War Plans

I know my basketball friends get tired of me yelling the positives of the “system” brand of basketball that places like Grinnell and Olivete Nazerene play, but the “system” has more strengths then weaknesses. They say athletes can’t be recruited. Colleges recruit players, not systems. And trust me when I say that there are plenty of opportunities for HS players to continue their careers at the next level. It may not be on a full scholarship, but there are opportunities to play.

Checkout number 4,15,26 and 27 on the positives they are good for athletes being recruited.

Checkout five on the negative. College recruiters question sometimes how hard an athlete plays, there is no questioning how hard an athlete plays in the system.

Lastly, a couple of years ago here in Iowa, a system team had the 1A girls’ player of the year. She started 4 out of every six rotations, meaning four out of every six games. In the state tournament she started one of two games. She knew what the system did for her and her team mates. In the introduction line at the state tournament she was the last girl in the line celebrating as hard for the girls that were “starters” as they were. I have been around few athletes that cared more for her team or her team mates than she did. In that game the girl that didn’t start was in the game 35 seconds in. She had 28 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. I do not think the system hurt her much. That girl scored 2012 points in her high school career. Here are the good and the bad.

POSITIVE ASPECTS OF "THE SYSTEM"

1. More players get a chance to develop and play. Especially at the
freshmen and junior varsity levels. More kids get to dribble and
shoot the ball than in most other traditional styles of play.

2. The team scores a lot of points so more players can score more
points.

3. The system draws attention to the kids and that helps kids get
recruited.

4. Kids get higher scoring averages and that helps kids get
recruited more.

5. The coaching staff doesn't have to scout much at all because the
opposing team isn't going to run the offensive sets that they
normally run due to the trapping nature of the system's defense.
This reduces travel time and money spent by the coaching staff as
well as time reviewing opposing teams video tapes. * You should be
aware of opposing teams presses.

6. The system doesn't require taller and superior athletes.

7. The officials tend to get tired of calling fouls so the most
aggressive team tends to gain an advantage. Especially when they
use two man crews !

8. Kids tend to shoot with so much confidence because they are not
under pressure from the coach to shoot a "good shot" only. They all
have the "green light" to shoot after 12 seconds when we have ran a
play for our primary and secondary shooters. Also, everyone has
the "green light" when an offensive rebound occurs. We are trying
to get fast break lay-ups and three point shots predominately.

9. Kids tend to play with so much confidence because they are not
under pressure from the coach that they may be pulled from the game
because of some mistake they made. The substitutions are pre-
scripted until the later stages of the game.

10. Time needed to spend in practice is greatly diminished.

11. Most kids love it because it's fun !

12. You can play players that normally wouldn't get a chance to play
and they still may contribute.

13. It creates more of a stress free environment for the coaches and
the players.

14. The fans like a high scoring, fast paced and hustling defensive
style of play. This style tends to draw big crowds and media
attention.

15. A coach can get the younger players in his program involved
earlier than in traditional systems. This is attributed to the fact
that effort and enthusiasm are often more important than physical
maturity.

16. Taller players get a chance to dribble the ball up the floor to
an extent. This is attributed to the fact that it's very important
to push the ball up the floor quickly.

17. Coaches can be more positive and not have to focus so much on
the mistakes that kids make while playing "traditional basketball".

18. The system tends to wear the opposing team down because the
players playing the system are going 100 miles per hour all the time
they are on the floor. While the systemic players play and rest the
opposing players usually continue to play at this unusual and
uncomfortable pace.

19. Foul trouble is rarely a problem because the playing time is
being spread out so widely amongst the players playing the system.

20. This system tends to create a team that is "more together"
because of the fact that everyone participates and has a chance to
affect change in the games.

21. It's a well thought out as well as a well-tested system that has
one championships and turned many programs around.

22. The system tends to force a lot of turnovers because of the
aggressive trapping all over the court defensively.

23. While playing the system you tend to produce less turnovers
yourself because we are shooting the ball before we can make ball
handling mistakes resulting in turnovers.

24. Creates a much more positive atmosphere in practice.

25. Sometimes average shooters become great shooters because of the
great number of opportunities without the pressure of missing the
shot.

26. Just about everyone involved racks up more stats than they do
during traditional styled basketball.

27. We can concentrate on developing shooting, passing and dribbling
fundamentals rather than mastering a lot of plays etc.



NEGATIVE ASPECTS OF THE SYSTEM
1. Bigger and slower kids tend to not be as effective in this system.

2. Some parents will not want their kids being taken out of the game
so often. They may cry that their child "can't get in the flow of
the game".

3. People haven't seen it and don't understand the system so they
may tend to be very critical of it. Citing things like giving up
too many lay-ups and too many threes etc.

4. The coach is subbing too quickly and the kids don't have a chance
to get in a rhythm.

5. An unknowing observer may declare that there is not a disciplined
way to play. To the contrary, this is a very disciplined style of
play. It's just played at 100 miles an hour !

6. If you have a "star type" of player or a player who thinks they
should be a "star" then they may have a tendency to not embrace this
system.

7. If things are not going well for you against a particular
opponent then you may potentially get beat bad.

…….. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda

Music plays a very important place in my life. The funny thing is I have no musical skills at all. Maybe that is why I love it, because I want what I do not have. I have a harmonica and can struggle through a couple songs. I have a replica of a Civil War bugle and I can make it sound like an elephant, I play the radio with the best of them and lately I have fallen in love with Youtube. Still I have zero musical skills.

Last school year I could not get a student to do a presentation in class, she was scared to get up and be made fun of. I made a deal with her, if she would give the presentation, I would sing at Coffee House. Coffee House is our schools talent show. It is for students but I talked my way in somehow. It would be my first public performance, although I sing in the hall all of the time, the last time I performed in public was my 4th grade Christmas show.

I chose for a song “Some humans Ain’t Human” by John Prine. In my mind John Prine is one of the premier song writers of our time. Another wonderful song that John Prine wrote was “Paradise”, besides Prine himself singing it, artists like Johnny Cash and John Denver have as well. It reminds me of going back to West Virginia with my dad and mom in the summer time.

Anyhow for Coffee House I convinced the vocal teacher Kraig Emick to accompany me. He could make pork chops out of pigs’ feet. I went about 5-10 times early in the morning and Mr. Emick and I practiced. He was very kind and patient with me. Also on my evening walk on the river road I would sing it.

Some other songs and singers out there right now that I really enjoy are “Company of Friends” by Danny Schmidt, and “Crooked Road “by Chris Knight, both poignant and heart clenching.

The title of this post is “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda”. It is about a man from Australia that fought the Turks during WWI. He talks about the romance and glory, and then he talks about losing both of his legs.

Before I close let me wish you all a Merry Christmas.

Taps

The first time I thought about death was in September of my 6th grade year. We were sitting at supper when my dad said to my mom, “I talk to Wayne, he is going to meet us out there at 6:30.”

I asked where, and mom said we were going to meet Wayne out at the cemetery to pick a burial plot. Have you ever seen a 6th grader when he was getting sick? Yet, mom and dad didn’t seem to notice. They started talking about how much plots were and I tried not to listen, but then dad said something about three plots costing $500.00. Three plots? Three plots? THREE PLOTS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! They were getting me one to. The closest I had been to death was my hamster dying and they were measuring me up for a hole in the ground.

I can remember walking out to the Le Saber my folks owned at the time and driving out to the cemetery with them, those are moments stuck in time. When we got out there, Wayne was waiting for us. Dad, mom and Wayne all spoke of people they knew and then got down to the business of getting us a plot. He dragged us to the back of the cemetery first but mom didn’t like that, it would be too hard for people to find us she claimed. Then he took us to the front by the road. He said people didn’t like it because it was too loud. Dad said that it was alright, he could watch the traffic go by. I thought Wayne was going to wet himself he laughed so hard. I guess there is nothing like grave yard humor.

Well as I said in an earlier post I turn fifty this year and mortality has crossed my mind. I have thought about my burial ground a little and here is what I want done; first burn me, I do not want to be put in a box and placed under ground. I am too much of a wanderer, let my soul remain free.

Second, I have five places I want my ashes spread. I want my old friend Virgil to deliver them to those places and spread them and say a little bit and perhaps raise a glass in respect. He can take his wife and some of my friends if he wants to, or he can go by himself if he wants to but I want Virgil to do it because I know it will be done fitting.

The first place in Virgil’s Odyssey will be the potato patch in Littleton. If my ashes can help grow food for people that need it toss a handful of ash in there.

The second stop is less than a mile from Virgil’s house it is on my beloved ‘River Road’. Less than five minutes’ walk from my house to the east is a creek that runs to the Wapsie. Drop in a fifth of my ashes there. Hopefully they will float to the freedom of the Wapsie. That river has given me many wonderful memories.

Virgil's next place will be on the grounds outside of Vets and Wells Fargo in Des Moines. I have many memories there and it is a place I dream to return to someday.

The fourth place I would like Virgil to take me are the Cliffs of Mohr in the Northwest of Ireland. The beauty and serenity of these cliffs rival any place else in the world, scatter my ashes there and let them blow around with the souls of the warrior poets that fought and won the revolution in 1917.

The last place I would like my ashes spread are on the highway between Abidjan and Yamoussoukro in the Ivory Coast. Few places have I been treated with such reverence and respect as I was there.

There is money in my will for this, so it will cost Virgil nothing.

Saturdays at the Officers Club

Saturdays were special at my house. Dad was home usually after a week on the road and the day was filled with chores with him. Usually my mom worked on Saturday from seven until three so we had the day to ourselves. It usually started at seven o’clock in the morning I would get up and watch Cartoons. Dad usually would sleep until nine because he would usually arrive home from the California run around 2:30 or three in the morning.

Because mom worked all day dad was in charge of supper. When dad got up we would drive down to the Jack and Jill store and buy the ingredients’ we needed. Those ingredients’ included a pigs foot, pinto beans, a five pound bag of red potatoes, a dozen ears of corn on the cob, a box of cornbread, raw onions, a box of saltine crackers, a gallon of whole milk, and a watermelon. We would go home put on a pot of boiling water throw the pig’s feet, beans, and what seemed like half a bottle of salt with it. We would make the cornbread in the oven, and we would slice the potatoes for some of my dads delicious fried potatoes.

Usually between two and three in the afternoon we would go down to the cigar store that my dad’s friend ran. His friend was from Protivin, an area that had a large Czech settlement and so usually half the guys in there spoke Bohemian. I learned part of that language, how to shoot pool, how to smoke cigars and chew tobacco in there. Dad never drank beer in there; usually he had a bottle of Dr. Pepper. Dad usually bought a box of El product Cigars and a case of Mail Pouch Tobacco. He was the product of the tobacco fields of West Virginia. He also rolled his own cigarettes, smoked a pipe, and every once in a while would dip snuff.

About three we would go home and watch a rerun of Roy Rogers or All Star wrestling. The match we waited for was usually Bulldog Bob Brown vs. Irish Pat O’Conner. More than one time we would go down and watch them at McElroy auditorium in Waterloo with my Aunt Nettie. The broadcast man was local newsman Ron Steele.

Finally we would sit down about five and eat supper. I never appreciated how wonderful all of that tasted until now. Mom would hurry and get the dishes done so she and dad could sit down and watch Lawerence Welk at six.

That was the Saturday of my youth, wow how things have changed.

The Captain Turns Fifty

Wow! I turn fifty this year. For those of you that do not know when my birthday is it is February 30th. Drop me a card on that day if you would. Anyhow I was feeling a little sorry for myself when I remembered a book I had read where a guy also turned fifty and he listed fifty things he did. I think that was from a book written by Jimmy Buffett. They are not as glamourous as Jimmy's, but for a guy that grew up in a small town in Iowa I am very proud of them. I do not have anyone posting on my blogs. Jump in what are somethings that you would put? Here are mine. Many of you were with me on my adventures. Enjoy this.


1. I’ve eaten watermelon and fried chicken in the hills of West Virginia.

2. I’ve met the speaker of the house in Dublin.

3. I coached The Ivorian National Women’s Team in the Ivory Coast

4. I’ve been to Lenin’s tomb in Moscow.

5. I’ve been to the Kremlin in Moscow.

6. I was one of the assistants on the Irish Natl. Team in Malta.

7. I was lost in the Coffee fields of Costa Rica.

8. I have been to a Natl. Park in Belize.

9. I was in El Salvador during a Civil War.

10. I was in Guatemala during a national strike.

11. I have been to the Eiffel tower in Paris.

12. I have seen a Nazi Death Camp in Belgium

13. I was at the cemetery at Clonmacnoise.

14. I saw Barak Obama in Cedar Falls

15. I’ve been to Gorbachev’s house in Moscow.

16. I’ve watched Lou Brock Steal second in St. Louis.

17. I watched Rod Carew chase 400 in the Twin Cities.

18. I saw Thurman Munson the week before he was killed in Minneapolis.

19. I have been to the Grand ole’ Opry in Nashville Tenn.

20. I have walked in the pines in the Rocky Mts.

21. I was offered a job on the Navajo Nation of New Mexico.

22. I flew with Billy Tubbs from Oklahoma City.

23. I saw the Natl. Basketball Champion in the Iowa Field House.

24. I was robbed in Nicaragua.

25. I saw President Reagan in Cedar Rapids.

My Life as a Yankee

This is dedicated to the Yankee fans in Dunkerton.

Yes I'm a Yankee fan................

I saw Thurmon Munson two weeks before he rapped his airplane up! I shook Louis Tiant's hand while he held his Cuban Cigar in the other hand, I got an autograph from George Stienbrenner when I had my Yankee helmet on and he treated me like a son, while he told my best friend who had a twin cap on to get away from him. I saw Willy Randolph have two Opposite field homeruns in one game. I saw Ron Guidry blank the Twins one night and steal a base the next night when Billy Martin used him as a pinch runner. I watched Reggie Jackson throw a guy out from right field at the bottom of the inning then hit a 400 foot homer at the top of the next.

I died when Billy Martin died, I died when Mickey Mantle died, I died when Thurmon Munson died. I Cried the Monday night of Munsons funeral when ABC just had to show the Yankees on the Monday Night Game of The Week and Bobby Mercer hit a homer late in the game to win it and sat down on the bench and cried like a baby ver the death of his friend.

I won with Billy and I lost with Billy. I was there when they hired Bob Lemon and I watched as he got them to the World Series. I lost with Ralph, I lost with Bucky, I lost with Lou, and I'm proud to say I won with Joe.

I watched the night Reggie hit three homers, I watched that day Bucky hit that homer over the Monster, Iwatched as Chamblis won the ALCS with a walk off homer, I cry when they show Lou G on video claim to be "the luckiest man alive.

I was a Yankee fan before George Will proclaimed baseball to be America's game, and the yuppies decided to learn the history of the game and look down their nose at you if you didn't remember Hack Wilson's batting average.

I am a Yankee fan and am proud to live in a country where you can "buy" a team This isn't the USSR. Everyone is not equal and I am not ashamed to say they shouldn't be. If you want fair go to the one in your county. How much money do the Yankee's bring into the third world teams pockets.

This is no brag just fact, I am a Yankee fan and I will not apologize to any one for that.

Donations

In the summer of 2008 I went to the Ivory Coast to put on a basketball coaching clinic. Rarely have I been treated so kind. They have one indoor arena there. It has been condemned so they can not use it. Although they have a number of out door courts they have what I would call two pavilions. Two courts with large openings for breeze with roofs on. Like many places in Africa the people can not afford to buy things and so I asked my connections with FIBA (Federations of International Basketball Associations)in the Ivory Coast what they needed more money or basketballls? They said basketballs. So I set out to raise 1000 basketballs for the Ivory Coast. With the help of many students,parents, coaches, and schools, I accumulated 800 basketballs. I sent over 200 of them. The coast was about ten dollars a ball. Thank goodness people had donated about $2000.00 dollars.


That left me with 600 basketballs in my basement. I talk to many people that had helped me put together all of these basketballs and they help me to decide I would give them to local charities. Then the Athletes in Action out of Dayton, Ohio contacted me and said they would take them with them to Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. I just had to get them to Dayton. I made plans only for the cost to rise to about $1300.00 dollars to get them there. I couldn't afford that out of my own pocket, so feeling like a failure again I didn't take them.


Saturday I took fifty balls to the first charity. They had always worked very hard for the local kids and they were very happy to recieve them. It is my intention to donate the balls to the boys and girls club, the YMCA, and the Catholic Charities to name a few.


As I have worked through all of this I feel like I have failed. I know I have helped local charities and will help more local charities but I did not accomplish what I set out to do. I have talked to my connections in the Ivory Coast and they understand, yet I still feel I let them down.