Coaching for Pizza: Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage and the Husky Opener

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage and the Husky Opener

WEEK #2 of R.M.H.S. Freshmen Football

This was our first full week in pads and it continued to amaze me with the, shall we say, interesting interactions with these 14 year olds.

Girdles: At Rio Mesa we issue snap-in hip and tail pads. They are red in color and quite stylish. These are a new style to most of our players and a few still want to wear the girdle-style hip and tail pads they were accustomed to in Pop Warner football.

With this as a background, I had a young running back approach me before practice in our locker room and ask me where he could put on his girdle. I responded that, of course, you can change here in the locker room. He looked at me with a puzzled look and said "But they're girdles, where can I change?" Again, I said "Here in the locker room." His response? "But I'll have to get naked!" I resisted the impulse to laugh out loud, told him he would be O.K. and he was able to get them on without incident.

Aroma: It took eight days of practice, but on Tuesday when I opened the freshmen locker room, the uniforms and pads had finally reach their full level of fermentation.

Devil Worshipping: Thursday was Picture Day so we had to issue the game jerseys and game pants to all 71 players on the team. As you may know, according to high school, college and pro rules, offensive linemen must were jerseys numbered between 50 and 79, no exceptions! One of our linemen took number 66, a great number in my opinion.

On Friday, #66 came up to me in the locker room asking to change his number to #85 at his Mom's request. I thought it might be a legacy issue with her, something like it was his Dad's or uncle's old number. It took about 5 minutes for him to finally understand the 50 to 79 number rule and he finally picked another lineman's number. Only later did I find out that his Mother is very religious and did not want her son wearing the "Devil's Number". I didn't have the heart to tell her that the number she should be concerned about is really "666".

Frosh vs. J.V. Scrimmage: On Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. we scrimmaged Rio Mesa's J.V. team for about 90 minutes. We started out slowly as our players were a little flustered playing against their older, somewhat more experienced brethren. After the initial shock, we calmed down and competed quite well the rest of the way but we still have a lot of work to do.

At U.S.C., one of their main program success points is "Competition Tuesdays" where their first offense goes against their first defense for 15 minutes every week of the season. Based on Friday's scrimmage, we will go full bore to a take down, 1's vs. 1's for 15 minutes against the J.V.s every "Competition Monday" the rest of our season.

Freshmen in White, J.V.'s in Black

Freshmen tend to be short

The view from the visiting stands,

R.M. varsity in red to the left

Can you feel the intensity of Frosh football

Offensive Huddle

Offensive Coordinator Brian Fitzgerald, in the white T-shirt, with Line Coach John Reardon instructing the offense, while Linebacker Coach Mike Muro and I discuss my inability to get into a hitting stance.

Sunset at John Reardon Field

Shaking hands after the scrimmage

"What a BEAUTIFUL day to play American football!"

Afterglow

HATS UP, SPARTANS!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS FINALLY HERE!

I love college football SO much more than pro football probably because colleges never move to another city and abandon their fans like the Los Angeles Rams did.

The University of Washington Huskies opened the 2008 season Saturday night with a PAC-10 game at the University of Oregon Ducks. As always, my hopes were high for a Husky return to the top levels of BCS bowldom.