Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

KERPLONK

We have the alumni game coming up Saturday.  In some ways I hate the contest/game part of this little lacrosse weekend because I have players, as it were, on both sides.  My loyalty in a heartbeat must always go to those who are here now, and/but it is hard to compete against the 'family'.  The thing I really don't like is how much I get my hate on for Mark Plonkey for example (CSU legend '04) about three minutes after we hug like the father and son that we are to start the game. 

I will not let Mark or any of them get me to talking trash.  I will not let him get me to talk trash.  I will not…

No wonder other teams hated us so much in the Plonkey years.  The truth is that I still miss 'going to war' with him.

BLACK AND WHITE

By the way, we are so much NOT doing the "black thing" this year (Fashion color option), that we are actually flipping it inside out and all the way to white.  We are going for the clean, good boy thing in 2007 instead of the darker pirate motif of 2006.  We hope everyone likes it. 

All I know is that the team is pumped about the new helmet, which will be majorly white.  The sample prototype does look good, but it also looks a little like one of those Philadelphia Eagles helmets from the 1970's, and as any of us who were there know, fashion and the 1970's added together pretty much equals something that will make you laugh in any decade.

APPLE CORE, BALTIMORE

I have been talking about and searching for our TEAM CENTER a lot lately, the CORE.  This is the collection of players that loves the team as part of their daily routine.  The "being part of a team" feeling doesn't leave them during certain parts of the year or day or whatever.  The essential group knows about the collective mission, and in some way or other it is consistently a part of them and who they are.  It is always in the back of the mind. 

I want to know exactly who they all are right now. I also know that is impossible. I can get an idea, however, about whom they might be.

These Corers are the players that, whenever they are with me (practice, etc.) there would be no other place they would rather be. 

Our team pursuits don't have to be the only thing in the life.  No, but it is important for the player to put TEAM in a familiar place of priority where good individual decisions are easy to make off the field as well as on the green stuff. 

RETRO

We had Retro Day today.  In honor of Alumni Weekend coming up I declared today and tomorrow "Retro" and encouraged them to wear old school lacrosse outfits.  Some didn't get the memo, but the ones who did showed up in all their finery of days gone by.  They looked great.  Birdy was all yellow, like a bee, and he stood out big time in practice as well.  Maybe I should make him wear canary every day.  Danny Stevens wore a very sexy, midrift revealing CSU jersey from the early 90's?  Now that was a look.  Treece banged the Ohio drum and indeed looked like Mr. Buckeye himself.  I think tomorrow will be a full blown costume party practice.

It was a fun day and a terrible scrimmage today. I guess everything can't be perfect now can it?

BAD BOYS

The practice day didn't start that great as we had to go and be chastised by people for things we haven't even done yet.  We were threatened about how quickly a bad event would make us cease to exist as a club.  I do pray that we never do any of the things we were warned not to do.  Just the same, we had to go inside the building during practice and be talked to and somewhat treated like we were a bunch of juvenile delinquents, and I resented it.  Now, of course some of us are juvenile delinquents, and then the rest of us are over-aged juvenile delinquents, and likely we need the somber warnings, but why can't "they" encourage kids to do the right thing instead of sending 25 year-old 'administrators' to read us the riot act of accountability as if us screwing up was a sure thing and they'd be sure to be there with a shovel when the time came.

Anyway, I made a nuisance of myself with my indignation (what a shock), and I'm sure that our relationship with the administration was not helped by me today.  My bad…..

I SAID I NEED TO HAVE A LOT OF GOALS, NOT GOALIES!

There were a few little prickles in my Rock-it Pocket business day this morning.  The mind set for the day thing wasn't working exactly like coming off of a night filled with pleasant dreams.  I got jagged quickly.

Then, it became a day when I knew I had to do something that was not easy or pleasant, but time dictated it would need to be done here and now.  We have 8 goalies that are very serious about playing in the goal as goalie #1 for us, NUMERO UNO.  Great, but you can only have one goalie.  You can't have a center goalie and a wing goalie.  You can't run them in and out of the game like midfielders (can you?).  I have waited for one of these to clearly stand out as if to say to all, "I am the One", and it would be obvious, and I wouldn't have to make the 'tough call' because everyone would see, and blah, blah.  Well, that ain't what it is.

I have been diligently trying to look at them fairly and somewhat equally.  I did not want to play favorites.  I do not want any of them to quit.  I don't want to ever discourage any one of them that has the love of the game, and all eight of these seem to.  I don't want to have to cut any of them.  Let's face it, I'm a woosss. 

So, we got to today, and I decided that I needed to tell these guys exactly where it all stands.  I would only be able to actually please one of them at best.  One out of eight is not a very good batting average, I'm pretty sure of that.  It is well below the Mendoza line, but I felt that I owed them honesty and I could not go one more day.  The kids must have been on pins and needles. 

HAVE FAITH, IT IS A WONDERFUL AND POWERFUL THING

I did it.  I told them sort of how they all ranked in my mind right now.  It was not fun, and I used all the diplomacy I could find as I spoke to the eight men out (7 today) and away from the rest of the team.  I was careful with my words because I really do want all of them to stay on the team.  I am so weird I think.  Why do I care about each and every one of them and their feelings, etc.?  I should be Coach worrying more about if we are really going to have the goalie we need to get where we need to go.  It (Goalie) is a real important position in my little scheme of things. 

I guess I really believe in the concept that if the process to getting there is done right, then all that other stuff will take good care of itself.  I could use a little help on this one, though, Mr. Lacrosse God.

DON'T LET IT BE THE HALL OF SHAME

And if all that isn't enough, it is less than 48 hours until I have to do the dreaded "public speaking" thing at my Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday.  Just take a nice deep breath.  Everything will be just fine.  Everything will be just fine.  Everything will…….

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