Coach Flip Naumburg's Journal

Saturday, September 23, 2006

24

It has been quite the 24 hours for me.  Last night we had the hall of fame thing, this morning Alex and I went to Boulder for a league meeting, or at least part of it, and then we came home for the 3:00 Alumni game.  I think I will talk about today first, and then I'll get to last night.

CSU 8 – CSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 4

Almost as tribute to an early spring type of day in Colorado, and unlike a typical Saturday in fall, the skies remained overcast most of the day, and down on the ground it was mostly blustery.  We played five short quarters I think.  I am not entirely sure why we played five equally short quarters, but it allowed me to split up the goalie time pie into eight pieces pretty well (7 actually, as Andy Flax played goalie for the alumni in the last quarter or two).  The opposing team had a small army, just as we did and do. 

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR (and a championship) MAKES

Today was very encouraging for Coach Flip, although I grant you that pretty much anything would be an improvement over where we started out last fall and how discouraged I was after the first time I saw us play those 12 months ago.  I think last year was a one-goal game with the alumni, and as it was last year's fall ball in general never got off the ground until perhaps sometime in November.  This was much better, but not just for the reasons one might think.

99 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL, 99 BOTTLES OF….

Today, the alums came out with good energy, which actually pleased me.  They scored first, which did not, but we had already had two good scoring chances, thwarted only by two spectacular stops in the alumni cage by Alex Smith (G - Denver Outlaws #26 – CSU 2003).  I came into the game determined not to get bothered and or worried about anything, and nothing was happening to change the plan so far.  We answered fairly quickly with some great ball movement and a goal.  The first quarter ended with the teams tied at one.  After that pretty much anything positive done by the alums was answered emphatically by the kids, and at the end of several or some of the 'quarters' the score was built to 8-2 or so in favor of generation next. 

GET A JOB

The score was not important to me once we got going, however, because several little but very positive things had been happening, like players knowing or recognizing their roles and then going out and performing them. 

Also I had fifty some players to get in and the 'quarters' were tiny.

There were a few whiney alumni after the game, but, in fact, and the thought that keeps returning to me is that "We beat them like it was our job".  That just says it for me today. There was no doubt about what was going to happen after the first few minutes and in spite of Alex's goalie heroics, and the truth is that I think it is a relief to the alumni that come every year to know and witness us as a very solid team, no matter how much they would sort of like to beat us.

YOUTH IS SERVED

One might say that the kids are in better shape and all that, and all that is indeed true.  One cannot take too much from playing the alumni team in September.  There can never be any substitute for playing together and daily, period, and the young ones always have that built-in advantage, but I saw certain things today that are already in place with our team, and they also reacted to certain situations in ways that had my head nodding.  They played at times with advanced team maturity and exhibited the beginnings of the much-needed team "style".  Remember, I'm all about aesthetics.

NO "I" IN TEAM, EH?

I don't want go too crazy singling people out because I think this team has more of a "better together" look than I have seen at least this early for a while.  I guess that any team is better when they play together, but it just seems like we are at our best when more people are involved in every little part of play and we already seem to have a few little sub units or lines or whatever that have shown little sparks that hopefully might ignite into some kind of a blaze later on.

"SMITTY"

If I were to single out one player on the field today it would be one from the other side, our pride and joy, the Alumni Pro, Alex Smith the goalie.  We peppered him early and fairly often with some great shots that had come from places way past where his defensive help was.  He played like the professional that he is, and there were loudly audible oohs and aaahhhs coming from the sidelines as he stopped the great shots. Meanwhile, anything less than a great attempt to beat him looked like a stupid idea because Lex made the shot look so easy to save.  In spite of that the 'kids' never changed their approach, and eventually our shots would therefore have to, and in fact did begin to fall, and to finally find the net that was somewhere back there.

I AM NOT A BOX COACH, BUT I PRETENDED to be one TODAY

Another good thing was that I handled the sideline well enough.  Hey Mr. Coach, isn't that your job?  Well, actually no.  I didn't have either assistant because they were playing for the other team.  The box and sidelines ran okay in spite of that and me.  We already have an idea of how it's supposed to work because we work on game situation simulation every single day that we practice.  However, this is part of what I see as the early maturity thing that I like very much about this year's team.

While the 50+ or so played in the game for the undergraduates, I'll bet there were also close to 40 on the alumni squad.

HALL OF FAME FRIDAY

Friday night I was inducted into the Colorado Lacrosse Hall of Fame.  It was a very lacrosse connected and high-energy event that took place at the Cable Center on the campus of Denver University.  There was a great crowd, maybe 500 people, many of whom I knew.  Many are Vail regulars of course.  I had a large "cheering section" of CSU boys past and some present that came out.  That helped to make me feel at ease.  Anne Stone even brought me some "WOO, WOO" chants so I could really feel 'at home'.

WHEN I WAS a BOY in PA., 'JERSEY' WAS A breed of MILK COW WE HAD IN THE PASTURE, no kidding

Most people there at the ceremony wore their "favorite jersey" to the event.  This kept an informal feel to the festivities.  There was food and grog, and it was like a $50 per plate passing of the plate that will benefit lacrosse and the local lacrosse foundation.

IT PAYS TO HAVE FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

The one to thank the most for my presence in the "Hall" is my best friend for 35 years, Jim Soran.  Jim is already in two Halls, and was thanked by three of the inductees last night. He presented me.  He served me up like a chocolate soufflé just out of the oven, perfectly baked.  After all the flattering things he said about me, it would have been hard for me to totally screw it all up.  Come to think of it that pretty much sums up our relationship.  He has always made me look good and how can one have a better friend and partner than that?

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE BOARD (but I forgot)

At any rate, I started out okay with my 'remarks' to the audience, but eventually almost nothing that was on the piece of paper I held in my hand came out of my mouth.  I really did completely 'wing it', but that's okay.  I'm not completely clear about what all I said either, but I'm pretty sure most of it came from my heart.  That makes it all good.  Most importantly it is now done.  I was indeed the first one of the four presented, but that went off without incident.

I think I will have more to write about what I did not or forgot to say Friday night.  I went in with the goal of enjoying it, and not to just be glad when it was done.  Mission was accomplished.  I will never forget September 22, 2006.

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