(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) 
September
30, 2003 - "The only important thing
is to come off the field with respect for yourself."
Earl Blaik (passed along to me by former Army player Joe
Shea, who recalls Colonel Blaik telling the team this at
halftime of a game in which things were not going well
for the Cadets.)
2003 CLINIC NEWS & SCENES : CHICAGO - ATLANTA TWIN CITIES click here for info ----->>>>> 
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THIS PAST SEASON'S WEEK-BY-WEEK GAME REPORTS FROM ASSORTED DOUBLE-WING TEAMS ( "WINNER'S CIRCLE")
AS PROMISED.... READERS' FRENCH JOKES (updated as we get them)
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY- Like trivia questions? This guy was
nicknamed "The Geek." By his teammates, that is. Don't you
try calling him that even now, more than 40 years after he
played his last game. He's 6-9 and in his prime he weighed
265 or so, and he was mean and tough. He was a boxer and
never took any crap off anybody, on or off the field. He's
in his 70's now, but I'll bet he'd still knock you on your
ass if you called him "Geek."
How about this one? Q. Why was he called "The Geek?" A. Because of his preference for eating his meat raw. (a 49ers' teammate, Bruno Banducci, hung the name on him after a character of the same name in a Tyrone Power movie, a carnival performer who bit the heads off chickens.) He said it all started when he was little. "I had a Yaqui Indian grandmother from Mexico," he said, "and when I was little she fed me blood gravy and bits of raw beef." It didn't seem to stunt his growth. From a 5-9 high school sophomore, he grew to be 6-4, 210 when he turned out for football the next year.
How about this bit of trivia? He went to high school in San Francisco, played college football for the University of San Francisco, and played his entire professional career for the San Francisco 49ers. With the exception of one season at the University of Tulsa, after USF dropped football, he played every single home game of his football career - high school, college, pro - on the same field. Kezar Stadium.
Want more? He once served as the Mayor of Daly City, a San Francisco suburb.
For three years, he was captain of the 49ers. In his 11-year NFL career, he was named to the Pro Bowl five times. In 1990, he was inducted into the Pro Football hall of Fame.
(If you can identify the man above, e-mail your answer to coachwyatt@aol.com - be sure to include your name and where you're writing from. Those answering correctly will be listed on Friday'e NEWS.)
*********** I am back from a fantastic football weekend at West Point. I spent it in the company of a group of Black Lions, survivors of the Battle of Ong Thanh, Vietnam, in 1967, and several other "associate" Black Lions like myself. There were Black Lions Tom "Doc" Hinger, the organizer of the annual reunion, and General Jim "Fearless Leader" Shelton (that's what his buddies call him, but I can't bring myself to address a retired Brigadier General that way). There were Tom "L-T" (for Lieutenant) Grady, who by great coincidence grew up just two houses up the street from my wife in Abington, Pennsylvania, and Joe Costello, a tall, quiet guy who distinguished himself by his valor in combat. There were my roommate, Californian Dave Berry, a medic like Tom Hinger; Tennessean Carl "Woody" Woodard; and Brooklyn-born Steve "Goody" Goodman. In all the old World War II movies, where it was important to show Americans of all kinds coming together to fight the forces of evil, the casting always required a southern country boy - Woody would have been ideal - and a street-wise Jewish guy from Brooklyn. That would have been Goody. (Steve, by the way, takes great pride in being asked to present the Black Lion Award to Coral Springs Christian Academy in Florida, where he now lives.)
Then there were the associates. Besides myself, there were Goody's son Jason and the General's son, Mac, a CPO in the Coast Guard. There was Bill Lee, a Marine vet and friend of L-T, and there was George Crume, a former football player at Eastern Kentucky who once coached high school and college ball (Morehead State) and as a friend of Tom Hinger agreed to accompany him to the first of these reunions 14 years ago. Tom, in agreeing to get together with guys he hadn't seen in over 20 years, wasn't sure how things would go, so he told George that if the reunion didn't pan out as expected, they'd bail out and head for New York City for the weekend.
A very special "associate" and friend was David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning author ("When Pride Still Mattered", the biography of Vince Lombardi). In addition to being a part of the reunion itself, David was on hand to do a book-signing at the Student book Store. His latest book, "They Marched Into Sunlight," deals with the Battle of Ong Thanh, and it is a masterpiece.
Researching it was not easy. Men who have been through an experience such as that tend not to want to talk about it to outsiders, and in doing his research, David had first to get to know these men and earn their trust. And as word spread among them that this guy could be trusted, they took him into the fold.
David confided in us at breakfast Friday that he'd just spoken with his wife, who'd just told him that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg had agreed to purchase the movie rights to the book. While I was asking David about all the ins and outs of such an arrangement, such as the control that an author might want to exercize over the script, others in the group began wild speculation about who would play them in the movie. The only thing anyone could agree on was that Don Rickles should play Tom "L-T" Grady.
There was Ken Sheil, director of "Field of Honor - 100 Years of Army Football" done for NFL Films, one of the best such documentaries I've seen. Ken's segment on Army great Don Holleder included interviews with Doc Hinger, in whose arms Major Holleder died, and Jim Shelton, who had played college football against Don Holleder, and was one of those who identified his body.
And finally there was Mike Eliasof, a Black Lion from World War II. What a great guy. He's in his 80's now and sharp as a tack, and told us with great pride that he would soon be celebrating his 60th wedding anniversary.
One of the places I had to visit was the cemetery, where many West Point graduates are buried. There I saw the tomb of George Armstrong Custer... of General Norman Schwarzkopf's father... of Army great "Monk" Meyer... of General Garrison Davidson. "Gar" Davidson served West Point as football coach and later as Superintendent, and served his country in World War II, in North Africa, Sicily, Southern France and Germany. He is buried with his wife. The inscription reads" DAVIDSON... SOLDIER - COACH - EDUCATOR ... AND HIS BEST TEAMMATE"
And there is the grave of Earl "Red" Blaik, one of the greatest of all American football coaches. The stone is shaped like a football, and looks somewhat out of place among the marble slabs favored by most. At the top is a gold block "A". At the bottom is inscribed "On Brave old Army Team."
I visited the statues of some of West Point's most distinguished graduates - MacArthur, Eisenhower, Patton. The great irony of the Patton statue, it is said, is that it stands across a walkway from the one building he never entered - the library.
Friday night, I was visited by Cadet Joe Snowden, a former student of mine from Ridgefield, Washington, and his parents, Mike and Vicky. Joe had just come back from a little hell-raising (to the extent that cadets can raise hell) around the set of ESPN Game Day, which as many of you might not know is largely shot the night before.
What a thrill to see a young man, who six years ago sat in my freshman geography class and impressed me as one of the brightest, hardest-working, most personable young men I ever taught, now a "cow" (a junior) at West Point.
As I write this, I am home and it is Monday night, and my sneaks are not yet dry from Saturday. Let me explain.
I woke up Saturday morning and, having heard all the weather forecasts of a dry day with the possibilitiy of showers later that evening, did what I was advised and prepared for a lot of walking. Wear comfortable shoes, they told me.
That's because, I was told, when you go to an Army football game, you will hike. Unless you are a retired four-star general and donate $10,000 or so a year to the Army football program, you are not going to be able to park anywhere close to Michie Stadium.
The skies were gray as our small band assembled in the parking lot of our motel. It was eight o'clock, which seemed unusually early after a Friday night of good fellowship, but if you wanted to see the parade of cadets, a Saturday morning tradition, you had to beat the crowds and get there well before the 10 AM start.
"Hey - I just felt a rain drop," someone said. "It's not supposed to rain," observed someone else. "Yeah, well look at that sky," said a third member of our group. The sky was becoming darker, now a slate gray. But the forecast didn't include rain.
So off we went, parking our cars as close to the gate of the US Military Academy as permited (very high security on the base, as you might imagine) then starting our trek toward the buses that would take us to the stadium. We hadn't gone a quarter-mile when all hell broke loose. Rain, the likes of which I hadn't seen in years, living as I do in the rainy-but-weenie-rainy Pacific Northwest, began hammering us. Hard.
Hoping it was "just passing through," we sought the shelter of a huge tree. No luck. We were forced to evacuate and head for the nearby Hotel Thayer and its gift shop, where we cleaned out its supply of ponchos and headed out once again when the rain appeared to ease up a bit.
But no sooner had we crossed the street in front of the hotel, now crowded with cars and buses and small streams running along its gutters, than the heavy rain resumed. We headed for nearby a tent, one of many that had been set up around the perimeter of the Buffalo Soldiers Field in anticipation of pre-game festivities. There I did make the acquaintance of a fellow refuge-seeker, a former Army footballer named Joe Shea, who'd played with Don Holleder on the 1955 team. I enjoyed hearing him reminisce about that season, and about Colonel Blaik, the legendary Army coach.
When the ground beneath us started to get soggy and the ground around us began to flood, we decided to head back to the Thayer before we were stranded in the tent. Once inside the hotel, we b-s'd, listened to a few rather loud claps of thunder, and occasionally checked for any sign of a letup in the rain. Finally, one came, but after learning that the parade had been cancelled, some of our group decided to blow off the game and head back to our motel and watch other games on TV.
Hard to blame them. ESPN finally gave up on the idea of broadcasting Game Day from up on the Plain, and cut back to the studio. I think those thunder claps - or, more likely, the lightning strikes that preceded them - might have had something to do with it.
But there was no way I was going to turn back. There was no way, after growing up idolizing Blanchard and Davis, after years of following Army football, after travelling 3,000 miles to finally watch an Army game in Michie Stadium, that I was going to pass up what might be my only chance to do so. Fortunately, Jason Goodman felt the same way, and Jim Shelton, an old Delaware wing-T guard, didn't require much persuasion, so the three of us set off.
But first, we had to draw on all of General Shelton's expertise in traversing unfriendly terrain. We had to get back across that street, and now, those small streams running down both sides of the street were raging torrents - and we had to go through both of them, water up to our ankles. There was no other way. So, having crossed the Rubicon (if you read Caesar you'll understand that it means there's no turning back) we looked forward to a couple of hours of football in wet shoes and socks. (Real soldiers would have felt no pity.)
We made it to the game, of course. Before the game, thanks to the fact that West Point's Faculty Academic Rep, Colonel Woody Held, is himself a Black Lion, we were able to enjoy the hospitality of the Army basketball program's "tailgater." That is a real misnomer, because there wasn't a station wagon in sight. What it was was a feast for friends of the basketball program, with assorted meats - chicken, roast beef, Italian sausages - on the grill.
While I stood there and munched on a sausage, I noticed a tall cadet standing next to me. He sure looked familiar, and when I saw his name tag, I knew why. It read DOLEAC. Sure enough, he was the younger brother of Michael Doleac, who now plays for the Knicks, and sure enough, he was from Portland, Oregon, and he'd gone to Central Catholic, where I once coached, so we had a few things to talk about. Great young man.
We arrived at the stadium in time to see the Army band march down the field playing "On Brave old Army Team," the first college fight song I can ever remember hearing, and it still gives me chills whenever I hear it. Then, we were all asked to stand while a female cadet sang God Bless America. She was magnificent. Kate Smith couldn't have done it better. The national anthem followed, sung by another cadet. A male. His voice was strong, and he sang it with gusto. It was possible for me and those around me to sing along with him as loud as we wanted, no matter how terrible our voices were. Hell, after all the desecration our National Anthem goes through at every professional sports event, I was so pleased and proud I could have gone home after that and the day would have been a successful one.
But, no. I had to stay for the football game. The sun came out and off came the poncho, then the windbreaker, then the pullover. And off in the far corner, as cadets formed a long tunnel, an artificial fog maker spewed and a bagpiper played "Scotland the Brave," the Army team came onto the field and the band once again broke into "On Brave Old Army Team." This time, the corps of cadets sang it.
It was a nice atmosphere. There wasn't a drunk in sight. It was okay to bring your kids. Down on the sideline, little kids leaned over the fence to pat the Army mules. Immediately in front of us was a large group of guys who, based on the tee-shirts they were wearing ("FDNY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN... ENGINE 61 LADDER 46... FDNY 9.11.01 NEVER FORGOTTEN") I judged to ne New York City firemen.
And then the game began. Buttons everywhere say "GO ARMY... BEAT SOMEBODY" and they are not kidding. Army sucks.
I doubt seriously that it's a personnel issue, as coach Todd Berry so subtly tries to let on, in covering for the fact that Army is now 5-33 on his watch.
How bad is Army? Lemme put it this way: there I sat, next to Jim Shelton, a man who knows a little something about Wing-T football (when he was a guard at Delaware, his coach, Dave Nelson asked him to demonstrate the pulling techniques of the guard for Iowa coach Forest Evashevski, an old Michigan teammate who was preparing to install the Wing-T himself) and we watched Army come out in some sort of unbalanced/overload set to the right, and run a toss right to the single back. PROBLEM: South Florida has coaches, too. They are not stupid. Like all the rest of us, they will always have at least one man who will line up outside the widest man on the line, and this time was no exception. And Army ran a toss right at him, seemingly ignorant of the need to block him. And. left unblocked, he gored the ball carrier.
That was pretty much the extent of the Army one-back running game. The passing game was ineffective, as you might expect at a place whose high academic standards, rigid discipline and military commitment are not conducive to attracting the sort of players who expect to get to the pros playing in a wide-open offense.
You guys ever heard of running the damn ball?
Let's end it by saying that all the Army people I spoke to are deeply distressed about the depths to which AD Rick Greesnpan and current coach Todd Berry have taken the Army football program.
AD Greenspan and his apparent desire to overturn the culture of the United States Military Academy are another story
Ah, well. More on that later.
*********** While I was away... Lincoln 21, Madison 0
Lincoln, tied for first-place in the PIL, appeared before the game to be far superior. The PIL is a league heavy with haves on one end of the scale and have-nots on the other, and Lincoln is most definitely a "have" school. Lincoln came into the game 3-0. Madison by most standards would be classified as a "have-not," and with 10 players going both ways, was coming off a poor, uninspired performance the week before.
And yet, although Lincoln beat us by three scores, the three Lincoln touchdowns were in fact gifts, set up by offensive turnovers and special teams miscues. (Not that Lincoln was content with the shutout and a three-touchdown win. The game ended inside our ten, with the Lincoln coach throwing and pressing for the score. Our kids, rightly, were pissed, and took it as the grossest sign of disrespect, which it was. Head coach Tracy Jackson, to his credit, shook hands with the Lincoln coach, but drew him close and told him what a classless act it was. But that's the PIL - the week before, when we were down 39-0 in the fourth quarter, our opponent was still playing bombs away - with the starters still in.)
It was agonizing for me, being 3,000 miles away. The toughest part was being three time zones away, and despite my wife's entreaties to wake her up early Saturday morning, I didn't have the heart to call her until 7 AM Pacific to hear her impression.
What she told me (she tapes the games for us) was heartening. The kids had played hard. It was a great improvement from the week before. They took pride in their effort.
Our defensive coaches did a great job of scouting Lincoln, and they had a great game plan. Offensively, I thought we had a good plan, but I put a huge burden on Tracy in leaving him and putting it all on his shoulders. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his play-calling. We'd run a play and pick up eight yards and, wisely, he'd run the play again. And it would get stuffed. Not because it was a bad call, and not because of any defensive adjustment - just because the kids seemed incapable of running the same play the same way twice in a row.
There was at least one good example on tape of every play in the repertoire, but interspersed among those good examples were countless anomalies - abnormalities - that caused me several times to ask myself, "now, where the hell did that come from?"
No, the effort wasn't what it should have been. Perhaps that's because they were giving so much effort on defense. But part of the problem may have been confusion. I thought we had that licked, but perhaps we don't, and it doesn't do any good to moan and say that by this point the kids shouldn't be confused - if they are, that is my responsibility.
A certain amount of inconsistency on offense may be inevitable when so many of the players are still learning the game - literally - and so many of them are going both ways, but this beast can be whipped. And we will whip it.
*********** John Mackovic is gone, and Arizona has announced that it will have his replacement hired by the December 1 start of recruiting. (The new guy will be free to recruit, because he sure won't have to worry about bowl game preparations.)
Now, this timetable would seem to insure that the new Wildcats' coach will not be someone who is currently a successful head coach. December 1 is scarcely the time for a guy to either jump ship, or divide his energies and loyalty.
Nor is it likely that an assistant in a successful program is going to get a release or be allowed to work with divided loyalties, either.
That would seem to leave either out-of-work guys with successful head coaching experience, or currently unsuccessful head coaches whose present teams are going nowhere but who might be successful in another environment.
In the former category would be Mike Price, well known to 'Zona AD Jim Livengood, a former Washington State AD, or Rick "Skippy" Neuheisel, an Arizona native.
In the latter category - Oy! Have I got a deal for you! Army's Todd Berry. The guy knows the passing game and seems to be well-liked and respected by other coaches. He's just not the right guy for Army. Give them a week, and Army people could come up with his first year's salary at Arizona, if that's what it would take to get him out of West Point.
*********** Coach Wyatt, The Elmwood-Brimfield Trojans continued their winning ways this past weekend by defeating Bushnell 30-14 (30-0 when the when the starters came out). That runs our record to 5-0, which is not only the best start in school history but also makes this just the eleventh winning season in school history (53 seasons)! We've now qualified for the playoffs and are now shooting for a first-round home game. Thanks for all your help. Sincerely, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Co-op, Elmwood, Illinois
***********
The photo at left is of a water tower in Iraq. The story
behind it goes like this: n officer in the 101st Airborne
Division, most of whose soldiers live in Clarkesville,
Tennessee, was assigned the task of painting it. Ordering
paint from the U.S., he had the Iraqis working for him paint
the Tennessee "Power T" over the Tennessee orange tower.
(From UT fan Keith Babb, of Northbrook, Illinois.)
*********** Hello Coach, hope your trip went well (and that your team won this week). We won 37-0 against Barker - a team who also runs the Double Wing (they used 6 or 9 calls - so Im guessing they run a version of your system). However, they either learned it from your 1st video or from someone who has only seen the 1st video. They had a very deep slow motion and exaggerated it on Red Red and XX-C. We were able to shut them down pretty well with superior personnel and sound technique. They gave us some fits at first by switching their fronts up quite often (really it messed me up - because every time I'd call something to a bubble or a weak player they'd line up in something different, making my calls less effective -- for example GO reach was huge but a couple of times they go into a wide defense at the time I happened to call it. For the most part though they were just guessing and we wore them down.
They had decided to take away our B back and they did 11 carries for 37 yards (1 TD on wedge). But that opened up our Wingback game. Our A back had 16 for 131 and a TD and our C back had 8 for 132 and a TD. Our center had some trouble making the down call vs. a double eagle (it was the first odd defense we'd seen and his first time trying to make the call). This made our offense a bit more sporadic but we did run 47 times for 326 yards and 4 TD's. We were going to attempt a pass but we fumbled the snap too bad -- the kid was wide open in the endzone. On the year our A back is just over 400 yards - our B back sits around 350 and our C back is at 394. We have over 1300 yards rushing and 159 points to our opponents 29. We are doing well with the Double Wing. It also doesn't hurt when youve got the horses.
Thanks, Coach John Dowd, Oakfield-Alabama HS, Oakfield, New York
*********** Coach - Just an update. We are doing pretty dang well. Those two close losses early in the season I think ended up helping us in league play. We won big again yesterday against our cross town rivals, the Stockton Bears. First time we beat this team in 3 years. Beat them 59-22. Won last week 51-12. Get this. In this last game where we scored 59 we only threw the ball once, and it was incomplete! John Torres, Manteca, California
*********** Anybody else see Mrs. Walter Payton interviewed on Monday Night Football? Wow. Does she come across as a classy woman, or what?
*********** Don't know whether anybody else has noticed sideline bimbo Lisa Guerrero when she's on camera, but there's a couple of reasons why she's not looking down and reading her notes any more: (1) they frequently "cut away" to shots of something else while she is talking, and (2) she is now using a teleprompter. (Check where her eyes are directed when she's supposedly looking into the camera.)
*********** Coach - I dont want the kids to get too cocky at this point. What would you to do temper their attitude for a few weeks anyway? A "word of the week" or something? NAME WITHHELD
Ever since a talk I heard back in the 1970's by Bud Wilkinson - who knew a ting or two about long winnign streaks - I have tried really hard to follow his advice about not even talking about the upcoming opponent. He said to concentrate on getting better - said that the opponents were just there to help us find out whether we were getting better.
*********** Even the great ones just have places where they have trouble winning. For example, when Air Force beat BYU Saturday, it was AFA coach Fisher DeBerry's first win ever at Provo.
*********** Speaking of Fisher DeBerry, I frequently get calls from people inquiring about our Double-Wing. "I really like what Air Force does," they tell me. Uh, so do I, but as most of you know, ours is not an option offense, like Air Force's (and Navy's and Georgia Southern's), and if you are tempted to do what the they do, I suggest that the next time one of those "flex-bone" teams plays, you look very closely at their blocking. Those suckers block low, all over the field, which NCAA rules permit but high school rules don't. NFHS rules, which apply to us in all states but Massachusetts and Texas, prohibit it. You are, of course, free to try running the "Air Force offense," but without the advantage that blocking below the waist provides the smaller player, you are going to be at a great disadvantage.
*********** Montana spends its early seasons as a punching bag for Washington and Washington State. Maybe that explains why, when it finally gets around to playing someone it should beat, it isn't up to the task. It lost to Division I-AA Montana Saturday for the fourth straight time.
*********** After suffering an interception in overtime, Arkansas got a reprieve when Alabama players, in the excitment of the moment, joyously piled on the man who made the interception. Tweet. Excessive celebration. Alabama ball, but starting out not at the 25 - already in field goal range - but at the 40. Alabama did get close enough to try a long field goal, but missed, and Arkanas went on to win.
Not in any way to diminish the great Arkansas win, but anyone who thinks that penalizing kids for that sort of celebration makes sense had only to change channels and watch Tennessee-South Carolina (another great game) and watch a USC receiver make a great catch, then spin the ball and do a cakewalk. No penalty for struttin'.
You would think that the geniuses who make the rules would understand that football is a team game, and there is a bit of difference between celebrating on behalf of your team and look-at-me celebrating on behalf of yourself.
*********** Penn State's Rip Engle was against gaudy, flashy uniforms. "How will you look when you lose?" he asked.
When you're winning, it doesn't matter what you wear. But the only way that Oregon could have looked worse than they did Saturday against Washington State would have been if they'd worn those God-awful canary-yellow Nike monstrosities.
*********** Cal fans have to go back a long time - maybe to The Play (the Stanford band and all that) - to remember a bigger cause for celebration than the Golden Bears' 34-31 overtime win over USC Saturday. It is hard for me to imagine a student body heavily-laden with dope-smoking, tree-hugging anarchists actually getting excited about a football game, but damned if there weren't thousands of them out on the field celebrating the win.
*********** I have a good team leader and ball handling QB., but he is small and can not give us the block we would like for Sup Pow. We have another one that has good size and is an excellent passer in practice, but just goes to pieces in the game when he gets hit a few times. Needless to say, I pulled him in the second half and we will go with the ball handler, and shorten the pass routes. We can live with less blocking, but not the fumbles. NAME WITHHELD (You've got to go with the QB you can trust, who is not necessarily the big one who throws the tight spiral. HW)
*********** Amid talk about reviving the corpse of the WUSA, it might be useful to look at some figures....
Sunday, the USA women's soccer team defeated North Korea in World Cup play. I think it was played in Columbus. Doesn't matter.
It was also on TV, and the telecast earned a1.8 rating - 1.8 per cent of all homes with TVs were turned to Women's World Cuip soccer.
Let's put that 1.8 rating into proper perspective:
At the same time as the women were booting the futbol around, Fox's three NFL games were averaging a 14.5 rating, and CBS' six games were averaging 11.1. Ddidn't want to watch the NFL? Nascar from Talladega drew a 4.7 rating.
Now, unless it's sports bars or feminine hygiene products, if you're an advertiser with something to sell, you know where your advertising dollar is going to do you the most good, Title IX be damned.
In a recent letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, a gentleman named Mike Anderson, from West Lafayette, Indiana said it as well as anyone can:
The reason there is no real support for women's sports in general is that most sports fans are men, and most men don't have any interest in watching women play sports. Why don't women's sports proponents understand this?
*********** In case you thought, as I did, that Viagra's sponsoring a race car had plumbed new levels of bad taste (not that there is much good taste left in our culture), there is now one that proudly advertises "Boudreaux's Butt Paste." (Good, they tell me, for diaper rash.)
*********** After opening with four relative weakies, Minnnesota won a big one Saturday, beating Penn State at State College.
Minnesota was 4-0 coming in, but it paid a high price for those wins: in three home games, against Tulsa, Troy State, and Louisiana-Lafayette, the Gophers averaged just 22,262.
*********** Proof that if you give him a big enough checkbook, anybody off the street can be an NBA general manager:
Three of the NBA's top salaries this season will be paid to Portland Trail Blazers. Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire and Shawn Kemp will pull down a total of $46,000,000 between them. Kemp, due to make $14,941,935, doesn't even play in Portland any more.
*********** Hello Coach Wyatt- The Concrete Midgets (9-10 year-old) are 5-0!!
In 5 games we have scored 154 points and only allowed 49.
Last Saturday was a big test for our kids. We played a very physical team that was much bigger than us. We jumped out to an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter. 99 s/p went for 55 yards untouched. The next td was a wedge for 56 yards.
It seemed after that the kids were getting banged up and complaining about the heat. (85 degrees that day). We quit playing with the same intensity that I'm used to seeing out of these kids. Well we had a hard time moving the ball in the second half. Their backside tackle was crashing hard to the inside when the a-back would motion for an 88 s/p and get the tackle from behind just inside the hole.
The adjustment we made was to keep the our backside tackle home and only pull the guard. This worked ok but we need to practice this much more before it will be effective.
The other team tied the score up at 14 with 3 minutes left to go in the game. We got the ball back but ultimately turned it back over to them on downs. We held them, so off to ot.
The kids were tired, some were crying because they thought they lost. I told them about the ot and that all we have to do is go ten yards for a touchdown and hold the other team and we win. That really got some big smiles out of them, and all of a sudden they were fired up.
We got the ball first. I call tight rip wedge, qb doesn't get the ball to the bback and the ball goes on the ground. Qb picks it up the ball and goes around the right end for 7 yards....Next play I call tr 88 s/p, My kid is the a-back and I yell to him "RUN HARD" he looked at me and I could tell there was fire in his eyes. The defense did a good job but we got in.
We held them to only two yards and we win...WOW, this was the first game the kids had to play through adversity. I'm thinking this will be good for us.
Next week we play undefeated Oak Harbor. Any advice on really turning up the heat and intensity for the big game?
I'm not going to change anything we do offensively, they still have to stop us. I'm simply going to work on blocking better and getting more in tune with timing.
Thanks coach, everything we run is straight out of your playbook.. Chad Clark, Concrete, Washington
(Advice on "turning up the heat and intensity?" Do NOT - repeat, do NOT - try to turn up the heat and intensity. Your kids could go to pieces. The less you say about the opponent the better. Instead, concentrate on your team, and put all your focus on getting better, because more than anything, the confidence your kids have that they can succeed is what will carry the day. HW)
*********** When people are asked by pollsters what they think of "General Clark" the responses are quite positive. But when they're asked the same question about Wesley Clark, it's usually "Wesley who?"
Before you go and join all the Demmies, falling all over themselves to kiss General Wesley Clark's feet ("Wow! A Real Soldier! A general, even! And he's one of us!") it might interest you to know that on my recent visit to West Point - General Clark's alma mater - I heard some things about the him that convince me that he is a shallow man of bad character. Now, West Point is a large place full of people with different opinions, but in my entire stay at West Point, I didn't hear a single good thing said about the man.
"A political novice," they call him. Hah. That's a laugh. I could tell you a story about the man that would be guaranteed to make you despise him as the vindictive, self-serving, career-first, ass-kisser that he is and has always been. Now, isn't that pretty much the definition of a politician?
*********** Coach Wyatt- Galva-Holstein 54 Logan Magnolia 0
This is the best we have looked to date. Still have not played anybody (schools we have played thus far are 0-16 combined), but our kids came out focused and played with intensity for the first time all year.
Scores came on... 47-C Lead C.C. 47-C (twice) Lead C.C. 56-C 2 trap at 3 (twice) and a 2 pt conversion with it 99 Super Power 38 G-O Reach
Stats - A Back- 10 carries 188 yards 2 TD's B Back- 5 carries 64 yards 2 TD's and 2 pt Conv. C Back- 12 carries 158 yards 4 TD's QB- 3 carries 33 yards...1 of 3 for 34 yards passing
477 total yards of offense, held the to 65 total yards game was called (50 point mercy rule) on our 1st offensive series of the second half.
Hopefully your trip to West Point was more enjoyable than that of the ESPN College Game Day Crew. I watched (for the whole 20 minutes or so they were on before the storm) and did not see you with your face paint...disappointed in you! (Kidding Coach!) Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa
*********** Dear Hugh, Just wanted to drop a line on the Cowboys varsity team. I watched them beat another double wing team (NFWB Vikings) with less than 20 plays on Saturday.
You have to see these guys to believe them they are a true juggernaut (a terrible, irresistable force).
They could, if the rules allowed it and they didn't care about any ones feeelings, score 100 points a game... they are that good.
They run G-O better than I would ever hope too and have a fullback that knocks people right off their feet when they run power and runs them over when they run trap.
I would like to take some credit, but in this case it is all Dave Livingstone and his coaching staff who did all the work. Congratulations guys on a great win and good luck in the playoffs.
Rick Desotell, Troy, Michigan
*********** Coach, I just finished reading your "News" section from last week. We, too, have started lettering kids in weightlifting. We encourage participation in the winter, but not all kids are basketball players, so we started a weighlifting team to include those athletes. It's worked out well. Plus, it counts towards an award that they can get upon graduation for competing in three sports for four years. Participation in small schools is key, as you know. Thanks, Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood/Brimfield Co-op, Elmwood, Illinois
*********** I have a question for you.....on page 103 you cover WILDCAT RIP 2-WEDGE and when you talk about this play you refer to Tight punt 2 wedge. I am wondering if you could share a little bit of what Tight punt 2 wedge is exactly. Thanks Coach.
"Tight punt" is the set from which we punt - double tight, double-wing, with the B-Back slightly offset to the side of the kicker's foot and the kicker at 10 yards.
The kicker is normally our QB, who starts out under center and then backpedals to 10 yards. While he is backpedalling, we sometimes direct-snap to the B-Back, who runs a wedge.
The QB jumps and throws his hands up in the air as if the punt has gone over his head.
*********** Bloomingdale Illinois- Bloomingdale Bears 6 Tri-City Chargers 0 Well, it was a great weekend for the Bears. Last week we had to play last years runner-up and this week we played the defending BGYFL State champion Tri-City Chargers and completely dominated them on both sides of the ball. The score doesn't indicate how well we played but we showed that we are now the best team in the 100 LB Gold Division. The great thing about this offense is that you can catch teams off balance with the many formation and sets. If they scout you one week and think they have you figured out then you can add some new twist to really blow their mind. We haven't ran 38 GO all year but just added it this week and it worked like a champ! We caught them off guard because they were expecting us to run our SP plays and started rolling their CB's up like LB's and we just reached them with 38 GO and got outside them on some really nice plays. 3 trap at 2 really worked well and we had some nice Criss Cross plays that picked up chunks of yards. Well, we have a tough Wheaton Rams team next weekend and we're looking to stretch our record to 6-0 and our defense still hasn't given up a touchdown all season! 7 games and counting! Take care and talk to you next week. Stacey King Bloomingdale Bears
*********** Sent to me by alert reader (and football mom) Veronica Anderson, of Madison, Wisconsin, who made this astute observation: "Notice that it wasn't the soccer coach who defused this situation."
COLD SPRING, Minnesota (AFP) - One of two teenagers shot by a fellow student in one of the latest school shootings remained remained hospitalized in critical condition, hospital officials said.The 14-year-old suffered head and chest wounds after a fellow student opened fire with a handgun at a high school in Cold Spring, central Minnesota, early Wednesday, authorities said.
A second, 17-year-old victim, died of his injuries in hospital.
The 15-year-old suspect apparently picked his targets at random and was eventually persuaded to give up the gun by Rocori High School's burly former football coach.
*********** Greetings Coach. Hope you and yours are doing good. Specially health wise. I know that currently you do not even have time to scratch your a..How did it go yesterday. I do not have a game until Tuesday. Cave Spring High is pounding the ball on the ground pretty good. They are 4-0. Imagine that. The other high school is 2-2. The leading rusher on the team is the qb. The Jr high I applied for (a year ago) is crumbling fast. They are 1-5. The games are lousy. No one is happy. High school,parents,kids.Some well connected people have approached me this year. Is sure is tempting to reapply. I tell you though. I would have to get over some major resentments to do that. Take care coach. Remember all the good that you do for those kids,coaches,and all of us.Blessings,Armando
*********** Coach, Queensbury rebounded well with a 34-6 win over Johnstown. 396 yards of "O". 350 of it on the ground.
Thanks, John Irion, Queensbury, New York
*********** Hey coach! We won our first game with the double wing last night. My "B" back rushed for 101 yards on 13 carries. Nine of those carries were on "2 Base", cosequently we scored on a pass play that looks like "2Base" with 38 seconds left to win 20-14. We couldn't run to the left because of the huge kid that they had. I am really happy that I switched to the DW. I am a true believer. I will keep you updated on our season.
We need to work on repping more. Just not as crisp as we should be. It was our first Junior high game this season so that is to be expected. We will get better as the season progresses! Craig A. Badura, Centura Junior High, Cairo, Nebraska
*********** Coach, The BSM Red Knights (3-2) got back into the win column Friday night with a 20-19 win over Columbia Heights (3-2). Our "A" back Shane Fox carried 24 times for 218 yards and all three TD's. "C" back Jimmy Smoot had 80 yards on 11 carries. Ran mostly 88/99, 47C, and 44 Lead. Went 2 of 4 passing for 47 yards. Big game this week for homecoming against Minneapolis Edison. Joe Gutilla, MInneapolis
*********** Man Coach, Just read your news section. I'm jealous big time. I have always wanted to go to a West Point game. At least for the last 20 years or so. Hope you enjoyed it. Specially on occasion that you went. Sure that in that atmosphere full of American pride you felt invigorated,patriotic,and proud. Hope you enjoyed it. Glad for you that you were invited.UUUUUUUUURRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Coach Castro (I almost bawled like a baby when I heard "God Bless America" and The Star-Spangled Banner (both sung the way they're supposed to be sung) followed by "On, Brave Old Army Team." HW)
*********** Coach Wyatt, The Umatilla Buldogs defeated North Marion 34-26 this past week to even our record at 2-2. Start district play next week and feel good about what we have done so far. Our first four games were all against larger schools and I feel okay with our 2-2 record at this time. The two loses were by 7 and 4 points. Friday we had 318 yards on the ground and had three different backs score points. We also had an int for a TD and and KO return for a TD. Our defense has been very good and we have faced some excellent running backs and some fine passing attacks. Our defensive backfield is much stronger this year than it has ever been. We went back to our Blocking fair approach this past week and it really paid off. We have four stations -1 - reach block; 2 - doubleteam blocks, 3 - kickout and trap blocks; 4 - downfield stalk blocking We rotate all the kids through all the stations (takes about 15 minutes) and I really think it helps all of them understand the various concepts and difficulty of these blocks. It seems to work well for us. Florida has varsity competition in powerlifting at the high school level. I think that is another reason for all the college kids being recruited out of this state. The two lifts used in competition are the Bench and Clean and Jerk. Hope you had a great weekend at West Point. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida
*********** Good Morning Hugh, The Seahawks won last night beating the previously undefeated Livermore Falls Andies. A big win for us. The score was 32-7 and we are noo 3-1. We had 384 yards rushing and 184 passing. Our A-Back John Farrrin had 143 yards on 10 carries. Next week we Play the number one team in the conference the Lisbon Greyhounds. Should be a real battle. On a sad note we lost our senior C-Back Justin Woods to a knee injury perhaps for the season. He is a team Captain and a Black Knight award winner - a big loss. Hope things went well for you!! Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
*********** Hugh, Lakeside 40 - Lithonia 22 - Our Jv's gave up 16, 4th quarter points VS Lithonia's #1's, but we pretty much pounded the Dogs Saturday night.
Power away from motion was huge as it was the first time all year we showed it. We threw once for a 45 yard TD and ended up with roughly 340 yards in 3 quarters. We will still hear things like "We got to spread them out" and I remember at your clinic, you saying how amazed you are at the tremendous success this offense has, and the criticism you have to tolerate by the Madden 2000 enthusiasts. I'm really used to hearing stuff like that with Brookwood HS, where I live, who goes to the finals or semi's every year for the past 14 years and I hear the same thing in the stands there. They just beat Parkview, #2 in the nation and broke their 43 game winning streak and threw the ball twice. How'd they do that??? wink wink…
We are 4-1 here at Lakeside, the best start in years and coming off two horrible years. We just scored more points Saturday night in 3 quarters than Lakeside did all last season. We are physically well below average and moderately skilled but our offense makes us look a whole lot better than we really are. Our Defense is playing very well and is faced with some of the same inferiority.
The kids love this offense and are flying high right now but we have some monster games ahead. Lakeside 4-1, You gotta love it!!!
Thanks for all you do. Larry Harrison, Lakeside Football, Offensive Coordinator, Atlanta, Georgia
*********** Coach, Hopefully I get this in soon enough to get posted on your winner's circle. Stanton 55 , Osceola 0
A-back 93 yards on 8 carries 1TD; B-back 92 on 5 carries 2TD; C-back 126 yards on 5 carries 1TD; QB 4 of 6 passing 45 yards, 2TD. JV's in on second series of second half. Totals 406 yards rushing on 40 carries with 45 yards passing - total of 451 yards!! Held them to 129 yards of offense. GO DW !!!!! Greg Hansen, Stanton High School, Stanton, Nebraska
*********** Hi there Coach. This is Zach Martinez. You coached me my freshman year up at good ole La Center High School. I was one of the three little running backs if that helps out any. I just wanted to tell you hi, I got your address from Coach Lambert. I'm busy in Iraq right now actually. I joined the Air Force out of high school and BAM! ended up here for my first deployment. Its not bad really, atleast we have a little gym. That's all I need. I was just wondering what you've been up to lately, if you're coaching again somewhere else. Well, I'm really tired (worked a nearly 14 hour shift today) so I need to get going. I hope to hear from you soon. Talk to you later and hope all is well with you and yours.
*********** Coach, We bounced back well tonight. Kids came out focused and scored all our points in the first half. I let our sophomores play offense in the second half and they struggled but they were playing against Tri-Point's seniors. We rushed for 289 yards and were 1-1 for 23 yards and a TD passing (early in the game). My kicker made all 8 extra points and had a 23 yard field goal. He also pinned them deep all night. (He is a weapon!) Mike Benton, Ridgeview HS, Colfax, Illinois
*********** Hi Coach, Game two this past Saturday was a thriller, for the fans anyway. We got the "W" 36-28. The offense just keeps on rolling. We've scored 80 points in two games. (8 minute quarters) The next highest scoring team is Bethune Middle and they've scored 34 points total. Teams are really stacking us inside so the reach plays and the counters are big for us right now. Wedge ain't half bad either.
Defense is another story. This past week, our opponent scored more points than any team has ever scored against me in four years (28 pts.) They had a stud tailback that we pretty much shut down in the first half. Down 22-6, they put him in the shotgun in the second half with five receivers and I got to see what Mike Vick must have looked like when he was in the 8th grade. We couldn't lay a glove on this kid. I'm still scratching my head. He was breaking contain, almost killed us with the QB draw, and had a baby cannon for an arm. It was something to see on film.
Anyway, they tied the game with 3:20 remaining but I knew we had plenty of time to get in. Sure enough my C back (Gwen Torrence's son, Manley Waller) got loose and went about 80 yds for a score. (29 GO reach)
It looks like we're on a collision course with Cedar Grove Middle again in the playoffs. Now that Coach Braswell is in the fold, you might have to come in town for that one.
Coach, I'll never forget what you told me the other day about taking time to enjoy the wins. I've found myself saying that quite a bit to both coaches and players here lately.
A quick question, over the years, how have you dealt with parents complaining about playing time for their kid? I've always been pretty accommodating to those parents, but I feel my patience wearing a little more thin every year.
Anyway, I hope you're doing well, and give my best to Mrs. Wyatt.
Thanks, Kevin Latham, Decatur, Georgia
(First of all, congratulations. And second of all, I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying the wins.
As for playing time--- I do believe that every kid who practices and obeys the rules has earned some playing time. But eight minute quarters is simply not enough to work with.
You have as many players as a lot of high school squads, and you have an even greater need to get kids into the game, but high schools have 12-minute quarters. That means you have 16 fewer minutes (the equivalent of two full quarters) available to you to get the same number of kids into the game.
It is really difficult to get a whole lot of kids into such short games.
Don't know what your arrangements are, but I would lobby really hard to either schedule a couple of B-squad games, or to play a fifth-quarter (or, better yet, a fifth-and-sixth quarter) following each game. I would imagine the only extra cost would be for officials. If that's the only problem, and school funds aren't available, you might even consider asking parents who complain whether they would be willing to chip in to pay the officials.
Let me know what you think.)
***********
Bob Barton, a Yale grad from back in my time is now retired
as a sports columnist for the New Haven Register, but he
remains active as a writer, and we've struck up an
acquaintance based on his near-photographic memory of Yale
football. (He passed acid test - when I knew he really knew
his stuff - when he remembered me. I mean, I never did
anything memorable. This is no kidding - a few years back,
when a reporter from the Register was doing a story leading
up to the state championship game between Fitch High of
Groton and Notre Dame of West Haven - one of them a pure
double-winger and the other a double-winger disguised as a
slot-I team - he happened to mention my involvement with the
double-Wing to a fellow member of the sports staff. The guy
was Bob Barton, He remembered me. Why, I'll never know.
Anyhow, he wrote me recently:
By way, he wrote, have you seen the latest Yale alumni magazine, which identifies Kenny Wolfe as a "tailback"? That was news to me. I think the last time Yale had a true tailback was 1943, last year Howie Odell used the single wing.
Interesting. I read the same article. Ken Wolfe was a helluva runner out of Lebanon, Pennsylvania who was the leading scorer on Yale's undefeated 1960 team. He went on to great success in business, retiring a couple of years back as CEO of Hershey Foods. (Hershey Foods is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania, no more than 15 miles west of Lebanon, but Hershey, one of the most immaculate little towns you'll ever see, is world's apart from Lebanon, an industrial town like so many others in Pennsylvania that have seen better times. For a Lebanon kid whose grand-dad worked for Armco Steel in Baltimore, whose dad worked for Pittsburgh Nut and Bolt in Lebanon, becoming CEO of Hershey had to be like working in the fields and looking up at the castle on the hill, imagining what it would be like to live there, and then one day finding yourself living there.)
In any event, Bob was spot on. Ken Wolfe was no tailback, as anybody who looks at the accompanying photo of Yale's 1960 team - Ken's at number 43, at right half - can attest. (Anybody recognize the formation?)
Bob went on:
Maybe I'm a purist, but I always considered that a tailback stood 5 yards behind the center and took a direct snap. I call the deep man in an I formation the I-back, a term I think I got from one of Carm Cozza's assistants.I realize most moderns use "tailback" indiscriminately.
Yale now uses a shotgun in passing situations but refers to the recipient of the direct snap as the quarterback, which he is in his normal role.
Cozza basically used a pro set when he had Calvin Hill, but he went to the I formation in 1969 with Don Martin (later a DB with Oakland) as the deep back, and the I was pretty much Carm's staple for about 26 years. He used wishbone when he had Dick Jauron and three other backs who could run in 1972, and he used what I'd call a speedbone (not really triple option) when he had running QBs in the early '90s.
I remember Olivar used double wing among a bunch of formations. Seems to me the 1960 team showed a different look each week. Against Columbia they ran something that looked like a power-I, and I don't think they ever showed it again. That's what I liked about Ollie; he was always giving the other team something to think about as a distraction.
COME SEE US! WE ARE ONLY FIVE MINUTES FROM THE PORTLAND AIRPORTMADISON SENATORS 2003 SCHEDULE
9/5 - 7:00 pm (H) Sandy Pioneers
9/12 - 7:30 pm - at Parkrose Broncos
9/19 - 5:30 pm - at Benson Techmen*
9/26 - 7:00 pm - (H) Lincoln Cardinals*
10/3 - 3:30 pm - at Cleveland Warriors*
10/9 - 7:00 pm - at Wilson Trojans*
10/17 - 7:00 pm (H) Roosevelt Roughriders *
10/24 - 7:00 pm - at Franklin Quakers*
10/31 - 7:00 pm (H) Marshall Minutemen*
* Portland Interscholastic League Games
"The
Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton,
subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the
Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available
through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois.
to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/
and click on "Publications and Products")
Or contact me if you'd like
to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give
you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General
Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now
serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All
profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions
and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of
the Black Lion Award).- I have my copy. It is
well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains
in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and
"Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all
those military terms, so that guys like you and me can
understand what they're talking about.
--- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS
SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003
"NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST"
inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois
BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM
THE BLACK LION AWARD
***********
Madison High of Portland is now 1-1. It was not easy.
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Lance Alworth was the first AFL
player to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They
called him "Bambi," partly for his baby-faced appearance,
but mostly for his speed, agility and gracefulness, and the
acrobatic catches which became his trademark. He was listed
at 6-foot, 185, but he appeared much smaller.