Tuesday, October 28, 2003

VEGAS VACATION ALWAYS STARTS WITH BUSINESS

We had another all-new team experience as we flew out of the Fort Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport, and directly to Las Vegas. It was great to NOT drive down to DIA (Denver). The biggest of the small planes we saw at the airport when we got there was probably a 4-seat, single engine job. The runway looked no different from a regular two-lane blacktop. To call the building where we checked in a "terminal" would be a generous designation. This all appeared as just a private landing strip with a dream.

There seemed no way that a real plane could land easily, but then it did, a long, skinny airbus of a jet coming from Las Vegas, and it was right on time. They gassed it up, re-loaded, and turned it around. We went out on Allegiant Airlines flight #240 and we came home on #241. We filled about 1/2 of the plane with our 45 human entourage. As one might imagine, when there are only like 3 commercial flights a week, they take their airport security very seriously. We looked team-like and mostly good, wearing a mixture of both the traditional white, as well as the new green team polos.

DOWNTIME IN VEGAS CAN BE SCARY FOR A COACH

We arrived in Las Vegas just fine, but much earlier than I had originally wanted. It was Thursday at noon, and we weren’t scheduled to play until Friday night. Allegiant Airlines only has a few commercial flights a week to Fort Collins/Loveland, and they are all to or from Las Vegas. The times changed at one point, so instead of arriving there at 9:00 p.m. we arrived early in the afternoon, and we ended up with a day and a half to kill. We had a full practice under the lights on Thursday, and then another light workout Friday morning. The UNLV guys were great about helping us get goals together, etc.

Killing time on the road is one of the things that must be learned collectively by each new team group. Vegas, with its titillating temptations at every turn make down time easy to fill up, unlike say, Tallahassee during monsoon season. At the same time, as a coach I always fret about focus. I didn’t know exactly how much to push or pull them in order to keep their sights set squarely on playing the BYU Cougars Friday night when it was barely afternoon on Thursday. If I want them to act and play like men I can’t really treat them like little boys and then expect "men" to just happen. At the same time, guidance is always crucial.

VEGAS, BYU AND HALLOWEEN - RAM TRADITION

This annual encounter with BYU would be a big game for both teams, fall ball or not. I fully expected us to play well, but how could I know? This was Vegas, Mecca for the gambler. There are always surprises whenever and wherever you look in Sin City. I knew there would be a fairly large turnover of Cougar players, and that they would have some new good ones, freshmen, transfers, and guys returning from their mission. This would be my first chance to see what "numbers" would come up.

GAME #1, Friday, 10/24/03 CSU 17 BYU 11

We led 7-1 after one. Getting off to this kind of huge start was great. We looked hungry, talented, and poised. Harper (#2) and Pat Bird (#1) exhibited their ability to finish, splitting the first 4 goals of that huge first quarter. BYU showed their metal as they fought back in the second to trail only 9-5 at the break. This was a full game with 15 minute stopped-time quarters, unlike most fall games, which are much shorter, split into halves, and use a clock that does not stop. There was plenty of time left in this one.

The Cougars had dominated the ball for too much of the second quarter, and that was, as always, cause for me to become alarmed. Any time in the past when we might have gotten up on BYU has always been followed by some sort of Cougar comeback at some point. This would be no different. Still, I trusted the skill and maturity of this team, perhaps in some ways more than any before. Overall the first half of play had only validated that feeling.

This CSU team was calm at a time when I felt it needed to be, and I liked the "vibe" as they listened to me, as well as each other at halftime. We made a few little adjustments, but mostly our team just showed me that it collectively understood how to stay on task. After the half we were solid and almost dominant, and eventually we carried a lead of 13-5 into the 4th quarter. It became 15-5 before BYU finally had an answer with just 12 minutes left in the game.

Our (CSU) overall "game" deteriorated a little in the latter stages, or theirs picked up, and even though the final was 17-11, I never really stopped worrying until it was really over. I do not expect the crooked numbers to be that far apart when BYU visits the Fort in April. They are a good team. Things went well for us in this game on many levels.

At any rate I was feeling pretty good about what had just taken place. We all were. The team played well. It was a "team win", from face-off to finish.

KUDOS

Harper had a game-high total of 4 goals. He has worked hard to re-hab his knee, and it has paid off, as he had an excellent fall season, surely our high scorer. KJ (#7) was terrific, too, with 2 goals and 2 assists. Birdie (#1) flew in for 3 goals, all dunks I think. He worked hard when he was in the game and it all ended up making his actual scores look easy.

The thing that really made my hopes soar was to see how far Timmy Farquhar (#13) has progressed from that badly broken leg he suffered last February. He had 3 goals and 2 assists on this night. More than that, though, he is thick into the process of becoming a tremendous teammate and leader on top of being arguably the most talented offensive player we have had here. That teammate thing was the only thing that had ever limited his game before the injury (Well, actually if he played a little mobetter defense that would be good, too). Now, at times, and as he gets stronger I see what could really be with #13.

VEGAS - EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL – REVELATIONS FOR MANY

In 2004 I would like to see many more goals identical to the first one we scored against BYU the other night, which read as #1 on a feed from #13 on the sheet. I like it a lot when two middies hook up for a goal and an assist, as it was in this case. This team has the potential to be extremely well balanced on offense. Defensively we are indeed young, and there remains much basic work to be done in order to get where we will need to be.

I had and have high expectations for CSU lacrosse 2003-04. Last year was by far my most difficult coaching challenge to date. At times I wonder how much it all took "out" of me. I fully expect this group to not make me work that hard again.

HONEYMOON IN VEGAS

GAME #2 Saturday, October 25, 2003 CSU 16 TEXAS 1
GAME #3 Saturday, October 25, 2003 CSU 12 CAL 0

Everyone who had come to Vegas (forty-something) got a chance to play over these next two games. We led both games at halftime by identical 10-0 scores. Matt Reiss (#10) went on a scoring spree. These were 20-minute running halves, and twenty minutes is not long, as we would soon find out. To say we overmatched these two opponents at this point in time would be an understatement. I was actually hoping that Cal would score one against us. I mentioned this out loud during the play of the game. One of our warriors asked me how I would like to go about making that happen. Good question. They (Cal) are very young and inexperienced, and could not ultimately get it done (score).

ALMOST CRAPS
GAME #4 Saturday, October 25, 2003 CSU 7 CHAPMAN 6

So, the team was just so full of itself by this time that one was even telling me exactly how it was going to be against Chapman. He forgot to tell Chapman. For many reasons this game had been the one that scared me the most. It would be our last one. Usually the BYU game was our last game of the day, and the "peak". This would be different. We had never played Chapman either. Teams that have never played us don’t know to "fear us", so they often don’t.

The Panthers laid in wait. They had been watching and thinking about us for much of the last 24 hours. They had a plan. They were fresh, not having played since much earlier in the day.

Chapman had ambushed my Pepperdine team some14 years ago after we had beaten them something like18-1 in Malibu one year earlier, and I had proclaimed after that game that I no longer wanted to play the Chapmans of the world. Then we went down there to Orange, California the next year and lost to them. Boy was my face red. That game still hurts to think about.

You'd think I would have learned my lesson, but I did not prepare us well at all for this one.

These Panthers were not to be taken for granted. They finished at #14 in the final MDIA poll last spring. Good players have come to us at CSU as transfers from Chapman over the years, including our all-time leading scorer.

We were wearing down as our final game approached. I had not taken the time to watch the other team play (not smart), but if I were stupid enough to compare scores, then we were looking okay, and I needn’t worry too much (lunacy).

I didn’t worry too much until all of a sudden it was 4-0 Chapman and that running clock had devoured most of the first half. We got a couple to make it 4-2 at half, but this was clearly a game that would refuse to unfold the way we had planned. Things didn’t go well. Bounces and calls seemed to be against us, and that damned clock… We fell further behind, 5-2. We scratched and clawed and finally made it 5-3. Then, the unheard of, they answered, again. It was 6-3. The clock was still running and the ref was casually writing down the score on his little plastic paper thing. I wanted to run out and slap him.

It occurred to me just then why we were losing. Chapman prepared really well for this game. We did not. They wanted this game more than we did, and in the big picture of life that counts for plenty to my way of thinking. I said this out loud and several times, maybe to issue a challenge to us. This fact (Chapman Wanted it More) would help me to accept all this someday. We were staring at Fear and Losing in Las Vegas, something these CSU players might have experienced at the tables or even at the strip clubs of Vegas, but not on its fields.

Finally, we began to happen. It became 6-4. I’m screaming at us to get ready quickly after each whistle so the refs would keep the game going since the clock was now seemingly sprinting, and no longer just "running". We then ran off three more fairly quickly. Harper (#2) scored the goal that gave us our first and only lead at 7-6 with some two minutes or so still left to go. Truthfully, after that we held on, because the Panthers from Chapman never backed down. We had run off 4 straight goals for the win, though, and that was good.

This was a great result for me, the coach. We won, but we saw how fine the hidden lines can be. We could not simply look in the Las Vegas mirror and tell ourselves how pretty we are. Before this game even I was caught up in the web of deceit, enjoying people whispering in my ear, telling me that we are a good team and things like that. Well, that game reflected that we are, in fact, far from untouchable. Had we beaten Chapman badly we would not have seen and really understood our true vulnerability. The winter will be long. How we perceive ourselves as we go into that time will be a key for the spring. We now remember that we have lots of work to do. Chapman will be my winter "anchor", that’s for sure. I, and they (team), need to stay on task.

VIVA LAS VEGAS

The team "Booted" (Hazing light) after the game. It's a "family thing". However, I don't recall that many parents having witnessed this sacred sipping from the "slipper" in prior years. This time it all took place in front of a virtual gallery of parents. I don't know whether to feel pride or shame. Everyone who shot the boot (except for one) had a roaring good time. Once again the event took place behind some trees next to Paradise Ave.

Something great happened amongst all the "partying" the players did together after the games were done. As Saturday night became Sunday morning, they all looked out for one another. People on this team reported via cell phone constantly. If one was "missing" as we prepared to leave, I heard about it. Also, by 5:00 a.m. I already knew that Disney was in one of the vans headed back to Colorado, so I theoretically had that going for me.

I trust that all of our "mavericks" will always have some kind of "team angel" attempting to watch out for them. At least it all worked pretty well this time, and we all made it out of Dodge. This team has the potential to be as close as last year’s group. That will make the sky the limit.

LEAVING LAS VEGAS

The flip side of the change to a bad travel time going out was to have another one coming home. The plane would leave at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning instead of at 6:00 that evening like it was originally supposed to. "Oh, that will be perfect", thought I. They (some of the players that are 21 years old) will party and casino-hop all night, and then we would have to shuttle everyone to the airport about 8 at a time starting at 6:00 a.m. I couldn’t decide if this scenario petrified me, or if this actually was perfect because some or none of them would go to bed and it would be somehow twisted and seamless all at once. It was my hope that everyone would then peacefully "sleep" for the plane ride home, and in the end that's pretty much what happened.

The Las Vegas airport on Sunday morning looks a lot like Macy’s on Christmas Eve, or perhaps Calcutta on laundry day. The place was packed. The security lines were long. Stand-by's weren't likely feeling too lucky. Lots of folks were leaving Las Vegas at the crack of Sunday morning. Who would have thunk it?

We all got home safe and sound, though, except for Kurt Nakazono (#11), who broke his arm in the Texas game, and then stayed and had surgery done in Las Vegas. He was well taken care of, but I didn’t do so well on that process, and there was a time of great concern for his mom and dad. He finally came home today, Tuesday, and is already talking about working toward his comeback.

We all want to do better, get better.

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