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BACK ISSUES - SEPTEMBER 2002

September 27 - "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants..." Thomas Jefferson   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE")   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: I don't want to hear a lot of whining about how tough this one is. George Taliaferro has earned his place on this page. He paid his dues. He spent six years in the pro football, with four different teams in two different leagues, and put up some significant numbers, but from a football standpoint, life was never better for him than it was when he was a teenage freshman at Indiana University. He was a native of Gary. In 1945, as a 17-year old playing with returning war veterans such as Pete Pihos, who would become a pro football hall-of-famer, and Ted Kluszewski, who would go on to baseball fame with the Cincinnati Reds, he was the starting tailback on the Hoosiers' undefeated Big Nine championship team. At the end of the season, he was named All-America - quite possibly the youngest player ever to be named All-American. He was the only black player on his team, and at least one football publication of the time referred to him quite unselfconsciously as "the spectacular Negro back." He was a twice named All-Big Ten, and named on various All-America teams in three different seasons. In 1948, he was his team's leading rusher, passer and punter. George Taliaferro was the first black player ever drafted by an NFL team (Chicago Bears - 13th round - 1949), but he was not the first black draftee to play in the NFL - that was Wally Triplett of Penn State. That's because Taliaferro signed, instead, with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference. Although he undoubtedly was offered more money to pass up the NFL for a the new league, you could argue that taking it was a mistake. The Dons went 4-8 in 1949. That would be their last year in existence, and the first of many poor seasons Taliaferro would experience, as he moved from dog team to dog team. In 1950, following the AAFC's "merger" into the NFL, he wound up with the New York Yankees. They went 7-5 in 1950, but in 1951, they finished 1-9-2 and after the season were moved to Dallas and renamed the Dallas Texans. Talk about a farce - after four home games drew next to no fans, the Texans' "owners" turned the team back to the league, and they became vagabonds - officially, a "road team" - playing the rest of their games on the road, and using Hershey, Pennsylvania as their home base - rarely stopping there long enough to do much practicing. The Texans finished the woeful year 1-11. When Carroll Rosenbloom agreed to head an ownership group and move the Texans to Baltimore, Taliaferro went along as one of the original Colts. They were not yet near the team that would win back-to-back titles in 1958 and 1959 - they were 3-9 in his two years there. He was traded to the Eagles before the 1955 season and spent a final year there, playing sparingly on a team that finished 4-7-1. George Taliaferro was a Mr. Everything - for his career, he rushed 436 times for 1936 yards, caught 70 passes for 1054 yards, returned 27 punts for 251 yards and 67 kickoffs for 1415 yards. He punted 93 times for an average of just over 37 yards, and is third in the NFL record books for most punts per game, with 14. But get this - in this age of spoiled free agents, shopping around for the team with the best shot at the Super Bowl, it's hard to believe but - he played on just one winning team in his six seasons. His teams won a total of only 23 games - 11 of them in his first two seasons - and in 1951-1952 he experienced back-to-back one-win seasons. In 1972, he was named assistant to the President of Indiana University, responsible primarily for minority recruitment. In 1981, George Taliaferro was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Indiana University elected him to its Hall of Fame in 1992.   Correctly identifying George Taliaferro - Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Tom Hinger- Auburndale, Florida... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana(Growing up within easy driving distance of Bloomington, I have been able to attend many of the Hoosiers' games. Their programs are always full of the exploits of George Taliaferro)... Scott Russell- Potomac Falls, Virginia... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Jack Tourtillotte- Boothbay Harbor, Maine... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa ("Had to do some searching on this one.")... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... Eric Heckman- Rockville, Maryland ("As any Indiana alum knows that is George Taliafero. I had the pleasure of interviewing him during my senior year, 1972, when I was Sports Director of the IU campus radio station.")... *********** Talk about irony. Not so long ago, I came across an interview of NFL Films' Steve Sabol. He made several interesting points, two of which I noted at the time: Most Influential Player: John Unitas. Solely because of his presence, the quarterback position changed during Unitas's career. The combination of poise, skill, and field generalship that he brought to the position was something no statistics can measure. Second-Most Influential Player: Bob Hayes. When Hayes made his debut with the Dallas Cowboys in 1965, it was a man-coverage league. When he left in 1975, it was a zone-coverage league. His Olympic sprinter's speed forced teams to change how they played defense.   Unitas and Hayes, as we know, died within days of each other.   *********** Hall-of-Famer Mike Webster, center on those great Steeler teams of the 1970's, died this past week after a long, sad life after football. Without going into his problems with drugs and alcohol, he was said to have had suffered brain damage, attributable to his football days, and likened to "punch-drunkenness." I'm sorry, but there's got to be more to it than just football, or our streets would be littered with staggering ex-football players. Why Mike Webster, and why not Chuck Bednarik, who snapped and played middle linebacker, and who, if you've ever heard him snarl when he gets on the subject of today's players ("pantywaists"), clearly has all his marbles? Why Muhammad Ali? As skilled a boxer as he was, he took far fewer punches than most professional fighters, yet he is afflicted by Parkinson's Syndrome, attributed to his boxing career. Not that center is an easy job, and not that Mike Webster didn't take his share of shots, but I guarantee you, Chuck Bednarik, playing both ways, took a lot more shots than Mike Webster. *********** What is going on here? Now Leon Hart is gone. What a stud he was. To make it brief, he was 6-4, 260 at a time when a 220-pounder was a big man, and he had the physical skills to play any position on the field - which it often seemed he did. He played on Frank Leahy's great Notre Dame teams of the late 1940's, teams with All-Americans scattered throughout the lineup, and he still stood out among them. Leon Hart was a truly dominant player, a man among boys, and he played on a dominant team, one which in the early days of television got more exposure than any other. To me, he epitomized a Heisman Trophy winner. He was truly the best football player in the country - on both sides of the ball. "Jim Martin and I were co-captains in '49," he once recalled, "and we just stayed on the field until the score allowed us to leave. I remembered Leahy saying, 'Leon, don't get hurt because you gotta play anyhow.'" Rex Grossman, being pushed for the Heisman Trophy, is a very good quarterback.   But a Heisman Trophy ? The same award they gave to Leon Hart, for a guy who can only pass? Don't make me laugh.   *********** Randy Moss. Did you see that sick SOB weeping crocodile tears on ESPN? What a jagoff, as they'd say in Pittsburgh. This year's atrocity was a wedge play. Against a traffic officer. In Minneapolis. While still in his vehicle (I guessed Lincoln Navigator or Cadillac Escalade, but it was a Lexus).   He spent the night in jail and walked away the next day, whistling.   A female reporter asked him a question that evidently he felt he'd already answered satisfactorily, and I heard him respond, "What'd I tell you, woman?" (At least he didn't call her "bitch.)   What a classy guy. He blamed it all on trouble: "Trouble's out to find me." It was totally out of his control. (Sniff.)   He'll pay a fine, and he'll start this weekend.   But that's not to say that the Vikings aren't concerned. "I really believe that Randy was making great strides as a man and as a football player," said coach Mike Tice. "Obviously, this is a setback. It's a disappointment to all of us who are fond of him."   But not a surprise to those of us who aren't fond of him. (Or, I'll bet to those who are.)A setback? From what?   Yeah, some disappointment. We send him to anger-management classes last year, and his old nemesis Dennis Green is gone, and this is what we get in return?   You know, the damnedest thing is, I search the rosters of NFL teams in year's past, and I'm a son-of-a-gun if I can find people like him anywhere in there. I simply can't imagine a team like the Baltimore Colts of Weeb Ewbank or Don Shula, the New York Giants of Jim Lee Howell, or the Green Bay Packers of Vince Lombardi excusing a selfish jackass like Moss on the grounds that he happens to be talented. Back then, they were still worried about team chemistry, and they used words like "cancer" to describe the effect a talented but characterless guy like Randy Moss could have on a team.   I can hear high school and youth coaches saying, "Duh."   But this is the NFL. Winning trumps everything. He'll start this weekend because the Vikings need him. They're 0-3 and they're going up against the Seahawks, a loss to whom is unthinkable. Just win, Baby. Which, so long as we're on the subject of winning, brings this to mind - just last Sunday, I saw a highlight in which Daunte Culpepper was getting a trifle, er, upset with Mr. Moss. It appeared to have something to do with the fact that Mr. Moss dropped a pass that he should have caught. Now, I saw the pass in question, and I wish I could have grabbed Culpepper and set him straight:   Listen, Daunte, I'd have told him - That was your fault. Randy Moss doesn't go over the middle. Everybody knows that. Randy Moss goes deep. You're the quarterback, and you're paid to know that.   Meantime - if you want to raise a whole generation of kids who act just like Randy Moss - buy 'em Madden 2003.   That's Madden, as in John Madden, the one guy who had the standing to speak out about the antics of Moss and his ilk, before he sold out.   *********** The Vikings really look more and more like an NBA team in disguise:   The rest of the players are forced to play with a selfish, antisocial ***hole who couldn't care less about the team...   And the coach is forced to swallow his professional pride and tolerate a jerk superstar who will be there long after the coach is gone. *********** Fortunately, just when I'd about had enough of Terrell Owens - sorry, T.O. - and Randy Moss, along came a package from David Crump. Coach Crump, of Owensboro, Kentucky, was kind enough to send me a few copies of the Louisville Courier-Journal, knowing how much I'd appreciate the wonderful tributes it paid to Johnny Unitas, the anti-Moss. Unitas was a Pittsburgh kid who gained his fame in Baltimore, but he was a University of Louisville guy, too, and he never forgot the school that gave him a chance. Right to the end, he returned to Louisville over and over to help with fund-raising and, on occasion, recruiting. A statue of Unitas stands behind an end zone in Louisville's Papa John's Stadium, emblematic of how much he meant to the school. "I can't tell you how much he meant to our university and the city of Louisville," said Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich. "Without him, I'm not sure that U of L's athletic programs or the university what it is today," said former athletic director Bill Olsen A former teammate, Gene Sartini, remembered Unitas as a devout Catholic, who never missed Sunday Mass. "I'll never forget when I was a freshman," he said, "and it was the day after our first road game, and he stuck his head in and said, 'All you Catholic boys, we got church this morning.' And we all went." Another former Louisville teammate, Frank Otte, remembered a game Louisville played at Tennessee. "I was a linebacker," he recalled, "and I remember a play when here came four blockers (Tennessee was still a single-wing team then) sweeping through and they ran over me like a semi. They knocked me out. And when I came to and looked up, there down the field making the tackle was Johnny Unitas. He could play defense, too." Frank Gitschier, the coach who recruited Unitas to Louisville, is still alive, and remembered him as "a genuine person. If you didn't know who he was, you'd never have known by talking to him all that he accomplished in life.... he was unassuming, and he never forgot where he came from. We took him when nobody else wanted him. He lost his father at the age of five, and his mother was so grateful that he was going to get a chance to get a degree - which he did - and play football. She had raised that whole family and worked two jobs." He remembered recruiting Unitas. "He was a blue-collar guy from a Lithuanian background. You look at the great quarterbacks from Pennsylvania, and they all had steel mill or coal mine backgrounds. He knew the hardships. The way he looked at football was he picked up his bucket and went to work every day." Gitschier told a story to illustrate how big his upbringing played in developing Unitas' character. His mother worked hard and he was expected to help her, and help others, too. "He told me one day he came home beat up from playing football and she told that 'Mrs. so-and-so next door got a ton of coal delivered for her. Go shovel it into her basement for her.' And he did it." *********** Bill Curry certainly remembered Johnny Unitas. For six years, he looked him in the eyes in every huddle, and for six years he snapped the ball to the man. "What I find inexpressible verbally is the steel in his eyes," Curry told Pat Forde in the Louisville Courier-Journal. "I can see him this minute, looking across at me." "I got to have eye contact with him every single play. If I could tell somebody how that felt, I'd be a much better writer. But I can't. It was that powerful. Looking at him, not only did I know that we were going to find a way, but I knew he knew we were going to find a way." He described Unitas as unflappable, never one for talk when action was called for. If a player screwed up, there was no lecture, no shouting, no finger-pointing. Curry said Unitas would merely look the offender in the eye, and say the number of the defender he'd failed to block. And tough. Absolutely indomitable. Curry remembered the frustration the Rams' all-time great defensive tackle Merlin Olsen expressed to him, complaining that he could never break Unitas' will. "Each time I hit him," Olsen told Curry, "I'd look for some signs of defeat, submission, and I got nothing." And hard-working. Curry recalled arriving at Colts' camp after being traded from the Packers, and spending time after practice, working on his deep snaps. Finally, he went in and showered, and when he came out of the locker room, there were Unitas and Raymond Berry, both in their 30's, still working on their out patterns. Joked Curry, "You think they could complete one on Sunday?" *********** A lot of people know of the Johnny Unitas-Louisville connection, but not too many remember another player who played a few years after Unitas at Louisville and also played a little football for the Baltimore Colts - Lenny Lyles. Lyles, a Louisville resident, remembered Unitas as a person of "Humility... Character... Leadership... He had a presence." And toughness. In drills, under Louisville coach Frank Camp, Lyles recalled, "Everybody tackled. Unitas had to tackle as well. So John was tough, tougher than most people probably knew. There wasn't any quit in him. That toughness I knew he had." Lyles was a freshman when Unitas was a senior, and he remembered Sundays when Unitas and another teammate would accompany him to his home for meals cooked by Lyles' mother. "It was unusual then for two white kids to come with a black kid to his neighborhood to eat," he recalled. "She'd fix greens or beef and potatoes. He and my mother were pretty good friends. He'd always say, 'Leonard, how's your mother? You take care of your mother.'" *********** Try to follow me on this. This actually happened last Saturday night: Two Vancouver, Washington area schools are hooked up in a see-saw battle. There is a little more than a minute to play, and team A, down 40-38, is stuck on its own 16 yard line, facing fourth-and-16. But wait - a miracle - they complete a pass for 34 yards and a first down. There's still hope. Two plays later, they complete a pass down to the two, and on the next play, they punch it in, with 21 seconds remaining. Game over, right? Not so fast - now it's team B's turn. Behind, 45-40, their kick return man takes the ball on his own five, and returns it 63 yards to Team A's 32. With 13 seconds left, Team B throws complete for 19 yards, then throws incomplete, with no time showing. Game over, right? Not so fast - pass interference against Team A. Game can't end on a penalty against the defense. Half the distance to the goal and one more play, and don't you just know it - Team B scores, and wins 46-45. So here's why I asked you to follow me - raise your hand if you noticed that with 21 seconds to play, Team B's kick return man took the ball on his own five. Are you sh---ing me? Team A kicked the ball deep. Aaargh. Is that because that's what they see the pros do? (You notice, by the way, the number of kickoffs the pros have returned for touchdowns this year?) What if you had been the coach of Team A and you had chosen to squib-kick the ball into an open area? Think they could have run an organized return when their main concern was just to get to the football before your guys did? Think your guys could have covered that kick better than one that your kicker boomed down to the five? I know it's not as pretty kicking off that way (I believe in doing it that way all the time, incidentally) as it is teeing it up and letting it fly, but damn, man - they're not giving out style points. Your main obligation during a game is not to lose it for your kids.   *********** The ad about the girl putting on Octane 93... Down here, where stock car racing is big, we easily recognize that guy as Jeremy Mayfield. Don't know the girl though. Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina   *********** A young mother I know told me of a situation going on at her son's middle school. It is a pretty sorry story.   They started out with 60-some kids, but the number has dwindled. It is not hard to understand why. The games are short (six-minute quarters) and fewer than 20 kids play. The remainder of the kids stand around and do nothing, which is pretty much the way it is at practice, too. The studs scrimmage and the twinks stand and watch. The staff is far too busy working with the starters to spare even one of them to do something - anything - with the other kids.   The coach has defended his policy by saying that his job is to "prepare kids (meaning the best kids) for the next level," and that if kids aren't getting to play, well, that's the way it is in high school, college and pro football. He actually said that.   I get so-o-o- pissed off when I hear of a guy like that. Here we are with soccer taking so many middle-class kids that we used to just assume we'd automatically get, and then when we do get parents who let their boys play football, egomaniacal jackasses like this guy subvert everything that we do, and do their damnedest to turn kids off.   The old cliche that we always hear is, "it's for the kids," but that coach isn't out there for the kids. Listen - those kids aren't worried about the next level - they just want to play football - or at least practice it. Frankly, I don't think that coach is worried about preparing kids for the next level at all - I think he's interested in preparing himself for the next level.   What the hell high school coach in his right mind wants a middle-school coach deciding for him who the players are - which ones he's going to "prepare" - and running the others off? I assume that this guy's high school coach knows a little football, too, and most high school coaches I know don't even want their freshman coaches making decisions like that, let alone middle school coaches.   The trick is still to teach them fundamentals, teach them to be coachable and take directions and understand teamwork, give them a good experience and send 'em home wantin' more. Teach them to love the game and get 'em to turn out next year. As a high school coach, I would want the smallest kid, the fattest kid, the slowest kid, the least talented kid on the middle school team to know how to block and tackle and protect himself, and to look forward to playing football as a ninth-grader.   Sure, anybody can spot the great ones. But I defy you to look at an average 11- or 12- or 13-year-old and tell me, "he'll never be a football player." I can't, and you can't either. Hell, I've seen an awful lot of bad freshman football players turn out to be productive, contributing players as seniors.   My recommendation to that mother was to get her son the hell out of that program and into a local youth league program. At least there, there is usually some sort of minimum-play rule, and the coaches (at least the youth coaches I've met) are much less ego-driven, much more professional in their approach to kids and in their dealings with parents, than this guy.   He has pulled the old "don't let your son quit - what does that teach him?" garbage on parents, but as I always understood it, that can't apply unless there's something to quit from. I don't call it quitting. I call it cutting your losses. (If those kids had gone out for soccer, at least they'd be running around doing something.)   Fortunately, this guy is not at all representative of the middle school coaches I know. I know too many good men who are dedicated to working with kids and teaching them the game - not weeding them out. It takes a special man to be able to work with kids that age, and the last thing those kids need is a guy who is using them to advance his career.   Let's try to remember one thing - once we turn those kids off on football, they'll never come back. If the purpose of middle school football really were to weed kids out ("prepare them for the next level") as this guy seems to think it is, then I'd recommend doing away with it.   *********** La Center, High beat Castle Rock last Friday night, 39-28. Castle Rock, Washington is a real football town, a perennial power in our part of the state, but this was La Center's second in a row over the Rockets.   You may remember my description of the situation at La Center from my Dynamics II video. It isn't that way any more. The facilities still suck - in fact, they finally condemned the bleachers, but the taxpayers are too cheap to build a decent stadium for their kids - but La Center has got a football program.   Give the credit to John Lambert. I had John as a student and a football player at Hudson's Bay High in Vancouver, Washington. He was diligent and hard-working and very bright, as good in the classroom as he was on the field. At maybe 180 pounds, he started for me at center and linebacker, but there was never a problem with his size. I do have to admit, though, that I was surprised when he went to college at Western Washington, and won a starting outside linebacker job, because he just didn't measure up physically. To the credit of the staff at Western, though, they took a look at his brains and his heart and they couldn't keep him out of there.   When he graduated from college, he worked briefly in the business world, but he got the itch to teach and coach, and did his student teaching "up north", as we say about the Seattle area, and then taught for a year and coached football.   Meantime, I had just finished my first year at LaCenter and I learned from John that he was interested in moving back to our area, and that he had heard that La Center had an opening for a business teacher - his field. Ooh, boy - did I make tracks to our principal. I doubt that I could have praised John any higher if I'd lied. Fortunately, the principal was a former football coach himself, and undoubtedly he gave my recommendation more weight than a femmie-administrator type would have, and after meeting John, he hired him.   John spent two years as an assistant to me, always asking questions, always learning, always taking on more responsibility, never giving the kids - remember, he was just a couple of years out of college - any reason to think that he was one of them. He had a maturity uncommon in young coaches.   By his second year, John was up in the press box, and seeing things and saying things that indicated to me that he understood what was going on.   When I decided to leave LaCenter after that season, my third, I again recommended John to the principal, this time as my successor. Again, someone else in the principal's job might have wanted to advertise the job outside, set up a search committee, etc. But I believed that John had the "necessaries" - the maturity, the character, the work ethic, the organizational ability, the ability to lead players and coaches, and the common sense to make correct decisions. Whatever football knowledge he may have lacked at that point, he was smart enough and hard-working enough that that wasn't going to be a problem for long. The principal agreed, and did the right thing and hired John.   It was a great hire. In my last year at LaCenter, we managed to get the school its first winning season since it started playing 11-man football back in the 1940's. But John has since taken the program to another level (you should pardon the cliche). Since taking over as head coach, he has had three straight winning seasons, and last year he did what at one time would have seemed to be pure fantasy - he took the Wildcats to the state playoffs.   But back to the Castle Rock game. John's wife Kerry Lynn is expecting. Twins. As the team was preparing to leave for Castle Rock, John got the call - Kerry Lynn was having contractions, and they were close together. He put the phone away, turned the team over to his assistants, and went to be with Kerry Lynn.   The staff was prepared. Randy Martinez called the offense (Double-Wing, of course) and Randy Pearrow (another former player of mine) called the defense, and the Wildcats pulled out a huge win, at a place where it is very, very tough for the visitors to win.   Meanwhile, it was a false alarm. The babies didn't come, which pleases the doctors because it's still a little early.   So John goes through the same thing this week, and this week it's another road trip. This week, John is driving separately.   He said that after the big win last Friday, when he returned to practice this week, his kids were asking him, "Why don't you have a baby every week, coach?" *********** My friend Ossie Osmundson misses football this year, but he's still got baseball (he won the Washington state Class 2A title this past year) and he passed along a great story about Don Freeman, a local baseball coach. Don has coached for years at Prairie High in Brush Prairie, Washington - in addition to coaching football, he's won a couple of state championships in gymnastics and baseball. (What you'd call a well-rounded guy.) He's now the head coach of the U.S. National 16-year-old team. That entailed a week or so in Phoenix in early summer, selecting a team from some 100 kids, then reassembling the team in Miami in August, for a few days' final practices prior to departure for the World Games in Venezuela. The US team did pretty well there, losing in the finals to Cuba, 3-1 (the Cuban kids were probably all 18). But while they were in Venezuela, three of Don's kids skipped out after hours and went drinking. All night. Now, before they left Miami, Don had been through all the training rules with the players, including explaining what the consequences would be, so he called the three kids in and gave them each their airline tickets home and wished them luck. The parents of the three kids had spent the money to go watch their sons play, and understandably, they were not happy, but two sets of parents understood. The third father, however, went wild. Evidently he'd had experience acting like that in similar situations with high school coaches and school personnel. Don, however, didn't react like the high school coaches and school administrators that dad was used to badgering. He did what we all should do more of (a prospect that scares administrators to death): "I got in his face and said, 'This is not high school. This is the United States of America.'" As Ossie said, who's dad gonna call? George Bush? *********** YOUR HELP NEEDED: "Last week we dedicated our field and renamed it for a former coach who was an incredible man. After the game his wife asked me to find a victory bell for our field and said that she would pay for it. I have been searching the web, but I haven't had any success in finding a place to purchase such an item. If you have any ideas, please let me know. Thanks." Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado (E-MAIL ME WITH ANY IDEAS. The best I could do was suggest collectors of old railroad memorabilia... Antique dealers... Building demolition outfits... HW) *********** Hi, Coach: We lost 25 to 24 to "the other double wing team:" The North Farmington-West Bloomfield Vikings. Both teams scored 4 TD's, but they blocked all our extra point tries, while making 1 of theirs. They are as fast as any team I have ever seen & well coached. We had 45 rushes for 256 yards=5.7 yards per try. Our rookie QB completed 1 of 3 passes, but ! was a TD as time expired. As one fan said: "That was the best game I've seen in 5 years!" You would have been proud of both teams. The game still belongs to the players & both sets of players left it all on the playing field. I am happy to have been a part of that game. Bill Livingstone, Troy, Michigan *********** I PLAY Aussie Rules Footy on the DALLAS MAGPIES of the USAFL. I have taught this game to school kids in the spring for several years. We actually had a 2 team league last year. Every kid no matter what age loves this game. Barney Rinaldi, Dallas, Texas (THE GRAND FINAL - SUPER BOWL - OF AUSTRALIAN RULES TAKES PLACE SATURDAY - FRIDAY, OUR TIME - IN MELBOURNE BETWEEN THE COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES, OF MELBOURNE, AND THE BRISBANE LIONS. GO 'PIES!) *********** A coaching acquaintance wrote me about watching another "Double-Wing" team in his area: They are 0-3 and have yet to score. They do not pull their guards and tackles and hide their "must plays" at guard placing their best blockers at end. They got beat 30 to nothing this week and did not get a first down. Oh well, you can lead a horse to water, but... (Just a gentle reminder. Everybody has to coach his own team, but when you open the back of your computer, your warranty is void. If you understand me. ) *********** T.O. What a team man. What a guy to have as a fellow crew member on a submarine. The 49ers won on Sunday, defeating the Redskins, 20-10, but he was angry because the team ran the ball when they were up by 10 and ran the clock out. He made his displeasure ("frustration," the social-worker/sports reporter types like to call it) visible to the entire stadium at the time and later, in his post-game bitch session, he criticized Steve Mariucci for not having a "killer instinct." I'll bet the fact that T.O. only caught 2 passes. had nothing to do with it. What an sphincter ani. Yes, he made a great TD run earlier in the game, but without him, they still win 13-10. And enjoy it a lot more, I'll bet..   *********** Based on how you feel about field goals, you must love Michigan this year. They are 3 for 11 on field goal attempts! But I am sick of hearing whiny fans who seem to think that the college they root for somehow owes them a National Championship. And who seem to think that they know the team better than the coaches do, even though they see them only on Saturdays. And who believe, I guess, that the coaches are trying to sabotage the team just to get back at the fans. I was sickened two years ago to hear fans booing Ohio State quarterback Steve Bellisari during Michigan's 38-26 win in Columbus. I didn't think it would ever happen in Michigan, but I was obviously wrong. John Zeller, Sears, Michigan I think some of the reasons for fans becoming the way they are are (1) the pro influence (2) the BCS and its virtual playoff and (3) the fact that colleges are gouging their fans almost as much as the pros. *********** By the way, I couldn't agree with you more about the Michigan back who tried to stick the ball in the endzone and fumbled. But yesterday I read an article on the internet about number 23, Chris Perry. It said that while it is easy to avoid the media at Michigan Stadium, he didn't. He patiently answered every question given him, while his mom & dad stood by and watched. He said that he understood that if he fumbled, he wouldn't play. He said that he knew he had to improve or he would sit. A kid with stones. With Michigan's line, (two freshmen, a sophomore, and two juniors), I'm going on record as calling Chris Perry a long shot for the Hiesman Trophy in '03. John Zeller, Sears, Michigan *********** Adam Wesoloski, of Pulaski, Wisconsin (Packerland) mentioned that Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr, contemporaries, seemed to have a lot in common and that he'd heard they were friends. Undoubtedly Unitas and Starr, if not friends, would have had a great deal of professional respect for one another. Actually, that seemed to be the case with a lot of the guys then, because they did take great pride in being part of a profession, and in those days it was still important to a man to be respected for traditional values such as grace, sportsmanship, dignity, humility, unselfishness, and the importance of team. I shouldn't give the impression that John Unitas' teammates were all that different from him in that regard - Starr's either. Publicly, they really were good role models. Whatever they were like in their private lives, they kept them private. We certainly didn't read about wife-beating, weapons violations, cocaine addiction and the like. And the NFL didn't have as many job openings then, so I think coaches and players alike were conscious of keeping out the bad apples, the guys, however talented, who could spoil a team. And many of those guys had productive careers in other fields when football was over. (Most of them, actually, held jobs in the off-season, against the days when, they had to - as Chuck Noll would say when forced to cut a player - "get on with their life's work.") I wonder how many of today's players - for all the capital they are amassing while they play a game, and for all the trumpeting the NFL does about their good works, playing with little kids and old folks - will do anything really productive off the field when their football career is over and they are set for life. *********** How would you like it if you had an assistant who was lazy, incompetent and insubordinate? Who missed a lot of practices and came late when he did make it? Wouldn't you fire his ass? How effective could you possibly be if you couldn't? Ever had to deal with somebody at the Department of Motor Vehicles? Ever tried to talk to somebody in a state agency? Ever wonder why it is that nobody in government seems to give a big rat's rear about helping you? ANSWER: It's because those people know they can't be fired! Oh, they can be fired. If they steal, maybe, or if they shoot a supervisor. (Definitely, if they're male and they whistle at a female co-worker.) But otherwise, it's pretty hard to get rid of lazy or uncaring or incompetent government workers. Obviously, there are lots and lots of good, useful, productive government employees. But for some reason, I always seem to wind up dealing with the other ones. And because they are union members, they are protected by their unions and by the strong "civil service" job-protection laws the unions have helped forge; and their union dues are used to keep Democratic politicians in power, and the politicians repay them by protecting their jobs - however incompetent they may be - and they repay the polticians, and so it goes. So President Bush wants to be able to get rid of incompetent workers in the proposed Department of Homeland Security, and oooh-wheee is he catching it from the Unions and the Demos. The American Federation of Government Employees has prepared a script for its members to use when calling their senators to urge them to oppose the President. It tells members at the top of the page, "Your call will be more effective if you do not identify yourself as an A.F.G.E. member or federal employee." "This president often acts like a spoiled brat," said Bobby L. Harnage, the union president, sounding a bit like one himself. "If he can't play the game his way, he'll just take his marbles and go home, which is why there may not be a Homeland Security Department." (Not a Homeland Security Department? Nice to know a government worker's union is threatening to hold it hostage.) "I hope we're going to start to be as hard on terrorists as we are on these union members," shouted Maryland Democratic Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, (I just said that becaue she is shrill and shouts most of the time). "It's been over one year, and we haven't found bin Laden, but we're going to nitpick over whether you have a union or not?" Nitpick. Right. Unimportant detail. What do you care whether that incompetent, lazy, disloyal assistant you inherited from the previous coach is a union member and you can't get rid of him? Except, um, we're not talking about a football team here. Or the Department of Motor Vehicles. So you lose a football game. So they get my license plate wrong. Life goes on. BUT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SURVIVAL OF OUR FRIGGING COUNTRY!   *********** And this is why I like to run something that the other guys don't...   I know that Kirk Herbstreit has pronounced the option offense dead, but nobody's told the Air Force that. Last Saturday, the Falcons sent Cal to its first defeat, 23-21. Said Cal defender Tully Banta-Cain, frustrated because he didn't get his usual quota of sacks, "That is an unorthodox team. We probably will never face one like them again. I can't wait to play a normal defense again."   *********** I don't know about you, but I love to see two teams go at it in a hard, driving rain.   And I'll have to live a long time before I see a better game than Louisville's 26-20 overtime win over Florida State Thursday night.   It was the first time Florida State had ever been taken to overtime, and a large crowd of Louisville fans who braved the nastiest rain I think I've ever seen on TV were rewarded by their team's incredible come-from-behind win.   And ESPN, to their everlasting credit, refused to cut to the studio, letting those of us who appreciated what the Cardinals had done share in the thrill of watching the huge crowd swarm the field, players and fans alike hugging each other.   *********** For some reason I can't explain, I don't care for Florida State, but I do respect Bobby Bowden.   I must say, though, I was disappointed in him when he publicly pointed a finger at a kid in his post-game media conference:   "Their quarterback," I heard him say clearly, "made more plays than ours did."   *********** Just in case you thought a university was for an education...   Reggie Williams, Washington's outstanding sophomore receiver, has already confided to one writer that he expects a full-blown Heisman campaign on his behalf next year. After that, who knows?   "I won't say I expect to stay for four years," he said. "It's definitely an option."   *********** NFL roundup--- Five of the 28 teams in action last weekend failed to score an offensive touchdown. Only 11 of the 28 teams rushed for over 100 yards Six teams "rushed" for an average of less than 3.0 yards per carry Not that they even tried - nine teams rushed 20 times or less Field goal kickers are rounding into form, eliminating the suspense by maing 82.9 per cent of their attempts Five teams passed for an average of 5.0 yards or less per attempt (by way of comparison, Unitas' career yards per attempt was 7.8, and Norm Van Brocklin's was 8.2) There was one game - Seahawks at Giants, a stirring 9-6 win for the Giants - in which neither team scored an offensive touchdown. Actually, neither team did much of anything. It was a very clean game, with no missed field goals, no fumbles, just one interception and only 61 yards combined in penalties. And best of all, it was over in 2:43, fastest of all the NFL games, allowing Giants' fans time to get home and watch a real football game. *********** For years, Jim Shelton, one of my Black Lions friends, has been at work on a book on his experiences in Vietnam, with special emphasis on the bloody Battle of Ong Thanh, in which so many Black Lions died, Don Holleder along with them. It is finished nd it can be purchased. Titled, "The Beast Was out There," by James M. Shelton, its subtitle is "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" and it is published by Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. (630-668-5185; Email: fdmuseum@tribune.com) Jim has been kind enough to provide me with early drafts, and I have read most of it with great interest. It provided me with a very interesting look at the inner workings of an Army under combat conditions, and although Jim would eventually rise to the rank of Brigadier General before retiring, it is not written in the jargon that military people often seem to use when communicating with each other. In the interest of complete authenticity, the description and the dialogue can get gritty. Here's an excerpt(If you can't deal with the way real people sometimes talk under less than ideal conditions, consider yourself forewarned.) I then got up and headed for the TOC bunker and as I got about 10 feet away another burst of tracers sprayed around me. I dived for the bunker entrance, and the adrenalin must have been really working. My head squarely matched up with the 10 inch diameter log over the entrance to the bunker. Fortunately, my helmet hit the log, not my head, but I thought I had been blown up. I saw stars and collapsed in the hole. A few moments later the battalion communi cations officer, a salty old captain, dived on top of me. We looked at each other, and both started laughing -hysterically. He then went for one of the radios. I laid there for a moment in the dark of the bottom of the hole. I looked up and saw a face glowing in the dark above. It was the face of my brother, Ned. He had been killed in an automobile accident in 1960, seven years before, when I had been a lieutenant in Korea. His face was clear to me there -glowing -and he was smiling. It was only for an instant. The communication's officer's voice on his radio broke my trance. I got on the battalion operations net and called the companies. I told them, "open fire - open fire. Don't just sit there - open fire - drop some rounds down the mortar tubes - do something." The enemy fire had ceased. It had only been about five minutes since the claymores had gone off. But no one -no one inside our perimeter had fired a round. Here we were -a whole infantry battalion, locked and loaded. Nine mortars ready to fire. And we hadn't fired one round in return fire. Unbelievable! And now -after I had called on the radio -still no fire. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't fire my .45 cal pistol from the center of the perimeter. I got on the brigade operations net. I called, "Dagger 3, Dagger 3, this is Dauntless 3, over." The reply, "Dauntless 3, this is Dagger 6, can you give us a sitrep?" It was Colonel Chuck Thebaud, the 2d Brigade Commander. I had worked for him in a past assignment and it was good to hear his voice. I said, "Dagger 6, Dauntless 3. We have been attacked by unknown size enemy force with claymores and automatic weapons. Request gunships and flareship." He asked me if we had casualties and I told him I did not know but I would call him back. He told me, "take it easy, help is on the way." I then received a report that one man had been killed and several others wounded. I called back to Dagger and asked them to send a dustoff (aeromedical evacuation chopper) to our location ASAP. As I looked from my hole I saw someone about 50 meters away holding up a large flashlight. I didn't think that was very smart. I ran over to the light and shouted, "hey you dumb bastard, shut that light out." The reply came back, "fuck you. Who the hell are you?" I replied, "I'm Major Shelton, Dauntless 3 -who are you?" He said, "I'm Captain Swink, the battalion surgeon, and I need the light." I said, "OK" and went back to the radio. I had never met the battalion surgeon, Jim Swink. After this battle I was to learn that he was the same Jim Swink who was an All American tailback at Texas Christian University in the early 50's when I was playing in college at Delaware. His picture had been on the cover of every football magazine in the country. He had gone to medical school after TCU and was serving his time in the Army when he was sent to RVN. He had gone immediately to treat the wounded that night and had been hit by small arms fire in the shoulder. He continued to treat the wounded although he was wounded, and when I had called to him he was bleeding from the wound. He received a Silver Star for his cool actions that night, working with the wounded though wounded himself. *********** Last year, several coaches were able to contact Black Lions vets living near them to present the Black Lion Award at their team's banquet. Some invited them to attend a game, and still others asked them to say a few words to their kids. One coach even invited a Black Lion to talk to his classes about Vietnam. TIME'S RUNNING SHORT... Thanks to the efforts of some great people, the Black Lion Award was established last year. I can't imagine why a coach wouldn't want his kids to be trying to win the Black Lion Award. It's not too late to sign up for this year. E-mail me now. BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! Now, thanks to Ed Burke, executive director of the 28th Infantry Association, I have a state-by-state list of Vietnam-era Black Lions., and if you contact me, I will be happy to give you the names of some of these brave men who live near you. ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)      (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS?   *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 24 - "A critic is a man who knows the way, but can't drive the car." British critic Kenneth Tynan   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE")   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: I don't want to hear a lot of whining about how tough this one is. He has earned his place on this page. He paid his dues. He spent six years in the pro football, with four different teams in two different leagues, and put up some significant numbers, but from a football standpoint, life was never better for him than it was when he was a teenage freshman at Indiana University. He was a native of Gary. In 1945, as a 17-year old playing with returning war veterans such as Pete Pihos, who would become a pro football hall-of-famer, and Ted Kluszewski, who would go on to baseball fame with the Cincinnati Reds, he was the starting tailback on the Hoosiers' undefeated Big Nine championship team. At the end of the season, he was named All-America - quite possibly the youngest player ever to be named All-American. He was the only black player on his team, and at least one football publication of the time referred to him quite unselfconsciously as "the spectacular Negro back." He was a twice named All-Big Ten, and named on various All-America teams in three different seasons. In 1948, he was his team's leading rusher, passer and punter. He was the first black player drafted by an NFL team (Chicago Bears - 13th round - 1949), but he was not the first black draftee to play in the NFL - that was Wally Triplett of Penn State. That's because our guy signed, instead, with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference. Although he undoubtedly was offered more money to pass up the NFL for a the new league, you could argue that it was a mistake. The Dons went 4-8 in 1949. That would be their last year in existence, and the first of many poor seasons he would experience, as he moved from dog team to dog team. In 1950, following the AAFC's "merger" into the NFL, he wound up with the New York Yankees. They went 7-5 in 1950, but in 1951, they finished 1-9-2 and after the season were moved to Dallas and renamed the Dallas Texans. Talk about a farce - after four home games drew next to no fans, the Texans' "owners" turned the team back to the league, and they became vagabonds - officially, a "road team" - playing the rest of their games on the road, and using Hershey, Pennsylvania as their home base - rarely stopping there long enough to do much practicing. The Texans finished the woeful year 1-11. When Carroll Rosenbloom agreed to head an ownership group and move the Texans to Baltimore, he went along as one of the original Colts. They were not yet near the team that would win back-to-back titles in 1958 and 1959 - they were 3-9 in his two years there. He was traded to the Eagles before the 1955 season and spent a final year there, playing sparingly on a team that finished 4-7-1. He was a Mr. Everything - for his career, he rushed 436 times for 1936 yards, caught 70 passes for 1054 yards, returned 27 punts for 251 yards and 67 kickoffs for 1415 yards. He punted 93 times for an average of just over 37 yards, and is third in the NFL record books for most punts per game, with 14. But get this - in this age of spoiled free agents, shopping around for the team with the best shot at the Super Bowl, he played on one winning team in his six seasons. His teams won a total of only 23 games - 11 of them in his first two seasons - and in 1951-1952 he experienced back-to-back one-win seasons. In 1972, he was named assistant to the President of Indiana University, responsible primarily for minority recruitment. In 1981, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Indiana University elected him to its Hall of Fame in 1992. *********** When John Unitas died almost two weeks ago, a lot more than the greatest quarterback who ever lived went with him. How about modesty? Humility? Professionalism? John Unitas was an American of another time, a time when your accomplishments spoke for you, and real men didn't boast. For all that he accomplished, that is the memory of him that I will treasure most. Several of his teammates recalled that his usual words before going out onto the field were, "Talk's cheap - let's play." I am reminded of that every time Jerome Bettis' "Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round" braggadocio plays, ad nauseum, pushing that godawful Madden 2003. It's actually sort of pathetic, when you think of it, because the Steelers are a poor 0-2, and Bettis himself is an offensive irrelevancy - he's carried 18 times for 76 yards and no touchdowns - Lord, could the Steelers use a couple. Oh yes, and he's fumbled once. You would think that he'd have too much pride as a professional to let that crap air. You would also think that John Madden, who has his name on that game and at least knows his football, would give the clueless bunnies who air the commercials the word to put a lid on them, at least until the Steelers start to play football. If John Unitas, a son of Pittsburgh, were still alive, he would tell them that talk's still cheap. *********** "If you wanted to build the perfect quarterback for your NFL team, you'd take the mind of Joe Montana, the body of John Elway, the rifle arm of Brett Favre, the feathery touch of Dan Marino and the swagger of Joe Namath. "Or you could just hand the football to Johnny Unitas. "The greatest quarterback ever to take an NFL snap died Wednesday of a heart attack. He was 69. "More than 40 years ago, Unitas gave the NFL its definition for how the position should be played &endash; and it's still the standard by which all quarterbacks are measured today." Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News  *********** "The offense is working nicely. We lost the opener 21-14 in a very hard fought game on both sides. We moved the ball better than the score indicated, and but for a couple of first-game-jitters penalties, and a dropped TD pass . . . "The second game was today. We won 47-6. Everything worked quite well. Never had to get beyond basic wedge, SPs, counters, 29 GO, Red Red, and a bootleg or two. Had 8 different kids score TDs or PATs. Linemen are executing and loving the game. The power running is begetting a passing game that is way more potent than we imagined. Sequence football? And how. There is a "no matter what they do . . ." aspect to this offense that makes it a lot of fun to coach. "The players and parents are pretty enamored with it too, I might add. I never used to have multiple parents come up and complement the "play calling" before, but they are now. Some of the parents are even beginning to see the obvious sequences and understand what we are doing -- wedges to 29 GO, SPs to counter, for example -- and enjoying being on the sidelines that much more. If we suddenly stopped running the DW, I think we would incite a parental riot. My aim in this regard is to get to the point where parents are cheering the pullers as much as the ball carrier -- almost there I think." Jim Hooper, Englewood, Colorado (This is Coach Hooper's first year of running the Double-Wing.) *********** I see passing teams that couldn't exist without the out-and-out lie of teaching their linemen to hold and I am reminded of the glamour companies accused of selling high-price fashion items made in Asian sweat shops. *********** I love the promo for "8 Rules for Dating My Daughter" in which a young guy tells a girl, "I'll see you in my dreams." In front of her father! If I'd ever pulled a stunt line that, I would have found myself saying, "why yes, sir. I'd love a knuckle sandwich." *********** Love the Dodge Ram ad in which the girl rubs car wax in her hair, sprays a little gasoline on her wrists and behind her ears, then climbs through the window of a stock car into the passenger's seat. The driver, a young guy, says, "Is that octane 93 you're wearing?" She says, "Yeah - you like it?" He says, "Ooooh, yeah!" and drives off. I am just waiting for the first girl who does that and then lights up a cigarette. *********** Coach Wyatt: I just read the letter from the youth coach regarding ethics and his problem of having 43 players on his squad. You gave him some good advice, but I felt it necessary to put my 2 cents worth in. First, I was very disturbed that 11 and 12 year olds were losing up to 15 pounds to play on the team. Unless those players are complete butterball, couch potato types, that behavior should not be encouraged. Second, why not form 2 equal strength teams? Our league rules say that each team must have a minimum of 18 players (to ensure that a squad makes it through an 8 game schedule), and have a maximum of 40 players (to ensure that each kid gets some playing time). At the 11 and 12 year old level, the ideal size team is in the mid 20's. That way everyone is a contributor. I'm sure the logistics could be worked out with the league so that a team could be added. (Obviously, this wouldn't happen this season - but needs to be planned in the off-season.) The benefits to the program are numerous. First, more kids play meaningful football. I guarantee you even if the two teams have a .500 record, you'll have more interest in the program the next year than if one large squad goes undefeated and kids have limited playing time. Second, you eliminate the problems with parents. In theory, you have 44 starters - not 22. Finally, limited play players develop at a faster rate. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a player in this age group suddenly 'get it' and turn into a quality player by season's end. Being stuck toward the end of a 43-man rotation makes it harder for coaches to work with those players. I realize these comments may be too late for the youth coach this season, but planning for next year should begin now. Also, announcing that you'll have more teams next year may encourage some kids who might not sign up next year due to their experience this year to re-think that decision. Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois (How did I miss that? What are they doing - what is anybody doing - with 43 kids on one team?) *********** Bring back the touchdown. The word "touchdown" derives from football's roots in the game of rugby. In rugby, what we call a touchdown is called a "try," but in order to score a try, a ball carrier must carry the ball across the goal line - into "touch" (what we call the end zone) - and touch the ball down. On the ground. Even if he crosses the goal into touch, it is not a try until the ball is touched down. Through the years, the requirement to touch the ball down in football was deleted, so long as the ball was in the possession of a player who was in the end zone. But sometime in the evolution of our game - it appears, according to Dave Nelson's marvelous history of football's rules, "The Anatomy of a Game," to date to 1988 - the fantasy developed that the goal line was actually the foot of a transparent curtain (a "plane"), and all a player had to do was pierce the curtain to score a touchdown. (It reminded me of the Navy's old definition of rape: "penetration, however slight...") Unfortunately, it has led to lots and lots of cheap touchdowns in which a runner is clearly stopped short of the goal line but manages to reach out with the ball - three or four feet above the ground, but supposedly, in the judgment of a fallible official, "penetrating the plane." Florida scored against Tennessee that way on Saturday. It has also led to such grotesqueries as the Michigan runner, stopped by Utah at the goal line Saturday, reaching out in an attempt to rape the plane, and winding up fumbling into the end zone for a touchback. *********** The promos have already started for the Junction Boys, ESPN's adaptation of Jim Dent's version of what happened when Bear Bryant took over at Texas A & M and put his players through the Mother of All Two-a-Days at a place in the Texas Hill Country called Junction.. They prominently feature the Bear's famous hound's tooth hat, which as every Bear fan knows, he didn't start wearing until he left A & M to go to Alabama. But that ain't all. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I swear I see a black dude in the group of players shown in the promo. It's got to be my eyes, because Junction took place in 1954, and Coach Bryant didn't coach a black player until about 1969, when he recruited Wilbur Jackson out of Ozark, Alabama. (Actually, Jackson was recruited by a Bryant assistant named John David Crow - the same Crow who played for Bryant at Texas A & M, and won the Heisman Trophy. Crow arrived at A & M Bryant's second year, missing out on Junction.) *********** From everything I read, Todd Berry is a good man, the kind of guy you'd want coaching young men at West Point. But so was Bob Sutton, who preceded him there. So, too, was Charlie Weatherbie, former Navy coach. But coaches Sutton and Weatherbie didn't win enough, and they were let go. Army hired Todd Berry. Not only a good man but, if you ask anyone who knows his football, a guy who really knows the passing game. Only one problem - it is hard to recruit and develop passing-game-type guys to a service academy. Air Force - which improved to 4-0 with a win over previously undefeated Cal - knows that. So, too - with its hiring of flex-bone guru Paul Johnson from Georgia Southern - does Navy. The world of college football has already noticed what's been happening there. So Army, home of the infantry, has a rough road ahead of it as it attempts to go through the air, and faces the likelihood of being defeated by the ground games of its two service rivals. *********** For the last time, TV guys... there is no such word as Jag-wire. If it mattered, you could check the spelling. *********** "How do you attack an 8-man front?" asked Chris Spielman. "You have you running back account for the extra man by making him miss." Uh... isn't that unblocked guy just what the defense wants? Maybe this is why pro teams can't run. I wonder how long Chris Spielman would have lasted as a linebacker if he kept getting shots at running backs and kept missing. *********** Are you as pissed as I am at quarterbacks who seem to duck out of bounds at the last minute, drawing personal foul penalties on guys who hit them as they step out? (Does it remind you of a little brother or sister who always knew how far they could push you before you retaliated and got in trouble?) Are you as pissed as I am at the liberalized rules that allow more and more of what used to be called intentional grounding? What about receivers who jump up after every incompletion, begging for an interference call by pretending to be throwing a flag? *********** Grossman and Dorsey. Dorsey and Grossman. Toss a coin and award the Heisman now. But before you do... take a careful look at Anthony Davis (Wisconsin), Seneca Wallace (Iowa State), Zach Mills (Penn State), Charles Rogers (Michigan State), Willis McGahee (Miami). And maybe Onterrio Smith, of Oregon. *********** If John Madden were a man of integrity, a man who really cared about the game of football, he would have said "Stop, already. I don't need the money that bad. I don't want my name associated with anything that degrades the game of football like the antics you're showing on those Madden 2003 commercials." As it is, does anybody wonder why he won't speak out when one of the stars of his game acts like a jackass on the field? *********** The best run of the year so far was by Kansas State's Terrence Newman, Big-12 sprint champion, who scooped up a blocked USC PAT and took off like a bat out of hell for two points at the other end of the field. *********** Crystal ball award nominee: Fourth and one, Oregon State. As the Beavers line up and send a man in motion, Warren Moon says, "They're gonna go for it here." *********** Hard to believe that the Peter Coors who looks so outdoorsy and goes up in the mountains to show us how pure the water is up there and how great a beer you can make with it - and, by the way, don't drink too much of it - is the same guy who signs off on those Coors Light-fueled orgies that our kids get to watch during football games. *********** Huh? Did I hear that? "This is the NFL, Sam, and if you're trying to attack a team's weakness, you're playing into their hands." Bill Maas, talking to his broadcast partner, Sam Rosen. *********** Oregon's Joey Harrington made his debut Sunday, in the first regular-season game ever played in the new Detroit Stadium (they'll have to pay me for naming rights). So naturally, those of us in Portland, Oregonian, were forced to watch one of the worst football games in the history of the NFL, the 9-6 dog between the Giants and our beloved Seahawks. *********** What do you do? You're Oregon State's Dennis Erickson. You're playing Fresno State, a very explosive team, but you're ahead 59-12, with 4:59 left. In the third period. (Final score: 59-19.) *********** Dayton, Oregon scored 91 points in beating Sheridan this past weekend. I can't imagine how it happened. Dayton's coach is Dewey Sullivan, as good a coach and as fine a man as you'll ever meet. He is the winningest coach in the state of Oregon, and it's all been at one place - 38 years there. I coached against him back in my early days as a high school coach, and I am 0-2 against him. I don't know how it happened, but Dewey Sullivan is one guy I would defend, sight-unseen, against charges of running it up. As long as I've known him - dating back to 1977 - Dewey has been a conservative, belly-T guy (he once paid me the ultimate tribute when he told me, "If I didn't run my offense, I'd run yours"), and he has built his program on sound execution. Everybody knows what Dewey is going to do, and he still wins. He has good kids, but no better than anybody he plays. Dayton is in farm country, and he gets a mix of kids, including his share of Hispanics. He has never had a Division I player. Not until this year, that is. This year, he has a running-back/linebacker named Dante Rosario who has already committed to the University of Oregon. At 6-3, 226-pounds, Dante Rosario is, to put it mildly, a lot for opponents to handle at the Oregon Class 2A level. In a 56-6 wina week ago, Dante carried just three times and scored two touchdowns. He returned a punt for a third. The big-city papers don't list the scoring for small schools like Dayton, so I don't know what happened to get them 91 points Friday night, but I doubt that Dante got as many touches as he would have at a big school. I know Dewey Sullivan that well. *********** Damn! Get this guy on every weekend! Bo Schembechler was a guest in the press box at the Michigan-Utah game Saturday, and he showed why I loved him when he coached. He didn't mince words. "This game will never make ESPN Classic," he said. "It's a pretty dull game...neither team can run the ball." Did you catch that? Neither team can run the ball. Reminds you that there actually was a time when there were real football men who appreciated a good running game. Whereupon Utah passed - and failed to make it - on fourth-and-one (doesn't everybody nowadays?) Commented Bo, "There's a case where they have absolutely no confidence that theyc an run the ball for one yard." But can you run the ball against all these 8-man fronts that teams like to play nowadays? he was asked. "Sure you can," he said. "You run the football - they may tackle you for a five-yard game, but the next time you fake it and hit them with the post cut, and you get them out of that 8-man front." But here was Bo at his best: "Blocking and tackling is not as crisp and hard as it used to be because they don't practice it." *********** Give sideline reporters their stick mikes. Get those stupid head-set mikes out of their faces, and force them to hold a mike in one hand so we don;t have to put up with the hand gesticulating. *********** What gives? Alabama is starting two guys from Maryland in their defensive secondary. *********** Would you drink from the same glass as the people in those beer and "malternative" (Smirnoff Silver, Jack Daniels Hard Cola) commercials? *********** So while women's organizations are preoccupied with the symbolism of getting a woman into Augusta National Gold Club - you realize how hard it is for a man to get in there? - their poorer, less-influential sisters are being called bitches and ho's in rap after rap, portrayed as tattooed, silicone-enhanced, sex-crazed sluts in beer commercials, and out there posing as "cheerleaders" at NFL games, shaking their booties to the delight of the drooling multitudes. Somehow, though, it will mean so much to women everywhere, if Augusta National will just admit a rich female. *********** My heart bleeds for Cincinnati, narrowly losing to Ohio State after playing their butts off and leading most of the game. Only when two potentially game-winning passes were dropped in the end zone in the last minute were the Buckeyes home safe. Congratulations to Cincinnati defensive coordinator Andy Christoff. "A.J." has coached at 12 different schools, including Oregon. I used to work at the Oregon summer camp, and I can attest to the fact that Andy was as competitive coaching high school kids in a game of 7-on-7 at camp as any high school coach I've ever seen in a state title game. *********** Speaking of Ohio State, they got called for having 12 men in the huddle down on the goal line. Hmmm. Seeing a lot of that lately. *********** "Suzuki- Proud Sponsor of the Heisman Trophy." What's next - a sponsor for the Medal of Honor? *********** The Black Coaches Association couldn't have asked for more proof - if any were needed - that black men can coach football, than this past Saturday. Michigan State and Notre Dame, both coached by black men, went at it hammer-and-tong, before Notre Dame came away with a last-minute 21-17 win. Bobby Williams had rallied Michigan State after a dispiriting loss to Cal the week before, and Notre Dame was forced to replace injured QB Carlyle Holliday, who was just beginning to learn Tyrone Willingham's offense. San Jose State's Fitz Hill, meanwhile, went into Big Ten territory and came out with a 38-35 upset win over Illinois. *********** There may be a Sports Illustrated cover jinx, but there certainly isn't a similar Sporting News cover jinx. Michigan State's Charles Rogers was on its cover last week, billed as the best college football player in America, and damned if he didn't look like it Saturday against Notre Dame, making a couple of spectacular touchdown catches. *********** What is it with these phonies who try to scare us with statistics that can't possibly be true- that just don't pass the test of reasonableness? Last week, in the space of four days.. I read an article in the Portland Oregonian in which some anti-football nut stated that 20 per cent of all high school football players will sustain a brain injury during the season (more about that later - the truth is 5.6 per cent)... I heard on the radio that it is very, very important to buckle your seat belt, and police are going to be checking for that this weekend, because one out of three motorists will be involved in an accident. (Huh? This weekend?)... And then I saw a TV spot in which one of these anti-drug spokespersons informed me that by the fourth grade, one in four kids has sniffed an inhalant to get high. Are you sh---ing me, I asked my wife, who has taught third-graders in an elementary school that serves a widely varied group of kids. Half of their kids qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. She says it's a total crock. Says that first of all, you have to eliminate all the girls - because at that age, they still pretty much do the right thing - which means that to reach a figure of 20 per cent of all fourth-graders, you'd have to be talking about 40 per cent of all the boys. That means that if some schools' fourth graders are inhalant-free, others are staggering in the halls.   *********** Hi Coach.Can you tell me why all these Coaches are all of a sudden, whether they have the personnel or not , all going to the spread offense or so-called West Coast offense? Here in Southwest County (Roanoke) both high schools run it. They are both 0-4. The kids really seem lost out there.The other teams pound them.Is this a trend all over the country? Can you provide some sort of explanation for this? Cause I sit there and without criticizing any other coach analyze them and I certainly - with what I see out there - would not be running it.Regards,Coach Castro Maybe this will help explain... Friday night I watched the #3-ranked team in Oregon play. They lined up with one-back, trips to one side and split to the other. They ran the back three straight times and even though they gained 20 yards in three plays, a "fan" in front of me hollered, "OPEN IT UP!" You will never please them. *********** I am asked from time to time about whether I've considered a discussion board. Fair question. First of all, I don't care for Web "conversations" because I have no use for dealing with people who won't identify themselves. It is a pet peeve of mine, and for the life of me I can't understand why any football coach who has ever received an anonymous letter or answered the phone to an anonymous caller would do the very thing we all despise and hide his own identity with a "screen name". Second of all, I am kept plenty busy trying to help the people I deal with. For free, I might add. (There are hundreds of you who will attest to that.) Now, I may spend $5,000 with Apple and they still charge me for tech support. Ditto with Sony or Microsoft. But people spend $100 with me and I still do my best to help them. But let me ask an anonymous writer to identify himself as a customer (or in come cases, just to identify himself at all) and he calls me a money-grubbing bastard. I can deal with that. But in the meantime: if you have something to ask of somebody, at least have the courtesy to let them know who the hell you are. *********** A kid wants to quit football, his parents say "we don't allow quitting." So the kid is such a pain at home and at practice and games that the coach demotes him to the "B" team. Of course mama goes crazy, via telephone, on the coach. (yours truly) The dad comes to practice w/o the kid and wants to beat up the coach. Things get ironed out, the player returns next night and is back on the "A" team and refuses to practice on offensive line. I tell him "no offense, no defense." (Seemed logical since we have 15 players and 4 or them actually said they didn't want to play any offense.) One of em had a chance at fullback but did it his way and got removed, he said he was too small for end but not fullback! ! ! Any how, the kid that had his folks ready to lynch me quit when told no offense no defense. Now I get 2 phone messages last night when I got home and the dad is "coming to see me at practice."  (To say he was irate is an understatement.) Parents can't get their kids to follow through on a commitment and they blame everyone but themselves.   I was very relieved to hear you state, in Dynamics IV, that you will not beg anyone to play football. I'm not a big guy on platooning, and one of the reasons is I don't want kids thinking that they are too good to play offense, or they don't have to learn offensive plays. NO kid will ever tell ME where or when he will play. When he puts on that uniform and steps on that field, he is agreeing to do what is best for the team. Who will decide what's best for the team? Ole Coach. Perhaps before next season, you can head off that kind of garbage by covering it in your pre-season meeting. *********** Could you please send me the rule on the use of hands? I haven't had any trouble yet, but I did hear a ref say that the hands must be open. I can not remember seeing anything that says anything about hand must be open. I think he is insinuating that if the hands are in a fist, even against the chest (ice picks in chest) and they leave the chest it could be a holding call. I haven't had this guy yet. I just want some ammunition in my bag, for the "what if". Rule 2, section 3, article 2-a-3 - essentially: the hands may be cupped or closed but if you use that technique, the forearms can't extend more than 45 degrees from the body. Moral: Keep those ice picks stuck in the chest. *********** Coach, When I read about Bob Hayes not getting into the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of his problems with drugs, alcohol and the law, I remembered the controversy when Lawrence Taylor was being considered for induction. Officially, off-field character or citizenship was not supposed to be considered by the voters as I remember (I could be wrong about that, but I do remember the controversy). Of course, it does come into play in the minds of some voters and nothing can stop that. Some writers, as I do remember, did not vote for LT because of the drug issues and some wanted a character clause put into the voting criteria. The Baseball Hall of Fame, on the other hand, does have character as part of the criteria, which is why the best player I've seen in my lifetime, Pete Rose, cannot get inducted. take care Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts *********** Coach Wyatt, excellent catch about the Rockne-Robinson.It reminded me of the book and 10 part video series RITES OF AUTUMN- the history of college football. I found so many glaring mistakes in that book it was horrendous! one ex: Joe Paterno was coached by Vince Lombardi in High School - are you Kidding? A caption of Gary Beban the 1966 heisman winner, Grambling St. presently plays Div.2. The editors of the publishing co. should have been fired!! and the people who wrote this book call themselves college football historians - they should be ashamed about half-ass research like that ! - John Muckian, Lynn Massachusetts *********** We (I) select a slogan for our team t-shirts each year. This year it is PLAY H.A.R.D. (Hustle Attitude Respect Discipline). Last year was WHATEVER IT TAKES. The year before was NO EXCUSES...JUST RESULTS. The first year we ran the double-wing our slogan was DRIVE FOR FIVE. This year's slogan has been useful because it means more when we tell our kids they need to play hard.  They now have a clearer picture of what we expect. Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado *********** www.thesportsnetwork asks, "Which I-A College RB will have a break-out season?" and lists (I quote) "Clarett (Ohio St.)... Jones (Oregon St.)... McGahee (Florida)... Nix (Southern Miss.)... Sapp (Colorado St.)" I had to see how the voting was going. What do you? "Jones (Oregon St.)" had received 11 per cent of the vote. Not bad, considering Maurice Clarett at this point looks as if he could be the best we've seen since Jim Brown. Not bad, either, for a guy I've never even heard of, since Oregon State's runner in their one-back attack is named Jackson. Stephen Jackson. Of course, maybe they've got Oregon and Oregon State confused (easterners - who say "Oregahn" - tend to do that a lot). In that case, they've got Jones confused with Smith - the Ducks' Onterrio Smith - who, come to think of it, could turn out to be the best of the bunch. Maybe it's all a hoax, just to prove that some people will vote for anybody. And then again, judging by the results of some of last week's elections, maybe most of "Jonesey's" votes are coming from Broward County, Florida. *********** This was passed along to me by General Jim Shelton, honorary colonel of the Black Lions. You are free to adapt it to your own situation: A young Army Infantry Officer was injured in a serious fire fight in Vietnam, but the only visible permanent injury was to both of his ears, which were amputated. Since he wasn't physically impaired he remained in the Army and eventually rose to the rank of General and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was, however, very sensitive about his appearance. One day the General was interviewing three servicemen to be his personal aide. The first was an Air Force Fighter Pilot, and it was a great interview. At the end of the interview the General asked him, "Do you notice anything different about me?" The Fighter Pilot answered, "Why yes, sir. I couldn't help but notice that you have no ears." The General became very angry at this lack of tact and threw him out. The second interview was with a female Naval Officer, and her interview proceeded along much better than the Fighter Pilot before her. The General eventually asked her the same question, "Do you notice anything different about me?" She replied, "Well, sir, you have no ears." The General, immediately pissed, told her to get out. The third interview was with an Army Special Forces Officer. He was articulate, tall, combat decorated, and presented a sharp, square jaw no nonsense image and seemed to know more than the two previous officers combined (surprise). The General really wanted this guy, and again proceeded with the same question, "Do you notice anything different about me?" To his surprise the SF Officer replied, "Yes sir; you wear contact lenses." The General was immediately impressed and thought, what an incredibly observant Army Officer, and he didn't mention my ears. "And how do you know that I wear contacts?" The General asked. The sharp-witted SF soldier replied, "Well, sir, it's pretty hard to wear glasses with no f --king ears!" MORAL OF THE STORY: U.S Army Special Forces soldiers are not only sharp, but articulate and observant... but don't push it much further than that! *********** Last year, several coaches were able to contact Black Lions vets living near them to present the Black Lion Award at their team's banquet. Some invited them to attend a game, and still others asked them to say a few words to their kids. One coach even invited a Black Lion to talk to his classes about Vietnam. TIME'S RUNNING SHORT... Thanks to the efforts of some great people, the Black Lion Award was established last year. I can't imagine why a coach wouldn't want his kids to be trying to win the Black Lion Award. It's not too late to sign up for this year. E-mail me now. BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! Now, thanks to Ed Burke, executive director of the 28th Infantry Association, I have a state-by-state list of Vietnam-era Black Lions., and if you contact me, I will be happy to give you the names of some of these brave men who live near you. ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)      (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS?   *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 20 - "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Marine saying   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE") A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: His given name was Raymond Parker, but nobody ever called him anything but Buddy. Buddy Parker was a native of Texas who played his college ball at Louisiana's Centenary College. He played nine years in the NFL, and became a player-coach for the Chicago Cardinals in 1943. He then became a full-time Cardinals' assistant under Jimmy Conzelman, and started the 1949 season as co-head coach. When the first six games resulted in 2-4 record, he was put in complete charge, and although he finished with four wins and only one loss in the remaining five games, he was not retained, and he hired on at Detroit as an assistant to Bo McMillin. When he succeeded McMillin the next year, the Lions had had four miserable post-war years, winning only ten games overall. When he left the Lions seven years later, he had compiled a record of 53-29-2, including a span in which they appeared in three straight NFL championship games, and won back-to-back titles in 1952 and 1953. The Lions of the 1950s, with stars such as Doak Walker, Leon Hart and Bobby Layne, were a true dynasty. Detroit would never again experience such success on the football field. In August of 1957, he stood up in front of a "Meet the Lions" get-together and told the gathering that he was quitting. Boom. Like that.  He never fully explained himself, but most on the inside believe it had something to do with what he called "management interference," probably having something to do with the fact that the Lions were a rowdy bunch who played hard and partied hard, and certain minority owners enjoyed partying with them. It may also have had something to do with the fact that he was a noted drinker himself, prone at times to behave unpredictably.   Within two weeks of his abrupt resignation from the Lions, he was hired by the Steelers for what was a considerable sum at the time. The Steelers' owner, Art Rooney, had never won, and he was willing to do whatever it took to bring a winner to Pittsburgh. In his eight seasons as head coach of the Steelers, his record was 51-47-6. He had only two losing seasons in Pittsburgh, and his 9-5 record in 1962 was the best in franchise history up to that point. Undoubtedly, a major reason for his success was the Steelers' obtaining Layne from Detroit. Layne, although well-known as a party-goer, played his most productive football under Parker, perhaps because Parker was able to see past the partying to appreciate Layne's leadership. Ironically, the Lions team he had put together and then left went on to win the NFL title in his successor's first year. Equally ironically, he left Pittsburgh on his own, claiming management interference.   Hey - how many other coaches can you name who won 115 games and back-to-back NFL titles and aren't in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Here's a vote for Buddy Parker. Did you see the book cover on the left? After you get done laughing at the phrase "Fabulous Detroit Lions," you begin to realize what he accomplished.   Correctly identifying Buddy Parker - Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Mark Kaczmarek- East Moline, Illinois... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin... Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... Scott Russell- Potomac Falls, Virginia... Jeff Schaum- Abilene, Texas... Tom Hinger- Auburndale, Florida... John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky ("I remember when he coached the Steelers against my Browns. You are correct about being surprised that he is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I am very surprised. I have a 1997 Almanac that has NFL coaching records for all time wins and he is not even listed!!! He has more victories than John (Monday Night) Madden and Don Coryell and 1 less victory than George Allen. Very strange!! This is also the 50th anniversary of his Lions beating the Browns 17-7 in the 1952 championship game.")... Jack Tourtillotte- Boothbay Harbor, Maine ("I was at West Virginia Wesleyan '65-69' . Football was often the topic of discussion around the frat house. The Pittsburgh kids were fanatics about the Steelers, all aspects of the team including coaches past and present. Art Rooney was near God to these kids but I vaguely remember them talking about this eccentric coach brought in from another team to help the Steelers win. His name was Buddy Parker")... David Maley - Rosalia, Washington... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... *********** Man... I had just achieved closure. Okay, okay. Forget that sociobabble B-S about closure. I'm still hurting at the loss of Johnny Unitas, and I expect that it's an ache that will never go away. But doggone - you really ought to read the stuff about him in this week's Sports Illustrated. Definitely an issue you'll want to get and keep. Frank DeFord, to my mind one of America's great writers and a native Baltimorean, put into beautiful words what John Unitas meant to the Baltimore I remember, "our workingman's town, where the swells passed through, without stopping, on their way to Washington or New York." Then Paul Zimmerman, one of the most respected of pro football writers, explains why he considers Unitas the greatest of them all, and tells of a 1998 interview with Unitas in which he got Unitas to repeat something he'd said years before: "You don't become a real quarterback until you can tell the coach to go to hell." Zimmerman tells of the end of Unitas' career, when he was in San Diego, 40 years old and over the hill, and he began working with a rookie quarterback named Dan Fouts. "The Coach, Harland Svare, asked me to work with Danny," Unitas recalled. "and Dan was all excited about it. Then after five or six games the offensive coach, Bob Schnelker, came over to me and said, 'The coaches had a meeting last night, and we'd rather you didn't work with him any more.' Who knows why? Anyway, I told Fouts, and boy, was he hot. So I said, 'What the hell, we'll keep doing it. They're not smart enough to know what's going on anyway.'" Former teammate Alex Hawkins relates an incredible story about his toughness. Movie and TV director Barry Levinson (Diner, Homicide) gives us the ultimate Unitas quiz. Peter King tells why we'll never see a field general like him again. A field lieutenant, maybe. But not a quarterback in total control of the game. King tells of the time Unitas once said to offensive coordinator Don McCafferty before a big game, "Just sit back and enjoy the game. I won't need any help." *********** With kids like this, America still has a chance against the rappers and the Coors Light gang... The Rebul Academy, Mississippi board of trustees voted to play 8-man football this year, but when the kids insisted on playing 11-man football, a campaign was launched to get enough players, and from a student body of fewer than 25 boys, enough were found to field an 11-man team. And so it was that exactly eleven Rebul Academy players played the entire 48 minutes of football last Friday and came away with a 9-0 win over Gloster. Eleven was all they had. Three of their players were injured and unable to suit up. "My brother, Bill, wanted to know if they dumped water on me because I won my first game," Rebul coach Ben Ashley told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "But we didn't have any players on the sidelines. I asked my brother did he think those players were going to run off the field after playing the entire game and dump the cooler on me?" *********** I have told you about high schools  out in eastern Washington that are so small they have to form combines to play 8-man football. Last Friday night, two such combines, Tekoa-Oakesdale and Liberty-Spangle were opening their seasons at Tekoa. Liberty-Spangle was ahead, 6-0, when a transformer blew and the lights went out. So they moved the game - players and fans alike - to Oakesdale, where Tekoa-Oakesdale turned things around and won, 27-6. Quipped Liberty-Spangle coach Art Fletcher afterward, "We're 1-0 in Tekoa, and 0-1 in Oakesdale." *********** A POEM...By Percy Dovetonsils. (With apologies to the late, great Ernie Kovacs, the first person to utilize the unique features of television as a medium of comedy. In one skit, he played a rather, uh, "fruity" guy named Percy Dovetonsils who wore a smoking jacket and sipped drinks and read poems) Dedicated to the four NFL teams who ran for more yardage last weekend than they passed for. "If your run was more than your pass/You either won or they kicked your ass"  They either won - Denver and Arizona - or got their asses kicked - Detroit and Houston. (In fairness, Detroit and Houston had more rushing than passing yards only because their passing offenses sucked even worse than their rushing offenses.) *********** Whew! Bet the NFL types are glad that after that hectic first week with all that offensive scoring, things are getting back to normal, and defense is once again asserting itself. Fully 13 of the 32 teams in action scored just one offensive TD or less this past weekend. Only 10 of them scored more than two touchdowns. Four teams - Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Houston and Washington - were shut out offensively. Don't let the 25-0 Tampa Bay-Baltimore score fool you - those fans didn't get to see a single offensive touchdown. *********** Sixteen of the NFL teams this past weekend rushed for less than 100 yards. That's half of them. Five - the Bills, Browns, Cowboys, Ravens and Seahawks - "rushed" for under three yards per carry. The Bills might not have needed overtime to beat the Vikings had they been able to rush for more than 31 (you read that correctly) yards, averaging 2.2 per carry. The Redskins could manage only 2.9. Oh - you say that was per pass? Wow. Imagine how bad they'd have been without Steve Spurrier and his fabulous "Fun and Gun" aerial circus. Did you say bad? Houston (a professional football team) "threw" for 29 yards - an average of 1.2 yards per attempt. Not that it's worth your effort to do the research, but you might have to go back to the pre-Rockne days of the rugby-type ball to find anything that pathetic. *********** NFL field goal kickers were still getting the rust out last weekend, too. Although lovers of field goals have to be encouraged by the fact that there were nearly as many field goals attempted as offensive touchdowns scored, kickers made good on only 42 of 56 attempts for 75 per cent, well below the 80 per cent that they have come to expect.   *********** Steve Spurrier sneers and mocks other coaches for the long hours they put in, implying that they just aren't as smart as he is. Betcha he didn't go out and play golf on Tuesday. *********** Remember my saying that Woody Hayes would have had Maurice Clarett out of there once the game against Washington State was won? For some reason, Jim Tressel left him in right until the end, and, yes, he gained a lot of yardage, but now he is banged up and unable to play this weekend. Who knows? Maybe leaving him in there made no difference one way or the other. But why take the chance? *********** Ian O'Connor, in USA Today, wrote that Tyrone Willingham, who is a pioneer of sorts, has the great honor of coaching a young man named Quentin Burrell. Quentin Burrell happens to be the great-grandson of the legendary Eddie Robinson, something of a pioneer himself. Now, how cool is that? But then, in an attempt to tart up his story, O'Connor happened to mention that Coach Robinson "had met Rockne and had attended Frank Leahy's clinics." Tsk, tsk. I really don't think so. Leahy, sure. Coach Robinson was already established at Grambling when Frank Leahy was coaching at Notre Dame. But Rockne? Let's put it this way - Coach Robinson is now 83 years old. Knute Rockne died in a plane crash in March, 1931. Eddie Robinson would have been 12 years old at the time, a poor black kid in the segregated South. Nice story, but I don't think so. *********** It was 1962 and the Cowboys' Eddie LeBaron connected with Frank Clarke on a 99-yard touchdown pass against the Steelers, tying for the longest pass play in NFL history. But wait - no touchdown. Instead, the officials brought the ball all the way back to the other end and awarded the Steelers a safety. Huh? asked the Cowboys' Tom Landry. Huh? asked the Steelers' Buddy Parker. The Cowboys' fans went berserk, and after the free kick, made so much noise that the Steelers couldn't hear Bobby Layne's signals. Finally, since in those days referees weren't miked, the ref had to stop the game and walk to the sideline where he telephoned the P.A. announcer and requested that he inform the fans that a Cowboy had been detected holding in the end zone, the penalty for which is a safety. It was an occurrence that no one on hand could remember ever having seen before. "I didn't think there was a rule," said Landry, "that could give points." Parker, a real old-timer who had been in the league since 1935, as player or coach, confessed that it was all new to him, too. "I just don't know about it," he said, "but the guy gave it to us." Ah, but that was then and this is now. That was back before rules changes favoring the pass turned the NFL's game into something resembling sixth-period PE class - before teams started passing for it on 4th and 1, without anybody thinking it odd. A pass from one's own end zone is no longer considered a particularly daring and unusual play. And so, last Saturday - on the same day and on national television - within an hour or so of each other, both Michigan and Michigan State were penalized for holding in the end zone, and safeties were awarded to their respective opponents, Notre Dame and Cal. *********** Bob Hayes died Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 59. He remains the only athlete ever to win an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring, and it is fair to say that he brought about a revolution in defensive football. A star running back for Jake Gaither at Florida A & M, he earned the title "World's Fastest Human" in 1964 when he won one Olympic gold medal in the 100 meter dash, and another anchoring the winning US 400 meter relay team. When he was drafted first by the Dallas Cowboys a year later and turned into a receiver, he sent chills up the spines of NFL coaches - they simply had no one close to being able to cover him man-for-man, the common coverage of the time. Out of the desperation to defend against that one man came the intricate zone coverages we now see today. He joined the Cowboys as they were ascending to the top of the NFL heap. In his rookie season, he had 1,000 yards in receptions and 12 touchdowns and led the NFL with a sensational average of 21.8 yards per catch. In his 11-year NFL career, he had 71 touchdown receptions, and averaged 20 yards per catch. He played in three Super Bowls. On the basis of his on-field performance, you can make a strong case for his being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame - he is not - but you first will have to get past the drug and alcohol problems that haunted him for most of his life after football. It was not just a matter of human weakness in succumbing to addiction - hell, Lawrence Taylor was a far worse example of that than Bob Hayes, and he's in the Hall. No, there's more than that - in 1979, Hayes pled guilty to a charge of delivering narcotics to an undercover police officer, and served 10 months in a federal prison. And in later years, he didn't help his cause with statements that smacked of self-victimization. Hey- life is seldom easy for a convicted felon. "I won gold medals representing this country," he said, "but I've gotten more recognition around the world than I have in my own backyard." True enough. But his "recognition around the world" came when he was young, his reputation still untainted. To those people, he's the Olympic gold medalist. But to people in his "own backyard," he's the Olympic gold medalist and pro football star, the guy who had far more than most people, who just couldn't cope with the real life that was left to be lived after the crowds went away. On balance, if I had a vote, I'd be willing to recognize that Bob Hayes paid his penance, and now it's time to put him in the Hall of Fame. *********** Hugh, Is it just me? The NFL looks like a Sunday Flag Football pick 'em up game, played by overstuffed freaksof nature. Remember in the front yard, as a kid, the call in thehuddle would be... "everybody go deep and I'll find one of you!!!" It just looks that way to me... but I do know how complex the offenses and schemes are, but I think it just must be for entertainment,the visibility of the ball in flight, and the gracefulness of the pass and catch that has overwhelmed the game. Used to be the game itself was enough, but now you have more and more crap added even to the broadcast. The announcers can't make one statement about anyone without mentioning how much money for this and that and the contracts, this and that. Who gives a tinker's damn about how freaking wealthy these spoiled brats are. And all these damned "pin ball" type graphics flashing, and swirling constantly, I get a headache just watching it. I just want to see players, dirt and turf, the game's ambiance, and real football play. I guess I'll have to stick to the arm chair game. There is still some innocence and game left. Oh!!!, even that is deteriorating- Our local high school just installed a $150,000.00 matrix board atop the score board. What a bunch of arrogant worthless crap. I go to the games and never notice it. I bet they wouldn't want to hear that! I must be getting old. Its funny... The older I get, the more substance I look for!Larry Harrison, Snellville, Georgia (No, it isn't just you. I was just telling my wife the other day that they don't really need 11 men to play their game. They could play nine-man football (get rid of two offensive linemen and two defensive linemen) and they'd not only open up the field to make room for more offense, but they'd save on all those salaries, too. Not that the NFLPA, whom they first have to clear everything with, would ever allow it. HW) *********** Coach, Peyton Manning forgot the first rule of dealing with bureaucracies: It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. From what I heard on the radio this morning, he asked for permission, was denied, and then told he would be fined and kicked out of the game if he violated what the league told him. That is why he didn't wear the shoes, because of the threat of being thrown out of the game, not because of the fine. You can't always believe what you hear, but it makes sense to me. The way the NFL runs the league, I believe they would make the threat, and I believe they would carry it out. After all, he would be honoring someone who made the NFL into a powerful pro league. It's not like he was caught snorting cocaine, or shot someone, or was arrested for beating his wife. Those things are easily overlooked by the NFL; wearing a nonconforming shoe, now that is serious!!! Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina *********** The ESPN show on the FDNY football team showed a guy named Junior. When he first arrived on the team, he was kind of cocky, and told his teammates, "Don't call me Junior." Haw, haw - he had a lot to learn. On that team, said one of his teammates, whatever you don't want to be called, don't tell people not to call you that - because that's what you'll be called. And sure enough, ever since, to his teammates he's been Junior. That's so-o-o-o-o-o like the old days, when your nickname was conferred on you by your buddies, and there was nothing your parents could do about it. To you, it was a badge of acceptance, and if you were lucky, it would be a good one, like Lefty, or Red. (For some reason, in Philadelphia, that would be "Reds"). But Shorty was always a possibility, as was Fats. Or even something crueler. If you're old enough, you know what I mean. If you're not old enough, though, you probably can't appreciate today's American parents, whose children are all princes and princesses, and are given names to make them unique. No thought is ever given to a nickname, and God help the teacher or coach who gives their little darling one, or allows other kids to do so. Try it for yourself. Call James "Jimmy" and I'll bet you that within a day or so mommy will be in to set you straight, telling you "We named him James and that's his name." *********** Unless you're a coach, you might get the idea that John Madden is really letting you in on the very inner workings of the game. For instance, on Monday night, the Redskins' Champ Bailey, normally a defensive back, was put into the game specifically to carry the ball on a reverse. Carrying the ball with one hand, away from his body, he was hit and fumbled. Coach Madden said it was because Bailey was a defensive player, and hadn't had time to work with the offense. I can just hear all the bozos who learn their football from him. "Ooooooh - so that's why he fumbled. I'll have to tell my kid's coach about that." Uh, Coach Madden - I know you haven't coached in years, but that doesn't excuse you. Fundamentals are fundamentals. Most of us have never coached a player of pro calibre, one like Champ Bailey, who has been an outstanding player at every level he's played. But most of us have been in the sort of pinch where we've had to put a defensive back into the game at running back because one of our starters got hurt. And somehow, because we were careful to teach all of our players how to carry the ball correctly, we got by without fumbling. Hell, some of us have even been in a situation where we were able to reward a senior lineman or two and let them carry the ball in their final game. And you know what? They held onto the ball. It's called "Coaching." Even the pros need it. Maybe their coaches should try it. ************ After reading your latest coaching tip (regarding the B-back's chop block), I wanted to add another reason why it would be inappropriate.In order for the B-back to execute that type of block, he would likely have to drop his head, thereby putting himself in a dangerous position which could lead to either a head or neck injury. Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado *********** A Georgia nurse named Eunice something-or-other reported what she thought was suspicious activity on the part of a group of young, Arabic males. Police followed up on her tip, tracing the guys as far as Florida, but evidently there was nothing to it. To listen to the young gentlemen, it was all a joke, see (ha, ha) and now, Eunice is being accused of being a racist and a hate monger. People like her have to be stopped, we're told, or the next thing you know, POOF! - all our liberties will be gone. Sure was nice of the police to release her name. Nice to know that anybody else who might report suspicious activity can count on being subject to the same kind of abuse she now faces. I know it's against the law to tamper with witnesses, but, well, you know how it is... Also nice to have to share the country with the kind of the scum who would attempt to smear an American citizen who did what used to be called her patriotic duty. But then, this is a new America, one which places tolerance and acceptance and diversity and non-judgmentalism ahead of its very survival as a nation. So if you happen to live in Georgia and you know the Eunice I'm talking about and you happen to see her, will you please thank her for me, and tell her I'd have done the same damn thing? *********** Well, Katie, I'll speak v-e-r-r-r-r-y slowly, so even you can understand... "What, other than the fact that they trained at this camp, do you have as evidence that they are terrorists?" said TV's highest-paid bimbo, Katie Couric, grilling the FBI agent who arrested the young Islamic gentlemen in Buffalo. *********** Coach, I thought I would give you an update on the Patriots. We are a team of 33, 13 and 14 year olds and this is our first year running your Double Wing offense. I have three assistant coaches that did not know a lot about football when we started but with the help of your videos, you would think that they have been coaching for 20 years. We are teaching the "old-fashioned" techniques such as the hit position, drive blocking, the funny stance with your inside hand down, the tight splits and your tackling technique. The results are amazing! Our kids are confident, disciplined, and can successfully execute this offense. In our first two games we outscored our opponents 84 to 14. Our parents and even our opponents are complimenting us on the Double Wing plays. Thanks for sharing your system! Jim Miller, Millard Athletic Association Patriots, Omaha, Nebraska *********** You guys in places like Montana and Idaho, where teachers are not exactly overpaid, might not want to read this. The teachers in the Council Rock School District, in suburban Philly, went back to work recently after their strike was settled. Top of the pay scale in Council Rock is $87,530 for 180 days' work. To put that in perspective, top teachers' pay anywhere in the state of Washington - including the Seattle area, where teachers are just as well-educated and work just as hard as they do in Council Rock (and real estate is a whole lot more expensive than in all but the ritziest of Philadelphia suburbs) - is $56,588. For 183 days. More power to them in Council Rock. I just wish that teachers everywhere would have a shot at that kind of money. *********** I wanted to run something by you and get your feelings on this. All week I had been running "over" and "over-stack" with my starting backs in practice. While driving to the game the head coach mentioned that he wanted to start the first half with the back-up backs running "tight". I told him we hadn't repped much with those guys in...I didn't feel comfortable about doing this. Basically, he overrode my recommendation and thought he knew better. I understand he's the head coach, I have to follow his decisions. But the look on the kids' faces - 45 mins prior to the game changing everything - told me what was going to happen. It was a horrible mess. Can you give me your thoughts on this??? What you would have done if you were the Offensive Coordinator??? I think it is a BIG mistake to do ANYTHING in a game that we haven't worked on - successfully - in practice. Since much of my offensive practice during the week is spent deciding what stays in the game plan and what comes out, I am so busy discarding plays that don't look good to me in practice that I can't imagine running something we hadn't even worked on. The only exception would be if I were to want to make an adjustment during the game - but then, I'm referring to cases where I had kids who really understood the offense. I think in your case I would have to say, "I know you're the head coach, and I'm the offensive coordinator and you're the boss, but I also have a duty to stand up for what I believe is sound, and this is not sound. If you're going to insist on doing it, I can't give it my consent. "I'm going to have to respectfully step aside and let you take over the offense for this game, and then if you want we can sort it out afterwards." *********** In the dying words of the late Bryan Piccolo, "Can you believe this sh--?" A guy named Issam Abu-Khater wrote a letter to the Portland Oregonian Wednesday in which he said, "Muslims in the United States had suffered the most from the Sept. 11 attacks by becoming a target for the intelligence community." Say what you will about these people, but they're as American as apple pie. They know that when an American is accused of wrongdoing, the first thing he does is claim that he's the real victim. *********** Last year, several coaches were able to contact Black Lions vets living near them to present the Black Lion Award at their team's banquet. Some invited them to attend a game, and still others asked them to say a few words to their kids. One coach even invited a Black Lion to talk to his classes about Vietnam. TIME'S RUNNING SHORT... Thanks to the efforts of some great people, the Black Lion Award was established last year. I can't imagine why a coach wouldn't want his kids to be trying to win the Black Lion Award. It's not too late to sign up for this year. E-mail me now. BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! Now, thanks to Ed Burke, executive director of the 28th Infantry Association, I have a state-by-state list of Vietnam-era Black Lions., and if you contact me, I will be happy to give you the names of some of these brave men who live near you. ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)      (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS?   *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)   BE INFORMED! HOT WEATHER FOOTBALL TIPS (THERE IS PLENTY MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB IF YOU DO A SEARCH ON "HEAT STROKE")

September 17 - "One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it." Knute Rockne   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE") A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He was a native of Texas who played his college ball at Louisiana's Centenary College. He played nine years in the NFL, then became a player-coach of the Chicago Cardinals in 1943. He became a Cardinals' assistant under Jimmy Conzelman, and started the 1949 season as co-head coach. He was given the reins after the first six games resulted in 2-4 record, and he finished with four wins and only one loss in the remaining five games, but he was not retained, and he hired on at Detroit as an assistant to Bo McMillin. When he succeeded McMillin the next year, the Lions had had four miserable post-war years, winning only ten games overall.  When he left the Lions seven years later, he had compiled a record of 53-29-2, including a span in which they appeared in three straight NFL championship games, and won back-to-back titles in 1952 and 1953. The Lions of the 1950s, with stars such as Doak Walker, Leon Hart and Bobby Layne, were a true dynasty. Detroit would never again experience such success on the football field.  In August of 1957, he stood up in front of a "Meet the Lions" get-together and told the gathering that he was quitting. Boom. Like that.  He never fully explained himself, but most on the inside believe it had something to do with what he called "management interference," probably having something to do with the fact that the Lions were a rowdy bunch who played hard and partied hard, and certain minority owners enjoyed partying with them. It may also have had something to do with the fact that he was a noted drinker himself, prone at times to behave unpredictably. Within two weeks of his abrupt resignation from the Lions, he was hired by the Steelers for what was a considerable sum at the time. The Steelers' owner, Art Rooney, had never won, and he was willing to do whatever it took to bring a winner to Pittsburgh. In eight seasons as head coach of the Steelers, his record was 51-47-6. He had only two losing seasons in Pittsburgh, and his 9-5 record in 1962 was the best in franchise history up to that point. The Lions team he had put together and then left went on to win the NFL title in his successor's first year. Ironically, he left Pittsburgh claiming management interference. Hey - how many other coaches can you name who won 115 games and back-to-back NFL titles and aren't in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? *********** Alton, Illinois High is a big school - over 2,000 students. Alton is also a Double-Wing school. The Alton High Redbirds are now 3-0 after upsetting perennial state power East St. Louis, 14-12. It was Alton's first win over East St. Louis in 28 years. "WINNER'S CIRCLE" *********** LISTEN TO THIS, YOU GUYS WHO DARED TO LEARN A LITTLE BASIC FOOTBALL AND RUN SOMETHING LIKE THE DOUBLE WING, OR THE WING-T, OR THE WISHBONE.... As you know, we had a scrimmage last Tuesday, against the team that I was an assistant with last year. Yesterday, before the jamboree, the head coach of that team (who was also the head coach last year, and is really a good guy and I like him), came up to me to talk. He said, "Are you really going to run that offense you ran the other night? Surely you are going to spread it out or do something different." I said that I thought I was pretty happy with the offense. He then said that he would be happy to share some offensive sets with me. He was sincere, and I had to keep myself from laughing. He said he had these great sets that his team was using, and he would come over to my house and share them. I told him thanks, but my kids already had enough to learn what I was trying to do. He then went on to tell me where he got his awesome offensive sets. He said I should scrap what I am doing, and look at Madden 2002, because that is where he got all his plays, and it diagrams all the responsibilities for all the players. He was serious, and I started laughing. He said I could laugh, but he was serious and it was much better than whatever I was trying to do. It was funny, because he was sincerely trying to help me... NAME WITHHELD NOW DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU'RE UP AGAINST?   HEY - HERE'S THE GAME FOR THESE PEOPLE - NCAA FOOTBALL 2003 - Here's what an ad for it says "...Not to mention the additional formations you'll have at your disposal like the double wing and power I sets that you won't see in EA's NFL series." *********** BEWARE OF INTERNET ADVICE. IT'S USUALLY WORTH WHAT YOU PAY FOR IT. SOME GUY ACTUALLY GAVE OUT THIS ADVICE ON A WEB SITE TO SOMEONE WANTING TO KNOW HOW TO STOP THE DOUBLE-WING - HE SIGNED HIS NAME RYAN HARP, BUT ON THE INTERNET YOU CAN NEVER BE SURE. MAYBE YOU'LL GET TO PLAY HIM SOMEDAY   Have your ends crash down hard. This will take away sweep and will tangle up most of the tricky counters that are in the double wing package. It is best to stay in a cover 2 look. Do not gamble and make your defense lop sided. Also have your corners squat to funnel everything into the middle. Remember, this offense is one of the most sloppy ones out there. So, you should really watch the wings. They tend to give a lot of keys. I.E. the wing who has his shoulders facing forward will be blocking.   *********** There were 18 games this past weekend involving top-25 teams (four of the games matched two ranked teams, and three teams had the weekend off). Only two of the winning teams - North Carolina State and Wisconsin (winner by the narrowest of margins over Northern Illinois) - rushed for under 100 yards. Ten of the losing teams, including supposed powers Michigan, Michigan State and Colorado, were held under 100 yards rushing. However, of the 18 winning teams, only three - Virginia Tech, Ohio State and Notre Dame - had more yardage rushing than passing. Virginia Tech had two runners - Kevin Jones with 171 and Lee Suggs with 153 - combine for 324 yards against Marshall, and Ohio State's sensational freshman Maurice Clarett personally rushed for 230 yards against Washington State, but Notre Dame barely qualified, rushing for 157 and passing for 154. *********** When they spent all that money giving Notre Dame Stadium a remake, wouldn't you have thought they'd have built another locker room at the other end, so that both teams aren't forced to go in and out of the same tunnel? *********** Pam Ward and Chris Spiel man actually said some good things during the Cal-Michigan State game. I think that they could both benefit from diction lessons - Ward to add g's at the end of words that are supposed to end in "ing," Spiel man to stop saying "foo'bawl." But they work pretty well together and are getting better. *********** I can't rememember when I've seen a good team play so poorly overall as Michigan State. The Spartan fans started booing early, and it was hard to blame them. They left early, too. I had to laugh when Pam Ward said at one point that both coaches were using the game as a "barometer." I'm afraid that for Michigan State's Bobby Williams, it was more like a rectal thermometer. *********** Michigan State played badly and looked pretty bad, too. Those new jerseys with those cutesey little pin strips across the shoulders are as lame as Washington's. *********** Cal's placekicker is a 26-year-old Danish exchange student. Wouldn't it be cool if before we went back he could actually get to play some American football? *********** I have been seeing an awful lot of good football players with Nigerian names... *********** Mike Price of Washington State, interviewed at halftime at Ohio State: "I'm going to take a blood pressure pill. These officials have got me so damn mad." *********** Coaches you wouldn't want to be this week: Bobby Williams, Michigan State; Frank Solich, Nebraska. Studio commentator Mark May's advice to Williams: "Bring out the whuppin' stick." *********** Notre Dame is 3-0, and I swear I saw Tyrone Willingham smile. But not for long. *********** I am getting tired of tuning in BET to see the game of the week - this week it was Jackson State against Tennessee State - and instead getting rap videos. You've never seen a channel change so fast. *********** Speaking of Bob Davie, I agree with him whe he says they should go back to the old fair catch rule. This halo garbage is putting pressure on refs to make calls they shouldn't have to be making. *********** Penn State's first touchdown is on an option play. Out of shotgun. Who'da thunk it? *********** Ohio State looked like Woody Hayes football at its best, but I guarantee your ass Woodu would have had Maurice Clarett out of there when the game was out of hand. Jim Tressel had him in right up to the end. Granted, the kid is big and tough, but what if he gets hurt then? *********** TBS did the Oregon State-UNLV game, its first college game in years. It looked like it and sounded like it. *********** Either those Colorado State kids holding hands in the locker room were gay (okay to show them on TV) or they were praying (definitely not okay). *********** If I wanted to build a college offense around any one guy, it would be Seneca Wallace of Iowa State. He is this year's Eric Crouch. He can do it all. Among the things I have seen him do in two games , something he did against Iowa really impressed me - the kid was running hard to his left yet still managed to get his shoulders turned and throw back, hard and accurate, to his right. It was the equivalent of a shortstop going hard to his left to field a ground ball behind second base and then, without breaking stride, throwing a perfect strike to home plate. *********** Nothing wrong with the Bills' new away jerseys, necessarily, but who gets to wear them if the Alouettes and Bills are both playing away on the same day? *********** The Seahawks' new uniforms are the color of axle grease. Or drilling mud. Or maybe the NFL knew how bad their offense was going to be and waived the rule against smearing lubricant on uniforms. *********** Is there anything that degrades the game of football more than the sight of the keeker, playing "safety" on a keeking play, dancing around helplessly or flopping on the ground as the return man whizzes by? *********** "Coach, While I didn't grow up in Baltimore, John Unitas was always my favorite player. The flat top hair cut and high top shoes are etched in my mind. "There is one QB in the league today that reminds me of him (and it is not because he wears the Colts' uniform and it is Peyton Manning. Even though I live in TN. I am not a big UT fan, but he is one of the classiest QBs around. Watch him play and see if his style doesn't remind you of him." Greg Stout, Heritage Middle School, Thompson's Station, Tennessee (I do like Peyton Manning - liked and admired his Dad, too. I think he is a classy young man and it is a fair comparison. I also think that there is a parallel to the John Unitas story in the tale of Kurt Warner. I guess John himself had grown very attached to the Ravens' present QB, Chris Redman, no doubt in part because of their Louisville connection.) *********** Speaking of Peyton Manning and Johnny Unitas... what an ass NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is. How dare he tell Peyton Manning that he can't wear high-top shoes in tribute to Johnny Unitas? How dare he prohibit teams other than the Ravens from wearing patches or armbands in Unitas' honor? Why wasn't there a stink raised back when he pulled the same crap and said that only the Bears could visibly honor Walter Payton? In a league full of Terrell Owenses, you would think they would do everything they could to remind fans of the great people who made the game what it is. Or is it just because the NFL didn't have time to round up sponsors for the arm bands on such short notice? I say, wear 'em and pay the fine, Peyton. Tags would back down. He couldn't handle the bad publicity he'd get. *********** Madden, you shameless whore. How can we expect you to comment objectively about a player who also appears in Madden 2003? (A sponsor, if you hadn't noticed, of Monday Night Football.) *********** Rich Gannon threw 64 passes against the Steelers Sunday night. He completed a lot, too. 43 as a matter of fact. But did anybody notice that by the time he was done throwing, the Raiders still had only two offensive touchdowns to show for all those passes? *********** Art Rooney, the late owner/founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was not the kind of guy to pull the pin on a coach. He stuck with Jock Sutherland when he cut Bill Dudley. He knew that John Unitas was a player, yet when Walt Kiesling cut him because he said he was "dumb," he didn't second guess Kiesling. And even though Chuck Noll was 1-13 after his first year and 6-24 after his second, he stuck with Noll. Good move. So now, Mr. Rooney's son, Dan, runs the Steelers, and in my judgment, he has been more than patient with Bill Cowher. If Cowher were working for anybody but the Rooneys, I think he wouldn't be working for anyone else. *********** While we're still on the subject, this was sent to me by Mark Rice, of Beaver, Pennsylvania- A teacher asks her second grade students to stand up and tell what their fathers do for a living The first, a little girl says: "My name is Mary and my daddy is a postman." The next, a little boy says: "I'm Andy and my Dad is a mechanic." The third, a little boy says: "My name is Johnny and my father dances naked on tables at gay bars." The teacher gasps and quickly changes the subject, but later in the school yard she approaches Johnny privately and asks if it was really true that his Dad dances nude in a gay bar. He blushes and says, "I'm sorry but my Dad plays football for the Steelers and I was just too embarrassed to say so." *********** "We watched Dwayne Rudd (who cost Cleveland a win when he prematurely threw his helmet in celebration) for 3 years in Minnesota, his episode against Cleveland was not a surprise. He is a jackass. He had 1 good year ( 1998 ) and spent the next two celebrating, dancing and throat slash gesturing after tackling a running back 7 yards down field. It was his trademark." Mick Yanke, Cokato, Minnesota *********** And then there are the Detroit Lions, easily the worst team in pro football. A Detroit News online poll shows 80 per cent of the respondents predicting that coach Marty Morninhweg will not last the season. But the Daily News' Rob Parker goes over the coach's head and lays the blame squarely on top - Lions' president Matt Millen. Millen, he says, should "commit or quit." "The commitment," Parker writes, "starts with moving to our community. This commuter-president gig is totally unacceptable. What gall. Going home to Pennsylvania every weekend is unheard of. There's no way fans would accept Joe Dumars running the Pistons from Louisiana, Dave Dombrowski rebuilding the Tigers from Florida or Ken Holland phoning in his Red Wings moves from Canada." I remember reading all those neat articles about how Millen was restoring an old Pennsylvania farm house, and thinking that that would be a neat retreat, after dealing with the pressures of running an NFL team. But sheesh - the guy's lives there. He's been living there, and commuting to Detroit. Now, it just seems to me that when you're a guy with basically zero experience in running a professional organization, you're moving into a brand-new stadium, and you've got a team that sucks - really sucks - you've got to be on hand. I happen to live near Portland, Oregon, a community with only professional sports franchise, the Trail Blazers. There was a time when the Blazers could do not wrong. But they seemed to grow arrogant, to take advantage of that good will, until gradually, the community has soured on them. As they've been turned into a collection of thugs, malcontents and dopers, it hasn't helped that the man responsible, GM Bob Whitsitt, lives in Seattle and commutes by plane. The ill will that this has created in the Portland community for him and the Blazers' organization is incalculable. I agree with Rob Parker. Especially at a time when the Lions appear to be regressing, the guy in charge needs to be there.   *********** TGFTW (Thank God for the wedge) The Northbrook Junior Spartans lightweight gold team is now 2-0 thanks to the wedge. As you know, we run the high school's system which is basically the "I" featuring the tailback. Prior to yesterday's game, I put in the wedge because we had difficulty in our first game in short yardage situations. (We have to call it, "wishbone 32 wedge" to keep it consistent with the play calling nomenclature.) Yesterday, we ran the wedge in all different situations because it gained at least 5 yards each time we ran it. With the score tied 6-6 and 3 minutes left in the game, we had driven the ball to first and goal on the 10 yard line. After an ill advised play that lost 2 yards, I ordered the offensive coordinator to call the wedge until we scored. The next 2 plays (wedges) got us down to the 2 yard line. After the opposing team's timeout and on 4th and goal, we ran it again for the score. The point is, the other team knew what was coming and they could not stop it. After the game, I asked the players if they had questions or comments. Our fullback raised his hand and said he really liked the wedge. All of the linemen nodded in enthusiastic agreement. Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois   *********** (From a game report) "They outweighed us on average by over 30 lbs. up front but the angles and our quickness off the ball overcame the weight disadvantage. I actually saw a linebacker trying to shed the B back on the trap trying to get to the A back...nearly fell over dead laughing at his reaction when his buddy tackled the ball carrier and him both! They tried to cross key our wings, tried to bring the house on stunts and blitzes and we stayed within the rules of the game, and the rules of the blocking scheme and ran all over them all night (he actually had to put his varsity back in to try and stop my JV from ending it in the 4th quarter via the mercy rule...had it not been for a fumble on the trap (for the 3rd time in a row) we would have gone home early against his varsity." NAME WITHHELD TO KEEP THIS FROM BEING PUT ON THE OPPONENTS' BULLETIN BOARD NEXT YEAR *********** I have never seen a Holtz team be so undisciplined as Carolina against Virginia last Saturday night. I could not believe all the turnovers. Odd how I emphasize holding onto the football to my kids). I spent the first week teaching them how to carry it, and now the whole offensive unit runs as soon as there is a fumble. I hold up practice for them to run an entire lap to emphasize the importance that a fumble has -- it kills a drive in a game -- and kills practice -- and kills them when they have to run over and over. We just can not tolerate the football hitting the ground. I also encourage the defense to *try* to cause a fumble. Their reward: sipping on a water bottle while watching the offense run... Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina  *********** WHAT A KID. WHAT AN ATTITUDE - A friend of mine received this e-mail from one of his 8-year-old players: Hi coach this is Jose I just wanted to know how I did in the game. Is there anything that I can work on. I had alot of fun. Thank You Jose *********** Coach.Greetings.Hope you are happy.Your Double Wing has made me Public Enemy Number one around here. I already told you about the Double Wing rule in this area.If a team is up by more than 24 points the other team gets the ball on the ten yard line.If they don't score then the team thats ahead gets it on their own five.It is hilarious. Everybody blames me for this stupid liberal rule. In the latest game the opposing coach took a safety on purpose just to make the 24 point margin and go back to the 10 yard line.That's teaching your kids to dig down when they are down, Huh? Thank You for making me PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE! IT TAKES A SET!!!!!! Regards and Thank You for your continuous support, NAME WITHHELD *********** Dear Coach Wyatt; I've got some great news to share with you. That "youth football" "easy-to-stop" "predictable" "boring" offense put up a combined total of 90 points today between our varsity team and our JVs. (Um, isn't that more than ELEVEN touchdowns AND two point conversions?) I am so proud of the JVs that I thought my heart was going to burst. 48 points and over six hundred yards of total offense. I'm especially proud of the special teams (which, I'm happy to say is my department) that recorded three kickoff returns past our 40, one of which went for a touchdown, and a blocked punt. When we blocked that punt I jumped around the press booth so much I knocked my cell phone off my belt. People in the stands were pointing at me, and I don't care in the slightest. I've been promising the team all season that we would block a punt in our first game, and they made it happen. I had tears in my eyes when I told the team after the game, "There aren't the words for me to tell you how proud I am of you." Hell, I've got tears in my eyes right now just typing this. JV final score was 48-16. Last year this JV team only won three games, and one was by forfeit. This year, they play with so much heart it's scary. You can see it in the way the offensive line comes to the line of scrimmage. You can feel it in the way the defensive backs cheer for each other after a good play. GOD I wish I could put pads on just one more time and join them on the field! JV might be their title, but every last one of them has a varsity heart. If I ever have to walk down one of those proverbial dark alleys, I want these kids at my back. Varsity didn't have quite as good a game. Mental mistakes turned over the ball several times in the red zone or we'd have had a 30-0 lead at halftime. Their final was 42-6, but it could have been 80-0 with fewer errors. They did a good job overall, though, and I'm just as proud of them. All their mistakes are correctable. Derek Wade, Tomales, California *********** Last year, several coaches were able to contact Black Lions vets living near them to present the Black Lion Award at their team's banquet. Some invited them to attend a game, and still others asked them to say a few words to their kids. One coach even invited a Black Lion to talk to his classes about Vietnam. TIME'S RUNNING SHORT... Thanks to the efforts of some great people, the Black Lion Award was established last year. I can't imagine why a coach wouldn't want his kids to be trying to win the Black Lion Award. It's not too late to sign up for this year. E-mail me now. BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! Now, thanks to Ed Burke, executive director of the 28th Infantry Association, I have a state-by-state list of Vietnam-era Black Lions., and if you contact me, I will be happy to give you the names of some of these brave men who live near you. ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)      (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS?   *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! TIME IS GETTING SHORT! BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 13- "A man never gets to this station in life without being helped, aided, shoved, pushed and prodded to do better. I want to be honest with you: The players I played with and the coaches I had ... are directly responsible for my being here. I want you all to remember that. I always will." The late John Unitas, on his induction into the Pro Football hall of Fame   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, FOR THE WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE") A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: As a college player, Frankie Albert became the first true modern-day T-formation quarterback. As a pro, at only 5-9, 170, he was the 49ers' first draft pick and their first quarterback, and played a major role in establishing the franchise. He was born in Chicago and played only one year of varsity football in high school because he weighed only 130 pounds. Albert had the good fortune to be at Stanford when the University of Chicago dropped football after the 1939 season, leaving its coach, Clark Shaughnessy, without a job. Stanford, meanwhile, had lost all but one game in 1939, leading one former Stanford star to call the team "the worst group of players who have ever worn the Stanford red." But Stanford wisely hired Shaughnessy, and he accomplished one of the great one-year turnarounds in football history. What made it possible was Shaughnessy's new T-formation attack. It was radical - so radical that Pop Warner, himself a former great Stanford coach said, "if Stanford ever wins a single game with that crazy formation, you can throw all the football I know into the Pacific Ocean. What they're doing is ridiculous." Frankie Albert had his doubts, too. He recalled watching Shaughnessy diagram plays on the blackboard - "He'd diagram a play and then say, 'You boys will make a dozen touchdowns with his play this season. We'd poke each other and mutter, 'This guy doesn;t know us very well. We didn't make that many touchdowns all season long." But Shaughnessy made good on his word. And what made the T-formation work was the man he chose to be his quarterback. Only 5-9, 170, he was, in Shaughnessy's words, "a superb ball-handler, a magician with the ball, and a gifted field general (quarterbacks called the plays on the field under the rules of the time); wonderfully observing, a great left-handed passer and a great kicker. (He) was not used in this system as a blocker or ball carrier... he was neither strong nor fast. His talents were primarily those of a faker; he could fool people, and by temperament, he ate up that sort of an assignment." The 1940 Stanford team, with the new offense run by the new quarterback, swept unbeaten through the regular season, and defeated Nebraska, 21-13, in the Rose Bowl. "That kid had too much pass, too much kick, too much noodle for us,'' Nebraska Coach Biff Jones said afterward. He was named All-American, and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1941, his senior year, Stanford was 6-2, and he was once again named All-American, this time finishing third in the Heisman balloting. After World War II service in the Navy, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers in the new All-America Football Conference. The 49ers were the first major professional sports team to be established on the West Coast, and because he was a local college favorite, he was important to the new team both on the field and at the gate. From 1946 through 1949, while playing in the All-American Football Conference, he and the 49ers were very good, but neither he nor his team could overcome the dominance of the Cleveland Browns and their quarterback, Otto Graham. Graham was the AAFC player of the year from 1947-1949, although our man shared the honors with him in 1948, when he threw 29 TD passes and was named Sport Magazine Pro Football Player of the Year. In his four years in the AAFC, he threw 88 touchdown passes, surpassing even the legendary Graham. After the AAFC merged into the NFL, he played three more years, sharing the quarterbacking duties with a youngster from LSU named Y.A. Tittle for the last two. He retired after the 1952 season, with a career totals of 10,795 yards passing and 115 touchdowns in seven seasons. He played one season in the Canadian Football League, then spent time as a broadcaster, assistant coach and scout for the 49ers. He served as head coach of the 49ers from 1956-1958, and took them to the Western Conference title in 1957, before losing in the playoffs to the Detroit Lions, the eventual champions. He passed away last week at the age of 82. Correctly identifying Frankie Albert- Scott Russell- Potomac Falls, Virginia... John Muckian- Lynn, Massachusetts... Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois ("Thanks for telling your readers about another pioneer who I had forgotten about. I think it says something about the man that at the time of his death, he'd been married for over 60 years. What a terrific role model.")... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... Mark Rice- Beaver, Pennsylvania... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky ("Question, wasn't he at one time a part owner of the 49'ers before DeBartolo bought the team in the 1970's? I think that he was. Don't ask me where I know that from or if I am correct. I have been pondering this thought since I read your site this morning. I have read about him while reading Cleveland Brown history from the old AAFC days.")... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin ("I can hear Pop now, 'You'll hurt your fingers with a QB under center!'.")... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Joe Gutilla- Minneapolis... Dan Dubowksi- Erie, Pennsylvania... John Zeller- Sears, Michigan... *********** Today's quote of the day (above) is one of the great sports quotes of all time, especially because it came at the dawn of the modern era, where now teammates are seen as necessary evils who for the most part stand between the player and sports immortality. John Unitas' death has hit me and my wife hard. Back in the early 1960's we were young marrieds, living in Baltimore. Money was scarce but life was good. President Kennedy was still alive. The people of Baltimore had Colt Fever. The Colts were kings of all they surveyed - and John Unitas was God. But he never acted like it. He was so down to earth. Granted, those were the days before boasting was acceptable in an athlete, and "look at me" antics were expected, but John (in an unusual manner of familiarity, nobody in Baltimore ever called him "Johnny" - that was for outsiders) was humble even by the standards of those days. So how could any other Colt have ever contemplated putting on a self-serving show when John Unitas, the greatest Colt of them all, never took any credit in good times, and fully shouldered all the blame in bad? He was the consummate professional, always putting the team ahead of himself. He was tough and hard-working. He and Raymond Berry spent hours after practice, perfecting the quick out that looked so simple on Sundays. It is difficult to describe the sense of loss I feel. You must allow for considerable prejudice and emotional attachment when I say that he's the greatest quarterback I've ever seen. I didn't love Montana, the only other possible contender, the way I loved John Unitas. (But you Montana guys must make a few concessions, too - John Unitas never enjoyed the benefit of today's pass-friendly rules - the protection of a line that was allowed to hold, and receivers who couldn't be hit beyond five yards. Oh, yes- and he called his own plays. ) I once heard Don James say, "good players make themselves better; great players make the players around them better." That was John Unitas. I'll never see his like again. Fortunately, any time I want to see him, I can close my eyes. He's number 19 in the blue jersey. He's stoop-shouldered. He's the only guy on the field wearing high-tops. There is less than a minute to play and the Colts are driving for the winning score. The Colts break the huddle and everybody in Memorial Stadium is on his feet. The roar is unbelievable. A guy next to me speaks for us all - "Take us in, John." We all know he will. He's done it so many times before. Will it be to Moore, or to Berry? Orr or Richardson? Mackey, maybe? Doesn't matter. John will take us in.   (There is a petition already underway to rename Baltimore's stadium - once named PSI.net Stadium until PSI.net folded, and since called Ravens' Stadium - for Johnny Unitas. By 7 PM Pacific Thursday night, there were 22,000 signatures.) http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/petition-sign.cgi?3307d   *********** Katie Brown, the sports bimbo on Portland's Channel 2, told the sports audience that pro football had lost one of its all-time greats - "Johnny oo-NEED-us." Needless to say, I called the $#@%ing station immediately. "We know, we know," the guy told me. Somebody had already beaten me to it.   *********** I really beat myself up, crying as I read all the memories posted on the Baltimore Sun's site (http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/football/bal-unitas-graffiti.graffitiboard?slice=1&limit=20) by John Unitas fans. I didn't realize there were so many still around who loved and admired him the way I did. My favorite letter, though, wasn't the least bit sad. I could have written it myself: "Finally," it said, "we have someone on the other side who will kick Bob Irsay's drunken ass."   Another read, "Dear Indiana Irsay: Please don't disrespect the Baltimore Colt reputation any more than you and your family did by commenting on the passing of the one individual who worked the hardest to keep the tradition going here ! Submitted by: Don and Bill in McLean Va" (If it had been possible for him to endear himself to Baltimoreans any more than he had, John Unitas sealed the deal by requesting that the Irsays not include his records with those of the Indianapolis Colts. He was Baltimore - so Baltimore that he adopted the Ravens as his team, and was often seen on the sidelines at their games. A huge roar would go up from the crowd whenever he was shown on the giant screen.) *********** When I was growing up I knew the names of 2 sports heroes before I knew anything about the games they played - Mickey Mantle and Johnny Unitas. In today's over-hyped world it's difficult for youngsters to distinguish between marketing and substance. Johnny Unitas was a true icon in every sense of the word. Keith Babb - Northbrook, Illinois *********** Coach --It's a sad day in the football world with the passing of the great Johnny Unitas. I saw him engineer a 99 yard drive against the Bears at Wrigley Field when I was a kid, actually I think it was only one or two plays but it covered the whole field. He was one of the most approachable Pro Athletes I ever got an autograph from. A tough guy with a soft heart for the fans. -- Doug Gibson, Naperville, Illinois *********** Hugh, Been busy moving house, starting new job, etc Plymouth (Double-Wing team) had a great season , got to semi finals losing to eventual bowl winners, went 7-2 regular season. I've now moved away so I have to find a new team to convert. Just wanted to say today (9-11) to all your readers- God Bless America Mike Kent, Cumbria, England *********** "Did you hear the stupid remark that John Madden made last night? "It's the spirit of the penalty". He said, "he should not have gotten a penalty for throwing his helmet (in the Browns game). It's like having 12 men on the field, when a player from your team breaks away and some team members run on the field in excitement, the official shouldn't throw a flag because they were only doing it in good spirit." Give me a f---ing break. What are we telling kids here? It's ok to break the rules if it's in good spirit! Why not forget the face mask penalty? Hell, just break his neck, gosh gee! He didn't really mean to grab it. Really pissed, "Frank Simonsen, Cape May, New Jersey (AMEN. I feel sorry for Dwayne Rudd, the guy who did it. It was foolish. He should have known better. But give the guy credit for being a man about it - HE didn't whine about the officials and he didn't make any excuses. He said he knew it was the rule and he shouldn't have done it. You can't blame the officials, either, because one of the biggest problems we have in sports is failure to enforce rules - baseball's flexible strike zone, basketball's palming (and travelling), football's holding. So that brings up another point, something that those of us who manage to teach far younger kids than Dwayne Rudd how to act properly should be asking - What the hell are they paying Butch Davis for, anyhow? Isn't it a coach's job to instruct his players in proper on-field conduct? To anticipate - and eliminate - even the tiniest of details that might cost his team a win? Any high school coach knows enough to tell his players to go until the whistle; most tell their klds to keep their helmets on until they're told it's okay to take them off. Very clever of Butch Davis to "defend" Dwayne Rudd. That's because he knows damn well that as long as he defends Rudd, the average Joe won't blame him. Not me. I place the blame where it belongs - on the coaching. *********** Despite all the hoopla of last Thursday's "tailgate party" in midtown Manhattan that kicked off the 2002 NFL season, despite a great Sunday schedule of games, ABC Monday Night Football continues to lose viewers. The ratings for John Madden's Monday Night debut came in 3 per cent lower than last year's opening game. Of course, there's always the possibility that people miss Dennis Miller... *********** It's sad that we've seen the last of Eric Crouch. He's left the Rams. Even returned his signing bonus. He said he's lost the desire to play football. I can understand it. Pro football is not fun. Players don't really give a crap about their teammates. I think back to the days when the pros loved the game - when the Colts, Bears, Packers, etc, actually looked forward to training camp as a chance to get together with their buddies.. Not that I'd ever be in that position, but I think after four years of playing at a place like Nebraska, I'd find playing pro football at any place, at any price, to be a chore. On the other hand... if he'd gone to Canada, he'd still be playing quarterback. And maybe still loving the game. Hmmm. *********** Jim Swink was a great football player and he is still a Black Lion. He was inducted into the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame at the same time as Bear Bryant and Roger Staubach. http://www.swbellcottonbowl.com/hof_class2000.asp#swink *********** If you're lucky enough to be able to watch the 49ers this week, keep your eye on Terrell Owens. He cannot be a happy man. Next time you wish you had more talent on your team, you might consider Mr. Owens. He is one of the most talented wide receivers in the game, but he may not exactly be what you had in mind. According to him, he's not loved by his teammates. I can't for the life of me figure out why. He speaks so well of them... "There are a lot of fake people on our team," he told USA Today a few weeks ago. He says basketball players are a lot more real ( He has hung out with pro basketball players - he won the celebrity slam dunk competition at the 2000 NBA All-Star game, and has played a little minor league pro basketball.) : "The camaraderie in basketball and football is night and day," he said. "In football, I just deal with a lot of fake people. That's what makes it hard; definitely, we've got a lot of two-faced people, and that goes from the top down." Terrell Owens, of course, is very real and down-to-earth. A real fun-loving guy. We all saw what his idea of fun was when they had to hold the game up against the Cowboys after he caught a touchdown pass then raced to midfield and posed defiantly, arms crossed, on the Cowboys' star logo. He did it not once, but twice. The second time, George Teague nailed his ass. 49ers coach Steve Mariucci wasn't happy afterward. Told him so. But Owens was unrepentant. "(Mariucci) told me to handle it with class, that I should go in the end zone and act like I've been there," he said. "But I'm my own person. I bring my own emotion to the game, and I can't let him take away from my game." Teammate Jerry Rice, who also scored twice that day, said it was "all about showing that you're a professional." Ken Norton said there was "no call for it." Jeff Garcia said. "I don't agree with things like that. When great things happen, we celebrate as a team." Maybe those are some of the fake people Owens was referring to. Didn't matter what they thought, anyhow. Asked by a reporter if he'd do it again, he answered, "definitely." "I think everybody wants me to follow in Jerry's footsteps," he said, "act with class. Jerry has the style of game he plays, I've got my style of game that I play." Mariucci suspended Owens for a game, so possibly Owens lumps the coach in with those "two-faced people... from the top down." Last season, after the 49ers lost in the playoffs to the Packers, Owens was pissed. But not because the 49ers lost. Oh, no. He was pissed because he caught only four passes, for 40 yards. He was so pissed that he called his agent right from the locker room. "Get me the f--- out of here," he demanded. (I can't imagine how anybody heard him, because I'm sure he kept his hand cupped over his mouth and whispered). He called again from the bus to the airport with the same demand (same language, too), and repeated the performance on the team plane. (One of his complaints is that his teammates talk about him behind his back. The problem there, as I see it, is that when you've got somebody like that on your team, his name is going to come up from time to time, and since he may be hard to locate, they simply can't wait for him to arrive before starting to talk.) Well, the 49ers' management evidently deciding that team-building was going to have to take second place to appeasing their angry star, set out to mend things. Much was made in the preseason about the trip Coach Steve Mariucci made to Atlanta to visit Owens and try to re-establish some sort of working relationship. (If you like grovelling, you'd love coaching in the NFL.) "He told me things he didn't like about me," said Owens, "and I kind of stressed some things I didn't like about him." Once back in uniform this season, there was even an attempt at a cosmetic remake of Owens' image - all during the preseason, announcers repeatedly began referring to him as "T.O.", as if the old Terrell Owens never existed. But brace yourself. Things can't have been fun at 49ers' practices this week. Last Thursday night, in the 49ers' nationally-televised season-opening game against the Giants, "T.O" caught exactly four passes. For 41 yards. *********** Coach, As I mentioned in a previous email, I visited Coach Darrin Fisher and attended his practice in Abita Springs, LA. Abita Springs is a small sleepy town (Coach Fisher's word's) about 40 miles or so north on New Orleans across the causeway on Lake Ponchatrain. Coach Fisher provided me with great directions. He said to turn left on a gravel road just past the elementary school. At the end of the road there is a clearing and that's where they practice. There is a banner announcing that you are entering the "Raider Nation". There is a clearing and a couple light poles and some dedicated parents, kids and coaches playing football. He practices all of his kids together and runs a tight practice. The kids go to individual stations and drill with his coaching staff. I was impressed with the format. Coach Fisher was kind enough to talk to me while practice was going on. The Coach Fishers are what youth football is all about. The way I understand it he was unhappy with the local youth football organization and started his own. He did it because he didn't like the way the kids were being treated. He got use of the clearing from a friend and he paid to have the lights installed. He is not a rich man by any means. Just a good ole boy from LA. that works hard at his flooring business and pours whatever he can into the football program. His teams play mostly middle school/jr. highs teams or whoever he can line up games with. I am glad I visited him. This is what is good in youth football. They have their conflicts and they handle them in house. They are a family. Greg Stout, Heritage Middle School, Thompson's Station, Tennessee *********** "Derek Watson has been in trouble every off season since he arrived in Columbia. When he got here, Lou Holtz said he would working in NFL stadiums on Sundays: either filling them up or sweeping them out, the choice was his." Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina *********** Andrew Schindler, CEO of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, is one tough dude - has to be, because he spends an awful lot of his time fighting those in our society who blame smoking for all of our problems, and look to the tobacco companies to pay to solve them all. When he took over at Reynolds, he called his management team together and to emphasize the fact that they had to get focused, because they were fighting a tough opponent, he told them a story from his Army days. He was drafted in 1967, but, he said, he kept telling himself it wasn't going to happen to him - he wasn't going to be sent to Vietnam. He continued to deny reality, he said, until the chopper carrying his platoon into combat was preparing to touch down. Then, he says, it finally hit him. "Eventually," he said, "you say to yourself, 'I've got to deal with this sh--. It's real.'" *********** "Am I embarrassed to speak for a less-than-perfect democracy? Not one bit. Find me a better one. Do I suppose there are societies which are free of sin? No, I don't. Do I think ours is, on balance, incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do." Former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan *********** I received the following invitation this week. You are invited to an Ivy League/MIT/Stanford celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival on Sunday, Sept. 15th, from 11 am to 2pm. The Mid-Autumn Festival is the second most important holiday in many Asian cultures, and has been compared to the American Thanksgiving. It is a time when family members gather together to give thanks for the summer harvest, and to eat delicious mooncakes while gazing at the moon. The actual date of the Mid-Autumn Festival is Sept. 21 for this year, and it is the day of the year when the moon appears to be larger than on any other day. We will meet at the Freshman Bakery in Beaverton (corner of 158th and Walker, off of Highway 26) from 11am to 11:30am. Freshman Bakery is one of the few authentic Chinese restaurants in the Portland area, and they only sell mooncakes during this month. We will buy mooncakes and Chinese take-out lunches and then go to an excellent nearby park. In the park there is a large playground and grassy area where small children can play and adults and teenagers can play Frisbee and other sports. My first reaction was, what? are these people f--king nuts? In the fall? But my second reaction was, hey! That sounds like my idea of fun. Let those poor benighted people at the Tennessees and Penn States and Nebraskas have their pre-game tailgaters. They don't know what fun is until they've sat around with a bunch of Ivy Leaguers, eating mooncakes and gazing at the moon. You say you didn't say moon pies? You said moon cakes? Never mind. Okay, okay. I was joshing. I'd rather be in Knoxville, or State College or Lincoln on a football Saturday. ("Eat delicious mooncakes while gazing at the moon?" and that's "compared to the American Thanksgiving?" I don't know what these Ivy folks have to go by, but on my Thanksgiving, we eat delicious turkey and gaze at the TV.) *********** There are a few QBs in the NFL that could play on a DW team. Of course the new breed like Vick would be great. But there is one veteran in particular that I would like and that is Drew Bledsoe. He handled the situation in NE last year with class. Not many other of the whiny qbs in the NFL would have acted with class like he did. Also, did you see his pancake block he threw on the reverse. Then he kind of stood over the guy for a second. I loved it. Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee (I like Drew Bledsoe. He is a coach's kid. His dad, Mac, was a high school coach in Walla Walla, Washington.) *********** Your News today was great. Your rants were right on the mark! Yesterday watching Rudd throw his helmet and then his team losing the game was a testimony to all those too highly paid, play only on special situations, million dollar boys who think that their s--- doesn't' stink. God was it good to see Randy Moss and his teammates get theirs too! ESPN ran a few shots of all those celebration type plays where players (pro's and some amateurs) did their thing and got penalized in some manner for it. Right along with the pro's was the Harlem Little Leaguer doing his thang as he came home after hitting a home run. Jesus, it makes you sick. I don't think the NFL is doing a damn thing to keep these guys in check. It is ruining their game. I long to watch boring Barry Sanders run one in and do what legends do and show class. I also know how you feel about the FG in the game. Well, I've noticed that the hapless Cowboys kept Billy Cundiff on as kicker. Billy Cundiff is from Harlan, Iowa by way of Drake University. While at Harlan, Billy was the QB, point guard and I think a fair trackster. His football team won and was runner-up each of his two years at the helm and his BB team was in the final four both season too if I recall. A hell of a leader and I see that he has been kept on at Dallas. Good story there to follow up on. Harlan is the Massillon of Iowa. 8 or 9 state championships and 23 years in the playoffs. The winningest program in their class for decades. I just watched them beat my old school last Friday 49-6. It was 14-6 at the end of the 1st quarter. The kids rode 5+ hours by bus to Mount Pleasant for the game. Their coach, Curt Bladt (all 400+ of him) has the largest hand I've ever shaken. He is an old school guy that does it with numbers and a solid staff. No nonsense guy, who I'm sure would see the beauty of the DW if he needed something to give his program a boost. But when you're always the team to beat you don't need something new. Don Capaldo, Keokuk, Iowa *********** Texas A & M beat Pitt this weekend by being familiar with the rules. Pitt likes to run the "Muddle Huddle" on extra points, a gimmick that everyone is wise to and never works anymore. Pitt was down 14-0 and scored. Pitt Muddle Huddled before the extra point kick, but the refs flagged them twice in a row for an illegal shift. Pitt coach Walt Harris was livid, because Pitt has run the MH for 4 years with no problems. Pitt then huddled normally, but the extra point kick was now a 30 yard field goal, and it went wide. Later, Pitt scored again and had to go for 2 to tie. They didn't make it and lost 14-12. It seems that the snapper was wearing # 91, and a Texas A&M coach tipped off the referees about an obscure college rule regarding player numbering on kicking plays. Mark Rice, Beaver, Pennsylvania *********** "Prior to our game on Sunday, I attended a fall softball camp with my daughter. The other softball team was from Bartlett where the girl football player who died was from. I was talking with one of the parents about the tragedy and he complained that the news media was trying to manufacture a, 'football is too dangerous' story out of this incident. The parent also lauded the girls parents for not letting the media get away with this. I'm sorry the incident happened and I'm thankful that the parents nipped the muckrakers in the bud on this." Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois *********** our practice slogan... " Run it again, make sure it's not a fluke!" and "NO BLOCK, NO ROCK!!" Joe Daniels, Highlands High School, Sacramento *********** One of the boys on our 11 year old team came up with the following slogan. The rest of the team voted and liked it, so we put it on t-shirts for them: More Heart - More Hustle - More Sweat - Make a Buccaneer - Steve Fangman, St. Charles Buccaneers, St. Charles, Missouri *********** Think those self-esteem lessons aren't starting to pay off? It was one of those 9-11 theme pieces that, thank God, we won't see for another year. The writer was indulging in the ultimate in self-pity - September 11 was her birthday! Her special day had been - sniff - "overwhelmed" by the terrorist attack on our country. But one little fourth-grader with the same birthday, she told us, was taking a stand against those terrorists. At first, the little girl was shocked to think that people could do that. No, not bomb the World Trade Center. Defile her birthday. "I didn't know that something like that, something that bad, could happen on my birthday," she was quoted as saying. "No, sweetie," I can hear Mommy reassuring her. "No one's that evil. Those Islamic terrorists just didn't know it was your birthday." The kid briefly considered moving her birthday to this Saturday, September 14, when she's having a "Chinese-themed sleepover." But then, she realized that if she were to do that - the terrorists had won. So she bravely stood her ground. Her birthday was September 11, and September 11 it will remain. Demonstrating to the terrorists that their evil work was all in vain, she told the writer, "I want people to know that something special happened that day, too - me!" *********** In the Philadelphia in which I grew up, college football was pretty big. Penn played the likes of Notre Dame, Penn State, Army and Navy (they were national powers then), and regularly packed crowds of 70,000 into Franklin Field. Owning Penn season tickets was a very prestigious thing. Temple was okay, and Villanova had some excellent teams in the post-war era. In fact, Villanova's AD, a promoter named Bud Dudley (who later went on to found the Liberty Bowl and, wising up fast to the fact that late December is not a good time to be playing outdoors in Philadelphia, moved it to Memphis), arranged a couple of "Grocery Bowls" in which purchase of $5 worth of groceries (that was a lot then) entitled the shopper to a free ticket to a Villanova game. My buddy George and I got hold of a pair of the tickets, and we rode the "S" bus and then the Broad Street subway all the way to the other end of the city. Twice. Once, we saw Ole Miss play Villanova, in front of 100,000 people in old Municipal Stadium. 100,000 people! And the next year, the same promotion put 70,000 in the stands to see Baylor. Forget the fact that the tickets were essentially giveaways. Trust me - if you've ever tried "papering a house" - filling up a stadium, even if you have to do it with freebies - you know it's not easy. But in Philadelphia, you could do it. Philadelphians loved their football. Meantime, the Eagles were lucky to get 30,000 people into old Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium. And then, magically, all the stars aligned: there was the impact on the public consciousness of that famous Colts-Giants Sudden Death game. And the resurgence of the Eagles, under Buck Shaw and Norm Van Brocklin. And the vacuum left by Penn's decision to drop big-time football and join the Ivy League. And the move of the Eagles into Franklin Field, at the time still one of the best places in America to watch a football game. It was a highly symbolic move, because it represented the fact that professional football had ascended to the spot that Penn once held - in the very place where Penn had risen to power. And now, here we are, 40 or so years later. The Eagles are long gone from Franklin Field. In fact, Veterans Stadium, the once-modern new facility into which they moved has been pronounced unbefitting a twenty-first century NFL team, and the Eagles are preparing to move into shiny new digs, compliments of the taxpayers of the State of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia itself being too poor to pay for it). Penn is doing a decent job at the Ivy level, which is a short step up from Division III. Villanova, which actually grew tired of losing money and gave up football for a few years back in the 1980's, is doing a nice job in Division I-AA. Temple, as much as anything, symbolizes the futility of trying to make a go of big-time football in a big city now dominated by the NFL. The Owls, struggling on the field and at the gate, have already been voted out of the Big East. This year, they are playing their games in, of all places, Franklin Field - which is now described to by the media as "old", "antique" "creaky", or "creaky old Franklin Field." Last Thursday night, Temple played Oregon State, and drew a crowd estimated at 20,000 or so. Probably 3,000 were Oregon State fans. That, sadly, was as big as college football gets these days in Philadelphia. To put it another way - The Philadelphia Inquirer put the pre-game story on page 8 of its sports section. *********** Coach Wyatt: I write today to seek advice on a matter of coaching ethics. Our program has had much success these past two years, having won back to back championships. As a result, a lot of kids new to the sport have joined our squad, and we now have 43 boys at a level that used to be lucky to have 20. Of course, at this age level (11-12) there is a huge talent disparity between your starters and your reserves Here is the problem: In Pennsylvania High School rules, our equivalent of the "Markham Rule" is to go on a continuous clock once one team gets ahead by 35 points. The clock only stops after scores or official timeouts. Our starters have, in the early going, been up by as much as 21-0 in the first period. If we send in the reserves early, we cost our starters playing time that they have worked hard to earn (some of our kids lost up to 15 lbs to play another year at our level). On the other hand, if we give our starters one half of football, as we did this past week, (we were up, 41-0) we will be on the continuous clock, and our reserves will get at best one or two series on O and D. Our second unit, which has some pretty good kids who would start for a lot of teams, got about 4 offensive snaps before the end of the third quarter, and were taken out and replaced by the third team after they scored. Not much talent or work ethic with the third team, but its 47-0 and you need to get them in. We do not have any minimum play rules, but we do have 43 sets of parents to answer to. We need to get kids in the game in a blowout, but it is either, "why didn't my kid get in quicker when we were up 41-0?" or "How come my kid who starts gets less playing time than the reserves?". The thoughts of a man of long coaching experience would be appreciated on this one. Thanks Coach- it's not exactly a matter of coaching ethics, but it sure is a coaching dilemma. I assume that you must know going into some games that you are vastly better than the opponents. One possibility occurs to me, and it might be a little scary. I am currently reading a biography of Knute Rockne. It is written by Jerry Brondfield, and it is called, simply, "Rockne." Rockne became famous for his adaptation to football of what the Germans in WW I called "shock troops" - the guys sent into combat first, to absorb the worst the enemy had to offer. He had a starting unit that did not start - not even the famed Four Horsemen. His Shock Troops started every game, taking the fight out of the opponents and keeping the Four Horsemen fresh and ready, while he and his coaches and his "starters" were able to observe what the opponents were doing. By the time he put the starters in, they were hungry and ready. It took a lot of guts. And, granted, even Rockne's reserves were very, very good. You may not have this option if it means your worst against their best. But it might be worth looking at, because the scrubs would get in sooner, and after you pull them, if it's a tough game, you can leave the best players in without worrying about getting the scrubs in. It also took a lot of selling to his players - mainly, to his starters. The shock troops loved the idea so much that he actually had kids coming to Notre Dame whose highest ambition was to play on the shock troops. As for your starters... I have run across some of today's kids who would rather start than play. It's that big a deal. And as for their parents, if they're anything like the ones in other sports who like to brag about their kids' being on elite travelling teams... *********** Last Friday night was my first game as a Head Coach running the Double wing. I was an assistant at Danbury, Texas. under Coach Don Davis. My new school is Joaquin High School in Joaquin, Texas. We played Logansport, Louisiana, a school much larger than ours. We didn't win but it sure wasn't because of the Double Wing. The final score was 42-38. Seeing how Joaquin was 1-9 last year, the fan went wild as they watch use amount 503 yards of rushing offense. My "A" back had 17 carries for 177 yards, the "B" back had 11 carries for 152 yards. and the "C" Back had 9 carries for 111 yards. The rest of the yardage was gained by backups. My lack of experience in calling plays probably cost us the game. We got the ball in the fourth quarter on the +35 yard line with 1:41 left on the clock. We drove down to the 10 yard line. Fumbled the ball backwards but recovered it for a loss of 18 Yards, we failed on the fourth down attempt. But the crowd cheered us as we left the field. Wayne Gandy, Joaquin, Texas *********** SERVES YOU RIGHT #1 - A youth coach with whom I have become friends was a candidate for the head coaching job at his local junior high. I thought he was well-qualified and I told him so - told the AD, also. But for whatever reason, after stringing him along for a couple of months, the AD decided to "go in another direction" and hire a crony. So my friend is once again coaching his youth team this year, and doing his usual excellent job, but he's human enough that he must have taken a certain amount of pleasure in sending me this note: "The junior high was losing 30-0 at halftime in their first game - running the same kind of offense as high school, with nowhere near the right players to run it.Oh - the high school is 0-2." *********** SERVES YOU RIGHT #2 - Remember my telling you last week about the defensive guy who had the Double-Wing figured out? The guy who said that the secret was to tackle all the backs? Not sure what prompts guys like that to lip off, but he had his chance last Friday night, and his team's jerseys are still at the cleaners, getting the tire tracks removed. I wonder if a final score of 74-6 (54-0 at the half) and 490 yards of total offense will send him back to the drawing board. *********** Last year, several coaches were able to contact Black Lions vets living near them to present the Black Lion Award at their team's banquet. Some invited them to attend a game, and still others asked them to say a few words to their kids. One coach even invited a Black Lion to talk to his classes about Vietnam. BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! Now, thanks to Ed Burke, executive director of the 28th Infantry Association, I have a state-by-state list of Vietnam-era Black Lions., and if you contact me, I will be happy to give you the names of some of these brave men who live near you. ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)      (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS?   *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 10 - "The temptation on any anniversary is to just look back. But on December 7, 1942, the country did not just look back at the sunken Arizona. it looked forward to the destruction of Japan." Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post columnist   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE") A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: As a college player at Stanford, he was the first true modern-day T-formation quarterback. As a pro, at only 5-9, 170, he was the 49ers' first quarterback, and played a major role in establishing the franchise. He was born in Chicago and played only one year of varsity football in high school because he weighed only 130 pounds. He had the good fortune to be at Stanford when the University of Chicago dropped football after the 1939 season, leaving its coach, Clark Shaughnessy, without a job. Stanford, meanwhile, had lost all but one game in 1939, leading one former Stanford star to call the team "the worst group of players who have ever worn the Stanford red." But Stanford wisely hired Shaughnessy, and he accomplished one of the great one-year turnarounds in football history. What made it possible was Shaughnessy's new T-formation attack. It was radical - so radical that Pop Warner, himself a former great Stanford coach said, "if Stanford ever wins a single game with that crazy formation, you can throw all the football I know into the Pacific Ocean. What they're doing is ridiculous." Our guy had his doubts, too. He recalled watching Shaughnessy diagram plays on the blackboard - "He'd diagram a play and then say, 'You boys will make a dozen touchdowns with his play this season.' We'd poke each other and mutter, 'This guy doesn;t know us very well. We didn't make that many touchdowns all season long.'" But Shaughnessy made good on his word. And what made the T-formation work was the man he chose to be his quarterback. Only 5-9, 170, he was, in Shaughnessy's words, "a superb ball-handler, a magician with the ball, and a gifted field general (quarterbacks called the plays on the field under the rules of the time); wonderfully observing, a great left-handed passer and a great kicker. (He) was not used in this system as a blocker or ball carrier... he was neither strong nor fast. His talents were primarily those of a faker; he could fool people, and by temperament, he ate up that sort of an assignment." The 1940 Stanford team, with the new offense run by the new quarterback, swept unbeaten through the regular season, and defeated Nebraska, 21-13, in the Rose Bowl. He was named All-American, and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting. In 1941, his senior year, Stanford was 6-2, and he was once again named All-American, this time finishing third in the Heisman balloting. After World War II service in the Navy, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers in the new All-America Football Conference. The 49ers were the first major professional sports team to be established on the West Coast, and because he was a local college favorite, he was important to the new team both on the field and at the gate. From 1946 through 1949, while playing in the All-American Football Conference, he and the 49ers were very good, but neither he nor his team could overcome the dominance of the Cleveland Browns and their quarterback, Otto Graham. Graham was the AAFC player of the year from 1947-1949, although our man shared the honors with him in 1948, when he threw 29 TD passes and was named Sport Magazine Pro Football Player of the Year. In his four years in the AAFC, he threw 88 touchdown passes, surpassing even the legendary Graham. After the AAFC merged into the NFL, he played three more years, sharing the quarterbacking duties with a youngster from LSU named Y.A. Tittle for the last two. He retired after the 1952 season, with a career totals of 10,795 yards passing and 115 touchdowns in seven seasons. He played one season in the Canadian Football League, then spent time as a broadcaster, assistant coach and scout for the 49ers. He served as head coach of the 49ers from 1956-1958, and took them to the Western Conference title in 1957, before losing in the playoffs to the Detroit Lions, the eventual champions. He passed away last week at the age of 82. *********** Regular readers know that I am no fan of the NFL and its incredible hype. Its overpaid, overacting jackasses and its over-reliance on the field goal as its major offensive weapon, but... STOP. TIME OUT FROM THE FLOGGING AND FLAILING! LET ME GIVE THE NFL ITS DUE: THIS PAST SUNDAY WAS EASILY THE BEST DAY OF PRO FOOTBALL THAT I'VE SEEN IN YEARS. There were blocked kicks, long kick returns (two by the same guy), plenty of touchdowns as opposed to field goals, three overtime games (only one of which was settled by a field goal), a game decided after regulation time had run out after a player was penalized for celebrating what he thought was a game-ending - and game-winning - sack, and an upset-that-didn't-look-like-an-upset of one of pro football's proudest franchises by its newest franchise. For one bright shining moment (hope that isn't trademarked) it was pro football the way it could be all the time... on the TV set to my left, it was fourth down, with 26 seconds to play, and the Bills' Drew Bledsoe threw 29 yards up the middle for a TD that enabled the Bills to send their game with the Jets into overtime; within mere seconds, on the set to my right, with 29 seconds remaining, the Bears' Jim Miller threw to David Terrell for the winning touchdown against the Vikings. I heard one of those they-all-sound-the-same, ex-pro-linemen-in-the-booth say it - the first week, the offenses are always ahead of the defenses because the defenses don't know what to expect. Hmmm. That means if there's anything to what he said, the defenses are going to tighten up, and soon it'll be back to field goals as usual. It was a hell of a Sunday, especially by NFL standards, and it's sad to think that may be as good as it's gonna get. Maybe that guy stumbled on the solution to the NFL's problems - do away with film exchange and make defenses have to deal with the unexpected every weekend. *********** I wanted Buffalo to win, but I guess if you have to lose, it's better to lose straight up - to a football player - than to have that kicker from the Jets beat you - the one who looks as if he got the helmet for Christmas and he's wearing it for the first time, and it's three sizes too big. *********** Charlie Garner ran 15 yards down to the Seahawks' one yard line and they took him out and put Terry Kirby in. Kirby promptly fumbled. The Seahawks' Shawn Springs scooped up the ball and headed for the opposite goal line. He was dragged down from behind, 76 yards later, by Rich Gannon. Now, that's a quarterback! *********** The Saints beat the Bucs, Virginia Tech-style, by pressuring the punter. Nice to see that at least one pro team can put a rush on. *********** After the way the Raiders cut up the Seahawks time after time with a simple little wing-T fullback buck, followed by a cheesy fake to a flanker in motion, you have to wonder what the pros would do if they had to stop a real wing-T offense. *********** Based on the Coors Light commercials and "Fastlane" promos that invaded the Fox NFL telecast Sunday, American society has fully healed from the horrible events of a year ago, and has snapped back, as gross and coarse as ever. Uh, guys - that's sick. It's in the middle of a football game. On Sunday afternoon. Little kids are watching that slime. *********** Hey Jerry Jones - not that I'd mind having your money, but if that's what a face lift looks like, I'll take old age. *********** It is imposssible to overstate the self-importance of professional athletes. They were talking about 9-11 up in the booth, and Joe Theisman volunteered, "It makes you proud to have played in the National Football League, cause we were the ones who sorta got things back..." I swear to God, I heard the guy say it. Yeah, Joe. We couldn't have made it without you. You and those Coors Light commercials. *********** The Cowboys faked the dive one way to the fullback and pitched it the other way to the tailback, using a sort of push to get it to him. Oregon, among other West Coast teams, has been doing it for a couple of years now. Nevertheless, it must have been new to the pros. It was, Joe Theisman informed us sagely, "the old option play." *********** Do you get laughing, too, when you hear announcers refer to a bunch of NFL millionaires as a "blue collar" team? How about when it's the Dallas Cowboys, the last team on earth anyone would describe that way? *********** For many reasons, the Houston-Dallas game was one of the best things to happen to the NFL in a lo-o-o-o-ong time. *********** Tell me that Dallas mistakenly thought the game against the Texans was their final pre-season game, and they just wanted to take one last look at Quincy Carter. *********** I hate to see an obviously over-the-hill Emmitt Smith just hanging around long enough to pick up enough yardage to pass Walter Payton. Excuse me. Emmitt Smith? Passing Walter Payton? You're kidding, right? *********** If you watched the Bills tie the Jets with a 29-yard pass on 4th-and-9 with 26 seconds to go, and then watched the Jets' Chad Morton break their hearts (SNAP!) like that with a 96-yard kickoff return - his second kick-return TD of the day - you may have a better understanding of the thinking of those of us who can't see the sense in playing kickoff chicken - of teeing it up and kicking it deep and daring the opposition to run it back. The last time I let a kicker kick off deep was 1980, after a kid named Michael Collins, who later wound up playing at the University of Washington, beat us with a return of more than 90 yards. Let Buffalo be an example - even with full-time special teams coaches, even with pros covering your kicks, kicking it deep is a crapshoot. Let the parents sit in the stands and scream all they want because you don't kick it deep like the pros do - since that time in 1980, I have had exactly one kickoff returned beyond our 50. It was 1996, and my kicker decided - on his own - to kick it deep. *********** And then, just to remind us that it is, after all, still the NFL - who was that f--king freak who mangled our national anthem on Monday Night football? *********** And then, as if to reinforce the fact that we were back to business as usual, John Madden used "Madden 2003" cartoon graphics (complete with antics) to help him illustrate a couple of points on the air. What a whore. *********** I got a call over the weekend from Kevin Latham. Maybe you remember Coach Latham - several of you wrote to him - but in case you don't, he's a young (36 years old) Georgia middle school coach who back in March suffered a very serious heart attack. If his brother hadn't been with him at the time, he might have been gone. But thanks to a loving family and a strong faith, he has taken his recovery one step at a time, and now he is back teaching and coaching. Outwardly, he certainly appeared to be healthy. But he has a scary family history of heart trouble, and he'd been under a bit of stress. He'd just been through a football season in which he had to deal with assistants who, shall we say, were in disagreement with him. And then there was the matter of the school administration - when he paid a brief visit to the school after his heart attack, the principal asked him if he was coming in looking for sympathy. He's done a lot of things right since his heart attack. He is on medication, he exercizes and he eats right. Says he's lost 20 pounds. And he got away from a disloyal staff and an unappreciative principal and took a job at another middle school. There, he was able to hire his own staff, and he has administrative support. He played his first game last Friday and won - Miller Grove Middle School 33, McNair 6.   *********** With the TV special on the FDNY football team coming up, I was asked whatever came of the Dynamics of the Double Wing package I sent to New York's fire commissioner, along with an offer to help. (Those of you who remember watching last spring's game between the NPD and the FDNY may recall that it was a bit of a mismatch.) I received a nice letter from the secretary of the Fire Commissioner thanking me for my thoughtfulness and telling me that my package had been referred to the appropriate parties. I gather from other things I've learned that as you might expect there is a certain amount of internal politics involved and this may very well be som ething of a seniority thing, too - the "coach", I think, has been there for years. It is understandable if there is some pride involved, as well. On the other hand, you never know - you could tune in this year's game and see the firefighters running Super-Power, trap, counter, wedge, sweep and play action passes. And kicking the Police Department's ass.   Coach - I am so steamed right now I can hardly stand it. Get this. My starting Tight End AND Defensive End was benched tonight by his dad. Our first game is tomorrow. His dad benched him TONIGHT, for something the kid had done last weekend. TONIGHT! The Dad approached me after practice and informed me of his decision. I immediately explained to him the impact it had on the team. He held his ground. I then asked him why tonight and not last night or 4 nights ago so I could have given the back up end more reps? He said that his son informed me of his "grounding" and that his son does not lie. I asked him why was he here then, if he was confident that his son told me he was not playing? I asked him why would I give his son 80% of the reps if I knew he was not going to play this weekend? I told him that none of this made sense. He said his son "should have told" me earlier. By now I was really pissed and so I just walked away. Said nothing more. My Defensive coach tried to talk to this parent after I walked away and the parent said he did not appreciate the way "that coach walked away from me". He would not have wanted me there and talking to him because I would have said a thing or two he would not want to hear. May have to go to Overtight on the side I have a new TE in because of his lack of size. Damn I am pissed. NAMW WITHHELD What an a--hole. I always made it a point - this was HS, of course - to ask parents not to withhold football as punishment for misbehavior, bad grades, etc. I asked them to meet with me and see if there was something I could so as coach - like maybe having them "polish the bottom of the sled" (by driving it around the cinder track after practice). I see you've already run into the "my son doesn't lie" lie. Watch out for that father - and that son. My kids were - are - great kids, but my wife and I heard something long ago that we raised them by - "trust your kids, but cut the cards." As for the kid - I wouldn't play him again without the father's assurance that what went on won't happen again. I would explain to him that it's not fair to the other kids to invest practice time in him when the same thing could happen again. It is also not fair to the young man who could wind up playing in his place to put him in there without practicing. The father will probably say "what I do with my son is my business" (but of course, since it involves a couple dozen other kids, it really isn't), and at that point you can say, if you wish, "I understand, but the good of the kids on this team is my business, and I can't allow you to punish them. I want your son to be a member of the team. but I have to have your assurance that we can count on him being here at all times." At which point, he'll probably pull his kid, but at least it will be his choice. *********** Aurora, Colorado's Overland High, ranked #3 in the state the Denver Post poll, played an away game last week. Far away. They travelled to suburban Philadelphia to play North Penn High, USA Today's fifth-ranked team. The trip cost the Overland kids $850 each plus personal spending money, but they got a chance to see sights many of them wouldn't have seen otherwise - the Liberty bell, the World Trade Center site, Washington, D.C. They also had a chance to test themselves against a Pennsylvania power. They passed the test. Trailing 15-0 going into the fourth quarter, Overland scored 25 points on North Penn to win, 25-15.   *********** We will soon know for sure whether Paul Allen, Richest Owner in All of Professional Sports, is as stupid as he is rich. He owns the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks. (He has the same guy functioning as GM of both clubs. You decide for yourself who well he's been doing.)   And now, Mr. Allen is rumored to be the chump that all of Major League Baseball has been looking for - the guy they can unload the Montreal Expos onto. Presumably he would move the team to Portland. Bear in mind that Portland has only an old stadium seating 30,000 on a good day. (Did I mention that good days in Portland in April and May are sometimes scarce?) There is absolutely no on-street parking. It would instantly become the sorriest facility in baseball. It is minor-league all the way.   The city of Portland and the state of Oregon are in dire financial straits, with schools cutting teachers right and left, the state police laying off troopers and potholes going unfilled. Mr. Allen, whose basketball organization is not perceived as a total blessing to the community, is going have a very, very difficult time persuading Oregon's legislators, even with the promise of free box seats, to commit the taxpayers to building him a stadium.   Finally, there is the highly-suspect thesis that Portland will support major league baseball. Based on minor league figures, it is not a slam-dunk - the AAA Portland Beavers, in their first season here, have averaged less than 7,000.     (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 34 STATES ARE REPRESENTED - IS YOURS? LATEST VIDEO RELEASE - "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS" - Drills you can do before you can hit I am now taking orders for "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS," my latest video production. It is geared primarily to the youth coach, but it will be useful to high school coaches as well. It deals with subjects ranging from the organizational details that you must cover before you even start to practice, to pre-season workouts, and takes you all the way through a practice to the sort of things you might want to cover when you're wrapping things up at the end. In between are drills dealing with flexibility, strength, form-running and agility, as well as the basics of proper blocking, tackling and ball-handling. It ends with numerous fun-type drills that you can use to build competitiveness and morale among your kids, and send them home wanting more. And the best part of it is, although you might see players on the tape performing some of the drills while wearing helmets and pads, and although these drills are still plenty useful once you're allowed to hit, they are drills that you can do in the off-season, or in pre-season before you're allowed to have any contact! The tape runs approximately 1-1/2 hours in length and sells for $49.95 - mail check or money order to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Avenue - Camas, WA 98607 *********** Saturday, during Michigan's game with Western Michigan, an ESPN Plus color commentator named Charles Arbuckle really said the following: "It would have been a great move, if he hadn't been tackled." John Zeller, Sears, Michigan *********** The Purdue kickoff return man screwed around with the ball and then finally picked it up and got out to his own five where he fumbled into the hands of an Irish coverage guy, who stepped into the end zone for the second Notre Dame touchdown within the space of 10 seconds. The news media - Purdue fans, certainly - may call it the Luck of the Irish, but for some reason - maybe you've noticed - people who don't teach their players to protect the football seem to have worse luck than others. *********** By the way, I took our game film and plucked the highlights out (making our season highlight film as we go) and imovie is so neat. So thanks for the offense, but also thanks for all the digital video/mac info too. Coach John Dowd, Rochester, New York *********** Former Alabama head coach Mike Dubose, who replaced Double-Winger Emory Latta at Dothan Northview High, is evidently finding out that there's some guys who can coach football down at the high school level, too. Friday night's loss must have been expecially galling to a Bama guy, because it was to Auburn. Auburn High, that is. Northview lost to Auburn 23- 3. *********** In a lifetime of reading about sports, I can't remember much more sickening reading than the stuff liberal sports reporters are putting out, now that they've joined forces with the femmies who insist that a private golf club in Georgia simply must admit women. *********** Could they have meant "wary," or are Virginia people that boring? The headline of the article on the South Carolina Web site read, "Holtz, Gamecocks Weary Of Winless Cavaliers" *********** Whew- was Lou Holtz upset Saturday. He was saying things about it being "a slap in the face to this program.. a slap in the face to this university... a slap in the face to the state of South Carolina." What he was so indignant about was a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that South Carolina was being investigated by the NCAA, as a result of the fact that former running back Derek Watson, kicked off the South Carolina team after being picked up in January for drug possession, had been given use of a $60,000 Cadillac Escalade belonging to a South Carolina booster after signing with the Gamecocks in 1999. According to the story, the NCAA became aware of the possible rules infraction when the SUV was stolen while in Watson's possession, and Watson reported the theft to police. (Betcha a Clemson guy was involved somehow.) Uh, not knowing anything about Derek Watson's family's economic circumstances, most of us would seem to be a pretty expensive - and conspicuous - car for a typical college football player to be cruising around in. In view of the problems associated with, say, UCLA's DeShon Foster, you would think it would be worth a coach's while to assign a graduate assistant to check periodically on what the players are driving. *********** The Washington Huskies, assured by their AD that Rick Neuheisel was not going to be replaced by a demanding, hard-nosed football coach any time soon, celebrated the news by taking the first half off against San Jose State. Favored by 30 points, the Huskies trailed at the half, 10-0, and went off the field to a chorus of boos, before rallying to defeat the Spartans, 34-10. *********** Meantime, Army, with a full Conference USA schedule in front of it, fell to Holy Cross, a good - but non-scholarship - I-AA program. *********** "Why doesn't the media do human interest stories on this great, 30-year-old league with 400 football players and 400 cheerleaders? Why focus on this? Look at this beautiful day. Thousands and thousands of kids all over the place are playing football today." Bill George League President Barry Brinn, reacting to intense media attention resulting from the death last week of 10-year-old Taylor Davidson, the only girl in his league. *********** If you're down on your luck and looking for a place to live, you might consider Tucson. I read an article last week on the various felons and assorted bad guys of the Pac-10, and Arizona seemed to have more than its share, ranking just behind UCLA. In their case, Wildcats' Coach John Mackovic "sentenced" them to spending time working with Habitat for Humanity. *********** Bradlee Van Pelt, Colorado State's quarterback, is definitely an impact player. He is big and tough. He throws well and he does a respectable job of running, including options. But sometimes, even a player as good as he is can get his team in trouble by trying to do too much. Consider: Facing fourth and three on the UCLA seven, with the Rams trailing UCLA 21-13, Van Pelt scored, to make it 21-19. There was 1:32 left to play, and naturally, Colorado State went for two. Van Pelt ran an option to the right, but he was wrapped up by UCLA defenders, and trying, in desperation, to keep the ball in play, he threw it away - backwards. UCLA's Ben Emanuel scooped up the ball and returned it 89 yards for the two point play provided for under college rules, putting Colorado State four points behind instead of two. Their chances of pulling out a miracle were vastly reduced. It's all academic anyhow, because the Rams' onside kick was unsuccessful, and UCLA did punch in another touchdown, but there is a major difference between needing to recover an onside kick and make a field goal, and needing to recover and score a touchdown. *********** A youth coach new to the Double-Wing wrote me, wondering why everything in his repertoire didn't work. he wrote "It seemed like the only plays working were our SP 88, SP 99 and Wedge." I wrote him back, "The obvious question that any experienced Double-Wing coach would ask you is, 'So? If they were working, why were you worried about running anything else?' If you are having success, do not stop yourself by trying something else. It is not your job to stop your offense - it is their job to stop your offense." *********** Coach, our slogan for the year is "WE WILL FIND A WAY OR MAKE ONE." It's on the back of our camp shirts. On the front is a football player ripping out of the shirt with the words ORANGE THUNDER ROLLS TONIGHT. The kids really got excited about it. They said they always have had plain shirts with Trail Football on them. Its amazing how a t-shirt and having fun in practice can change players attitudes. Coach Mike Schlosser, National Trail High School, New Paris, Ohio *********** Our slogan this year is something I picked up from Coach Phil Jackson of the Lakers, "Forget the me, embrace the we". We had this put on our team t-shirts. John Torres, Manteca, California *********** We sort of have an unofficial team slogan this year. I wish I could say that I came up with it, but it was on a tee shirt I wore to practice one day. The motto is, "If you want to play, train your body. If you want to WIN, train your heart." The kids have been working hard to live up to that. Last week we ran up to the water tower that sits high above the school. (I do ALL conditioning with the team.) We gathered around the tower and looked at the amazing view together. I had all the kids take hands and very softly told them, "This is what it's going to be like when you win. You'll be tired (it's a 3/4 mile run, uphill, to that tower), you'll be sore, but you'll be able to see forever. I promise you that." You could feel the belief coming off of them in waves. I've been waiting my whole life to coach a team with this much heart. I can't wait for this Saturday. Derek Wade, Tomales, California *********** I watched a little of the New Zealand-Yugoslavia basketball game Saturday, and sheesh - if the Yugoslavian national team showed up at my door, I'd call the police. They all look as if they just spent the last week or so riding a freight train. *********** Regarding the first-ever defeat of the US by Argentina, and the follow-up loss to Argentina in the World Championships of basketball... Brace yourself for more of the same. It was not a fluke. The real underlying issue that nobody wants to deal with is that what it really was was a win of substance over style. Everybody on the inside of basketball is aware of it - American basketball has become self-centered, playground-oriented, Street-Hoops 2 inspired, full of trash-talking and chest-thumping, tattoos and hairstyles. Style over substance. Oh- and agents and posses and stretch limos and shoe contracts. And one-on-one and "You da man" slam-dunks and getting on Sportscenter. And no fundamentals. And no team play. Which happen to be the areas where foreigners, who don't know any better, still place a lot of emphasis. American college coaches are well aware of the importance of making overseas connections. Those foreign tours they take their teams on are not entirely for the cultural experience. They know that European kids, for example, are sound fundamentally and that they are coachable - they will listen to the coach and they will play a team game. They haven't been told from the time they were 13 that they were "the man." And they don't - yet - have agents and assorted other leeches and hangers-on telling them to ignore the coach and take their shots whenever they touch the ball. Take a look around and see how many of those white guys on the NBA rosters are European. And there's more of them coming. If we hope to hang onto (regain?) world supremacy my suggestion is that we destroy the foreigners' game by teaching them our way. The American way. Ideas: drop millions of Street Hoops 2 games on their cities; stage a worldwide slam-dunk contest, with first prize an appearance in a rap video; bring the top 1,000 foreign junior players to Nike camps and room them with American high school kids who plan on entering the NBA draft after their junior year in high school; give America's sleaziest agents crash courses in exotic Eastern European languages and send them overseas on cultural exchanges. *********** A youth coach wrote to tell me that his loyalties are conflicted. He is a Double-Wing coach, and feels an obligation to promote the offense. But his son's high school team is getting ready to play a Double-Wing team, and the defensive coordinator has asked him for some help. He didn't specify the nature of the help requested, but this is what I wrote: This is a tough one, but I guess you should go with your son. Blood is thicker than water. Frankly, no disrespect intended, but I doubt that you can do that much in a short time anyhow. Yes, I assume that you have an understanding of the offense as you run it, but as you know, there is a lot to it, and you don't necessarily know what aspects of it the opponent - you didn't say who it was - is capable of running. To illustrate my point - Larry McCutcheon, at White Salmon, Washington, runs a very good high school program. He has a solid weight program and he gets tough kids. He is usually the team to beat in his league. He has probably faced the Double-Wing more than any coach in the United States. Since 1990, he has faced it 19 times. He has seen my tapes. He has tapes of his games against Double-Wing teams. It is fair to say that he has a decent understanding of the Double-Wing - at least as it was originally designed. (We are, of course, constantly innovating to stay ahead of the defensive guys and always keep them at least a year behind.) He started going up against me in 1990. You would have thought that we might have the edge on him then, because the offense was new to him. But we were weak then, and he was strong, and we used to get hammered pretty good. I then moved on to another team in the league, but the original team kept running it. That meant Larry now was facing it twice a year. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost. By 1999, my last year of going against him, I had moved to a third school, and since the other two schools continued to run it, there were now three Double-Wing schools in the same league. He had his usual good team, and he knew the Double-Wing as well as any coach in America who doesn't run it himself, but he went 1-2 against it. We beat him 28-14. So much for the idea that knowing the Double-Wing means being able to stop it. I have played against those two Double-Wing schools where I originally put it in. My record against them is 2-3. I think I know the Double-Wing pretty well. They were well-coached teams. When they had better kids, and they didn't beat themselves, they won. When we had better kids, and we didn't beat ourselves, we won. So you tell them about it. So what? They aren't going to know as much about it as Larry McCutcheon. They still have to devise a plan that will stop everything the opponent has - good luck, if the opponent is any good - and they have to teach it to their kids in three days of practice. If they have better kids and they play sound defense, and make sure they are sound in other areas of the game, and they don't beat themselves, they have a chance of winning. There is one sure way you can help them, though - if they don't understand the Double-Wing, they could get killed. Go ahead and offer your help. Talk with him and chalk it out. I do not think, however, that you should show him any videos. I think that would be something of a betrayal of other Double-Wing coaches who have worked hard to build their offenses.   ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)       *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 6 - "When companies are in trouble and their competition isn't, the problem generally is management." Raymond F. O'Brien, CEO from 1975-1995 of Consolidated Freightways, which closed its US operations on Monday   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO  E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE")   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: "Bullet Bill"Dudley was one of the last of the NFL's single-wing tailbacks; he ran and passed; he punted; he returned punts and kickoffs; he kicked extra points and field goals; and over a nine-year pro career, he intercepted 23 passes, 10 of them in one season. The late, great Art Rooney, who as long-time owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers saw a lot of football players, once said, "I believe Bill Dudley was as good as any football player who has ever played in the National League." "He played tailback in the single wing, and as a runner he led the league. he wasn't fast, but nobody caught him. He couldn't pass, but he completed passes. He was one of the top kickers in the game. The best all-around ball player I've ever seen." He was 5-9, and never played at more than 170 pounds, yet at every level of the game, he was a standout. At high school in the coal-mining town of Bluefield, Virginia, he was only 110 pounds as a junior, and despite a great senior years, he was considered too small for college football. Finally, his high school coach managed to convince the University of Virginia to give him a $500 scholarship, an investment UVa never regretted. Dubbed the "Bluefield Bullet," he led the Cavaliers to a 9-1 record in 1941. In his final game, he led the Cavaliers to their first win over North Carolina in nine years. In the 28-7 Virginia win, he scored three touchdowns, threw for the fourth, and kicked all four extra points. He did the punting, averaging 42 yards, threw for 117 yards, rushed for 215 yards, and, playing 60 minutes, intercepted a Tar Heel pass. Dudley was named All-American - Virginia's first ever - and won the Maxwell Award, at the time considered as prestigious as the Heisman Trophy, and the Camp Award, given by the Washington Touchdown Club. Dudley was the first draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and after his aspirations of being a Navy pilot were dashed because he wasn't yet 21 and needed his parents' consent, he signed with the Steelers for $5,000 for the 1942 season. The Steelers lost their first two games, but thanks in large part to his efforts, they won seven of their last nine games to finish 7-4, the first winning season in club history. (It would be the last winning team he would play on until 1953, his final year, when he played sparingly and mostly kicked.) He had a lot to do with the Steelers' winning record - playing single wing tailback, he led the NFL in rushing with 696 yards and scored five touchdowns on the ground. He completed 35 of 94 passes for 438 yards and two touchdowns, punted 18 times for a 32.0 mark, returned 20 punts for 271 yards (a 14.0 yard average), and ran back 11 kickoffs 298 for yards (a 27.0 yard average), two of them for touchdowns. He intercepted three passes and returned them for an average of 20 yards each. He was voted All-Pro. But the World War II was going on, and he missed all of the 1943 and 1944 seasons, and most of 1945, serving as a bomber pilot but also playing a lot of service football. In 1946, his first full season back, playing under a new coach, the legendary Jock Sutherland, he led the NFL in three categories: rushing with 604 yards, interceptions (10, returned for a 24.2 yard average), and punt returns (27 for 385 yards, an average of 14.0). The Steelers finished 5-5-1, and he was named the league's MVP, but in one of the great oddities of professional football history, he was traded to the Lions following the season. "Bill Dudley was a great guy," Art Rooney recalled, "although he had his own ideas, and he was strong-willed. Our coach, Jock Sutherland, was pretty much like Dudley that way. So he traded (him) after some sort of argument they had. I didn't resist the trade too much, because it looked like Dudley and Sutherland were never going to get along." Actually, unable to get along with Sutherland, he had announced his retirement and had joined the coaching staff at Virginia, and the Steelers were forced to trade him. One of the causes of the bad blood was said to be Sutherland's sarcastic remarks about his sidearm passing form; another was said to be a suggestion he made that it might be easier to pass during practice if defenders wore different colored jersey from the offense. Sutherland apparently didn't care for input from players. (Nowadays, of course, no owner would keep his coach and let his big star go. Rooney recalled, "our coaches used to say to me, 'Well, he don't hit the hole.' I'd tell them, "I don't want him to hit the holes. If he starts hitting the holes, he'll turn the game into such a one-sided farce that nobody will come out to see us play.") He was not all that disappointed by the trade. He'd put in a hard year. Years later, he recalled, "Playing the single wing, I figured, particularly in 1946, that I played about three years of football in one year. I was on the field almost 60 minutes, and doing everything." Contacted by the Lions at Virginia, where he was coaching, he was offered a three-year contract paying him $20,000 a year, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL. Although he had developed a reputation in Pittsburgh as being rather hard on teammates who didn't give 100 per cent, he won over his Lions' teammates, who elected him captain. He scored 13 touchdowns for the Lions in 1947 - four rushing, seven receiving, one via punt return and one via kickoff return - and threw for two more. After the 1949 season, he was traded to Washington. He claimed that Lions' coach Bo McMillan wanted to get rid of him because the Lions had agreed at the time he signed his original contract that after three years, if he no longer wished to play, he was also guaranteed a year as coach. Perhaps McMillan felt threatened. His star had been working in the off-season for Ford, and admitted he had plans to work for Ford and coach, too. At Washington, he led the team in scoring in 1950 and 1951, but, plagued by bad knees, he retired after the 1951 season. He spent 1952 as an assistant at Yale, but returned to Washington for one more year before finally retiring. In his nine-year NFL career, he rushed for 3,057 yards and 20 touchdowns; caught 123 passes for 1383 yards and another 18 touchdowns; threw for 985 yards and six touchdowns; ran back 124 punts for 1,515 yards and three touchdowns and 78 kickoffs for 1,743 yards and one touchdown. He intercepted 23 passes and returned them for 459 yards and two touchdowns. He scored 484 points, with 44 touchdowns, 33 field goals, and 121 extra points. I doubt that many people reading this have seen anything like his place-kicking style. He took no steps, He never hopped - he kept his left foot planted, and merely swung his right foot through, kicking in what we now call "toe-punch" style. It looked weird, but it was very effective: for his career, he made 121 of 127. In his three years with the Redskins, he made 77 of 78. And remember - he wasn't just a kicker - he was a football player, too. Bill Dudley was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966. Since 1990, the Downtown Club of Richmond has presented the Bill Dudley Award annually to the top college football player in Virginia.  Correctly identifying Bullet Bill Dudley - Joe Daniels- Sacramento... Alan Goodwin- Warwick, Rhode Island... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Scott Russell- Potomac Falls, Virginia... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Steve Staker - Fredericksburg, Iowa... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Mark Rice- Beaver, Pennsylvania ("Easy one for a Steeler Fan: Way before my time, but his exploits are the stuff of legend among the "old timers" around here.)... John Grimsley - Gaithersburg, Maryland... Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... JIm Shelton, Englewood, Florida (see below)... John Zeller- Sears, Michigan... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois ("Thanks for the info on Bill Dudley, another great I had to look up. Had no idea on this one. ")... Mark Kaczmarek- Davenport, Iowa... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee...   ONCE AGAIN... TIME TO TAKE UP THE CUDGEL AGAINST THE CHEATS WHO WOULD RUIN OUR GAME EVERY FOOTBALL COACH IN AMERICA SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO READ THIS AND SIGN OFF ON IT BEFORE EVERY SEASON:   EXCERPTS FROM THE AMERICAN FOOTBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION CODE OF ETHICS   EXCERPTED FROM THE PREAMBLE   Coaches unwilling or unable to comply with the principles of the Code of Ethics have no place in the profession.   EXCERPTED FROM ARTICLE ONE - RESPONSIBILITIES TO PLAYERS   2. In teaching the game of football, the coach must realize that there are certain rules designed to protect the player and provide common standards for determining a winner and a loser. Any attempts to circumvent these rules, to take unfair advantage of an opponent, or to teach deliberate unsportsmanlike conduct, have no place in the game of football, nor has any coach guilty of such teaching any right to call himself a coach.   EXCERPTED FROM ARTICLE THREE - RULES OF THE GAME   1. The Football Code which appears in the Official Football Rule Book shall be considered an integral part of this Code of Ethics and should be carefully read and observed.   2. Each coach should be acquainted thoroughly with the rules of the game. He is responsible for having the rules taught to, interpreted for, and executed by his players.   3. Both the letter and the spirit of the rules must be adhered to by the coaches and their players.   4. Coaches who seek to gain any advantage by circumvention, disregard, or unwillingness to learn the rules of the game, are unfit for this association. A coach is responsible for the adherence to the rules by all parties directly involved with the team. The integrity of the game rests mainly on the shoulders of the coach; there can be no compromise.   COPY THIS AND SAVE IT. YOU MAY RUN UP AGAINST AN A**HOLE LIKE THE ONCE DESCRIBED IN THE E-MAIL BELOW, FROM A COACH IN THE MIDWEST: Coach: Just writing you in frustration. Last Friday night we played our season opener which we lost 14-6. The opponent was cutting our offensive linemen and grabbing bother pullers legs was well as playside.. Like land mines we fell to the ground play after play. I had our offensive linemen off the ball as much as legal. I did every prep thing I could think of to prepare for this since they did it to us some last year. When they played us straight we drove them off the ball for 6-20 yard gains easily. To make this worse, this school is the school I played for in high school with the same head coach. I used to respect the man. Today, we had a scrimmage scheduled for Junior Varsity against them, when their d-coordinator walked up to our varsity practice to find out where their kids should warm up, I pulled him aside and let him have it. I knew I shouldn't have but I was so angry. I said to him, you know grabbing our offensive linemen's legs is illegal. He responded by saying, "yeah, so what." I said to him I'm sure you don't care but it is illegal. He responded again "Yeah. So." Then I was just stuck there looking like a powerless idiot. I didn't know what to do with our team practicing right next to us so I just walked away. So this coach knew he was teaching his kids to cheat. Not little stuff either flagrant stuff. Can you give me anymore advice on how to deal with this. We were off the ball as much as legal. We talked to the ref's before and during the game. Nothing came from it. I guess I am beginning to become a marked man since we have been 25-7 at the 2 high schools in this conference where I have run this offense over the past 3 seasons. Thanks to listening to me whine. Oooh, was I pissed when I read that. Those cheating bastards. My blood boiling, I wrote back: Coach- I find it hard to believe that they are that quick. However, there are some things you can do... (1) run super-O, and let your tackle cut off also. You can't be having this problem with both guards and tackles, or your center is not doing his job (I'm assuming an even front) (2) run super-O without motion, so they have no way of knowing what's coming. (3) run a lot of "reach" - they are prepared to give up four linemen to stop one play. that leaves them with seven men - three on each side plus a safety - to play the outside. (4) As for the guy who says, "Yeah. So..." If you wish, I will be glad to print the name of the school and the name of the coach(es). I will be glad to call their AD or principal. They are cheaters and they deserve to be exposed for what they are. You might also go to your principal/AD and have them send the above excerpts fom the AFCA Code of Ethics to their principal/AD and with a copy to their coach. I wonder if they would condone this sort of "teaching" in the classroom. When did we begin to tolerate this? When did people get the idea that they could openly and brazenly cheat - and then brag about it? In the Old West, there was nothing more despised than a cheat - poker cheats were killed or run out of town. We can't continue to cut these cheating bastards slack, and then condemn executives who think that they can loot corporations and rape shareholders and screw employees and creditors. If we don't have the guts to take on the cheats in a kids' game, what chance do we have as a society?   *********** Har, har! NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue makes a big fuss over the Thursday night opener - says they're going to do it every year - make it a BIG DEAL - maybe a week-long thing - something like the Super Bowl, to kick off the new season.    Uh, Mr. Commish - PLEASE don't do this to us every year.   I mean, did you watch any of that Giants-49ers dreck they tried to pass off on us as football? Are you kidding me? Two lousy touchdowns? And FIVE field goals?   What you had was your typical boring-ass NFL field goal kicking contest. You've got a sick puppy and you won't admit it and do anything about it.   For you, the story is that thrilling (be still, my beating heart) last-second field goal that won it for the 49ers. And that's the way you try to convince the gullible public that the emperor is wearing a nice new suit of clothes.   But no matter what your marketing guys do, you're not fooling people the way you used to.   As Rob Parker pointed out in the Detroit News this past week, Nielsen Ratings show that your league has lost 1.5 million TV viewers per game in just the last three years: you went from 16.6 million viewers per regular-season game in 1999 to 15.1 million last season. It doesn't say how many of those 15.1 remaining just left the set on and puttered around the house or sorted their socks, too bored to actually watch. I guess I'm not the only one who thinks that your game sucks.   There is a reason why John Madden is on Monday nights now, and not still working at Fox on Sunday - Fox lost $387 million on the NFL last year, and couldn't afford to keep him around.   Mr. Commish - The longer this goes on, the more the public is on to your scam. You have got to break the chains of the field goal mentality.   You have the best football players in the world, and the public rarely gets to see them perform.   Wait a minute - what's the matter with me? Why am I telling you this? Forget everything I said. Just go ahead and keep on doing what you're doing. And when you go out of business, we'll get to watch college football on Sundays, too.   *********** FROM THIS WEEK'S WINNER'S CIRCLE...   ALTON, IL - ALTON 59, Quincy 8 - Coach Wyatt, If you need more fuel against the argument that large schools can't win with the Double-Wing, The Alton Redbirds in Illinois won using the D-Wing 59-8. We are a Class 7A school with 2242 students enrolled. We made the playoffs last year running the double wing for the first year. This is our second year and we rolled up 422 yards total offense.We only threw two passes, both completed, we also had 376 yards rushing. We ran touchdown plays with 7c, 6 and 7g, 88 super power and 5x. We are learning the offense with each passing day.Thanks.Coach Brad Hasquin, Alton HS (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE") *********** Coach - Regarding Rick Neuheisel's veiled attempt at cheating, the sum-bitch got caught, period! I know I am only a youth coach and I would be lying if I told you we never came close to having too many men on the field but during a game I have NEVER had 12 guys on the field. Neuheisel was cheating and had to pay the price. I would even venture to say that they practiced the response to the media. The assistant volunteered to "fall on the sword" to kiss up to the boss, period. Isn't this the same Neuheisel that was reprimanded for trying to lure recruits to Washington from Colorado after he was hired by Washington? HMMMMM? Do I see a pattern here? Just MHO. John Torres, Manteca, California (Coach Torres knows his perps. He has spent a career in law enforcement.) ************ Could not agree more about Rick Neuheisel. It was the worst job of end of game management and coaching I have ever seen. Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** You gotta admit, Barb Hedges' timing was exquisite. I told you that she wouldn't fire Rick Neuheisel because he was so cute, but this was ridiculous... On Tuesday, just three days after Neuheisel demonstrated his coaching competence in front of a national TV audience, costing his players a hard-earned win over Michigan, Hedges, Washington's AD, announced that Neuheisel had agreed to a six-year extension of his contract. "It is very important to the University of Washington that Rick Neuheisel remain as the coach here for as long as we can possibly keep him here,'' she said, blowing him a kiss (I made that last part up). THINK ABOUT THAT, HUSKIES - SIX MORE YEARS OF NEUHEISEL - AT $1,200,000 A YEAR!!! In addition to his $1,200,000 salary and all the perks that go along with it, he was given a sweetheart loan of $1,500,000 at 5 per cent interest; he has to make interest-only payments on it every six months, but he gets the use of the entire sum the entire time, and if he stays through 2008, the loan will be forgiven. And get this - if he agrees to another contract in 2008, he will be paid a signing bonus of $1.000.000. The contract calls for a $40,000 "bowl bonus", which would seem to be kind of a lock, since the Pac-10 is guaranteed six bowl spots this year. A spot in a BCS bowl is worth $100,000; in the BCS final game, it's worth $150,000. Nobody will ever say that that Barb Hedges isn't running the University of Washington athletic department like a business. Unfortunately, her business model seems to be a twenty-first century American corporation. There is an eerie parallel between Neuheisel's lucrative deal as a shepherd of "student athletes" and the fact that corporate CEO's make hundreds and hundreds of times what their lowly factory workers make - not to mention the so-called golden parachutes that enrich even the most incompetent of CEO's, after they've cost workers their jobs and shareholders their life savings and run their companies into the ground. *********** Team slogans anyone? Fredericksburg, Iowa has a state title to defend. Coach Steve Staker says this year's team statement is "HARD WORK BEATS TALENT WHEN TALENT DOESN'T WORK HARD" For Pete Porcelli at Lansingburgh, New York High, a school that has never made the playoffs - after a decent turnaround last year, this year it's "UNFINISHED BUSINESS." (Anybody else want to share their team slogan/motto/statement?) *********** Thanks to you, it works for all of us. Well, for some of us. The executives, anyhow. Try to keep this in mind, the next time you see all those NFL offensive linemen playing Scrabble with senior citizens, all those wide receivers cutting out paper dolls with the little pre-school kids: Norman O. Taylor, the chief executive of the United Way of the National Capital Area, has been saying over and over that he was unaware that expense accounts had been abused, that donations had been overstated to make the agency look better and that in some cases only 52 percent of gifts had been passed on to social services charities. He has also denied that there was any connection between his predecessor's pushing him for the CEO job and the fact that the predecessor was then hired back as a "consultant" at some $6,000 a month. According to a widely-circulated memo written by one of the charity's top executives, he has been lying. *********** Hugh, Did you notice the open tackle on the kickoff by the USC player against Auburn? It was a classic chest to chest just the way we have been teaching it. For those who think the tackler gets bowled over - they should have seen this tackle executed - near perfect form and once contact was made the runner didn't go another inch. Jack Tourtillotte- Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** "Hi Coach. Football season again. I went to the UConn-Boston College game Saturday courtesy of a friend who is a big-time BC supporter (in fact, his $2.5 million gift endows the Head FB Coach's position). A couple of breaks go the other way and the Huskies come away with the win. Who'd a thunk it?" Alan Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island *********** Art Schlichter's father was found dead in his swimming pool. He was 65. You may remember Art Schlichter, who showed such promise as an Ohio State quarterback, then literally gambled away a promising pro career. If there is any solace to be gained from the tragedy of his father's death, it is the hope that after all the man went through, he has found peace. *********** The latest nuclear scientist to find himself coaching a high school defense has publicly stated, in an eastern city that will go unnamed, that he will stop the Double-Wing this weekend. It's simple, he's been telling anyone who'll listen - you just tackle every back on every play. Permit me to point out certain flaws in his defensive thinking: (1) Backs are not notoriously good blockers. Anybody who has ever had a problem getting his backs to block would be happy if those backs who didn't have the ball could each eliminate a defender on every play, even if it meant being tackled - I mean, isn't that the point of faking?; (2) There is a bit of a trick, I've noticed, to hitting the back with the ball when he has a couple of blockers in front of him. *********** Tell me that the BCS is on the up-and-up, but if you do, be prepared to explain how Colorado State (Mountain West, non-BCS Conference) can beat Colorado (Big 12, BCS Conference) last weekend and, two days later, be ranked three spots below Colorado in the USA Today-Coaches Poll. *********** Vince Cromer, youth coach in Rockville, Maryland, a Washington suburb, has taken a page from Steve Spurrier's arrival on the Washington scene, and calls his Double-Wing offense the "Fun-n-Run." *********** Hey Gators - somebody's makin' your university look bad. I'll just bet the director of that 10-10-220 commercial was a Florida State grad. How else can you account for Emmitt Smith's performance? Mike Piazza: "And sometimes, Emmitt buys me lunch." Emmitt Smith: "Sometimes Emmitt do what?" Emmitt do? Hey, Emmitt - it's hard to believe that you've attended Florida, you've been a pro football player for 11 years, you're about to succeed the great Walter Payton as the NFL's all-time leading rusher, and you talk like that. It's got to be a Seminole trick. *********** I guess it's all a matter of your point of view... Temple running back Tanardo Sharp, before Thursday night's game against Oregon State, said, "Oregon State is always one of the top teams in the nation, and this could finally be the game that gets our team to the top of the hill." Oregon State? One of the top teams in the nation? Always? Uh, Tanardo - do you mean that Oregon State? The same one I'm thinking of? The one that went 26 years without a winning season? *********** Coach, Interesting about Van Brocklin. My younger brothers played high school with his son and I got to know him a bit at the games and things. Boy... He was a hard nosed, no nonsense, spare no quarter kind of guy. I enjoyed him very much for I found him very engaging and incredibly interesting, due to our favorite subject, FOOTBALL, I guess. His stories were very interesting and humorous the way he told them in his "spit in you eye" demeanor. You probably wouldn't want to ever get on his wrong side but I really liked and enjoyed him. I was really saddened about his untimely death. We lost a real giant and a character. His son (Pork Chop) coincidentally, later became my neighbor. Larry Harrison Snellville, GA *********** Coach, Received the video, a fine line, it is a great teaching tool we have done many of the drills and techniques already. Can not wait to add Pick Pocket it should improve traps and 6G. Jeff Matthews, Sidney HS, Sidney, New York *********** Hello Coach, You may remember the Gorham Grizzlies Middle School team in Gorham Maine that went 11-0 last year in our second year running the Double Wing. Well we lost several great players last year and we don't have the depth we had then but so far we are 2-0 beating our championship game opponent from last year 34-12 and a very good team last week 28-8. Interestingly we lost our starting QB five minutes before kickoff when our right tackle knocked him down by accident and he twisted his knee. Our second stringer knew about 5 plays and we ran those all day. We were able to hold the ball the entire 4th quarter on one drive running 88 Super Power, Tight Rip 6g, 3 Trap @ 2 and 99 Super Power for the score. I expect we'll be in the championship game this year again. For the record, before the Double Wing my total record with the Grizzlies was 2 wins and 7 losses. Since your clinic a few springs ago in Gorham my record is 20 wins and 10 losses. Thanks for the support! Mark Marquis Gorham Grizzlies 7th and 8th Grade Coach *********** A coach of a 5th-grade team, new to the offense, wrote to tell me about his first action - a tournament. His team breezed through its first two games, but in the championship game came up against a physically superior team - said "they looked like 7th graders" - and lost, 6-0. Sounding shocked at learning that the Double-Wing doesn't just automatically roll over opponents, he wrote me all in a dither about the defense he'd facede - sounded like a 5-2 with the corners and safeties up close. Said he knew that I would probably suggest throwing, but his TE's can't catch. Said he'd tried tweaking some of the blocking rules. He was asking for advice on how to attack that particular defense. I think a lot of you more experienced Double-Wing coaches could have written this for me: I think I have to disabuse you of the idea that you are supposed to run over people just because you have this offense. It doesn't always happen. There is no offense in the world that will have an easy time against a team that is physically stronger and well prepared. You will get stuffed on many occasions. It happens. You have to remain patient and keep probing. You were not beaten by a defensive scheme. You yourself admitted that it was a stronger team. I assume that it was also well-coached. You could face that same defense played by a lesser team and run right through it. You need to spend more time, I think, worrying about getting your own team better than about a particular defense. When you are playing a superior team, it exposes all sorts of deficiencies that you wouldn't have noticed if you were playing a poor team and running all over them. I'm guessing that you may have hurt your own cause with a penalty or two, maybe a turnover. Those are ways that even good teams can beat themselves. I doubt that every man carried out his assignment on every play. That doesn't necessarily hurt you in the 40-0 runaway, but a 6-0 game can be decided by the failure of one guy to do his job on one play. (I doubt that you are at the point yet where it is only one guy on only one play. It takes a long time to get to that point.) I'll bet your blocking wasn't all it could have been. I have rarely seen a team at any level that couldn't block better. Work on staying with those blocks until the play is over. Spend a lot of your practice time together as a team. Forget breaking them into groups, and instead get them working together. Show them different defenses and talk about who they should block. Next, take a look at the unbalanced section of the playbook. It is a fairly simple matter to run most of your offense from over tight or under tight. If you do, defenses will rarely recognize it. Sometimes that will give you an edge, without having to introduce new plays. And finally - these kids are 10 years old. I'm sure some of them have been playing baseball. I'm sure you have somebody who can catch a pass. Put him in - even if it's only for one play - and throw it to him. It doesn't take much to complete a pass at that level, as bad as the play in the secondary is. If you can't throw at all, you are taking a knife to a gunfight. It sounds to me as though you were not beaten badly, nor did "the offense" necessarily perform badly. All of us have lost and won games in which we scored only one touchdown. Anybody can win the ones against lesser teams. It's how we play against strong teams, and the lessons we learn from those games, that make us better, too. Finally, be very careful of improvising on the fly - of giving the kids the impression that you are deserting what you've been working on. The impression you will be giving them is that the system, or the play called, is something magical, and their effort has nothing to do with it. Bill McCartney who won a national title at Colorado said it best: "You simply have to be able to convince your kids that a play failed because they did not execute it properly."   DON'T PUT IT OFF ANY LONGER - E-MAIL ME NOW AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM IN THE BLACK LIONS PROGRAM - ADD YOUR TEAM TO THE LIST - IT'S A GREAT WAY TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT KIND OF KIDS! (NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A DOUBLE-WING TEAM!) (FOR MORE INFO)   *********** Coach would love to get signed up for the Black Lion award again. It was a huge hit at our banquet last year and I was looking forward to do it again. Thanks, Greg Gibson, Orange HS, Orange, California   (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - 31 STATES ARE REPERSENTED - IS YOURS? WHY NOT???) LATEST VIDEO RELEASE - "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS" - Drills you can do before you can hit I am now taking orders for "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS," my latest video production. It is geared primarily to the youth coach, but it will be useful to high school coaches as well. It deals with subjects ranging from the organizational details that you must cover before you even start to practice, to pre-season workouts, and takes you all the way through a practice to the sort of things you might want to cover when you're wrapping things up at the end. In between are drills dealing with flexibility, strength, form-running and agility, as well as the basics of proper blocking, tackling and ball-handling. It ends with numerous fun-type drills that you can use to build competitiveness and morale among your kids, and send them home wanting more. And the best part of it is, although you might see players on the tape performing some of the drills while wearing helmets and pads, and although these drills are still plenty useful once you're allowed to hit, they are drills that you can do in the off-season, or in pre-season before you're allowed to have any contact! The tape runs approximately 1-1/2 hours in length and sells for $49.95 - mail check or money order to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Avenue - Camas, WA 98607 *********** For those of you who don't understand the Pacific Northwest, the states of Washington and Oregon are split in two by the Cascade Mountains, running from Canada south to California, where they're known as the Sierra Nevada. To the west it's wet - streams and bays, and giant trees and big cities; to the east it's dry - sage brush and rattlesnakes and cattle and sheep and wheat fields and small towns. On the east side, some schools are so small that sometimes it's necessary for two or three of them - 20 or 30 miles apart - to form a co-op so that they'll have enough boys for a football team - an eight-man football team! There is also a wide disparity in values between east and west. The west is liberal; the East is conservative. Out here, it is enough just to say "Eastern Washington" or "Eastern Oregon", "West of the Mountains" or "East of the Mountains" and people know what you mean. Let's just say that when the weenies finally take control of this country and begin forcing Augusta National to admit women and turn the Saddam Hussein question over to the United Nations, Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon will still feel like the America that used to be. Last week, West of the Mountains, the FBI found the bodies of two Portland-area young girls who'd been missing for months. They'd been killed, apparently, by an abuser whom their (single) mothers allowed them to associate with. The sympathy circus that ensued was a sight to see, as the services of grief counselors were advertised on TV, offered to people who had no remote connection with the deceased girls and their families. The TV stations were on the story non-stop, continually taking us to the scene of the crime, where people by the thousands were bringing their little kids to visit, and building a shrine nearly a football field in length, a cyclone fence festooned with with flowers, teddy bears, mylar balloons and notes to the dead girls. And that's how it is, West of the mountains. The America that loves to grieve. Meanwhile, around the same time, East of the Mountains, a 54-year-old Reardan, Washington farmer named Mel Hein died unexpectedly of a heart attack, with 1500 acres of wheat and barley still to be harvested. Nobody came with teddy bears and mylar balloons. Instead, they came with combines. A dozen combines. And they harvested his grain. Their wives and daughters served lunch. (Yes, East of the Mountains, there's still an old-fashioned division of labor.) "I was looking out there and wondering just how we could do this," Mel Hein's wife said. "The people started coming. You know, it really shows who your friends are." She said she plans to continue farming. "I'll do that for Mel," she said. "Maybe it's unusual, but I keep hearing him say, 'Get tough. get tough.'" And that's how it is East of the Mountains. (I have not been able to determine whether Mr. Hein is any relation to the Pro Hall-of-Famer by the same name, a Washington State grad.) *********** I got a call from a coach in the Southeast who told me the president of his organization had ordered him not to run the pancake drill. Said it wasn't safe. The president had no data, no facts. But he said it was unsafe, and that's enough for him. Now, I've never had a kid injured doing the drill - either as a blocker, a tackler, a runner, or a bag-holder. Nor have I ever heard of anyone being injured doing the drill. But that's not the point. Nor is the point the fact that Mr. President sounds like an ignorant ass (he told this coach that maybe the Double-Wing was okay for little kids, but that his 11-12-year-old kids were "a little old" for it). The point is that once a superior says not to do it because it's unsafe, if you were to go ahead and do it anyhow - and someone happened to get hurt - your uh, mammaries would be in the wringer. I would be interested in hearing from other coaches who have had the same (safe) experience I've had. *********** NO! they said. DON'T PRINT IT! DON'T! But the Princeton Review, best known for its test-preparation and tutoring services, went ahead and printed it anyhow - its annual ranking of the nation's Top 20 Party Schools. The American Medical Association, concerned about rumors that college students will take a drink from time to time, urged the editors not to publish the list, concerned perhaps that by "glamorizing consumptioj," it might be contributing to a perverse sort of competition. For those of you interested, here are this year's Top 5: (1) Indiana; (2) Clemson; (3) Alabama; (4) Penn State; (5) Florida So upset was the administration at the University of Rhode Island, after URI three-peated as Number 1 from 1993-1995, that it adopted an on-campus ban on alcohol. My guess is that the ban has had two effects: (1) a migration of students to off-campus housing; and (2) a decline in applications for admission. *********** From the by-laws of the Illinois High School Association: By-law 3.071: "Recruitment of students or attempted recruitment of students for athletic purposes is prohibited, regardless of their residence." By-law 3.073: "It shall also be a violation of this rule to induce or attempt to induce or encourage any prospective student to attend a member school for the purpose of participating in athletics, even when special remuneration or inducement is not given. "No member school and no one acting on behalf of any member school shall give any speech or give any slide, film or tape presentation or distribute any written material which states or implies that a member school's athletic program is better than the athletic program of any other member school or that it would be more advantageous for any prospective student-athlete to participate in athletics at that member school as opposed to any other school." "Persons found guilty of exercising undue influence to secure or retain the attendance of a student at a member school shall be ineligible to coach at an IHSA member school for one year. Sanctions shall also be imposed against the school represented by such persons. "Students whose high school attendance is found to have been affected by undue influence to secure or retain the student at a member school shall be permanently ineligible at that school." The head football coach at Pontiac, Illinois High School was found by the IHSA to have violated those by-laws in recruiting a player from Woodland, a smaller nearby school. The IHSA concluded that the coach was contacted by the former coach of Woodland, and suggested that the kid's parents contact him. What resulted was a meeting in March with the kid and his parents at a Pontiac restaurant. The coach brought along video equipment and showed the parents a video highlight of Pontiac football entitled "The Perfect Fan". He also gave the family information about Pontiac High School football camps and passing leagues and an organizational meeting in April. The kid attended the meeting, although he was still enrolled at Woodland. He attended Pontiac's summer camps and passing leagues, and was given a copy of Pontiac's "video playbook." He still had made no attempt to enroll at Pontiac. On August 1, the kids' parents moved into a place in Pontiac, and on August 15, the kid enrolled at Pontiac High School. Sor-ree. In the final analysis, one of the final things that nailed the coach was the kids' participation in camps and passing leagues despite not being enrolled, and the coach's defense that the camps and passing leagues were open to the public. The IHSA's finding did not support his claim: Pontiac High School contends that its football camp and passing leagues are open to anyone. There is no evidence to suggest that is the case. The Pontiac football camp brochure clearly indicates that the camp is for "All Pontiac football players." Furthermore, other than a possible radio announcement, Pontiac High School made no effort to disseminate information regarding the football camps or passing leagues to members of the public or to anyone other than Pontiac High School students. A review of the camp and passing league rosters conducted by Pontiac High School has determined that since 1993, only three high school age students, in addition to (the player), have participated in a Pontiac High School football camp while residing outside of the district. All of those students were visiting relatives in the Pontiac district when they attended the camp. No student from outside of the Pontiac district other than (the player) has participated on a Pontiac High School summer passing league team." As a result of IHSA findings that the Pontiac coach violated its by-laws, the coach has been barred from coaching at any IHSA member school for one year, and the player has been ruled permanently ineligible to participate in any sports at Pontiac. Pontiac High School has been placed on probation for the school year, and ordered to submit a plan to the IHSA by September 20, detailing steps it will take to prevent a repetition. *********** Last week, as she was walking off the practice field, a 10-year-old girl in Bartlett, Illinois complained of a headache and collapsed. Three days later, she was dead. Medical examiners say she died from a blow to the head, suffered in a full-contact football practice. News accounts say she may have suffered the blow "as a result of a tackle," but did not explain who was tackling whom. There also appears to be some question as to whether there may have been a pre-existing condition contributing to her death, and whether her parents may have been aware of it. Some may use this incident to argue against girls' playing football with boys. While I am philosophically opposed to girls' playing football with boys, this is not the reason why. I just think that there ought to be one place left on this f--king planet where boys can be boys and get the hell away from girls for a while. I am not opposed to girls' playing football as an all-girls' sport, if they wish. Naturally, some people have used the tragedy to argue against tackle football for younger kids - boys as well as girls. The little girl's aunt seemed not to join that argument. Spekaing for the family, she said it was a tragic accident. Arguing that as long as the proper equipment is worn, contact football is relatively safe, even for children, Dr. John Grant, a neurosurgeon at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said, "Children are more likely to be killed in car accidents than playing football." The key word in Dr. Grant's statement is "relatively." Riding bicyles is relatively safe, too, and so is swimming. But all kids' activities have some risks, and we can't raise our kids inside plastic bubbles. We all know that there are things we can - must - do to make our kids' activities safer, and as football coaches, we are duty-bound to do everything in our power to condition our kids, to equip them properly, to teach - and enforce - correct techniques, to set up and supervise safe drills, to know their players' limitations and avoid putting them in situations they're unprepared for. *********** My friend Frank Simonsen, in Cape May, New Jersey, wrote of an opposing team's effort to intimidate his kids in a scrimmage last weekend: "They started that bullsh-- of clapping and slapping their thigh pads, and chanting "we want you", while we were in the huddle after we ran a couple of Super Powers for 15 and 20 yards. So one of our linemen came out of the huddle and pulled a Jim Thorpe. He said "we're running the same play, right here." Then he proceeded to bury the bigmouth DT while the Super Power went for a TD. Their coaches just shook their heads in disbelief. It stopped the pad slapping." ***********Cave Spring Stampede 37-0 over Cave Spring Crusaders.Highlight of the day for me was seeing last years Black Lion Award winner with it on his right shoulder.Also we ran the wedge for 4 minutes,and 26 seconds.Couple of first downs and almost had ball the entire 4th quarter. Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)       *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

September 3 - "We can all be geniuses, because one definition of genius is the infinite capacity for taking pains. Perfection in petty detail is most essential." Knute Rockne   SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTO - PACIFIC NORTHWEST - BUFFALO IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN... BE INFORMED! CHECK OUT HOT WEATHER FOOTBALL TIPS     E-MAIL ME GAME REPORTS, AND I WILL ONCE AGAIN MAINTAIN A WEEKLY "WINNER'S CIRCLE" PAGE - PLEASE KEEP GAME REPORTS SHORT AND TO THE POINT - GAME DESCRIPTIONS WILL BE LIMITED TO ONE PARAGRAPH OF REASONABLE LENGTH (THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE")   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: "Bullet Bill" was one of the last of the NFL's single-wing tailbacks; he ran and passed; he punted; he returned punts and kickoffs; he kicked extra points and field goals; and over a nine-year pro career, he intercepted 23 passes, 10 of them in one season.   The late, great Art Rooney, who as long-time owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers saw a lot of football players, once said, "I believe (he) was as good as any football player who has ever played in the National League."   "He played tailback in the single wing, and as a runner he led the league. he wasn't fast, but nobody caught him. He couldn't pass, but he completed passes. He was one of the top kickers in the game. The best all-around ball player I've ever seen."   He was 5-9, and never played at more than 170 pounds, yet at every level of the game, he was a standout. At high school in the coal-mining town of Bluefield, Virginia, he was only 110 pounds as a junior, and despite a great senior years, he was considered too small for college football.   Finally, his high school coach managed to convince the University of Virginia to give him a $500 scholarship, an investment UVa never regretted. Dubbed the "Bluefield Bullet," he led the Cavaliers to a 9-1 record in 1941.   In his final game, he led the Cavaliers to their first win over North Carolina in nine years. In the 28-7 Virginia win, he scored three touchdowns, threw for the fourth, and kicked all four extra points. He did the punting, averaging 42 yards, threw for 117 yards, rushed for 215 yards, and, playing 60 minutes, intercepted a Tar Heel pass.   He was named All-American - Virginia's first ever - and won the Maxwell Award, then considered as prestigious as the Heisman Trophy, and the Camp Award, given by the Washington Touchdown Club.   He was the first draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and after his aspirations of being a Navy pilot were dashed because he wasn't yet 21 and needed his parents' consent, he signed with the Steelers for $5,000 for the 1942 season.   The Steelers lost their first two games, but thanks in large part to his efforts, they won seven of their last nine games to finish 7-4, the first winning season in club history. (It would be the last winning team he would play on until 1953, his final year, when played sparingly and mostly kicked.)   He had a lot to do with the Steelers' winning record - playing single wing tailback, he led the NFL in rushing with 696 yards and scored five touchdowns on the ground. He completed 35 of 94 passes for 438 yards and two touchdowns, punted 18 times for a 32.0 mark, returned 20 punts for 271 yards (a 14.0 yard average), and ran back 11 kickoffs 298 for yards (a 27.0 yard average), two of them for touchdowns. He intercepted three passes and returned them for an average of 20 yards each. He was voted All-Pro.   But the World War II was going on, and he missed all of the 1943 and 1944 seasons, and most of 1945, serving as a bomber pilot but also playing a lot of service football.   In 1946, his first full season back, playing under a new coach, the legendary Jock Sutherland, he led the NFL in three categories: rushing with 604 yards, interceptions (10, returned for a 24.2 yard average), and punt returns (27 for 385 yards, an average of 14.0).   The Steelers finished 5-5-1, and he was named the league's MVP, but in one of the great oddities of professional football history, he was traded to the Lions following the season.   "(He) was a great guy," Art Rooney recalled, "although he had his own ideas, and he was strong-willed. Our coach, Jock Sutherland, was pretty much like (him) that way. So he traded (him) after some sort of argument they had. I didn't resist the trade too much, because it looked like (he) and Sutherland were never going to get along."   Actually, unable to get along with Sutherland, he had announced his retirement and had joined the coaching staff at Virginia, and the Steelers were forced to trade him.   One of the causes of the bad blood was said to be Sutherland's sarcastic remarks about his sidearm passing form; another was said to be a suggestion he made that it might be easier to pass during practice if defenders wore different colored jersey from the offense. Sutherland apparently didn't care for input from players.   (Nowadays, of course, no owner would keep his coach and let his big star go. Rooney recalled, "our coaches used to say to me, 'Well, he don't hit the hole.' I'd tell them, "I don't want him to hit the holes. If he starts hitting the holes, he'll turn the game into such a one-sided farce that nobody will come out to see us play.")   He was not all that disappointed by the trade. He'd put in a hard year.   Years later, he recalled, "Playing the single wing, I figured, particularly in 1946, that I played about three years of football in one year. I was on the field almost 60 minutes, and doing everything."   Contacted by the Lions at Virginia, where he was coaching, he was offered a three-year contract paying him $20,000 a year, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL. Although he had developed a reputation in Pittsburgh as being rather hard on teammates who didn't give 100 per cent, he won over his Lions' teammates, who elected him captain.   He scored 13 touchdowns for the Lions in 1947 - four rushing, seven receiving, one via punt return and one via kickoff return - and threw for two more.   After the 1949 season, he was traded to Washington. He claimed that Lions' coach Bo McMillan wanted to get rid of him because the Lions had agreed at the time he signed his original contract that after three years, if he no longer wished to play, he was also guaranteed a year as coach.   Perhaps McMillan felt threatened. His star had been working in the off-season for Ford, and admitted he had plans to work for Ford and coach, too.   At Washington, he led the team in scoring in 1950 and 1951, but, plagued by bad knees, he retired after the 1951 season. He spent 1952 as an assistant at Yale, but returned to Washington for one more year before finally retiring.   In his nine-year NFL career, he rushed for 3,057 yards and 20 touchdowns; caught 123 passes for 1383 yards and another 18 touchdowns; threw for 985 yards and six touchdowns; ran back 124 punts for 1,515 yards and three touchdowns and 78 kickoffs for 1,743 yards and one touchdown. He intercepted 23 passes and returned them for 459 yards and two touchdowns. He scored 484 points, with 44 touchdowns, 33 field goals, and 121 extra points.   I doubt that many people reading this have seen anything like his place-kicking style. He took no steps, He never hopped - he kept his left foot planted, and merely swung his right foot through, kicking in what we now call "toe-punch" style. It looked weird, but it was very effective: for his career, he made 121 of 127. In his three years with the Redskins, he made 77 of 78. And remember - he wasn't just a kicker - he was a football player, too.   He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966. Since 1990, the Downtown Club of Richmond has presented an annual award in his name to the top college football player in Virginia.   FAME AND RECOGNITION AWAIT YOU IF YOU CAN IDENTIFY THIS WEEK'S "LEGACY" *********** Clueless in Seattle. Colorado was right. When Rick Neuheisel left Boulder for Seattle, the word around Colorado was that Washington was not getting another Don James. Coach James was downright anal about the tiniest of details. Neuheisel, the Colorado folks said, sometimes had trouble even getting the right number of players on the field. Sure, you could chalk it up to bitterness at losing their coach to the big bucks of Washington, but it turns out Colorado was right. In one of the most outrageous examples of coaching misfeasance I have ever witnessed, Neuheisel's Washington team had Michigan beaten, and he pissed it away. Down 29-28, Michigan threw incomplete on second down. 12 seconds remained. Michigan was out of timeouts, but Neuheisel called one, the better to prepare his team for the fact that if Michigan completed a pass but the receiver was stopped short of the first down, the game was over. If it fell incomplete, there would be time for only one more play, and it wouldn't be a field goal, because they were looking at a 59-yarder, and Michigan's kickers had sucked all day long. So Michigan threw incomplete, and six seconds remained, time only for a throw and a prayer. But wait - Washington was detected with 12 men on the field. The illegal participation penalty advanced the ball into field goal range. Michigan lined up, and as soon as the ball was put into play, spiked it. And then the keeker came out on the field and booted it through. The question always arises when a team is caught with 12 men on the field - was it cheating or was it incompetence? In the NFL, it's usually cheating. Neuheisel, of course, pleads incompetence - says that when he called a time out just before the last play, the defense gathered in separate groups - linemen in one place, backs in another (now that makes a lot of sense) - and, well, an extra back got onto the field. A mistake was made. Neuheisel made a feeble attempt to pin it on a kid - "we just had a young person stay in the game when he shouldn't" - and then on his assistants - "I've got defensive coaches who handle that stuff." The secondary coach very nobly took the bullet for the head coach - "It's my responsibility to make sure he gets the call. That's on me. if he doesn't hear it, then I'm not talking loud enough." Neuheisel says he'll "probably" have to get on top of these things in the future - "I'm probably going to be more keenly aware," he said "as we move forward." (Sound like Clinton?) I ain't buying. I lean toward the cheating. I know that pros try that crap all the time. If it wasn't, how did it get past the guys up in the press box. There were at least three defensive coaches up there. You mean to tell me they didn't notice? And if that was too much of a chore for them, you mean they don't have a graduate assistant who can count? And that secondary coach - you mean he didn't count? You mean he said something to a kid and left it up to chance as to whether the kid heard him? Not likely. "Not talking loud enough?" Hey - anybody out there ever been a teacher? Or a parent? Anybody out there know how important it is to verify that a kid has heard you? The importance of asking a kid, "do you understand what I just said?" or, "what did I just say?" Either way, though, Neuheisel has forfeited the right to lead. I mean, he is far more competent than any high school coach - he has to be, doesn't he, since he makes more than a million dollars a year? - and yet in a career of coaching and more than 50 years of watching high school games, I have never seen a high school coach cost his team a hard-earned win in that fashion. If I were Washington's AD, I'd have fired him on the spot. Paid him off. Sent him packing. Of course, I am not Washington's AD, so he has nothing to worry about. He is after all, cute - and Washington has a female athletic director. *********** I guess Saturday's weather in North Carolina was really wretched and stormy. Nevertheless, my grandson's middle-school team practiced for three hours Saturday morning. And he learned something about our game that all football players know-" "Mom," he told my daughter, "it's FOOTBALL. We can play in the rain- and it's fun!" Later that day, Duke's Carl Franks told East Carolina's Steve Logan before their game that he'd rather be playing than coaching with that weather, and Logan agreed. After the game, Franks spoke like a player: "the way the weather was today is perfect football conditions; the way the game should be played" TV and its fans, used to seeing mudless games on artificial turf, don't know that - football coaches may hate rain and mud, but football players like playing and practicing in it, rolling around in the mud and slop. Sometimes, we coaches need to remember that. *********** The perky young Portland TV anchor looked out at all of us in TV land and said, "and now here's Ron Carlson, to tell us about the A.S. ballclub." A.S? Ron Carlson, the sports guy, straightened it all out for us when he came on and told us about the winning streak of the Oakland A's. *********** You might not like being Rick Neuheisel and having to read the Seattle papers this week, but trust me - you would definitely not want to be Nick Saban and read what the Baton Rouge papers have to say after the way his LSU Tigers looked against Virginia Tech on Sunday. *********** Maryland-Notre Dame was a game worthy of the NFL - no compliment intended. Unless you love Notre Dame or like Tyrone Willingham, the Notre Dame-Maryland game was about as bad as a college game can get. Maybe that's because Notre Dame's West Coast offense worked the way it worked in the pros, producing five field goals and no touchdowns. Maryland, meanwhile, had no offense at all. It's hard to believe that Maryland could have fallen so far in one off-season. *********** BIG wins were registered by Cal, a 70-22 winner over Baylor, by Houston, winner over Rice, by Duke, which ended the nation's longest losing streak - 23 games - with a win over East Carolina, and by Kentucky, which buried the Memory of the Mumme Mess with an upset of Louisville. MY APOLOGIES TO NAVY AND NAVY FANS EVERYWHERE - HOW DID I MISS THE MIDSHIPMEN'S 38-7 THUMPING OF SMU? *********** Great pooch punt by Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen out of shotgun formation to pin Louisville inside its own ten with under a minute to play. *********** After the way Louisville played against Kentucky, they have a lot more to worry about than the fact that Dave Raggone is no longer a Heisman candidate. *********** UConn may have dropped a tough one to Boston College, but the Huskies showed by their play that they have arrived as a Division I-A football school. *********** The new Seattle Seahawks' stadium had its first sellout crowd (68,000+) on Saturday. But it wasn't there to watch the Seahawks. It wasn't there to watch the University of Washington Huskies either - they were in Ann Arbor to play Michigan. It was there to watch Washington State, a team that normally plays its home games in Pullman, 250 miles to the east, open against Nevada. It wasn't the biggest crowd ever to watch the Cougars - they have, after all, played in the Rose Bowl, and every other year they play Washington in Seattle in front of 76,000 in Husky Stadium. But Since the Cougars' own home field, Martin Stadium, seats only this was definitely the largest Washington State crowd ever. *********** The Seattle Seahawks lost to the Denver Broncos, 31-0 in an exhibition ("pre-season" as the Lords of Football would have it) game last week. The mighty men of the Great Northwest, executing Mike Holmgren's offense to near-perfection, rushed 15 times for 33 yards, and completed 16 of 37 passes for 118 yards. (If you don't want to bother doing the math, I'll do it for you - that's barely THREE YARDS PER ATTEMPT, which isn't a whole lot better than lateralling the ball.) Holmgren must have really envied the Broncos, who trotted out a kicker - their backup kicker - a Swedish guy, who booted a 65-yard field goal. Even with the Seahawks' offense, they could have gotten it close enough so that with a kicker like that it might have been 31-9. *********** The Kentucky-Louisville game went on in the background, while a sideline bimbo named Tracy Wolfson interviewed a Little League baseball player. How did they know that's why we tuned in? *********** Kirk Herbstreit seems to be getting a little full of himself. Maybe all the fan mail he gets from teenage girls is going to his head. Or maybe he just thinks he has to say outrageous things to keep up with Lee Corso. Anyhow, there he was, just last week, before the Nebraska-Arizona State game, pronouncing, as if he were the Pope of football, the death of option football. Present-day defenses, you see, are just too fast for it. It had to be a fact. I heard Kirk Herbstreit say it. Hmmm. Maybe Mr. Einstein can take a little time off during this week to provide his services as a defensive genius to New Mexico, Air Force's next opponent. See, Northwestern, Air Force's opponent last Saturday, apparently was watching ESPN last week, and believed Herbstreit knew what he was talking about, and didn't worry about having to stop Air Force's offense - an offense that he assured us was dead. Uh-oh. Big mistake. Do you suppose Kirkie didn't know what he was talking about? You decide. Maybe it will help if I tell that Northwestern is still picking up the pieces, after spending an embarrassing afternoon watching Air Force's triple (are you ready for this Kirk?) option attack put up 523 yards of total offense - 476 rushing. The Falcons had Northwestern down 38-0 at the half, and 52-3 after three quarters. (UH- FOR SOME REASON, I HADN'T HEARD ABOUT NAVY'S 38-7 THUMPING OF SMU - THANKS TO PAUL JOHNSON'S OPTION ATTACK AND A QB WHO RAN FOR 153 YARDS - WHEN I WROTE THIS. SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL COACH JOHNSON THAT OPTION FOOTBALL IS DEAD. ) *********** MAKE BIG MONEY DOING FOOTBALL COLOR IN YOUR SPARE TIME: Send me $19.95 for your book of handy cliches that make you sound like an expert. (I heard Mark May say this, after showing us the replay of a long TD pass):"You just can't let a guy get behind you." *********** It was popular last season to diss the Mountain West, especially after BYU's end-of-the-season fold, but you'd better get ready to start explaining why the Mountain West is locked out of the BCS picture if this first weekend of the season is any indication of the way things are headed this year: BYU over Syracuse... Air Force over Northwestern... Colorado State over Colorado *********** Refs will not allow my weakside end to chop the defensive tackles on the power plays.With stances I doubt we are more than 3 yards outside from the ball Any solutions? Since you can't beat the refs, even when they're wrong, just don't pull your tackle. Run 88/99 Super-O     DON'T PUT IT OFF ANY LONGER - E-MAIL ME NOW AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM IN THE BLACK LIONS PROGRAM - ADD YOUR TEAM TO THE LIST - IT'S A GREAT WAY TO RECOGNIZE THE RIGHT KIND OF KIDS! (NO, YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A DOUBLE-WING TEAM!) (FOR MORE INFO)   (SEE THE LIST OF TEAMS REGISTERED SO FAR - IS YOURS ON IT? WHY NOT???) LATEST VIDEO RELEASE - "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS" - Drills you can do before you can hit I am now taking orders for "PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS," my latest video production. It is geared primarily to the youth coach, but it will be useful to high school coaches as well. It deals with subjects ranging from the organizational details that you must cover before you even start to practice, to pre-season workouts, and takes you all the way through a practice to the sort of things you might want to cover when you're wrapping things up at the end. In between are drills dealing with flexibility, strength, form-running and agility, as well as the basics of proper blocking, tackling and ball-handling. It ends with numerous fun-type drills that you can use to build competitiveness and morale among your kids, and send them home wanting more. And the best part of it is, although you might see players on the tape performing some of the drills while wearing helmets and pads, and although these drills are still plenty useful once you're allowed to hit, they are drills that you can do in the off-season, or in pre-season before you're allowed to have any contact! The tape runs approximately 1-1/2 hours in length and sells for $49.95 - mail check or money order to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Avenue - Camas, WA 98607 *********** If all you knew about American culture was what you saw on Coors Light commercials, you might think that Al-Qaeda had a point. *********** YO! Do you, too, have to get up and leave the room when that Street Hoops 2 commercial comes on? *********** Virginia Tech - 91 blocked punts in 176 games. One blocked punt every second game. Two against LSU. Wow. *********** Any Double-Wing coach watching the Cincinnati-TCU game, in which the Cincinnati QB managed to make his way into the end zone and send the game into overtime, thanks to a hefty push from behind by a teammate, has to wonder when college and professional officials will have the stones to call assisting the runner. *********** Watching the crowd that turned out at the Coliseum to watch USC-Auburn, it looked to me as though L.A. was "ready for some football." And it wasn't the NFL variety, either. It was real football. *********** Pam Ward, who says "comin' up," and "sweatin' bullets," and "runnin' the ball," and "lookin' for a flag," as if she's one of the guys or else she's being charged by the "g", did the Colorado-Colorado State game along with Chris "Mumbles" Spielman. What a team. Ward would be doing high school games if she were a male. Spielman has had the courtesy year that every former star who goes into broadcasting seems to get. This is his second year. It's time to learn to speak. *********** Big Schools take note: beware of any opponent with the name "Florida" in it. After watching the job Central Florida did at Penn State, I am impressed by what these so-called "smaller" Florida schools are able to do with the talent that's still left in the Sunshine State after the Big Guys are finished recruiting. Oh - and wanna beat Penn State? Throw the ball. *********** Anybody notice a little more white trim on the Penn State blue jerseys? *********** At halftime of the Colorado-Colorado State game, Colorado coach Gary Barnett was intercepted as he headed in to the locker room by one of those doofus sideline reporters, and asked if he was planning on making a change at quarterback. "At quarterback? Ah, come on - gimme a break. You guys are unbelievable!" He said, and stomped off. YOU BE THE COACH: You are headed into the locker room, trailing your crosstown rival by two touchdowns and you haven't been playing well on offense, and a guy comes up and sticks a mike in your face and asks if you're going to replace the quarterback you've been working with for weeks.Would you have been as restrained as Coach Barnett? (He stayed with his QB and came up with 14 second -half points.) *********** DIRECTOR'S HALL OF FAME NOMINATIONS: Washington at Michigan, August 31, 2002. So a Washington guy is breaking up the sidelines, untouched. "One man to beat!" the announcer says, breathlessly. How would we know? The director has given us such a tight closeup shot that we might as well be listening on the radio. A minute later, Washington is on the Michigan one yard line and the director takes us down on the goal line, so we can see the runner burst across for the touchdown. Except that Washington runs an option in the other direction and scores - and we're still down on the sideline and we miss the play entirely. *********** Is Soccer a threat to football??? Not if my new player is an indication. We couldn't find a soul that could even kick an extra point on our 135 LB Division 1 team, so we told the kids to go find us a kicker. We were very short on players anyway so this kid shows up and could kick a little. This thrilled us but he had mentioned wanting to play football not just kick. Well, that was fine, but he had never played before. To make a long story short, He is now my "Mike" linebacker and kicker and wants to quit soccer. Wow! "not there is anything wrong with soccer". I'm beginning to like soccer more and more... Its a great place to find football players. This kid, by the way, is the cousin of the great kicker at the big Tech college here in Atlanta. Larry Harrison, Snellville, GA (Most little kids who play soccer have no idea what a great game football is, since all they see of it are the jackasses who play pro football.HW) *********** A 23-year-old Vancouver, Washington man died last week when he fell out of a moving mini-van. He had been throwing rocks at mail boxes while a friend drove. The door was open to facilitate the throwing. The guy left a wife and daughter. His co-workers at the car wash where he was employed were given the day off to grieve. A collection is being taken to pay funeral expenses. *********** I sat in the stands in Milwaukie, Oregon Friday night and watched a happy group of Aloha Warriors piling on each other after a last-second Milwaukie pass fell incomplete in the end zone. I could understand the excitement of winning their opener, 17-13, especially after they fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter, and trailed, 13-3 at the half. What I didn't realize, though, was that for some of the seniors, it was the first win of their high school careers. They had won one game as frosh, but some of them didn't play or didn't attend Aloha at the time; as sophs, their JV team went winless, and as juniors on last year's varsity, they were 0-9. So those kids went out on Friday night and started their senior season with a win - a BIG win - their first in the last 14 games. You watch those kids, and you see their faces afterward, and you tell ME that winning isn't important! SEE OTHER RESULTS ON THIS WEEK'S "WINNER'S CIRCLE" *********** What a great idea! Hello Coach....I hope this finds you well. I'd like to enroll my team for the 2002 season and the Black Lion Award. I told my kids last night the story of Don Holleder and the Black Lions, and introduced last years award winner Jeff Ball. He'll be wearing the Black Lion patch on his jersey this year. John Urbaniak- Hanover Park, Illinois The Hanover Park Hurricanes, of Hanover Park, Illinois, are once again a Black Lions team! Last year's Black Lion Award winner, Jeff Ball, is shown at left with his coach, John Urbaniak. Jeff holds the trophy he won for being named MVP of last weekend's Hurricane Bowl. Note the Black Lions regimental patch that he proudly wears on his jersey! HELP HONOR OUR VETERANS AND KEEP OUR COUNTRY'S SPIRIT ALIVE! TEACH YOUR KIDS ABOUT REAL HEROES - AND HONOR THE PLAYER ON YOUR TEAM WHO MOST REPRESENTS THE VALUES OF OUR REAL HEROES (ALL TEAMS, FROM THE YOUTH LEVEL ON UP, ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE)       *********** At the Parents' meeting, I explained that I do not give out individual awards (like stars on the helmets and such), but that I do give one award, and explained the Black Lion award. P.P.S. Know of any Black Lions around this area? Jody Hagins, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina (Good question - I have requested a listing of the members of the 28th Infantry Association - the Black Lions - by location. If I am successful, I should be able to furnish you names of men to contact to help present your award. HW) *********** Hugh, Sign me up. I can't believe I haven't read through this stuff yet. It sounds like a great thing to get the kids thinking right. You can use me as your contact person Thanks. Larry Harrison, Rockdale Bulldogs 135-lb. Div.1 , Conyers, Georgia   BECOME A BLACK LIONS TEAM - SIGN YOUR TEAM UP FOR 2002! (IF YOU WERE ENROLLED IN 2001, YOU MUST RE-ENROLL) BE SURE TO E-MAIL ME - coachwyatt@aol.com - AND ENROLL YOUR TEAM FOR 2002! THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO) THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)