, including my disposition. I can’t stand to be with me. How could I expect anyone else to? I went to the doctor. I got anti-biotics. I must be getting better, because I couldn’t have sat here and done this yesterday.

SCORES FROM LAST SATURDAY

C.S.U. 8 D.U. CLUB 3
C.S.U. 7 GALYON’S 5

WE TOOK A WIDE-EYED LOOK AT RESILIENCE,
and got a few tiny glimpses of brilliance

We played two games this past Saturday afternoon at D.U. They kind of "popped up". The first game was against the D.U. Club team. We won 8-3, but it was not easy. The games were shorter than normal games, as they are in most of the fall tournament formats. Harper (#2) had 3 goals, KJ (#7) had two, and Tim Farquhar (#13) had 2 goals and an assist. We had some pretty good offensive moments, and not too many turnovers.

MAYBE I SHOULD JUST CHILL NOW AND THEN (refrain from same old song)

The second game Saturday piggy-backed the first. It was against a better team than we had played, albeit early into the game part of the season. "They" were fresh, while we had just finished playing a game. The Galyon’s team included a couple of players who had starred for us (CSU) in years past. On this team, though, they were merely "role" players. I got juiced, thinking that if we could give this team of stars a good run, it would be a big step in our team character development process. This game suddenly became very important to me. We were boys playing against men. I wanted us to show well. Maybe it’s just that I just hate to lose that much, and the immediate prospect of that still pumps huge amounts of adrenaline into me.

It was a good, fun game to watch from a spectator standpoint. There were many quality scoring chances, but not too many goals. It became 5-3 for Galyon’s with just under10 minutes left in the game (running clock + behind on scoreboard = very bad). We had just scored to make it 4-3, but then they (Galyon’s) answered immediately. All game long, though, I had been playing it like it was March or April, and not even slightly like what might be considered traditional "Fall Ball" when game scores supposedly don't matter. Anyway, two and a half minutes later we began a very pretty 4-goal run, and won, 7-5. Harper (#2) tied it with 4 minutes left on a great feed from Timmy Farquhar (#13), and KJ (#7) hit Danny Stevens (#32) who netted the eventual winner with two minutes left in the game. Derek Koll(#12) put an unassisted cherry on top with about only 40 ticks to go. We fought hard as a team. I was pleased. I also know that I took the game far more seriously than our opponents did.

I was a bit of a jerk at times during the game. The officiating sucked (I hate it when that happens), and apparently I was coming down with something simultaneously, because I felt horrible by the time I got home.

"IT GETS LATE EARLY OUT HERE" Yogi Berra

I'm forever frantically building a team. We will be done fall ball in just over two weeks. I really didn’t use many players in these last two games. I "coached to win" all game, and for both games. I felt bad later, because a lot of hard working CSU players went down to Denver last Saturday and didn’t get to play. One "suggested" to me today that I might be taking this whole "Fall Ball" thing too seriously. He is right. I am absolutely "guilty as charged".

We have many types of goals as a team and as individuals, and the road to them has various types of rocks and rolls along the way. We team "tinker" a lot, too, but ultimately we only have one big goal, and that doesn’t ever change, even as the years do. I guess I can never stop. The urgency of spring and the weather we won’t have then drives me to push hard now.

DEPTH IS NOT JUST A STATE OF MIND

I am concerned with our depth every time I glance over the spring schedule, or even the remainder of the fall games for that matter. This upcoming weekend is game-free, but then we have lots of games over the final two weekends of Fall Ball. The spring schedule will clearly be a "Ball Buster".

I am worried because it seems like when we have tried to "use more depth" in the games so far, we have "lost something" on the field every time. I want us to look the same out there, no matter who is playing. I know how hard that is, but we will need a lot of players to get through both seasons. Period.

THE GOVERNATOR JUST CAME OUT,
AND I ALREADY CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL

I try not to stray too far from the woven yarn of the lacrosse team coaching blanket thing as I write in here. I also try to use lacrosse as the constant mirror for me to reflect my views on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, when something happens like Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the Governor of California in a day, I can’t just let it slip by without a mention, even though it has nothing to do with "anything".

As I understand it, and I’m sure I don’t, this all happened because in California they have a system. The process would seem to work something like this: the state first elects a governor through all the lengthy, expensive, normal American party political procedures on some first Tuesday in November. If, however, at any later date, a bunch of people say, "Aw shucks, we blew it this time", or, in lacrosse vernacular, "My bad", and then enough of them first sign and then vote to that effect, then the elected guy (gal) gets literally yanked from office.

The topper is that on the same day when they vote (yesterday) to kick the Governor (Gray Davis) to the curb, they simmer up a free-for-all style, winner-take-all election soup, too. They include everything right there on a single ballot menu. First you check the "out-with-the-old" box, and after that it’s like ordering up a new governor as if he or she were the popular sushi selection. It all basically comes down in one single day.

So, there were about 150 or so who felt themselves worthy of being THE governor of California. That fact alone amazes me. I assume they were all actual people, but would not bet on it. They all simply signed up to be placed on the ballot, and that alone made it so. Campaign, don’t campaign, whatever, Dude.

Anyone who had ever been to California could seemingly "run" in this single popularity contest, and before you could say Rice-a-Roni, the state had chosen Conan the Barbarian to lead them. Is this a great country or what? "Governator Wins" was one of the many amusing headlines in papers around the country this morning.

I guess the governor (Gray Davis) was so bad (and dull), that California voters decided it to be far more important to have someone in office who can "act" like a governor than one capable of governing well. After all, they elected an actor to be governor before, and look what happened with him.

The thing is that while Arnold has charisma to be sure, he’s hardly Marlon Brando. He’s not even Sylvester Stallone, but it all looks like fun to me. It just dawned on me that Arnold is an anagram for Ronald. Can you say President Schwarzenegger?

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