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JANUARY, 2005

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 31, 2005  "I guess more players lick themselves than are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself." Connie Mack, Hall of Fame baseball manager  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS 2005 CLINICS SET --- for more info - 2005 Clinics   *********** If the Oregon Ducks land a top recruiting class tomorrow - and based on the commitment they've already received from the top running back prospect in the country, they are well on their way to doing so - give some of the credit to a comic book. How would you like to be a high school football player and be the star of a comic book? If you were being recruited by the Oregon Ducks, you were - you'd have received a copy of your very own "O-Men" comic book, one in which you were the star, one page a week for the last 14 weeks. Think it's not a great idea? Consider this - heavily-recruited kids get stacks and stacks of letters, mass mailings from dozens of colleges. At first, the attention is exciting, but soon enough, those letters become so routine that they are never opened - kids throw them in boxes, perhaps to someday show their grandchildren. "Just boring looking stiff," Ducks' recruit Brian Truelove, from Snellville, Georgia, told the Portland Oregonian. But then, "I get this comic book page," Truelove said, "and it's got me on the cover, and Number 72, and it says, 'A Hero is Born.' I was like, Ohmigod, this is crazy!" Week after week, recruits got pages showing them on their recruiting trips, starring for the Ducks, winning the national title, and going on to play in the NFL. Players go to classes, go to the weight room, and practice. During a game, Ducks' broadcaster Jerry Allen calls a play in which the player stands out. Prominent Oregon alum Phil Knight, founder and CEO of Nike, is shown pumping his fists in the air in celebration of the big win. And the player's face appears on the scoreboard as he is named Player of the Game. (Schools used to put together media shows on their scoreboards featuring recruits, but the NCAA has put an end to that.) Excuse me - I should have said "NIKE Player of the Game." Oregon isn't stupid. Oregon's private jet and metallic-green Hummer, which they can no longer use to transport recruits, get prominent play in the comics. "Oregon has done something totally different," Kevin Garrett, a safety from Harbor City, California told the Oregonian. "It's like they've put you in the program already." Oregon has a bunch of hip young marketing types dedicated to staying on the legal side - the comic book idea was cleared by the Pac-10 and the NCAA - but otherwise pushing the envelope. For example, the NCAA prohibits sending out posters. But not a jigsaw puzzle. Not if it's sent, piece by piece, over a period of weeks. So that's what Oregon did, and when the last piece was sent, so was its message: "Be a Piece of Our Family." (The comic book pages, to comply with NCAA regulations, are sent out in black-and-white.) Although a team of staffers does extensive research on the recruits, the better to individualize each recruit's book, most of the actual art work on the comic book(s) has been done by an athletic department intern named Brian Merrell, a fifth-year multimedia and design major. Every week, he had to customize the weekly page to each one of some 70 different recruits. In some cases, he only has to change a little bit of copy. In others, he has to draw fairly heavily on his artistic talents. "It'll show a picture of my face," Truelove told the Oregonian, "and it'll pretty much look like me!" And Merrell has been doing this for every prospect, every week, for 14 weeks. For $1,000 a month. Not that he doesn't have any future job prospects. As he told the Oregonian, "Phil Knight has seen my work and knows me." (Left) Brian Truelove, Oregon Ducks' recruit from Snellville, Georgia, on the cover of "The Amazing O-Men" comics; (Upper Right) Brian appears on the Oregon scoreboard after being named "Nike Player of the Game."; (Bottom Right) "At the conclusion of his visit," the top caption says, "Brian met with Head Coach Mike Bellotti." Coach Bellotti says, in the bubble on the left, "It sounds as if you enjoyed your time with our players and developed a relationship with the coaching staff." In the bubble on the right (no doubt opponents will accuse him of talking out of both sides of his mouth) he says, "I'm glad you feel at home here. We put a strong emphasis on family atmosphere, and Eugene is a great place to live." *********** A guy entered the Senate chambers of the Oregon capitol Monday, pulled a knife and held it point-first against his chest, and demanded to see the Governor. Said if he didn't get to see the Governor, he'd stab himself. Holding himself hostage, eh? It was a long time ago, but wasn't there a scene like that in "Blazing Saddles?" *********** Hello Coach Wyatt, A few comments on the last NEWS: You are correct about the Patriots earning the comparisons to great teams of the past. As hard as it is for me to say, being a long time Dolphins fan (yes I still admit it). But the accomplishments of the Pats the last few years may even surpass those of the Dolphins of the early 70's, whose own achievements are often overlooked due to the great Steeler teams of the same era. Still, I think the Eagles have a good shot, but only if Owens does not try to play. If he does, they are doomed due to the distractions of that sideshow. Am I wrong to think that there are some team players on the Eagles that hope he can't play? My 9th grade son noticed the McNabb "toss" play and wondered to me about the pulling linemen, to which my response was "they probably can't pull quick enough". Then I thought, we spend so much time convincing young players that they can pull effectively only to tell them the 350lb NFL linemen can't? And I do not believe the guards pulled either on their rendition of the "buck sweep"! Your story about the lack of flag respect at the basketball game made me think, I wonder how many HS kids today know, or are ever taught, the following: US FLAG ETIQUETTE SEC. 6 During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should render the military salute at the first note of the anthem and retain this position until the last note. When the flag is not displayed, those present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed there. 36 U.S.C. 171-178, PUBLIC LAW 94 - 344 Hope to see you in Atlanta. Regards, Lee Griesemer, Chuluota, Florida (Maybe I do have to look a little more at those Dolphins. It is possible that they could be considered among the "dynasties." HW) *********** Longtime Peabody (Massachusetts) High baseball coach Ed Nizwantowski, who was featured prominently in a recent Sports Illustrated article dealing drug use among Peabody High athletes, was "nonrenewed" (fired) last week. Although he'd spend 18 years as head coach at Peabody, and 14 years as an assistant before that, his job was opened up to all applicants. He reapplied, but the job wound up going to one of his former players. "Am I disappointed? Absolutely," Nizwantowski told the Boston Globe. "What's even more disappointing is the reason they're giving for my dismissal is that they're `going in another direction.' That's what Larkin said. What other direction is there to go in? The last two years we were in the North [Sectional] final; last year we won it. We've won the Greater Boston League the last two years. That's all I'm worth after 35 years of service is, `We're going in another direction?' " He remains the head football coach, but the school principal indicated that that job, too would be coming open soon. Nizwantowski wasn't certain that he'd reapply in that case. "I grew up in this town," said Nizwantowski. "My kids grew up here. My family is from here, my wife's family is from here. This wasn't just a job, this was my life." (Imagine - the guy's been their head coach for 18 years, and an assistant for 14 more, and - just like that! - they announce that they're going to go "in another direction." What weasels. HW) Coach, You're right. After 35 years, they really owe him a better explanation than "We're going in another direction." Legally, of course, they don't (Technically, he wasn't fired. His contact just wasn't renewed. Around here most schools employ coaches with one-year contracts, but re-hiring coaches is usually just a formality unless they really mess up.) but morally they do. It's one thing to say that to the media and leave it at that. It's quite another to say that to somebody they're firing. The man did have the stones to bench Jeff Allison after he missed a practice and he took a lot of heat from pro scouts who came to see the kid pitch. I give him credit for that. Ed Nizwantowski did have a run-in with MIAA and Lowell Spinners officials at the sectional baseball finals in 2003 because the grounds crew didn't give his team enough time to warm up and he was upset about playing a morning game the day after the semifinal game Peabody played in went to extra innings (and in Massachusetts Division 1 tournament games are nine innings). He was not allowed to coach his team in the Spinners' ballpark at last spring's sectional finals, but if that was the reason for his dismissal, it would have been done months ago. Something you wrote a few years ago made a lot of sense to me. Whenever a coach is let go, the administrators say they can't comment because of confidentiality issues. As you pointed out, that could lead people to always think the worst. As you said, maybe it would be better for everybody if the administrators gave their reasons and let people decide for themselves if justice was done. Take care. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Steve Tobey, Malden, Mass. *********** In golf, a rule is a rule. In tennis, it's whatever suits the moment. Tennis hit a new low in my book, in the Australian Open women's final this past weekend. Serena Williams was down 4-1 in the first set to Lindsay Davenport, and Ms. Williams appeared to be in considerable pain. She just wasn't able to make plays. Play was halted, and she was administered to on the sidelines by a trainer/masseuse, then taken to the locker room. To anyone who knows athletes and athletic injuries, it appeared that we were dealing with some sort of muscle strain. In other words, she was through. Her opponent, meanwhile, could do nothing but stand and wait. Rules of tennis specify that Ms. Williams be allowed a certain amount of time before she had to return, or the match would be forfeited to Ms. Davenport. We were told what the amount of time was - I think it was three minutes - but, the TV people added dismissively, in cases like this the rule is routinely ignored. In other words, take as long as you need Serena. After an excessive amount of time, I'll be damned if she didn't come back out, ready to play. She acted as though she was favoring something - the TV people very helpfully told us it was a "dysfunctional rub" - and struggled through the rest of the hopeless first set, losing it. But then - do you believe in miracles? - the rogue rib must have fixed itself, or else Ms. Williams had a session in the locker room with Oral Roberts, because she came out and won the second set, and the third as well, to win the championship. "Dysfunctional rib?" I didn't know ribs even had a function. I thought they just sort of stayed there, like pickets in a fence. Or was it gamesmanship - taking a little break to get our sh-- together, while working on our opponent's head? Who can say? Not to say that Serena Williams isn't a great tennis player and a great competitor, but her miraculous recovery brought to mind those European soccer players who roll around on the field writhing in pain and get wheeled off in a gurney, only to return to play a couple of minutes later. But real or fictitious though the injury and recovery may be, the point is that if the rules of a sport specify a certain amount of time, no competitor should get more. Not even if it is the finals of the Australian Open, and promoters of the event are scared to death that they might have to call the match and send thousands home disappointed. In cases like this, there seems to be an unlimited amount of concern about being "fair" to the injured party - but where's the fairness to the opponent? True fairness results from rules being applied as they are written. Imagine groggy boxers taking as long as they need between rounds. Imagine guys down for the count - and being three more counts to get up. Makes you wonder how different the history of boxing might have been if tennis people had been in charge. *********** We've all been getting those forms in the mail lately, our reminders that tax time is almost here. If President Bush finds himself with a little time on his hands, maybe he'd enjoy browsing through the US tax code (3.5 million words) and the IRS regulations (8 million words). Better yet, maybe he'd be inspired to do something about them. Taken together, writes Steven Moore in the Wall Street Journal, they are 12 times as long as the complete works of Shakespeare, and 15 times as long as the King James version of the Bible. *********** The inauguration pumped millions of dollars into the economy of Washington, D.C., thanks largely to the lavish spending of corporate bigwigs. Many were the detractors who said that it was obscene to spend that all that money on ceremony, when it could have been better spent on Tsunami recovery. The Super Bowl will pump millions of dollars into the economy of Jacksonville, thanks largely to the lavish spending of corporate bigwigs. So why isn't anyone saying the money should be donated to Tsunami victims? *********** Rasheed Wallace, himself one of the most offensive people you will ever encounter in this lifetime, evidently was offended that he had to pay a call on the President of the United States, when the Pistons visited the White House Monday. I'm sure that Mr. Bush - if he cares - has at least one adviser savvy enough to tell him all he needs to know about Rasheed Wallace. I frankly doubt that 'Sheed even knew, going in, which one of the short white guys was the President, and what his name was. *********** Sounds as if the NFL is trying to make amends, which is fine with me... Cadets from the four service academies - the Air Force Cadet Chorale, the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club, West Point Choir and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Choir will sing the national anthem to kick off Super Bowl XXXIX. They will be performing as part of a tribute to World War II veterans. It will mark the first time since President Nixon's inauguration in 1973 that all four service academies will be singing together. *********** Damn shame that thanks to "indecency" concerns, we won't get to see the Bud Light "Wardrobe Malfunction" spot on the Super Bowl telecast, but it's already had plenty of "exposure" (sorry) thanks to Anheuser-Busch's putting it on the company Web site. If you hadn't heard, it shows some stagehand, backstage, having trouble opening his Bud Light. He picks up a piece of cloth to help get a better grip on the bottle, and damned if he doesn't wind up ripping the piece of cloth, which turns out to be part of a woman's outfit - the top. He hurriedly "repairs" the torn piece of clothing with Scotch tape... *********** The Bush administration, accused of incompetence and mismanagement, not to mention outright dishonesty, is deservedly taking some credit for the fact that election turnout in Iraq was better than most turnouts on the United States. It certainly does appear that a little bit of America has been exported to the Middle East. But we're not out of the woods yet. Now that we've taught them how we vote in the US, we have to hope and pray that congressional Democrats don't fly over there and show them how our losers act when they don't like the results. *********** The Portland Trail Blazers, whose trail blazing these days is confined to finding new ways to offend civilized fans, just found another one. It was a videotape session the morning following a game, and evidently Darius Miles took offense at the way coach Maurice Cheeks pointed out something he'd done,because he launched a tirade in which numerous witnesses agree he used a "racial epithet" at least 20 times. His parting shot was that he hoped the Blazers lost their remaining 20 games, so that Cheeks would get fired. What to do? Blazers' management thought hard. They couldn't trade the a**hole because nobody else would swallow that contract of his - just before the season, the Blazers gave him a six-year, $48 million dollar (guaranteed) deal. So they took action. For his outburst, Miles was suspended for - are you ready for this? - TWO games. And Miles issued an "apology" - through a spokesman, as is always the case. He apologized to the fans. He never said a word about Maurice Cheeks. *********** Coach Wyatt, We finally got to have our banquet and tie up this year's football program. It was hard to schedule it because they kept changing the dates that we were going to move into our new school. Finally we moved and I was able to schedule it for today. Our Black Lion Award winner was Robby Brown. Robby is a junior and was a very promising running back for us. But he was behind a couple of seniors that were a little quicker and his playing time was somewhat limited at the beginning of the season. We found ourselves once again a little thin on the offensive line and started looking at personnel that might have the ability to play guard for us. Robby was one of the first people I thought of and when I approached him he immediately said yes, and began working out with offensive linemen. Before the season was over he was a starter and will give us some more versatility going into next year's season. The best thing about it is he will be a senior and it is the first time that we will have the opportunity for our winner to play with the Black Lion patch on his jersey. I still have to get the FHSAA to approve him wearing it, but with the publicity that the Black Lion Award has been give, and with the conflict in Iraq I can't imagine them saying no. But if they do, they will get some very bad publicity from this coach. I will immediately go to the papers and the veteran's groups and put some pressure on them. He is very deserving and I will be honored to see wear the patch. Thanks for supporting this program. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida (Black Lion Award site) *********** Coach Timson on another subject: Coach Wyatt, I purchased "Walking the Line" and certainly enjoyed it. I completed it today while waiting on my six-month lab procedure at the VA clinic. In addition to all the Hillsdale references I found it interesting he did his Marine Corps indoctrination at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. I was on ROTC duty there from 1971-74 and got started coaching with the late Keith Piper, Head coach at the time. I think Coach Piper was one of the last college coaches to bring the single-wing back in the early 80's. They even made it to sports illustrated. He had been a center for the single-wing at Baldwin Wallace. Thought that was very interesting, and I even received some of the tapes from he he ran it in the 80's. The book was fascinating and very interesting. It is not surprising that Mike Lude was so successful when you look at his priorities and values. A most interesting individual, and an AD that any coach would have loved to work for. Thanks for the tip on this excellent book. Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, and as such deserves credit for being co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607 "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 28, 2005  "A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin." H. L. Mencken  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS 2005 CLINICS SET --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** The 2004 Madison High Highlights tape is now ready to ship. It runs about an hour and a forty minutes, and includes hundreds of plays from this past season, in which he turned a program that had gone 0-9, 1-8 and 2-7 into a 7-2 season. (MADISON HIGH, 2004)The real significance of our success, I think, is the way we were able to make use of the kids that we had. We were not overly talented, but we had a very tough, hard-working, unselfish group of kids, a few of them with unique gifts, and I think we coaches did a great job of putting them all in the right places - places where they could enjoy the most individual success, and at the same time make the greatest contribution to the team. I also think we did a great job of zeroing in on what it was that these particular kids did best, and not letting ourselves get too far from the basic plan. There is a certain emphasis on the "Multiple Wing" - you will notice that we did not remain in one formation - we ran at least one play from at least 20 different formations - but at the same time you will notice that we did not run a great number of different plays. (For example, you will be interested, I think, to see how many different ways you can employ "power" blocking.) If you are a Double-Wing coach or if you are even thinking of using some Double-Wing in your program, I think this tape will open your eyes. To order a copy of the tape, send $29.95 (check, money order or school P.O.) to Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Ave - Camas, WA 98607 *********** If Oregon has an unusually good recruiting year - and judging by the commitment it just received from Jonathan Stewart, of Lacey, Washington, rated top running back in the US, that's where the Ducks are headed - give a lot of the credit to an artist in Eugene, Oregon. More about this on Tuesday! *********** One side benefit of reading omnivorously is that you never know when you might come up with something for the NEWS page. Our local paper, the Vancouver Columbian, ran an investigative feature recently on the Vancouver police - their alleged "heavy-handed" tactics and their seeming lack of accountability. I am not going to excuse excessive force by police officers, other than to say that one person's definition of "excessive" can vary greatly from another's, and to add that while I have never stood in a police officer's shoes, I have been a school teacher. I've dealt with some pretty sorry-ass customers, and I can only imagine what they would be like on the day when, inevitably, the police had "contact" with them. So I did begin to get a little tired of some of the usual accusations in the article, and I was almost ready to put the it aside and go on to something more enlightening when - voila! - there it was. Something for my page. Part of the article dealt with the fact that any time a complaint of misconduct is lodged against an officer, the police union rushes, kneejerk, , to his defense. And in the case of Vancouver ,it turns out that the president of the local union is himself not without sin. You are not going to believe what this guy did. Why, back in 1998, he and another sergeant were seen doodling - drawing cartoons! - during a YWCA session on domestic violence! And as if that wasn't bad enough, the cartoons "expressed how bored he was." The incident was reported to his superiors, and presumably, went into his file. Ohmigad, I thought. This guy is bad. And he carries a weapon? I mean, his conduct was unthinkable. Totally unprofessional. It would be like an Army Ranger getting bored at an Amnesty International presentation. Or a factory worker getting bored at a mandatory diversity workshop. Or a football coach getting bored at a faculty meeting. Hmmm. Come to think of it, some of my best plays were drawn up in faculty meetings. *********** Christopher Anderson, a graduate student at Stanford, has seen the results or the renovation of Stanford's Maples Pavilion, and in his weekly column for the Stanford Daily, tells his readers that he doesn't like what he's seen. I've printed excerpts of it below. Of special interest to most of us ought to be the business about the video commercials on the Jumbotron screen, because it is drastically changing the nature of the game experience, to the benefit of revenue0hungry athletic departments, and the all-too-willing advertisers. Well, now that we've all had a chance to get used to it, the verdict is in on the renovated Maples Pavilion. And it's not good. Former 6th Man Committee member Rustin McCullum feels the uniqueness and character of the facility have been destroyed. "I really liked the fact that we had a small, dingy arena, with no frills, and all we did was win. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't comfortable for the opposition, and it gave us a real advantage. Now Maples is just another basketball arena." McCullum cites the since-replaced springy floor. Only graduate students and longtime fans will remember when Arizona came to Maples in February 2000 against #1 ranked Stanford. As the Wildcats' Jason Gardner went to the free throw line late in the game, the 6th Man section jumped on the bleachers with such force that the court itself was shaking. The officials threatened to assess a technical foul on the crowd for disrupting play. The 6th Man Club floor bleachers, now double-wide, require two rows of fans to pack in each tier. This punishes shorter spectators, girls especially. There is no place for students to stash coats and sweatshirts, which get inadvertently stepped on. And only half the section can sit down. For those with joint or muscle ailments - or just plain fatigue - even a few minutes' rest at halftime can mean a world of relief. Nor does the new video scoreboard &endash; which seems oversized - impress McCullum. "The corner boards were easy to read at a glance. Now we have to crane our necks, and at every timeout we're bombarded with loud video advertisements. " Apparently the next step in the so-called 'arms race' of college sports is to turn your facilities into giant audiovisual billboards and hold the fans hostage to commercials from dawn to dusk. This development is bizarre when one considers that several years ago the athletic department dedicated itself to removing placard ads from Maples and Stanford Stadium. The Band was none too happy, either. According to the LSJUMB (the band impishly refers to itself as the Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band), they were told their drum kit would not fit in the new band section due to code, that they would not be allowed to field their standard 60-person unit and that they would not get to play as often during games so that the scoreboard could show ads. Los Altos resident Colin Rudolph, 35, holds season tickets that his parents first bought twenty years ago &endash; when the Cardinal was the doormat of the Pac-10. He was livid to find his post-remodel seats had been bumped to beyond the baseline, sharpening the visual angle to the floor. According to what the ticket office told him, a game of musical chairs was played with the season tickets which (unsurprisingly) reassigned big Buck Club donors to center court and displaced those for whom the ticket price is expensive enough. It does have the feel of a low-rent NBA facility rather than a college fieldhouse. The brightly-painted but one-dimensional interior makes "ugly building" look tasteful. It certainly looks as though they blew a bunch of money on devaluing the individual fans' experience to ensure cash flow in the form of increased commercial and concession revenues. Apparently the next step in the so-called 'arms race' of college sports is to turn your facilities into giant audiovisual billboards and hold the fans hostage to commercials from dawn to dusk. Christopher has no idea how spot-on this is, especially the sccoreboard business. It is no joke - it is happening all over the country as arenas are being turned into palaces of advertising. It is exactly why the band is being dissed - the band, in this day of giving sponsors maximum bang for their buck, is a quaint relic, an unwelcome intrusion on the video commercials. At many schools, band membership, once considered attractive because the band was considered an integral part of the show, is on the decline. Many bands, finding out how little time they have to play, have given up. I wonder why Stanford didn't at least take a look at Duke. Although they are academic rivals, there are certainly things to admire about the way Duke, realizing that it had something special in Cameron Indoor Stadium (named for long-time coach and AD Eddie Cameron, not an insurance company or energy firm) decided to capitalize on the things that made it special. It is not flashy. It is classy. Its woodwork is rich and warm, and its railings are well-polished brass. It is old, and it seats less than 10,000. But as a basketball cathedral, there is nothing left quite like it, except maybe the Palestra in Philadelphia. You stand at midcourt and look up the championship banners and the retired jerseys, and realize that, as a fan of basketball, you are in a sacred place. Think of Fenway Park, but with many, many more championship teams. Stanford might also have noted that in keeping with long-standing tradition, Duke students - in deference to the outlandish, Stanford-style tuition their parents must pay - still occupy the premium seats - the ones closest to courtside. *********** I have been coaching at the youth level for about four years now as an assistant. At the last banquet the president of the league asked me to be the new head coach of the B-squad. As you know, these are ten and eleven year olds. This is a good, competitive league. These kids for the most part have several years experience under their belts, but you always get a few brand new kids every year that never played before. My question is: can I teach kids of this age group the double wing offense?  Any other advice?   Congratulations. The joys and thrills will outweigh the headaches and heartaches of being a head coach. My short answer to you is "Yes," - you can teach this, and your kids can learn it and run it. There are youth teams all over the US - and quite a few in Upstate New York who are running my offense successfully. There is a large number in the Buffalo area, and not far from you some people in Avon doing an exceptional job running my system. The material is quite easy to understand and digest, and you will find it quite logical, which simplifies teaching it. And your kids will like it because it gives everyone a job and keeps everyone involved. *********** Q. Is "A Fine Line" only for the OL on the double-wing teams ? (We are running an I-Formation) A. "A Fine Line" is aimed at Double-Wing coaches, but in it we teach a number of skills for offensive linemen, and if there is any pulling or trapping in your offensive scheme, this tape would be useful to you. *********** Coach Wyatt, I purchased "Walking the Line" and certainly enjoyed it. I completed it today while waiting on my six-month lab procedure at the VA clinic. In addition to all the Hillsdale references I found it interesting he did his Marine Corps indoctrination at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. I was on ROTC duty there from 1971-74 and got started coaching with the late Keith Piper, Head coach at the time. I think Coach Piper was one of the last college coaches to bring the single-wing back in the early 80's. They even made it to sports illustrated. He had been a center for the single-wing at Baldwin Wallace. Thought that was very interesting, and I even received some of the tapes from he he ran it in the 80's. The book was fascinating and very interesting. It is not surprising that Mike Lude was so successful when you look at his priorities and values. A most interesting individual, and an AD that any coach would have loved to work for. Thanks for the tip on this excellent book. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida (Mike Lude, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, as as such deserves credit for being co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line.") *********** Speaking of books... Coach Wyatt, I know that you like to hear about good books. I have just finished reading The Way We Played the Game, by John Armstrong. Do not know if you have read or heard anything about it. It is the story about the 1903 Benton Harbor (MI) High School football team. It tells a great story about the early beginnings of football. The author intended it to be as historically accurate as possible while fictionalizing the story only in minor details, story perspective, and in order to give real issues a face and a voice, i.e. he created a female teacher to present the arguments against football at the time. I thought there were some interesting items that could be pulled from the story to promote thought about how the game is today. It certainly gave myself some ideas and an understanding of how the State of Michigan already had its hand into the game. If you have not read it, I believe you would enjoy it. I myself have a signed copy from the author as he works with my wife. Hope to see you in Detroit. Roger Doorn, Kalamazoo, Michigan (I appreciate the review. As a matter of fact, I picked up The Way We Played the Game on one of my bookstore excursions, and it is on my "Need to Read" list! HW) *********** If you wonder why NFL telecasts are looking so much like video games these days, and why Big Football seems willing to sell its soul to the video game manufacturers, it is important to know that the NFL has seen the future, and it's worried to death about losing today's youngsters. You wonder why? Consider this: according to a recent Michigan State University study, eighth-grade boys - the season-ticket holders of the future - now play video games an average of three-and-a-half hours a day! *********** Coach- Saw a little piece in the news today about "A Civil War." I'm about 100 pages into it right now and I cant wait until I again have an hour of free time to pick it up again. Tremendous book...highly recommended. Brian Rochon, North Farmington HS, North Farmington, Michigan ("A Civil War" by John Feinstein is a great look at the football teams of Army and Navy as they prepare for their big game. It was published in 1996, and it deals primarily with the 1995 game, but it is timeless in the way it looks into the workings of the two academies and the two football teams. HW) *********** What is a "school P.O.?" I see this on some of your materials? "P.O." is short for "Purchase Order," a business form issued by an organization in which it orders goods, and promises to pay for them after they are delivered. Naturally, a smart businessperson doesn't honor such a promise from an organization unless it is sound enough and strong enough financially to make good on it. A school, which is backed by taxpayers, would be considered such an organization. *********** Please don't try this at home... About 1:30 a.m. Monday, Reno police said the man called 911 asking for help because he could not stop the bleeding from a self-castration operation. The man was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he told police he castrated himself to lower his libido and learned of the procedure on the Internet. Hospital officials announced that the self-surgery had been "successful." (If you call that success.) "The man obviously needs some sort of counseling," said Reno police Lt. Ron Donnelly, in what, with more than eleven months left in 2005, is sure to be the understatement of the year. *********** Coach Wyatt: (You wrote )"The logic of NFL teams lining up in shotgun on 3rd and 1 and throwing the ball totally baffles me. The Falcons, with a 260-pound running back T.J. Duckett, did just that Sunday - and threw an interception." Not that the Steelers were going to beat New England anyway, but two of these situations came up and were key transition points in the game. On 4th and 1 from the NE 30 in the first period, down 3-0, the Steelers slammed Bettis off left tackle.  He coughed up the ball, but was short of the sticks anyway. At the beginning of the 4th period, down 14, the Steelers had 1st and goal at the 4.  Bettis up the middle, no gain.  Second down, jump ball to Burress in the end zone.  He should have caught it, but did not.  3rd and goal, Bettis up the gut.  Gain of 2.   4th and goal, field goal.    He probably figured that they could not get a yard in the first quarter, so he did not think he could gain 2.  But the situation I believed dictated going for it to close the gap to 7.  This is typical of most NFL coaches, and particularly true of three of the playoff coaches (Shottenheimer, Edwards, and Cowher) who have never been able to win the big game. I think part of the problem lies with the fact that on running downs, everyone in the house knows that the tailback is going to get the ball.   I think that the trend in having a pure-blocking, non-running fullback has hurt the ability of teams to get that tough 3/4th and 1 yard. Just my two cents worth as a broken hearted Steeler fan. I couldn't agree with you more. There is simply no deception in the running game, and seldom any true power, and when they line up in the "I", the chances of the fullback getting the ball are as good as my getting it. Sorry about the Steelers. I have a theory as to why you  see  the almost universal use of an I-variant in the pros, (and increasingly in the major college ranks).  My theory  is that it in this era of specialization, it is easier to find a guy who is a pure runner (who can't block) and a great blocker (who may not be the best runner.)  In the old days, you had  to find a couple of guys back there who could do a little of both.    One would think that 255 pound Jerome Bettis or 260 pound D.J. Duckett would be able to block someone if called upon,  as both outweigh their fullbacks by 30 pounds.  It reminds me a little of the old Pittsburgh Penguins with Mario Lemieux.  They used to actively seek a "goon" to protect him.  I said "Hey, this guy is 6-4, 225. Why does he need a goon bodyguard?  Seems that he could be his own goon." Seems the 49'ers of not so long ago used to make good use of Tim Rathmann out of Nebraska as an occasional runner, and he was an outstanding blocker to boot. Do you agree with this theory?  In fairness,  I do see more power plays being run these day than I did a few years ago.  Lots of teams will pull a guard to lead the tailback off tackle.  But 90% of the time, they crab-motion the fullback to the hole they intend to run, and they are in no position to counter or run any misdirection other than the cutback out of the stretch play. Mark Rice, Beaver, Pennsylvania I agree with you on the ultra-specialization, that dictates that a fullback can't run and a tailback can't block. It reminds me of pro basketball, where they have a point guard and a shooting guard. One passes ("distributes the ball") and the other shoots. But just the other night, the Portland Trail Blazers were forced, because of injuries, to play two guards - Damon Stoudamire and Nick Van Exel - who could both pass and shoot. And they beat the mighty Spurs. The Spurs claimed afterwards that they were absolutely baffled by such a radical notion! Imagine - two guards who could both pass and shoot! What will they think of next? (Have you noticed how only one of the two backs - when they even have two backs - is actually called the "running back?") *********** The 4th Annual Single Wing Conclave will be held on Friday, March 11th & Saturday, March 12th at King's College, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Depending on traffic, Wilkes-Barre is about an hour and a half north of Philadelphia and about the same distance west of New York. Several commuter airlines serve nearby Scranton-Wilkes Barre Airport. Registration fees for individuala are $25 in advance, and $35 after Monday, March 7th... Staff rate (for three or more) is $15 each, and $25 each after Monday, March 7th --- Mail checks or money order with the names(s) of those attending to: Todd Bross - 418 Cedar Avenue - Sharon, PA 16146 - If you have any questions, e-mail Todd at buckspin@verizon.net   *********** *********** I get a lot of e-mail from coaches understandably concerned that my system might be a little too much for their youngsters to run, so it's always helpful to get e-mail like this one, from John Torres. Coach Torres started out running the Double Wing in Castaic, in Southern California, then, when a job transfer moved him north, he introduced it to the program in Lathrop. There, joined by Steve Popovich, who'd run the Double Wing back in Connecticut, he built a mini-dynasty. Coach "JT" recently moved back to the LA area, but first he passed along the impressive stats that the Double Wing rolled up over the last four years. "Thought you would like to see the stats that we accumalated for the last 4 years running the double wing in Lathrop (just my teams). Thanks. JT Total 14,487 yds (3622 per year avg.) a.. 2501 yds in 2001- top rusher had 894 yds b.. 3300 yds in 2002- top rusher had 1700 c.. 4547 yds in 2003-top rusher had 1600 yds d.. 4139yds in 2004- two(2) -1000-yd top rushers (1220 yds and 1023 yds) Total 190 TD's (avg. 4.5 /game)= 1332 points (avg 31 pts/game) a.. 33 TD's/218 points in 2001(5-5 record) missed playoffs by coin toss- first year running the DW b.. 43 TD's/261 points in 2002 (6-4 record), missed playoffs by a touchdown c.. 65 TD's/494 points in 2003 (9-1) reached second round of playofffs, division championship game d.. 49 TD's/359 points in 2004 (9-1) reach first round of playoffs Pretty amazing for a franchise in existence for only four years! "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 25, 2005  "You should never let anybody that doesn't like you, doesn't care about you, have the authority to critique your situation." Basketball great Bill Russell  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS 2005 CLINICS SET --- for more info - 2005 Clinics *********** I don't know how long it's going to last, but like them or not, you should get your fill of the Patriots while you can, because you may not see their likes again for quite some time. You may not be as old as me, able to remember the Browns and the Lions and the Colts and the Steelers and the Packers, but someday people are going to ask you if you ever saw the Patriots. It is truly amazing to think that in this day of narcissistic, selfish athletes, they have managed to find enough good team players. and in this day of mediocrity - sorry, I meant parity - brought about by free agency and salary caps, they have managed to keep a team of very good players largely intact. Oh, did I forget? My early line - Philadelphia +14. (Do NOT take that to the bank.) *********** The logic of NFL teams lining up in shotgun on 3rd and 1 and throwing the ball totally baffles me. The Falcons, with a 260-pound running back T.J. Duckett, did just that Sunday - and threw an interception. *********** Watching the Eagles-Falcons game on FOX, I wanted to go up to "PREFERENCES" on my browser and click on "BLOCK POP-UP WINDOWS." God, the FOX screen is busy - there were graphics all over the screen, and down-and-distance band that took up the entire top 10 or 15 per cent of the screen, blotting out the top part of the picture. Add crawlers along the bottom and those of us with ordinary old-fashioned 4x3 screens found ourselves watching the equivalent of an HDTV screen. And then there were the pop-up promos that appeared out of nowhere on the bottom left of the screen and, just to make sure we didn;t ignore them, had their own annoying sound effects (unless you enjoy the roar of Daytona during a football game). *********** I am told that Michael Vick is a top-notch quarterback. But I don't believe I've ever seen a real top-notch quarterback throw an interception like the one he threw into the arms of Brian Dawkins, when the score was just 17-10, Philly, late in the third quarter. *********** Speaking of Dawkins, his manic ranting and raving on camera after the game made we wonder where the guys with the little urine bottles were. *********** Knowing what tyrants NFL head coaches can be, I can't believe there isn't ONE of them who has ordered his equipment managers and trainers to empty those damn Gatorade containers the minute the win is secure. *********** I watched two NFL championship games Sunday, and in some seven hours or broadcasts, I heard exactly two colleges mentioned. I am not kidding. I heard them mention Northern Colorado as the college of one of the Steelers, and I think I heard them mention Miami of Ohio in connection with Ben Roethlisberger. No mention by the announcers, and nothing on the graphics about McNabb and Syracuse, Vick and Virginia Tech, Brady and Michigan. It was as if all the players had arrived in the NFL straight from their mothers' wombs. But what the hell - when you're Big Football, why would you mention colleges? Aren't they going after the same sponsors you are? Why help your competition? And so it goes - all part of the NFL's plan to establish itself one day as Football, Incorporated.   *********** Funny how the NFL and its broadcast partners have a stroke whenever a fan goes on the field, as one did in Philadelphia Sunday. Why is it, I wonder, that we can stand the slutty "cheerleaders", the foul halftime shows, the Erectile Dysfunction ads and the antics of Randy and T.O., but we just aren't able to watch a drunken fan wander onto the playing field without feeling these compulsive urges to get out there and do it ourselves?   *********** Did anybody else see Donovan McNabb toss and lead the play around left end? Did anybody else wish that the Eagles had also kicked out with their fullback (not sure they even had one, actually) and pulled a couple of linemen?   *********** They keep calling it an "end-around." That's what they did Sunday when the old buck sweep, NFL style, was run by the Eagles. One problem for the announcers - it was run by Michael Westbrook, who - last I checked - was not an end.   *********** Still seeing horrible tackling by defensive backs. They either duck the shoulders and lay the guy out, or they dive at the feet. As often as not, in the latter case, they miss. That second Patriot TD, when Given left a Steeler DB flat on the ground, was disgraceful.   *********** Question - when Harrison intercepted the ill-advised out pattern and ran it in, why was he able to stroll the last 20 or 30 yards? I mean, I know you can't expect 300-pound offensive linemen to run after him, but wasn't anybody chasing?   *********** Didja catch that gruesome NIKE Pro Apparel ad? "Four Warriors," they say. "Four Devils" is more like it. Talk about Satanic overtones!   *********** It must be a conspiracy to make people wish they were at the game instead of watching on TV, but CBS has this deal at the start of the game where they tease you by giving you the briefest glimpse of what's going on in the stadium, then whisk you up to the ever-unctuous Jim Nantz, standing in a set that looks suspiciously like a men's room in one of the strip joints on East Baltimore Street, with a big plasma screen behind him that sometimes seems to be on fire, and at other times tell us it is made by SONY.   And then he is joined by Phil Simms. We miss the coin toss so that we can hear how bright Mr. Nantz and Mr. Simms are, and see some of the very creative stuff the network guys have whipped up for us, which means we have to take their word for the fact that Rocky Bleier, Mel Blount and Joe (Mean Joe) Greene were out on the field for the toss. I mean, who the hell wants to see three of the greatest Steelers who ever played the game when we can look at two network talking heads? *********** Fouts and Theisman were on the Worst Damn Sports show last night. Theisman said he didn't like all these passing rules. Fouts said 'Jack Lambert said we should put QBs in skirts...I think they're wearing skirts now.' Theisman added 'I'd have worn a skirt if they didn't hit me.' Fouts also said he felt the Steelers dynasty was the best of them all. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (I do think that the Patriots, with a win over the Eagles, could establish themselves as one of the great dynasties, right up there with the Super Steelers and the Lombardi Packers. With the Pats, it is Name Your Poison. They can play you at any sort of game you wish - and they will still be better than you at it. The thing that I find most impressive, and most reminiscent of the old Packers, is that if you beat them, you are going to have to play one hell of a game, because they are not going to help you. In a day when football skills in the NFL continue to slip - when receivers drop balls and tacklers miss tackles and offensive players can't even remember the snap count - the Patriots show that even given today's egotistical, look-at-me players, you can still have discipline and teamwork. (The trick, as hundreds of high school coaches - and Bill Belichick - know, is not having those egotistical players on your team in the first place.) Brady, right now, appears set to establish himself as the best quarterback in football. Not necessarily the best passer, although he is good enough - but, all things considered, the best quarterback. HW) *********** The nature of Army-Navy is best summed up by a brief moment three years ago when President Bush conducted the coin toss just 10 weeks after the tragedies of 9-11. When he tossed the coin into the air, Navy captain Ed Malinowski made the call on behalf of his team: "Heads SIR!" he said, loud and clear for everyone in the packed stadium to hear. We all smiled at that moment because only at Army-Navy would you hear a future marine tell the President of the United States, "Heads SIR!" during the coin toss. John Feinstein, author of "A Civil War" (a great book about the Army-Navy game) *********** Coach Wyatt, I am planning to attend your clinic in Atlanta. I have comment about showboating after scoring. In the 15+ years I have coached, I haven't had a player get a penalty for that type of behavior. We discuss proper sportsmanship before the season starts with our kids and they understand why we don't spike the ball or dance in the end zone. In a game earlier this year an opposing player dove into the end zone and got an unsportsmanlike penalty. After the game I happened to run into this player and asked him why he would do something that caused his team to get 15 yards on the xpt. I asked him did he do it because he didn't know what to do with himself when he scored. I reminded him of the 5 times we scored on them and that our players were used to scoring and we probably had a lot more practice at handing the ball to the ref than their team. Dan King Riverside Middle School Evans Georgia *********** If I had ever run for government office, they;d have found things like this in my sordid past... Two Indiana University football players were arrested and charged with class-B felony theft and larceny last week when university police responding to a call from a residential assistant about several male students getting a little too deeply into the alcohol found - get ready for this - a stolen sign hanging on a wall in their room. The sign read, "No alcoholic beverages permitted in the stadium." (Gasp!) Man! Have they got a serious problem at IU, or what? *********** It amazes me how the NFL can continue to get away with tinkering with the game the way it does. I think it's because football differs from baseball in that baseball has far more people interested in its history and its records, people who revere the game's traditions and believe that it is the people's game - it belongs to the people, and they (we) are its guardians. On the other hand, I think the perception regarding football (pro football) is the exact opposite - it is NOT the people's game at all. F--k the people. The game is the property of Big Football - the NFL - and it can do anything it damn pleases with its own property. Its lawyers are probably at work right now trying to figure out a way to trademark the name "football." Which is why I despise Big Football. *********** If you were hoping that any time soon Big Football would clean up its act, you had only to look at the business news over the past couple of weeks. Let's just say that the circle is complete. The NFL has just signed a deal with EA sports, giving the world's largest manufacturer of video games the exclusive right to make games using NFL teams, uniforms, logos and players. ESPN has just signed a similar agreement with EA sports, to produce all of the games bearing the ESPN brand. ESPN, owned by Disney and a cousin of ABC, has a symbiotic relationship with the NFL, depending on the league and its showboaters to feed its insatiable appetite for highlights, while returning the favor by giving the NFL free exposure. The NFL talks football, but it knows full well that antics, not solid football, sell video games and antics, not solid football, fuel the ratings on SportsCenter, so it continues to feed its partners all the T.O. and Randy Moss they need. Don't expect the guys on ESPN to come down too hard on Big Football, because the last thing the folks at Disney want to do is piss off the NFL. ESPN and ABC also broadcast NFL games, and they are all too aware of the fact that someday the NFL envisions getting off network and cable TV completely and having all its games on its own pay-per-view channels. *********** One good thing to some from the brutal storm that hit the East Coast - it was so cold that T.O. was forced to wear a face mask. He's a lot less obnoxious with something covering his mouth. T.O. was snug and warm in a luxury box last week, but this week he was on the sidelines with his team. Somehow I doubt that he made the move because he was told that a good team belonged down there with his teammates. My guess is that his agent pointed out that even though he couldn't play, he could still be on center stage, by coming down to the sidelines and standing on a bench and waving towels and playing to the crowd. *********** Coach, I'm reading a very interesting book that you might want to check out. It's titled Football Physics: The Science of the Game. The author is Timothy Gay who teaches atomic physics at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Most of his examples and data come from the NFL (back in the 60's and 70's when they played real football). It's a very interesting look at the game, i think you'd enjoy it. Gabe McCown, Piedmont, OK-USA (I have it - it is a very interesting book. HW) *********** Seen "24"yet? I watched it again last night, and I kept asking myself - what are all these f--kers doing in our country? *********** THE LATEST TIP - Starting today, this tip will be posted on my TIPS page 192. Coach, How does the center in the Wildcat offensive set know who to snap the ball to? Say Wildcat Rip 88 Power. Do you have a key word or something that tells the center which side to snap the ball to? We will be running this in our youth program this year. Coach, this may sound strange to you, but he doesn't know who to snap the ball to. All we want him to worry about is the snap count and his block. We don't want him to have a third thing to have to deal with. We used to have the players tell the center which one to snap it to, but not any more. Not since I came across some old clinic notes from a now-retired single-wing coach named Jerry Carle, from Colorado College. He had a formation similar to my Wildcat, in which he had two single-wing tailbacks, side by side, directly back of center, except that his guys were a few yards deeper. He told his center to snap it straight back, between the two of them, and it was their responsibility to know who was getting the ball. I figured that as close as our guys were and as short as our snap was, that would work just as well for us, and sure enough, it did. So that is what I teach now and it works great. As always, you have to constantly drill the idea of "soft and low" into the center's head, but you have to do that in any case if you are going to run the Wildcat. Good luck. You will enjoy it. *********** Greg Gumbel calls Joe Namath "one of the great NFL quarterbacks"? Whaaat? Maybe the greatest to ever make a pass at a sideline bimbo? Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (No harm in being nice to the guy. Life has not been easy on Joe - it never is, when the high point of your life comes when you're 25 years old. Emerson must have had Joe Willie in mind when he said, "Every hero becomes a bore at last," and in Namath's case, it didn't even take very long. HW)   *********** This is why they pay these guys the big bucks... While switching channels, I happened on the Hula Bowl, just before halftime (score: 3-0, favor somebody) and I heard the QB in the huddle say "Double post." Analyst David Norrie, showing the expertise they hired him for, let those who don't understand football jargon in on the secret: "they're going to run two posts." "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 21, 2005  "Fame is fleeting. I planned to stay at West Virginia the rest of my life until I saw how people treated me when we were losing. If you get a better opportunity, take it." Bobby Bowden  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS 2005 CLINICS SET ATLANTA ------------------------ ---------FEBRUARY 26 RALEIGH-DURHAM ------------------- APRIL 2 PHILADELPHIA-------------------------- APRIL 9 PROVIDENCE----------------------------- APRIL 16 More dates to be posted shortly *********** One nice thing about being self-employed is that you get to watch things like the Inauguration. For those of you who couldn't see it, let's just put it this way - if saying "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance makes Michael Newdow "uncomfortable," the Inauguration ceremony had to give him seizures. One by one, Americans stood up on the podium and unselfconsciously mentioned the Big Guy by name, thanking Him, asking Him to bear witness, calling on Him for His blessing, etc. Oh, and they mentioned Him several times in song. After an entire football season of listening to little high school girls take five minutes or so struggling with their godawful Whitney Houston imitations, it was great to hear the national anthem sung well and sung straight. (As soon as the Inauguration is over, I plan to write my fellow Eli, President Bush, asking him to put me in charge of a Federal Department of National Anthem Singing. The gig ought to be worth $100,000 or so. My first act will be to require anyone wishing to sing the national anthem to be licensed.) The inauguration was proof that we can still do something in a dignified manner, although the networks did do their damnedest to try to show us the Great Unwashed, out there on the streets, carrying on in "the great American tradition of protest," as Peter Jennings put it. I laughed my ass off at those fools - they evidently thought they were just going to walk up and get in the President's face, but just like everyone else, they had to go through security, too. So there they were, waiting in a line at least a block long, while agents of our tyrannical government, which as everyone knows took away all our rights after 911, forced them to submit to the indignity of a search. Haw, haw. I enjoyed the parade, too, and got a good chuckle when the Texas Aggies band went by. I'm sure that there is a special feeling among the Bushes for Texas A & M, since the presidential library of President Bush the elder is located there - which is probably why I caught Barbara Bush giving them the "Gig 'em Aggies" sign as they marched by. *********** Speaking of the Natonal Anthem, I was at a high school basketball game the other night, and as we all stood for the National Anthem, I looked acorss the floor at a teenaged lout who defiantly sat slouched back in his seat, hood over his head, the entire time. The f--ker was taking great pride in showing everyone in the gym that America didn't mean anything to him. (F--k America, you know what I'm sayin'?) I won't describe him any more than to say he is not likely to be supporting himself through gainful employment at any point in this lifetime . If he isn't already well along on a lifetime of crime, I'd venture to say that that's his most likely career path. If somebody'd had a gun and shot the bastard right there they'd have saved the American taxpayers a lot of money and grief down the line. *********** I find it interesting the way baseball gets ripped (and rightly so) for cheapening its records whenever it has moved in the fences, lowered the pitcher's mound, lengthened the season, juiced up the ball, or gone soft on steroid use, while football routinely and unashamedly "juices up the ball", making rules change after rules change to try to bring about more touchdowns. In the process, they have changed the game, resulting among other things in inflated passing records that make it impossible to compare present-day players with those of even 10 or 15 years ago, yet the media, and consequently the public, always give it a pass. (Rules tampering notwithstanding, there is no getting around it for the four teams left - they are going to have to play some real football this weekend if they hope to go on.) *********** This is your last chance this year to watch real football. Both games will be played in cold-weather cities, at a time of the year when not so very long ago people would have said you were crazy for even thinking about playing football. As a result, teams will be forced to play the games the old-fashioned way - by blocking and tackling and running tha football. I love it! I grew up in Philadelphia, watching the Eagles win a couple of titles in the late 40s, then dump their coach, Greasy Neale and plunge into mediocrity until Buck Shaw and Norm Van Brocklin came along to take them to the heights again in 1960. When I went away to college, I was in Giants' territory. If you lived in Connecticut, you saw the Giants' games. And those Giants were damn good. You couldn't help rooting for them. Looking back, it's hard for me to believe now that I was rooting for the Giants against the Colts in that "Greatest Game Ever Played." But shortly after graduation, we moved to Baltimore, and I got swept up in Colt Fever. There was nothing like it, and thre never will be gain. It was irrresistible. You couldn't help getting caught up in it. The Eagles struggled during that time, going through a succession of owners and coaches. But Eagles fans were always consoled by the fact that if we wanted to see a really bad team - fans who really suffered - all we had to do was take a look at those woeful Steelers in the western part of the state. Those old Steelers were awful. But God, they were tough. They were a rough bunch. They were the last holdouts against modern-day football, the last team to play the single wing in the NFL. They had a few good years when Bobby Layne came over from Detroit - but not many. And then things really started to happen in the early 70's. By then, I had been living in Maryland for some ten years, and I was a diehard Colts' fan. But everything changed that fateful summer of 1972, when Colts' owner Carroll Rosenbloom pulled off a swap by means of which he wound up with the Los Angeles Rams, and a guy named Bob Irsay wound up owner of the Colts. Irsay was one miserable SOB, as a person and as an owner. (Rosenbloom's son, Steve, told writer William Gildea that his father knew exactly the kind of person Irsay was - that he arranged to foist Irsay on Baltimore, as his parting shot at the people he felt had become ungrateful for all he'd done for them.) And Irsay begat Joe Thomas, an even more miserable SOB than Bob Irsay, if that was possible, and Thomas, an egomaniac and self-professed genius, began to dismantle the Colts team and build his own team in his image. And I, living in western Maryland, where the Redskins, Colts and Steelers all had some influence, began to fall under the spell of the Steelers. In running my minor league team, I'd had a few dealings with Art Rooney, Jr., son of the Steelers' owner, who was working in personnel with the club, and he'd been very friendly and helpful to me in trying to steer me to some of the players the Steelers had cut. I can remember his telling me that they were cutting some really good kids because they were really loaded. Wow! I thought I'd been let in one some great miltary secret. I started to follow the Steelers, and boy, was he ever right! Those Steelers of the 70's are, for my money, the greatest teams that ever played the game, and I loved them. I loved old Mr. Rooney, and I liked Pittsburgh the city. So to the extent that I can still get pasionate about any NFL team, I care deeply about the Stillers. But this weekend I am conflicted. Big time. I really like the Steelers, but I really admire the Patriots. I think they may turn out to be a modern-day dynasty on the order of the old Browns, Colts, Packers and Steelers. If they win. So Patriots or Steelers - I expect a great game. I'll be very happy for the winner, and very sad to see a good team drop out of the race. On the other side, I've got no strong passions, but football sense tells me to go with the Iggles. I think they're a better team, and I tink there is somethng to having been in this game before. Michael Vick is exciting and all that, but I doubt that the Falcons are strong enough overall to stop the Eagles - especially outdoors, and in the cold at that. Whichever one wins, though, I won't get too excited either way. And I do think either team will get whipped by the AFC champ. If I had to bet, I would say that the Super Bowl will be the Patriots against the Eagles. And in that one - T.O. or not - it's the Pats all the way. But I've been wrong before... *********** Coach, On Michael Vick, there is no doubt he is the Jordan of football… or is he? Well I say not yet. Michael Vick makes more mistakes in a half than Jordan did in a season. Vick has the greatest quickness and feet of any QB in history and that keeps him in the game and alive. If a normal QB made as many boo boos as Michael Vick, he would be benched and probably traded for scrap, but because he also possesses super human qualities, he carries a team. Vick is so risky with the ball, any little leaguer with this lack of care would be moved to the line. But here again he's super human. As a coach, I wouldn't know how to coach a team with such a talent and with the big contract, you wouldn't dare mention his flaws to him in fear of loosing your job or getting him upset and have him pout. The play design would be for the back-up QB in case Vick got hurt, because the design is out the window and into street ball when Vick is in. Please don't get me wrong, I love watching this guy play and marvel at his stunning highlights, but I am also a realist. Michael Jordan was a team player and his highlights were within the scheme and were just as marvelous and without the risk. Vick is not nearly there but could get there if someone had the nerve to …oh well.. that ain't gonna happen… so it will be up to Vick himself if he wants to perfect his position and be the best he can be. Boy, wouldn't that be scary if he had Jordan's drive for perfection? Vick obviously has a good work ethic to be where he is, but the obvious is just so obvious. Being from Atlanta, I'm pulling hard for the Birds to go the distance and if Vick can stay composed, make some throws, and protect the ball when he's scrambling around, they have a good chance, for the rest of the Falcons are really playing inspired football. My advice to Vick if I was his personal coach would probably get me in trouble but anyone who ever played for me knows that I would take the chance. You know, something like "Wipe that arrogant look off your face, smile occasionally in an interview, hug a lineman, and you'd better tuck the damn ball when you run it if you want to keep playing, and start playing like the greatest athlete of all times, instead of the could be. I know he's still learning but am I out of line? Coach Larry Harrison, Head Football Coach, Nathanael Greene Academy, Siloam, Georgia *********** Back when I was running Hingham Youth lacrosse and coaching the 6th and 7th grade teams, I was considered a bit of a rebel for pulling our youth teams out of the organized Mass Bay Youth Lacrosse League. My reasons were many, and they had to do with the kids being thrown into competitive situations before they had a true handle on the fundamental skills specific to lacrosse.. it would be similar to having kids play a hockey game before they were able to skate. My thoughts were that we would teach the kids, make it fun for them and not have to prepare for "league" games. As we progressed I could call a neighboring town and line up a game just to keep our guys interested, but also to measure where we were and to show the kids why it was important to do the things we were asking them to do. Anyhow, it was the last week of the "season" and I called a coach from the next town to see if he wanted and extra game for his kids. Of course he said yes and showed up at the appointed time. The visiting team was undefeated and very well coached, it was to be a true test for our kids. We had one problem however: no goalie. The only kid that played the position was gone that weekend, so I asked the other coach if we could use the "2nd" goalie from our 8th grade team. He agreed, said it was okay with him. I call the goalie and he said that he'd be there. Well, the next day comes and no replacement goalie.. I call the house, the mother says the boy went down to the Cape to visit his father, blah blah blah. You're probably wondering where I'm going with this.... Anyhow, I call the team together and explain the situation.. our number one goalie is away, his replacement forgot and won't be showing up, what are we to do? With that, while all the other players are kind of looking at each other, one of our smaller and less experienced kids raises his hand and says "Coach, I'll do it. I'll play goalie." So I agreed, but told him he didn't have to play the entire game, just one quarter and another player would take over for him. He politely told me no, he'd play the entire game. Hugh, it was the kid's first time in goal and he was OUTSTANDING...our team rallied around him and played one of their best performances of the year. The game came down to the final minute and we lost by one goal 8-7 (we took a shot at the closing horn which their goalie stopped). But to this day the kids still talk about that game and how much they enjoyed it. I'm telling you this story because the boy that volunteered to step in is now a senior at Hingham HS.. and he was accepted at West Point the other day... can't begin to tell you how proud I am of this young man...funny how that stuff works. Lou Orlando, Sudbury, Massachusetts *********** Coach Wyatt - What was the exact offense that Ben Schwartzwalder ran at Syracuse ? Was it the Delaware Wing-T ? and Where and Who did he get it from ? I was surfing the net on him and I came across some crazy stat,that during the National Championship year of 1959 they out rushed their opponents by something like 2000 yards !! WoW !!! My Father who always has been a Schwartzwalder fan, was telling me That Coach Schwartzwalder was as committed to the Run as Woody Hayes but his offense was great to watch and 100 time more exciting than Hayes, a lot of mis-direction, cross-buck action , etc,etc !!! Coach you remember the stunt Big Ben pulled off in the Sugar Bowl or Gator Bowl in the 60's ? ABC or NBC started to use these sideline reporters, the half ends, and the reporter sticks the Mic in Big Bens Face to ask him one of those meaningless question's , Big Ben ask the Guy, What the F%&*^^K do you want ? Get the F&*%%&K out of my way, Im trying to coach my team SCREW !!!!, my father swears by this story, he says he laughed his ass off for three weeks !! - John Muckian Lynn MA Ben Schwartzwalder ran a very tough program, and his offense was an integral part of his toughness approach. It was an unbalanced-line wing-T, not at all Delaware. HIs backfield positions were QB, FB, TB, WB This is from the 1973 Syracuse Media Guide (they were called "press guides" back then). "Syracuse will run slot-T and double wing, both from Ben's famed unbalanced line." He was a paratrooper in WW II, and he approached football the same way. Syracuse used to scrimmage Army before every season, and he claimed on many occasions that he got his ideas about hard-nosed football from going up against Blaik's Army teams. Back in 2000, when I started running my "Look at Our Legacy" feature, asking coaches to identify a prominent football person, he was one of my first--- go to June 20 --- www.coachwyatt.com/MAY&JUN00.html Coach - thanks for the info. I appreciate it greatly !!, That was a great piece you had a about Big Ben in your Legacy !! My father made me very aware of his military exploits at a young age, Incredible !! A True American Hero, Original and Icon and One Tough SOB to boot !!! These are the types of people we need young Americans aspiring to be like!! Coach I did read that about scrimmaging Army in Red Blaiks Books, Was that a common practice scrimmaging among Major Colleges in those days ? He was inducted into West Va's Hall of Fame not to long ago he played Center for the Mountaineers at only 145 Lbs Another classic Big Ben story as told by the great Howie Carr of the Boston Herald, was when the Former Mayor of Boston Ray Flynn was a three sport star at South Boston High ( Football,Basketball,Baseball ) he later starred at Providence in Hoops, Big Ben came into Boston to recruit Him as a Q.B. in the late 50's and after meeting Ray Flynn for only 15 minutes decided Raybo " Was not Bright enough to Run his offense" LOL !!! another stupid Irish Bastard Bites the Dust !! That's How sharp Big Ben was right away he figured out we're not a bright Tribe !!! Don't know where he got that offense. Back then, lots of people were experimenting with ways to adapt to the modern T formation without giving up everything they liked about the single wing. There is a resemblance between what he did and some of what Biggie Munn did at Michigan State - he ran what Munn called the "T" (unbalanced, full-house), "T-100" (unbalanced, wing right) and "T Double Wing" (unbalanced, two wingbacks) - there may be a connection there because Munn spent 12 years at Syracuse (through 1946) and Ole Ben took over in 1949. Did Schwartzwalder ever put out a Book on his offense ? or is there a Biography he ever put out ? I found it very difficult to get much on Schwartzwalder. At one time, nearly every coach put out a book, since those were the days before summer camps and shoe contracts, when a book was about the only way a coach could augment his income. But not Ben Schwartzwalder. If he did write a book, I haven't been able to come across a trace of it. I also haven't come across any clinic notes. There is always the chance that Syracuse has his collection of papers on file, along with their old 16 mm films, but they almost certainly would restrict access to those things (because at other schools, thieves have made off with films). *********** Coach Wyatt, For my column this week: would you place anyone in between the passing skills of Unitas and Marino? Or, would it be incorrect to call Marino 'the NFL's best/most skilled passer since John Unitas'? I'm having a hard time thinking of anyone chronologically between them, save Fouts and Montana, and I have a thought that Marino was superior in pure passing ability. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California I think it is a sacrilege to use Marino's name in the same sentence with Unitas'. I think that what made Unitas so great was that he not only had the great passing skills - the judgment, the arm, the accuracy and the release - but he had all the other things that go with the passing skills to make him the greatest quarterback ever - the courage, the physical and mental toughness, the utter unflappability, the contagious confidence in his own ability and with it all, the humility. He never had the benefit of any of the rules changes that have turned offensive football into glorified flag touch - for example, his protectors couldn't use their hands - they had to use their shoulders and their face masks. And never forget - he called his own plays. I doubt that, left alone out there, Marino on his best day could have called a successful series. But we are talking passers. I still put Unitas first. If I needed a crucial completion in the most important game ever played and I had my pick of any quarterback who had ever played the game, it would be Unitas, hands-down. I put Otto Graham and John Elway in second or third place (pick 'em). And then, among a large group of very good passers whose teams never accomplished a whole lot, I put guys like Marino and Namath and Fouts - they threw and threw and threw, and put up a lot of numbers but not much else. (Take away the one fabled Super Bowl and see how little Namath actually accomplished.) And at the head of that group - since we're only talking passing only - I put Sonny Jurgensen, maybe the best "pure passer" the game has ever seen. Kelly deserves mention because of what he helped the Bills accomplish, and he did it in a cold climate. I really did think at one time that Drew Bledsoe would make at least that list. We'll never know what kind of numbers Unitas could have put up given, say, Peyton Manning's playing conditions. I don't consider Montana to be among the greatest passers, but he was a great quarterback, and like Unitas, he was all about winning, and not numbers, so I would certainly rank him near the top of any list of great quarterbacks. For that same reason, I put Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw in there. *********** I remember once when Unitas was told about the arm strength of some rookie - maybe it was Dan Pastorini. He was told that the kid's arm was so strong he could throw the ball into a tenth-floor window (that may not be the actual height - I forget). "Yeah," said Unitas, "and his receivers are probably on the fifth floor." *********** Coach Wyatt, This year will be a new endeavor for me. Our Head Coach of 3 years decided that he would step away from the game of football for family reasons and I decided to take a shot at the position. I placed my application for the Head Coach position and the league will conduct interviews in February. No matter the decision, I still want to register our team for the 2005 Black Lion Award. I understand that this award is so special and I want the boys to understand that there is so much more to TEAM than what they see glorified on Sundays with the NFL. I registered the team last year, but in our opinions, we didn't have one particular player that stood out. We had many players who could have received it, but we thought it best to make sure that it was truly honoring the intent of the award, so we did not nominate a player. I also wanted to tell you that your new Black Lion page is awesome! Very well done. Looking forward to attending a clinic this year…hopefully you'll have another one in Denver. Respectfully, Marvin Garcia, Albuquerque, New Mexico *********** Coach, Just read your news and couldn't help but get on line and order the book, "Walking the Line". Besides liking to read anything connected with the Wing T or Double-Wing, I was surprised to learn that Coach Lude had grown up in rural Michigan and attended Hillsdale College. That is where I went to school in the fall of 1964 and played on their football team coached by Frank "Muddy" Waters. It was an unbelievable year as I was a young 17 year old and with Hillsdale being an NAIA school they had a lot of players that had transferred from Big Ten schools and the University of Detroit had just givenup football and we had quite a few from there. The average age was 24 and both of our co-captains had played ball together in the Army in Germany and one of them had a son seven years old. Our QB coach was Al Dorow, who had quarterbacked for the old AFL New York Titans. The varsity went 6-3 and that was about the worst record they had ever had. I played JV and got into two varsity games at home because they dressed everyone for home games. The first two JV games were a real treat as they were played at Iona State Prison and Jackson Federal Penitentiary. That is an experience that every 17 year old should have as it makes a real impression on you. I remember the biggest booster to Hillsdale football was a gentleman named Stack of the Stack Flour Mills. He put on a real big barbecue at the end of two-a-day practices. I just thought with all of that I would really enjoy reading this book. Also, it was odd that I had just pulled out this old book written in 1971 by Robert Tierney and Cliff Gray entitled, "The New Doublewing Attack: Featurning the Revolutionary AT Blocking Technique. I don't even know where I got this book, but it is something I pull out every now and then and read through. It is about the double-wing from a single-wing, unbalanced line formation. It has the old buck lateral and spinner series, but then talks about how this could be incorporated into the T-quarterback system. It is just something I enjoy going back and reading from time to time. The basic philosophy has a lot of the same things we use, but they also have things like the wingback trap and others that are a little different. Have you ever read this book? I appreciate the tip on "Walking the Line" and look forward to receiving it. Talk more later. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida P. S. I ushered at the Gridiron Classic College All-Star game down here at the Villages retirement community on Saturday. It was the one on ESPN 2 and the North was coached by Jim Tressell and the South by Frank Beamer. It was a pretty typical all-star type of game, but the national anthem was sung by the granddaughter of the founder of the Villages. She did a great job, had a beautiful voice, and did not alter the song one bit. You could tell you were in a retirement community as the crowd really showed her their appreciation when she was done. I heard she sang when President Bush visited the Villages during his reelection tour. She should sing at every football game. (I have the book Coach Timson refers to. It was given to me several years ago by Jim Sinnerud, football coach and Jesuit priest who now teaches at Creighton Prep in Omaha. It's an interesting approach. HW)   *********** Mike Lude is a co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. His recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line." *********** Coacher- Just got done catching up on your news. That Marine CO that was KIA in Iraq-- he was my good buddy's brother-in-law. This was his second tour in the sandbox, he was wounded during his first and volunteered to go back. God Bless him. His wife will be moving back up to Beaverton, Oregon to be with her sister and my buddy. (He and I served together in Iraq as well, my buddy was always sending him e-mails and bugging him that a guard unit got deployed before his Marines!) From what I know he was born in Martinique... educated in Mississippi... joined the Corps and did a hitch as an EM before going through OCS. He loved this country, coach-- was more than ready to fight and die for her and his fellow warriors. If you're a praying man, Hugh, please keep his wife and extended family in your thoughts... they are doing well but are still a little stunned. There's no guarantees in life, huh coach? No one knows when their time is up, all the more reason to touch lives everyday. Take care. Shawn.Powell, Spokane, Washington *********** Coach, Thought I'd give an insiders report on the US Army All American Bowl. I will start with the positive, so as not to seem like an ingrate (free flight, free food, free entertainment, free hotel, free US Army Bowl gear). Coaches got a lot of nice stuff and everything was paid for. The Hotel was nice the food was good and they went all out. They had great speakers for the coaches, Danny White and Lou Holtz. (Lou amazes me every time I hear him talk). San Antonio itself was nice (I got to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk) - Oh and warm - compared to -2 degrees back here in Rochester NY. The people of San Antonio were friendly. And it was an honor to be in the presence of so many generals, Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and general enlisted men - all real heros. As a matter of fact I sat with the "drill sergeant" of the year at breakfast one day. BUT... Where do I start. My main question is - how can the army leadership eat a Sh-- sandwich and smile??? Let me start with the most upsetting moment of the whole thing for me. #1 of the West team (I think his name was Jackson) doing a diving somersault into the end zone (not really - he landed and fumbled on the 1 yard line). Not only was he a disgrace to the game and a poor sport and a poor role model, but when I got home (Tivo'd the game) I saw him talk back to the coach, shrug off Herman Boone (Remember the Titans) and then had to listen to the announcers scold him for maybe a 1/2 second before going back to tooting his horn. Meanwhile they mentioned he'd gotten into it with one of the coaches -- at a freakin All Star practice (which we all know are not strenous). Yes he has talent - but that is about it. He will be perfect for the NFL - a real Randy Moss. But they gave him the damn MVP trophy. I was livid - and many fans did boo (although you couldn't hear that on TV). At home I rewatched the presentation as a high ranking member of the army presented the trophy (a trophy made in the image of a Heisman winner from West Point) to this dirt bag and congratulate him. Meanwhile they were talking about how football and the army have many of the same values (Im laughing inside - yes, many of us do teach those same values, but after watching the game live and on TV later - it is apparent not everyone shares those core values). Well, anyways this was just a culminating incident. There was pregame trash talk at the Barbeque the first night there (although I give credit to Marc Sanchez - a real stand up kid who refused to predict a score - although many kids booed him for it - because he said it would be unfair to do so and that he thought they would have a great game etc.) By the way - doesn't he look a bit like Jim Plunkett??? Anyway too many of the kids there seemed to be jerks (there were some good kids too though). The kids had access to whatever they wanted (lots of free stuff from the sponsors etc) and were treated like royalty - something it seemed like many of them have been getting their whole life. My player told me that some kids were even throwing food at a dinner before the coaches got there. He was disappointed in the way some of the kids were acting (he is a great kid). Oh well, it all made me happy to have the pleasure to coach the wonderful kids here back at good old OA. Oh - forgot to mention the poor brand of football on display. It was an All Star game so I expected the Defense to be better than the Off. and I expected a fair amount of throwing = no problem. But to barely run at all - to never have a FB or TE in the game (well almost never). What a disservice to the linemen, backs and TE's. They might as well have played flag football. The only runs were draw read, draw trap and one speed option. I saw the QB under center maybe 10 times and saw a FB in the game maybe 5 times. And don't get me started on protecting the QB and using Play action. What are you gonna do though??? Im just a dumb small school coach running an antiquated offense (yeah right) Take care, Coach John Dowd, Oakfield-Alabama HS, Oakfield, New York (Brace yourself for more of this crap. I actually saw this farce described as "The Super Bowl of High School Football," and to the extent that just like the Super Bowl it is all about crass commercialism and blurring the line between sports and entertainment , it very well may be. Look for EA sports to come out with a high school version any day now. Yes, the Army has certainly been sold a bill of goods. Somebody has convinced them that glorifying a bunch of future Randy Mosses will induce other, less athletically-gifted young men to join the Army. Am I missing some connection there? PS- the Heisman Trophy Winner from West Point is Pete Dawkins, one of the truly great men to have won the Heisman. What a shame for the game promoters not to have thought of him - a Rhodes Scholar, and the youngest man ever to make brigadier general - and his example when choosing the winner of the award. What a shame for his great name to be associated with boorish, ill-mannered, unsportsmanlike behavior. HW) "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 18, 2005  "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." Samuel Goldwyn  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS 2005 CLINICS SET ATLANTA ------------------------ ---------FEBRUARY 26 RALEIGH-DURHAM -------------------- APRIL 2 PHILADELPHIA-------------------------- APRIL 9 PROVIDENCE----------------------------- APRIL 16 Additional dates will be posted as they become set *********** Check out the new Black Lion Home Page... *********** Hugh, I was reading FreeRepublic and someone had said that Bryant had intentionally scheduled USC knowing they would kick Bama's ass and he would then be able to integrate the team. I wanted to know your opinion of that. While I know the instant impact that game had on southern recruiting, I find it hard to believe Bryant would schedule any game with the intention of losing. He played a lot of mind games, but that seems out of his style. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California The Sam Cunningham and The Bear story is a good one, but one shouldn't read too much into it. This is not a Jackie Robinson story. Bear Bryant was not Branch Rickey (the general manager of the Dodgers who determined that it was time for a black man to play in the major leagues). Yes, it appears true that Coach Bryant did use Bama's 1970 opening-game loss to USC and its great fullback, Sam Cunningham, as his rationale for the need to be able to recruit black athletes. But in the absence of hard proof, the idea that he intended for USC to come into Birmingham and whip his team sounds like another one for the conspiracy nuts - a George-Bush-Planned-the-World-Trade-Center-Bombing type of story. It is absurd on the face of it, but it makes a sensational story, and it is just plausible enough to that sort of person who wants to believe that sort of thing. The Bear was very clever - cynical and calculating might be even more appropriate, I have been told - but I can't imagine that he would allow any team to beat him (in Birmingham of all places) for whatever reason. Even if he were sure such a ploy would work. But how could he be? How could he have been sure that football would trump segregation? What if he had miscalculated? What if the people of Alabama hadn't been able to make the connection between the loss and the need to desegregate the Crimson Tide? What if they had seen Sam Cunningham's great performance as just a fluke? Or what if Bryant's act of sabotage, however well-intentioned, had been exposed? What if his plot to throw a game - to lose! - in order to bring about integration of Bama football had been discovered? Not even The Bear would have been forgiven the dual sins of losing - and doing it to defeat segregation. Not that the Bear could possibly have had any such intentions when he scheduled that game - he would have had to be farsighted, indeed, because games like that aren't scheduled on short notice. But let's take the conspiracy story a bit further - might Coach Bryant, just to make sure that the fix was in, have arranged for USC coach John McKay to give his black fullback a lot of carries? Might the Bear have somehow arranged for his defensive coaches to set up defenses that would be especially vulnerable to the opposing fullback? He might have - but not bloody likely. *********** The recent arrest of an old Mississippi guy on charges that he participated in the murders of three young civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964 (the inspiration for the movie "Mississippi Burning"), brought to mind one of the better "football" books you will ever read. It is "The Courting of Marcus Dupree," by Willie Morris, and I put the word "football" in quotes because while it certainly is about football, it is about a lot more than that. Yes, it is a great story about the big-time recruiting of a small-town Mississippi football star, Marcus Dupree, from Philadelphia, Mississippi, some 20 years ago. But author Morris, a native Mississippian, couldn't ignore the irony that 20 years before that, Philadelphia was the scene of one of the ugliest moments in the South's painful transition from the old days of segregation to the South we see today; so side-by-side with the Dupree story, he delivered a history of those civil rights murders in a way that is gripping and informative. I have read the book - twice - and I highly recommend it. *********** Speaking of Mississippi, "60 Minutes" did a segment on Iraq and a company of Marines in a particularly nasty part of the country. The company commander, was a native of France who had been an exchange student in Mississippi, and as a result, we were told, he spoke in an accent that was a little bit of both - French and Southern. My wife and I have spent a bit of time in Louisiana, and as soon as we heard him talk, we looked at each other and said, "He's Cajun!" (Sadly, we learned, this brave man was killed shortly after the segment was taped.) *********** Hugh, Great article on the NFL and the new look equipment. I think it was started by the speed guys getting rid of those cumbersome knee pads that restricted movement. Now the linemen shoulder pad deal is a hoot. The NFL has really turned into pathetic looking football, but with the best talent in history, athletic wise. These guys can make plays that the old guys couldn't even think up, but yet if they were to play the old guys, they would probably go home crying to mama, especially if they were paid like the old guys. The old guys would just beat the crap out of these guys, if they could catch them. I saw an old film of a playoff game back in the 60's of the Baltimore Colts and they were running the Wing T. I was shocked. I just can't get into this modern pass, pass, pass football as a coach, or a spectator. It is boring yet I love a well thrown ball and a great catch as much as anyone. It just looks like yard ball and the results are usually like yard ball. The biggest strongest fastest guy wins, for the strategies are in the draft rooms and check books rather than well designed precision. I do recognize the talent and the design of today's NFL and I understand that it is well thought through on game day but as the game moves more and more into the instant gratification and the hype on hype world, the game suffers. Loud crappy music as the team's introduced with the smoke and the gyrations of the players and the ME! ME! LOOK AT ME! and the total disrespect of the coaches, refs and fans. Oh well, I watch very little of it but I do watch a lot more Ice Skating and High School Ball than ever. I don't think I'm just getting old, I just think society and football was better then when we learned manners, etiquette, discipline, reverence, respect, and how to behave in public, as kids. You know, the days when "She loves you yeah yeah yeah" was rebellious. I'm through venting now… I have to do this periodically. Thanks Hugh, Coach Larry Harrison Head Football Coach, Nathanael Greene Academy, Siloam, Georgia (I think that this is why I like the Patriots. They are a really good football team. Other than the one-back, and the holding, they actually remind me of the kind of football we used to see - when guys hit with their pads. Interesting, isn't it, that all the teams remaining are teams that can run the ball? Since that article appeared in the Wall Street Journal, I have been looking really closely at pads - some of the "shoulder pads" that those guys are wearing look like the kind of things I got for Christmas when I was 10 years old. But I have also been looking clsoer at the "hitting", and I suspect that the "depadding" is the reason why so much of the tackling sucks. There are very few really good, hard tackles in which the tackler employs his pads and wraps the runner up and drives him to the ground. They don't employ their pads because they don't have any to speak of, and as a result guys are ducking their heads and diving at runners' feet, tackling the way we used to tackle when we were kids, when we played tackle football without pads. (I don't count the human dive bomber "tackles" that defensive backs use to punish receivers who can't see them coming.) *********** Hi Coach- It's been a while since I last messaged you. We were among the first high schools in Western New York to run your Double Wing back in 1997. We had good success and the kids loved it. As you know, there are several schools in our area who are running the Double Wing now - some with outstanding success. You may recall that I had retired from coaching because of some health issues. A couple years ago I returned to coaching and am now happily assisting at that same school. The head coach is an old rival (whom I could never beat) and good friend that I've known for almost 25 years. He doesn't run Double Wing, but he's an outstanding coach and does a great job with his system. The reason I'm writing is that I was watching some kind of "Army High School All-Star Game" on TV this past Saturday. As circumstances would have it, I happened to be sitting in the emergency waiting room at a local hospital here in Buffalo (not as a patient, but awaiting word on a nephew undergoing an appendectomy). Now there were about 20-25 people in this waiting room. The TV was on and the volume was turned down low so as not to be a disruption to anyone. I was about half-watching the game because I was already getting tired of seeing 18 & 19 year olds thumping themselves on the chest after knocking down a pass or doing some kind of a wiggle dance after a tackle. Then, I saw this kid up on the screen break free for what was going to be a sure TD. The kid got down to the five or six yard line and suddenly did some kind of a somersault in midair, at the end of which he stretched out his arm and slammed the ball down for what seemed like the TD. But surprise! The ball was spotted on about the 1-yard line - short of the TD. You know the rest. 15 yards for "unsportsmanlike conduct". Fumble turn-over on the next play. But I wasn't able to contain myself. "What the f--- was that?" I shouted in the quiet of the waiting room as that p---head came down from his acrobatic display. I got out of my chair and started walking over to the TV set. My wife looked up at me and then began following me. She kept telling me to be quiet, and whispering "What's wrong with you? There's other people in here!" After I asked her if she saw what that little s---head did, she said, "That's it. Either you leave this waiting room, or I leave! Make up your mind!" Now I've been married for over 37 years, coach. I've learned when to cut my losses during "discussions" with my wife. But as I was leaving the room, I was amazed to see the TV network replaying that disgraceful piece of crap over and over again. They showed the kid on the sidelines with players and assorted hangers-on (one of them might have even been an assistant coach) laughing and joking. The announcers? All they could say was that the kid was probably sorry for what he did and "learned a valuable lesson". Why didn't they have the balls to say something like, "That sure was a bonehead thing to do. His coach should take away his helmet and jersey and send him to the locker room - now! If I were a recruiter here today, I'd think twice about dealing with this kid." ? Of course, I never did see the rest of the game. I didn't want to. Well, thanks for letting me rant. I've got to run now. I've got to pick up some flowers for my wife on my way home from work. Over the years, we've both come to understand that both time and flowers are the standard levy on many of my tactless reactions. Best regards - Chuck Ciehomski, Tonawanda, NY Very well said. Thank you for "covering" the game for me. My wife and I probably would have had much the same "discussion," although if she saw what you saw, it is possible I would have had to tell her to knock it off! I purposely avoided watching that game for that very reason. I am adamantly opposed to all this All-Star crap, and I havde to wonder if the Army really thinks it's spending its recruiting dollars wisely by sponsoring that kind of crap. (Remembering that stupid "Army of One" campaign, I'd have to say, "NO!") HW *********** Your latest tip is awesome, and it works well. Kelly (if given the chance to call a pass play) was calling one of two plays, Rip Stop Red Red or 58 Black Throwback C Post. No coincidence that those have been a stple of our passing game for the past 2 seasons (and actually 4 seasons since Kelly was a freshman). Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa (I always find it interesting to see what plays a QB will call when I leave him on his own. Of course, he has to be very familiar with the offense and the reasoning behind the plays, because otherwise he will just call those plays that he knows. HW) *********** GOOD MORNING! This is God. I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help, so enjoy your day!! That was sent to me by Mike Lude. Mike, former AD at Washington and then at Auburn, was Dave Nelson's line coach at Maine and then at Delaware, as as such deserves credit for being co-inventor of the Delaware Wing-T. (Read THE FIRST WING-T LINE COACH IN HISTORY) Mike is a helluva man. I have been fortunate to have made his acquaintance through General Jim Shelton, who as "Jimmy" Shelton played line under Mike at Delaware. Mike's recently-released book, "Walking the Line," is a great read. From his boyhood in rural Western Michigan, to his playing days at Hillsdale College, from his service in the Marine Corps to his joining Dave Nelson as his right hand man, from his first - and only - head coaching job at Colorado State to his second career as an AD, starting at Kent State and moving to Washington and then to Auburn, Mike has seen it all, and he tells about it in a way that is both interesting and informative. Here's how to order a copy - go to www.huskyfever.com and down at the bottom right, look for "Walking the Line." *********** I don't know why our area of Southwest Washington seems to produce more than its share of wacko stories.... A truck driver left his motor running while he went inside a Vancouver, Washington business establishment, and when he came out, he saw a thief driving off with his rig. While police tracked the unit through its GPS system, the local 911 got a call from someone who was hard to understand. He seemed to be gagging, and he spoke only Spanish. The operator located an interpreter, who ascertained that the guy was choking. The choker and the thief turned out to be one and the same. While barrelling down the road, the truck thief had reached down and taken a large swig from the plastic coffee cup the driver had left in the receptacle. Whereupon he began to gag and choke. How was he to know that the driver chewed? *********** Twice in the first quarter of the Jets-Steelers game, the broadcasters referred to interceptions as "breaks." *********** Coach Wyatt, I was stationed at Fort Benning in the late 80's and Otis Sistrunk ran the one of the base Gyms that I worked out at. The first time I saw him I asked another soldier who that HUGE man in the front was and he told me that it was Otis Sistrunk. He looked like he could still kick ass on anyone in the Gym. One other note about the first touching rule. I have always made sure our returner's understand the rule and we have taken advantage of it a few times in the past several years. This year we were getting ready to play another team and I noticed on film that one of their players downed the ball by touching it with his foot and walking away. I instructed our return men and team to watch for this and if the opportunity arose to grab it and go. Sure enough late in the 2nd quarter it happened. The ball was nearly dead and the kid taps it with his foot and begins to walk away as the rest of their players walk off the field. Our corner who was about 5 yards away raced over picked up and went 66 yards for a TD. People were nuts on both sides. Most of the fans had no idea what was happening. I believe it was actually a bad call by the official once I looked at tape. The ball was not moving and was about to be blown dead but when their kid touched it with his foot it began to move again so he didn't blow it. Sincerely, Keith Lehne, Grantsburg, Wisconsin *********** Somebody should tell the Indianapolis staff that before you run a Harry High School play you should make sure you are playing with high school rules. But not a single member of the Colts' coaching staff, every single one of whom is paid far more than anyone reading this page (with the exception of certain Texas high school coaches), evidently knew the applicable rule when Peyton Manning got under center, then pulled out, and, while he appeared to be giving panicked instructions to the players wide to one side, the ball was snapped to the remaining back, Edgerin James. The play gained good yardage, but it was disallowed. Apparently it is a pro rule that once a QB puts his hands under center, he can't pull out. No such rule applies to high school quarterbacks. *********** God, it was refreshing to see one football player talk about wanting to stay in college, instead of turning pro - because he is having such a great time. Matt Leinart's decision and his demeanor in explaining it are enough to do the near-unthinkable - make a USC fan out of me. His return - with (Bob Griese's opinion notwithstanding) an outstanding "supporting cast," puts USC in position to rank as one of the great college football dynasties of all time - up there with the Armys, the Notre Dames and the Oklahomas. Before you criticize the guy for making what might seem like a stupid move, consider - (1) if it's the money, insurance is available to cover the difference between what he might have signed for this year and what he'd get next year, were he to get injured; (2) if it's the glory, he will be the biggest thing on the biggest team in the biggest sports market in the US - how big do you need to be?; (3) if it's satisfaction and enjoyment of the game, how can playing for the worst team in the NFL - one of the worst teams ever - compare with playing for the best team in college football? *********** CBS, which seems to be having its share of problems these days, was off showing us promos for Sunday night's shows when the Patriots scored the clinching TD. *********** Michael Vick is the single most exciting player in the NFL, especially so because he touches the ball on every play. *********** Give the Jets credit - they played the Steelers as tough as possible. In doing they, they kept the concept of the wild card games from being totally discredited. Only one of this past weekend's four games was what a neutral observer would call exciting (I, not being neutral, throughly enjoyed the Patriots' performance). *********** A funny scene comes up from time to time on NFL films, whenever they go back to their old clips of Chiefs' coach Hank Stram, mic'ed on the sidelines. He is very dapper, wearing a coat and tie with a vest under the sport jacket, and in one hand he holds what appears to be a rolled-up program. And, shouting at his Chiefs, he exhorts them to "matriculate down the field." Say, "Matriculate?" Enroll in a college? It is a bizarre misuse of a word, but of a word so obdcure that few people could understand how funny it was. So maybe CBS' Jim Nantz was trying to be funny, when the Pats and Colts came back after halftime Sunday, and he said, "the two teams have matriculated onto the field?" *********** Coach, Geary, OK is about 25 miles SW of me. I go through it regularly, and the coach from TX is right. The only hip hop allowed around here comes from rabbits and deer...and you know what we do to them. Gabe McCown, Piedmont, OK-USA *********** If the Pentagon isn't interested in any of this stuff, I might be... From NewScientist.com- Pentagon reveals rejected chemical weapons January 15, 2005 THE Pentagon considered developing a host of non-lethal chemical weapons that would disrupt discipline and morale among enemy troops, newly declassified documents reveal. Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says. (How useful would this be to a football coach? HW) Other ideas included chemical weapons that attract swarms of enraged wasps or angry rats to troop positions, making them uninhabitable. Another was to develop a chemical that caused "severe and lasting halitosis", making it easy to identify guerrillas trying to blend in with civilians. There was also the idea of making troops' skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight. "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 14, 2005  "No one ever has been penalized for being early." Lute Olsen  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS THE FIRST 2005 CLINIC TO BE OFFICIALLY SET IS ATLANTA - FEBRUARY 26 - MORE INFO TO FOLLOW     *********** Sir, Will you please pass on to all the coaches involved in the Black Lion Award my sincere thanks for all that they do for us. Their dedication to our young people is certainly appreciated and respected by me. Black Lions Sir! Doc ("Doc" is Tom "Doc" Hinger, of Winter Haven, Florida - Black Lion and veteran of the Battle of Ong Thanh, Vietnam) (If you haven't seen the new Black Lions section of my site, check it out - www.coachwyatt.com/blacklionhomepage.htm If you're a Black Lions coach and you or your Black Lion Awatd winner would like to write to Army's Black Lion, Sullivan, you can e-mail him at William.Sullivan@usma.edu (Read more about Will Sullivan) *********** Tired of looking at defensive backs and wide receivers who look as if they're prancing around in bicycle shorts and tights? Linemen who look like stuffed sausages? Right under our noses, the NFL has been allowing its players to change the look of the game. It is not your imagination - except for shoulder pads or helmets, many players are not wearing any other pads. (In 1995, the NFL changed the classification of hip, thigh and knee pads from "mandatory" to "recommended".) And those that do wear the "extra" pads they are often wearing the bare minimum. "I think they'd wear nothing if they could," St. Louis Rams' coach Mike Martz told the Wall Street Journal. Hip pads? Todd Hewitt, equipment manager of the Rams, told the Journal he hasn't bought one since 1996 or 1997. Thigh pads? Pointing out several bins full of the large sizes that high school and college players customarily wear, Hewitt said no Ram has worn one in 10 years or so. Most Rams, he said, wear a small 6-inch by 9-inch junior size, but the tiny (4-inch by 5-inch) Adams Pee Wee model is also popular. John Bartlett, an Adams sales manager, who calls on more than 20 NFL teams, confirms that Mr. Hewitt's experience is not an isolated case. "We sell a lot of those (youth pads) to the NFL," he told the Journal. Some players go even further, removing the padding and wearing only the plastic shell.   Knee pads? Don't make me laugh. Why, when their pants stop way above the knee as it is? Where would they put them?   The reasons for the "depadding " of the NFL, according to the Journal, are part machismo (only sissies need pads), part peer pressure (teammates ridicule rookies who come out all padded up) and part vanity. Vanity? To be sure. At least among the so-called skill players. "When you're on TV, millions of people see you," Rams' wide receiver Dane Looker told the Journal. "You don't want to look sloppy out there." According to the Journal, he, like many others, had his jersey sleeves sewn tighter, the better to display his biceps. And then there is another factor - the changing nature of the game itself. The NFL has become a passing game, one that, as the Journal says, "mirrors the revved-up version of the NFL found in videogames." Paranoid about the need for speed, players are looking to cut weight wherever possible. Even required equipment gets pared down. Take a look at the youth-sized shoulder pads being worn by offensive linemen these days. Knowing that liberalized "blocking" rules mean they'll never have to use their shoulders anyhow, they wear the smallest-sized shoulder pads they can find. The visual effect is startling - instead of conventional tailoring strategy, which calls for wide shoulders tapering down to the waist, these guys have an inverted taper, which emphasizes their pear shapes. Combine the narrow shoulders and monstrous guts with jerseys sewn tight around the upper arms and it's impossible not to think of giant bratwursts. Interestingly, while most businesses go to incredible lengths to try to reduce the number of man-days lost to on-the-job injuries, NFL teams, which spend fortunes on medical care and rehab (not to mention salaries for players on injured reserve), are surprisingly lackadaisical about what protective gear their players wear on the job.   It is ironic that industrial workers are required to wear safety shoes, goggles, and sound-deadening ear muffs, yet some of the most valuable employees on the face of the earth, engaged in a rather hazardous occupation, are permitted to go on the job relatively unprotected. *********** Have you noticed how more and more, televised NFL games are being tailored to look like the football that kids are used to seeing on video games? With all those camera shots from above and behind the action, the hope is that kids passing through the living room on their way from their room to the refrigerator might glance at an actual game on TV and think, "cool - that looks just like Madden!" and decide to sit down and watch a little. *********** Not much note was made of the passing of Buddy Diliberto, a long-time New Orleans sports broadcaster. He deserves sports immortality for his idea, back in 1980 when the Saints were bad - really, really bad - of having fans wear paper bags to Saints ("Aints") games, to hide the embarrassment of being seen there. *********** Richard Cirminiello, of CollegeFootballNews.com, recently ranked college football's first-year coaches on their performances, and I've printed excerpts from his article. You can't help noticing that only three of the 14 on the list had winning records. Ot course, with the exception of Nebraska, there aren't any perennial powers on the list. Wonder what the list will look like this time next year after new coaches at such places as BYU, Florida, Indiana, LSU, Miami (Oh), Notre Dame, Ohio U., Oklahoma State, South Carolina, Syracuse, Utah and Washington have had a season behind them. Richard Cirminiello's ranking of the first-year head coaches: 1. Mike Price, UTEP (8-4) With essentially the same squad that lost to Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo in 2003, the coach went 8-4, nearly upset Colorado in the Houston Bowl and completely changed the climate surrounding the program. Mike Price came to El Paso to rebuild a floundering football program, and wound up rebuilding his reputation in the process. By a wide margin, he's this season First-Year Coach of the Year. 2. Mark Dantonio, Cincinnati (7-5) - On Oct. 10, Cincinnati was 2-4, and reeling from a difficult-to-process blowout loss at the hands of Army. On Dec. 24, the 'Cats were 7-5, and reveling in the school's first bowl victory in seven years 3. J.D. Brookhart, Akron (6-5) - Brookhart was so, so close to becoming the only coach in school history to lead Akron into a bowl game It wasn't enough for the postseason, but it did earn Brookhart MAC Coach of the Year honors, and the team a school-record six league wins. 4. Doug Martin, Kent State (5-6) - Martin was dealt a difficult hand when Dean Pees resigned just a month before the start of spring practice and a month after his star quarterback was arrested on drug charges. He regrouped, however, and guided Kent to a respectable five-win season. 5. Mike Stoops, Arizona (3-8) The ship is being turned slowly, but it's evident the coach has things headed in the right direction. High-water Mark: Stoops' first signature win as a head coach came against heavily-favored rival Arizona State, giving 'Zona ample momentum heading into the off-season. 6. Sylvester Croom, Mississippi State (3-8) As expected, there were more lows than highs in year one, but the Bulldogs gradually took on the positive personality of their new coach, and were light years more consistent in the second half of the season than they were in 2003. 7. Bobby Ross, Army (2-9) When you take over an Army program mired in a 15-game losing streak, your progress gets judged a little differently than it does for others. Incremental gains typically come in the form of competitiveness and moral victories. A win is a milestone. Two straight is historic. The Cadets pulled off the latter in October, their first winning streak of any kind in seven years High-water mark: Army didn't just break their 19-game losing streak on Oct. 9, they obliterated a pretty good Cincinnati team, 48-29, setting off an emotional post-game celebration. 8. Jeff Genyk, Eastern Michigan (4-7) Their four league wins were one shy of the school total for the last four years combined. 9. Chris Ault, Nevada (5-7) In his third stint with his alma mater, Ault could only manage a 5-7 mark, his worst in two decades of coaching. Through it all, Ault regularly bristled about the results, making some wonder if his move from the administrative offices back to the sidelines was a wise one. 10. Nick Holt, Idaho (3-8) Considering the dearth of talent and the number of underclassmen he was forced to play, no one expected any miracles from Holt in year one The Vandals are headed to the much tougher WAC next season, so Holt's kids must mature quickly to be competitive. 11. Brian Kelly, Central Michigan (4-7) the Chips moved as far from the MAC West cellar as they've been over the past six years. 12. Ted Roof, Duke (2-9) - That momentum Roof built at the end of 2003 as the Devils' interim head coach never fully returned in 2004. He earned the permanent job by winning 2-of-5 following Carl Franks' ouster, but this season, it was back to the cellar for the Dookies 13. Bill Callahan, Nebraska (5-6) Even the most skilled spin doctor would struggle to find a silver lining in Callahan's first year at Nebraska. High-water mark: Now that Pittsburgh has played in the Fiesta Bowl, that September win at Heinz Field looks pretty darn good. It wound up being the Huskers' only victory over a bowl team all year. 14. George O'Leary, Central Florida (0-11) - His ballyhooed return to the college game was an unmitigated disaster as the Knights were the only team in the country last year to go winless *********** To your question: "Is there nowhere we can go to escape the f--king influence of hiphop?" You bet there is -- I was there this weekend -- Geary, Oklahoma! Go do a mapquest search and you'll see it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's an awesome little town. It's the site of the oldest HS wrestling tournament in the U.S. -- The Geary Invitational. And they don't listen to hiphop in Geary, I guarantee! It's a small farming/ranching community that hosts the 22 team invitational every year -- families put up wrestlers from all over the place, cook them home made meals and actually pray before they eat. And they pray before they wrestle -- and the Coach sings the national anthem before the finals! It's AWESOME -- but it's a meat grinder -- one of the top 10 high school tourneys in the country. We only had 2 kids place (Austin being one of them!). But Coach, it is America at it's best -- I gaaronetee! (as our cajun friends would say!). Damn -- it was Oklahoma, but I sure felt at home! Old men drinkin' coffee in the only little restaurant in town, talkin' 'bout "that 135 lber back in 1979"... I loved every minute...even though I had to drive 45 miles to my hotel! Scott Barnes, Rockwall, Texas *********** Instead of "Peter, Peter" to remind the kids to stay away from the ball, here in Dallas we use "Leon, Leon" as in Leon Lett (from the Thanksgiving game screwup vs the Dolphins!!) Jim Piland, Dallas, Texas *********** He's got a point... "Let's be honest, if we're talking ugly criminal acts, I'd suggest Green Bay's tackling was far worse for young kids to see." Ed Wyatt *********** Forget the wins, guys, and go for the touchy-feely stuff. Just to show you how far some people can get into the touchy-feely scene, consider this - there are some places where getting to within one game of a state final isn't enough to keep your job. Besides winning, there has to be, in the words of a principal who will remain nameless, "even more." The following is an e-mail that this certain principal sent to a friend of mine, a long-time successful coach, who will also remain nameless. (In case you're guessing, he is not a double-Wing coach) It is a follow-up to a recent meeting they had. Thank you for meeting with me today regarding the football program. We went over the yearly progress and talked about the successes for the 2004-05 football season. I asked you about the development plans for the coming years and you gave me the material that will be presented as a power point presentation from the (Football Booster) Club. This shows general goals for on and off the field. I would like to thank you for sharing this material with me. We discussed the Continuous Improvement Plan. Relationship with parents and boosters you feel have improved. The Gridiron Club is a good example of improvement. In the area of relationship with the (outside boosters), you stated that you have made attempts to bridge that gap but feel these attempts have been unrequited. Relationship with the coaching staff are seen as improved by you, and comments I have heard certainly confirm that. You feel that communication has improved, especially through the use of the (Football Booster) Club. Organizationally, you talked about improvements you have been working on/making with your staff . The year has been positive, but as I stated, we want even more. We spent time talking about taking general goals and making them specific, step by step plans for bringing (-------) to a consistent, excellent program. We also talked about the differences between program vision, and game isolated vision. I told you that it is my plan to open the position to candidates for next year, and that I invite you to apply. One of the required items for that application will be a three to five year plan for taking a school like (-------) to a point where it becomes a consistent, successful program. I asked you how you felt about that, and you stated that you were uncomfortable and would like time to think it through. I asked how long you needed, and we agreed that by the end of next week you would come in to discuss next steps. The intention to open the position remains in place, but I want to honor the strides you have made this year and make you as comfortable with this process as possible. Thank you again for meeting with us today. Now, fellas - in case you aren't fluent in Adminispeak... if you haven't taken your Administratium pill today... you may need a little translation: they are "making a change in his department." They are "going in another direction." They are opening up his position. (But he is invited to apply.) Not that "The year has been positive." That, the principal is willing to concede. Yeah, I guess you could say that - they made it to the state semi-finals. But, the note went on, "we want even more." *********** Hugh, I used to be a fan of basketball but no longer have the interest in it. When I read this, it was clear to me why I WAS a basketball fan and no longer am. We do not have many coaches (if any) like John Wooden around anymore. We should. Coaches everywhere, regardless of what sport they coach, who truly care about the profession, should subscribe to what made John Wooden who he is. Coach Wooden's philosophy was built on a model he called the "Pyramid of Success". I have a laminated poster of it hanging in my office. It talks about such "archaic" principles as loyalty, cooperation, enthusiasm, friendship, industriousness, self-control, alertness, initiative, intentness, condition, skill, team spirit, poise, confidence, and competitive greatness. All of these supported by the ideals of ambition, sincerity, honesty, adaptability, reliability, resourcefulness, integrity, fight, patience, and faith. Unfortunately many kids today are unfamiliar with these terms. They haven't grown up with these things being taught to them by their parents either through words, or by actions. And worse, many of them will never know what they mean because it isn't being taught to them by teachers or coaches either. Joe Gutilla, Minneapolis *********** Wednesday didn't get off to a great start for me. As I usually do, I opened up the morning paper, the Oregonian, and started reading the letters to the editor just to see what the enemy is up to. But this morning, I came upon a letter from a woman in a Portland suburb that left me incredulous... My son, who is a sophomore in high school, came home to tell me that recruiting personnel were at his school. He said he knew one of the boys who went up to talk with the recruiter. I said to him that now possibly that boy could enlist to fight in Iraq. He looked depressed. My son has had a friend, Peter, since first grade, and they are more like brothers. Peter and the rest of us were talking about whether it was right to allow recruiters to come to our schools. I asked my son to picture himself standing back at some distance and watching Peter walk up to one of the recruiters to talk about enlisting. I asked my son how that made him feel - to witness a possible death sentence for his dearest friend. Both boys stared at each other, upset at what that could mean. And then it was time to drop them off at soccer practice. Actually, I just made up that last line, but it sure seemed to fit. Guaranteed that this woman's little darling and his best bud Peter don't play football. "Picture yourself, son, standing back at some distance and watching Peter walk up to the football coach to talk about turning out for the team." Yikes. Football! Talk about a death sentence! How much you wanna bet this same mommy won't think twice about letting her son get a driver's license? Isn't that as much of a death sentence as enlisting in the Armed Forces? By this point, after that great display of patriotism, I was in need of a laugh, and fortunately, she provided me with one. Get this - her last name is Schwartzkopf *********** What do you think would have happened if Randy Moss would have pulled that stunt against the "Steel Curtain" Defense? Jeff Murdock, Ware Shoals, South Carolina That's fun to think about.. Try that against the Steel Curtain guys. Or Mike Curtis. Or Butkus, Nitshcke, Bednarik, Lambert. Or - here's the best - Jack Tatum. If Mr. Moss knows what's good for him, he won't try that stuff in Philly. There aren't enough mounted police in the state of Pennsylvania to keep those fans away from that fool! HW *********** I read a lot of "where are they now?" articles, and I find them pretty interesting, but it's rare that one grabs me the way this one did. Anybody remember Otis Sistrunk, from the "University of Mars?" Otis Sistrunk was one of those guys from back in the days when I was coaching minor league ball back East who made it to the NFL. He played his high school ball in Columbus, Georgia, but he never went to college, instead playing several years for the Norfolk Neptunes of the Atlantic Coast Football League, until finally in 1972 - at the age of 27 - signing as a free agent with the Rams. The Rams traded him to the Raiders, where he turned into a real force on the defensive line. His moment in the spotlight came during a Monday Night game when the camera happened to be down on the sideline, when color analyst Don ("Dandy Don") Meredith identified one guy next to him as So-and-so, from such-and-such a university, and then, as the camera panned to Sistrunk, a huge man with a somewhat forbidding appearance caused by drooping eyelids, Meredith said, "and there's Otis Sistrunk, from the University of Mars." In retrospect, it seems like a pretty nasty shot at the guy. Fans of Otis Sistrunk and the Raiders will be pleased to know that for Otis Sistrunk, there has been a life after football. A useful, productive life. Former NFL star glad to serve Soldiers By Bob Reinert FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Jan. 12, 2005) -- Fort Lewis isn't necessarily where one would expect to find a former All-Pro defensive tackle, a guy who earned a Super Bowl ring, someone who knows John Madden better as his coach than as a network football analyst. It's been a quarter-century since he traded his No. 60 Oakland Raiders jersey for civilian clothes, but Otis Sistrunk looked comfortable recently as he sat at his desk in the stadium he manages on post. The memorabilia on the wall behind him recalled his glory days with the Raiders. Sistrunk, who never played college football, was a 1974 All-Pro selection and was an integral part of the Madden-coached Oakland team that dispatched the Minnesota Vikings, 31-14, in Super Bowl XI, Jan. 9, 1977, at Pasadena, Calif. All that is behind him now. "In the NFL, we think we can play forever, but we can't," said Sistrunk, 60. "When I got out of football &endash; I'll be honest with you &endash; I didn't know what I was going to do." Sistrunk lasted seven years in the NFL and spent a couple more as a beer salesman. One day when he was at Fort Benning on business, a lieutenant colonel asked if he'd be interested in coaching the post football team. His government career was born. "I didn't know I was going to be here 20-something years," said Sistrunk, now approaching his 22nd anniversary as an Army employee. His second career required no bigger jump than the one he made from high school to the Raiders via semi-pro football. "My whole thing was to go overseas and work," said Sistrunk of his early motivation with the Army. "My grandmother was sick and my mother was sick, so I couldn't go away." Instead, he spent a dozen years at Fort Benning, attending to the sports and fitness needs of Soldiers. "It was a challenge to me," Sistrunk said. "It was very interesting. I got a chance to know a lot of people." When the opportunity presented itself, he transferred to Fort Lewis. He's been there ever since. "I enjoy working at Fort Lewis," Sistrunk said. "I had opportunities to go overseas … and different places, but I love Fort Lewis. When I go out of town, that's the first thing I tell people &endash; I work at Fort Lewis." Sistrunk does travel frequently to appear at charity golf events and to speak with school children. He had started going to Oakland area schools with Raider linebacker Phil Villapiano when both were still active players. "We would go to the schools and talk to the kids about staying in school, don't do drugs, turn yourself into a lady or a man," Sistrunk said. A decade later, when he was working in the gym at Fort Benning, Sistrunk was approached by a young, female second lieutenant who said she wanted to thank him. She told him that she was in one of those Oakland classrooms that he and Villapiano had visited. She wound up going to college, getting into ROTC and joining the Army. "I've never seen her since," Sistrunk said. "We know we saved one person. There's probably more." Sistrunk still uses his NFL background as currency at Fort Lewis. Some Soldiers just want to sit on his office couch and talk football. Others have more pressing matters on their minds. "Sometimes it helps if you sit here and talk to a young kid," Sistrunk said. "I tell young Soldiers, 'If you've got a problem, come in here and talk to me. Try to stay out of trouble.' The longer you stay out of trouble, the longer you'll stay in the military." "Otis has really shared his knowledge and experience with all," said Lonnie Meredith, head coach of the Army flag football team that defeated Navy in early December at Cowan Stadium on Fort Lewis. Sistrunk served as one of Meredith's assistant coaches. "He's a true role model, one that you can access daily," Meredith said. "He has always helped everyone that approaches him with guidance and direction. He shares his ideas and thoughts with others." "Otis has been a plus to the program not because of his playing football in the NFL, but because of his ability to work with a variety of people, from privates to generals," said Jerry Weydert, sports director at Fort Lewis, who lauded Sistrunk's "willingness to do what is needed to get the job done." If the Oakland Raiders were once like a family to him, Sistrunk now is part of another one &emdash; the Army. "I just love the military," Sistrunk said. "I look forward to coming here every day. It's been rewarding for me. You can't make everybody happy, but I try to do my best. "We try to do the best we can to serve the Soldiers. It's a challenge to me every day." (Bob Reinert writes for the Northwest Guardian.) "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 11, 2005  "I don't want any yes-men around me. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs them their job." Samuel Goldwyn, famous movie producer  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS *********** Did you catch Randy Moss' hair? Could he have been auditioning for a starring role in an OfficeMax commercial? (Rubberband Man, y'all.) *********** Check that. Not a chance. After his crude, childish mooning of the crowd following his fourth-quarter touchdown ("Just havin' a little fun, man - I didn't mean no trouble by it.") Sunday, neither OfficeMax nor any other self-respecting company would touch that creep with a ten-foot pole. Of course, I said "self-respecting," so that still leaves shoe companies and video game people for him to cut deals with. I heard him say afterward, "I'll take the heat for it. " Very cocky, but I rather doubt that. Not if he were to get what he deserved, which at the very least should have been a one-game suspension. Not so much for the indeceny. Or the childishness. I mean, as everyone is fond of saying, "That's Randy." He should be punished because what he did was so... so soccerish. *********** Dad How are you? I actually enjoyed both playoff games today, but I must admit, there were some unbelievable bonehead plays from guys supposed to be professionals. First of all, Seattle should cut its entire receiving corps &endash; they literally cannot catch. And even though Jerry Rice is not the receiver he once was, I don't think he would have dropped some of those balls the other clowns did. In the AFC, Schottenheimer watches his team chew up yard after yard with a clever array of short passes and runs by perhaps the best runner in the league. Then the "Coach of the Year" proceeds to play the typical, safe NFL strategy (as Shanahan did on a snowy field in a loss to Oakland) and pound the ball three times into the line and put the game on the shoulders of a rookie kicker on a wet field. Sure he should've made it, but the Chargers had all the momentum and should have tried harder to win the game or move the ball closer. And I'm not sure why the ball was run to the right hash either. I won't even go into the absurd late hit by the Jets linebacker, who nearly missed walking home to NYC. Only the Rams escape my wrath and that's only because they showed some guts at the end of the game and beat Seattle 3 times in one year. Love, Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia (Got to agree with you on the Seahawks - can't believe they pay those other receivers, and don't throw a pass all day to a guy who, despite having slowed down, still has one of the best pairs of hands in the history of the game - and on Marty S. Damn shame the way they fiddled and farted once they knew they had a 40-yard field goal all set up. Two exciting games, though. On the other hand, how about the Indianapolis-Denver fiasco? How about the way Indianapolis was able to orchestrate the whole scenario by simply losing to Denver last week? HW) *********** Last week, big hitter John Lynch of the Broncos, playing human dive-bomber, tucked in his arms, lowered his shoulder and head and drilled a defenseless Dallas Clark in the head. For his act, Lynch drew a big fine and a warning from the league. This past weekend, suddenly required to tackle correctly - wrapping up and everything - Lynch appeared to be a man whose weapon had been taken from him, on one occasion standing by and watching as Reggie Wayne of the Colts caught a short pass in front of him, broke a teammate's tackle, and raced right past for a touchdown. *********** When I heard Joe Buck say that the Packers had gone "back to the basics," working really hard on their tackling lately, I had to laugh. Did you see the way their cornerbacks tackled? After watching them continually leave their feet in the open field, diving at legs and missing tackles, I wondered, "how bad were they before they went back to the basics?" And those defensive tackles - no self-respecting semipro team would keep guys around with beer guts like that. If you're still old-fashioned enough to believe in the concept of "pursuit" as an important part of any defense, it would have made sick to watch them. I doubt that they had a single tackle other than on plays run right at them. Between the tackling in the secondary and those huge, immobile slugs at defensive tackle, it's no wonder the Packers had problems on defense this year. *********** I am worried about Brett Favre. Favre, the guy I felt was the closest thing I'd ever see to John Unitas, who for my money wasthe greatest man you'd ever want to have with the ball in his hands when the game was on the line, pulled an almost unbelievable rock Sunday against the Vikings. There the Packers were, nearing the end of the first half, down by 14 and driving; on third and four or five, he dropped back to pass but left the pocket and started to run, and as he was headed out of bounds - about a yard short of a first down - he casually flipped the ball underhanded and across his body to a receiver for what would have been a touchdown - except that Favre was way past the line of scrimmage when he threw. So instead going out of bounds, stopping the clock and leaving the Pack with a fourth and one and the option of taking a shot at a first down or a touchdown, he drew a penalty which effectively moved the Pack back out of reach of either one. The result was a field goal attempt - which Ryan Longwell missed. *********** Few things piss me off as much as a punter who stands on the opponents' side of the 50 - and then kicks the ball into the end zone. Helps his stats and all that, but after they bring the ball out and place it on the 20, it doesn't do his team a whole lot of good. So I appreciated Darren Bennett's showing his Aussie Rules training by standing on the 45 and pooching the ball down to the Green Bay seven yard-line. In the record books, it goes down as a mere 23-yard punt, yet look what it did for his team. If he'd kicked it into the end zone, he'd have gotten credit for a 30-yarder. *********** Coach Wyatt, Hi, Your latest "News" installment was great. Refreshing as always. Some reflections on the end of college football......USC really impressed me. I guess if Western football were ever on TV in GA I could see how good they are before January....Speaking of Western football, how about Wyoming....first bowl win in a while, good for them, and especially over of a team from a city that is bigger than the whole state of Wyoming (by far). New Years Eve had some great games, Louisville v. Boise State, Arizona State v. Purdue, and others. I am puzzled why, with all the coaching openings Dan Hawkins from Boise State didn't get more media play. I guess he was in consideration for the Oregon State job, but not once did I hear any one of the experts say his name......the big time schools loss is Boise State's gain as they resigned Hawkins for another 5 years I read......Finally, great to see Navy win their bowl game. About the only time you get to see that much running in a football game on TV is when Air Force, Navy, or a D-II or D-IAA championship game is on. I hope Bobby Ross can turn around Army too, I know that you would have to search long and hard to find a better group of guys than those that make up the rosters of our service academies. Have a good one, Chris George, Macon, Georgia (Glad you enjoyed the NEWS. You are just going to have to stay up later during the football season to watch the Fox Pac-10 game that comes on at 7 or 7:30 Eastern. I personally think that Dan Hawkins is high-spotting, waiting for the perfect job, because he's already got a good one. He can afford to pick and choose without grovelling like some other coaches. He's not unhappy at Boise. He's a western guy - unlike Meyer, who everybody knew was just putting in his time at Utah. Boise is a great place to live and work, and they give him everything it takes to be successful there. (Everything except a big-time schedule.) Boise's image in the Northwest is such that more and more, he is able to go head-to-head with the Pac-10 schools for the same kids. There are some surprisingly large corporations headquartered in Boise, and the Broncos have some very supportive boosters. And he isn't badly paid, either. It is probably a matter of time before he gets frustrated at the BCS' keeping Boise State on the outside, but until he does, he's in a pretty good spot.HW) *********** One other thing I was going to tell you that brought a tear to my eye the other day was brought to me by 4 year old son Rock. It seems that mom was at our oldest son's basketball practice at his elementary and saw some sign up sheets for youth soccer. At dinner that night unbeknownst to me she brought out the papers and asked Rock (She knew not to ask the 2 older brothers) if he would like for her to sign him up for youth soccer. Rock looked at mom and put down his fork and said "Mom, SOCCER SUCKS". I laughed so hard until mom popped me upside the head. I swear Hugh I never coached him up on that. The 2 older brothers laughed hard too. Mom was a little irritated, but she had a big smile on her face. Sometimes all is right. Take care, Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho (Now, I ask you - what were the chances that a kid named Rock was going to sign up to play soccer? HW) *********** Well, the NFL served us up a couple of good ones Saturday, didn't they? (Getting more and more like the NBA and the late NHL, where for years the regular season has pretty much been something to get over with.) *********** Herman Edwards sure did a slick job of dismissing that rather nasty looking sideline spat between him and his running backs coach, didn't he? *********** How seriously injured was that Jet who stood on the sideline and missed the playoff game Saturday? John Madden alluded to the fact that he was going to be a free agent, and didn't want to risk getting hurt and damaging his value in the marketplace. *********** When Shaun Alexander of the Seahawks missed being the NFL's leading rusher by one yard - one yard - he said after the game that he felt as if he'd been "stabbed in the back." It was not a matter of money. There was no bonus involved. It was a matter of professional pride and, frankly, I think the guy was stabbed in the back. He later apologized for his choice of words, but I know how he feels, and although I'm not usually too big into putting the individual ahead of the team, I recognize that those things do matter to the individuals involved, and a coach does have certain obligations to his players to help them achieve certain significant goals, so long as doing so does not jeopardize team goals. We are not talking here about leaving your QB in the game to throw for 600 yards against a team you're beating, 55-0. We're not talking about bringing your starting tailback back in with your team ahead, 48-0, so he can score his seventh touchdown. We're talking about the NFL rushing championship. It 's a great achievement for an individual, but also for his team. And just as Reggie McKenzie and Joe DeLamielleure and the other Buffalo offensive linemen took such pride in O.J. Simpson's rushing yardage that they called themselves "The Electric Company" ("because we turn on the Juice"), I would think it would be a matter of great pride for Seattle's offensive linemen to be able to tell people that they blocked for an NFL rushing leader. I mean, how many things do pro offensive linemen get to celebrate, anyhow? Late in the final regular-season game against the Falcons, the Seahawks were a yard away from scoring, and instead of giving the ball to Shaun Alexander, coach Mike Holmgren called a quarterback sneak. And Matt Hasselbeck went in for the score. The Seahawks never got the ball back, and there went Alexander's chances. Afterward, Coach Holmgren allowed as how he didn't even know that Alexander needed the yard. Said he doesn't even want to be bothered with details like that for fear they might unduly influence his play calling. Said he called the play that he felt would get them the score. Didn't know, huh? That's funny - I always knew. I always asked my stats people (for many years, that was my wife) to let me know if a kid was closing in on a milestone - let's say he had 98 yards rushing and we had the ball. And if it didn't harm the team, I'd try to get the kid his 100 yards. And we were talking about something a lot bigger here than rushing for 100 yards in a high school game. We were talking about a record that attests to sustained excellence over an entire NFL season. Bear in mind that this is a league full of phony records, such as the sack record brought about when Brett Favre took a dive. You mean to tell me that it would have hurt the Seahawks for their coach to know that one yard was all Shaun Alexander needed to become the NFL rushing champion? That one of the best runners in the game couldn't have gotten that one yard just as easily as his quarterback? *********** He doesn't get a lot of national pub, but the more I see Marc Bulger, the more convinced I am that there may not be a better quarterback in the NFL *********** It was fitting that the Seahawks lost to the Rams for the same reason they went from pre-season Super Bowl prospects to regular-season mediocrities - an inability to catch the football. True, that would have been a nice catch in the end zone if Bobby Engram had made it, but we've all seen better. Tough darts, and all that, but no sympathy, not with today's rules that call for receivers being treated like Lady Astor's Pet Horse. (And you don't even want to know how much Engram is paid to make catches like that.) *********** "This is a very young team," I heard the ABC talking head say about the Seahawks, as if to explain away their horrible season. Wonder how many more years they can keep playing that "very young team" game. This makes two so far. Will these guys ever grow old? Just one problem - just four months ago, this same "young team" was being touted by many as a Super Bowl contender - and those young guys never improved. In fact, the one guy who might have saved their asses against the Rams was an old-timer - a 42 year-old wide receiver who never had a pass thrown his way all day. A guy named Jerry Rice. Bet he could have caught a couple of those passes that were dropped. *********** If Ohio State gets nailed for what Maurice Clarett and others are accusing it of, I hope those NFL players who introduce themselves on TV as being from "THE Ohio State University", like they're talking about Oxford or Cambridge or something, will add, "THE Ohio State University - you know... the one that admitted kids, some of them hoodlums, who had no business even being in college, then set them up with cake classes that required almost no work which didn't matter because they didn't do any work anyhow, and got them "jobs" working for alumni who didn't require them to do any work. And won a national championship with them. THAT one." *********** Only in America... Alberto Gonzalez , addressing the graduates of Rice University last spring, told them, "During my years in high school, I never once asked my friends over to our home. You see, even though my father poured his heart into that house, I was embarrassed that 10 of us lived in a cramped space with with no hot running water or telephone." Mr. Gonzalez didn't use his growing up in near-poverty as an excuse to become a criminal or a drug addict. Instead, he followed the example of his father ("he worked harder than any person I have ever known), and after college and law school, worked his way up to general counsel to then-governor George W. Bush of Texas, then served as Secretary of State in Texas, and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court. Now, he is President Bush's nominee to become Attorney General of the United States; confirmation by the Senate will make him the first person of Hispanic descent to serve in one of the "Big Four" cabinet seats - State, Defense, Treasury and justice. Only in America. *********** When I heard of Matt Kavanaugh's firing by the Ravens, I thought immediately of Charley Eckman. As it was reported in the news media, Kavanaugh, the Ravens' offensive coordinator, went in to head coach Brian Billick to say that some changes needed to be made. On that, they were in agreement, as Billick reported to the press. Now, maybe they agreed in principle, but Billick seemed to have only one change in mind, and that was a rather radical one - a change in offensive coordinators. Kavanaugh was gone. Some "agreement." It reminded me of the time Eckman, a one-of-a-kind Baltimore character and a longtime NBA guy as both a coach and a referee, told of being fired as a coach by Fred Zollner, original owner of the Pistons. He said Zollner called him in and said, "Charlie, we're going to be making a change in your department." Eckman said, "fine with me," or some such - "and then I realized I was the only person in my department." *********** At first, I thought I'd heard the tail end of a commercial for some "ED" remedy: "Side effects include seizures, heart attacks, and death." I don't think so, I thought. Diarrhea and four-hour-long erections are one thing, but... Then I realized it was some law firm, trolling for Vioxx plaintiffs. *********** After failing a class in Human Biology, basketball player Tim Morris became the first Stanford athlete in 23 years to be declared academically eligible. Actually, though, he didn't fail a class at Stanford. He was "unable to pass" it. That was so-o-o-o Stanford. "Unable to pass" sounds so much better than "fail." How touchy-feely. How "non-hurtful." The Stanford basketball team will miss him. With coach Mike Montgomery gone to the NBA, and off to a 1-3 Pac-10 start, they've mostly been "unable to win." *********** Hi Hugh, I need some straightening on this one - until blown dead by the official, the receiving team can return a kick even if it has been touched by the punting team AND if they fumble, get the ball back. HUH? Isn't that what happened in the SC - OU game and OU did not get the ball back? What am I missing here? (besides another cup of coffee) Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey It was ruled that SC did not touch the ball. Thanks Coach (that explains it). We always taught the kids that the only way we'd want to pick up a ball that was touched would be if we handle something near midfield. Most of the time, it's simply a POISON call. MB We wouldn't do anything like that, either, unless, as in the Bobby Dodd scenario, the guy who downed it were simply to turn and leave the scene. Normally, we are nowhere near a punt after it hits the ground. Are players all know - and use - use the now near-universal call that we got from Don James - "Peter! Peter! Peter!" (Don't play with it!) I made reference to this a few years ago when I mentioned having watched a Boston College game in which the sideline microphone picked up the BC players yelling, "Pita! Pita! Pita!" ("Peter!" with the New England accent.) The best way explanation of this old, arcane rule was given me by an official years ago - he said to think of first touching as a penalty against the kicking team: it is just like any other penalty called while the ball is in play, in that play may proceed - except that there is no flag thrown, and the only "penalty" assessed against the kicking team is loss of ball at the spot of first touch. But a subsequent penalty called - and accepted - against the receiving team after one of its players had picked up the ball and run with it would cancel out the receiving team's option to return the ball to the spot of first touch. Weird rule. It's probably been left untouched because it's so seldom used, like those old laws still on the books in some states that require anyone driving a"horseless carriage" at night to have a person with a lantern walking alongside. Undoubtedly it's a relic of rugby, where punting plays a key role in advancing the ball. Somewhat on the order of the little-known football rule allowing a team to put the ball into play with a free kick following a fair catch, or the "return kick" (a kick-return man catching the ball and kicking it back to the original kicking team) finally outlawed in the 1960's. In the early days of football, just as still exists in rugby, a player from the punting team, provided he was "onside" (behind the kicker) during the play could recover - and advance - a punt, whether or not it was touchd by a player on the return team. Dave Nelson, in his classic "Anatomy of a Game," a history of the rules of football, relates how Bob Zuppke of Illinois would have his punter kick the ball just 10 yards or so past the line of scrimmage, where a teammate (who presumably had lined up behind the kicker, making him "onside", then raced downfield) would recover it. Even advance it. *********** You been watching "24?" You don't suppose there really are people like that in our country, do you? I mean, damn - if that's the case, then shouldn't we be doing things like profiling people at airports, and guarding our borders? *********** That Jack Bauer - some hero. He's not only inhospitable to guests in our country, but he drives a gas-guzzling SUV. "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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" 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2005 "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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 7, 2005  "Nobody in football is worth a million dollars! It's ridiculous!" Joe Paterno, on turning down $1.3 million to coach the New England Patriots, in 1981  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   *********** You're going to have to excuse me if I'm not my normal cynical stuff, lolling as I am in the warm glow of a stomping of the invincible Oklahoma Sooners by a Pac-10 team. A mere Pac-10 team. How can that be? I mean, haven't we all been told that the Pac-10 is soft and can't play defense? And to think that USC had to stop Oklahoma - and to do it, they had to stop a quarterback - a Heisman Trophy wsinner - playing for his sixth year! I mean, hell, six years at Oklahoma - he has more professional experience than a lot of NFL quarterbacks! As soon as it was obvious that USC was going to win - somewhere in the middle of the first period, I'd say, I thought back to those Longhorn loudmouths and their claim that their win over Michigan "proved" something (Like, maybe, bribery pays?), and it hit me - what, then, does this game prove? My head is still spinning with all the thoughts of all the things that the USC win "proves!" Just a few... For starters - there may have been two Pac-10 teams that Jason White could have started for. At quarterback, anyhow. Oklahoma, which USC beat far worse than it did such schools as Cal, UCLA, Oregon State and Stanford, would be a middle-of-the-pack Pac-10 team. Texas, which couldn't even score against Oklahoma, would be a Pac-10 bottom feeder, down there with (this year) Washington. Okay, okay - calm down. Truthfully, it doesn't prove any of those things. What it does prove is that on that particular night, USC beat the crap out of Oklahoma. Oklahoma is still a very good football team, and if they were to meet again this week, I'd take OU and the points. And that a good team playing at the very top of its game can put a big score on a good team that plays carelessly. (Evidence: Super Bowl scores of 48-21, 52-17, 55-10, 42-10, and 46-10. Before there was a Super Bowl, NFL championship game scores of 59-14, 47-7, 56-10 and - get this - 73-0. And in the old AFL, before merger, 51-10 and 40-7.) *********** It used to be axiomatic that the winner of the Heisman Trophy would likely be a flop in pro ball. But in college ball? Don't laugh. It just happened. And now, after having seen Jason White flop in TWO "National Championships", I have to ask - can the Heisman possibly be revoked? I am not one to jump on a guy for one bad game. But THREE? (Count 'em: Last year's Big Twelve championship, last year's "national championship", and this year's "national championship.") I wrote this a year ago, and since then I have seen nothing to change my mind... Okay Heisman voters... you've had your fun, but now your great scam is over. You have been exposed for the phonies that you are. You and your season-long hype and your two-hour-long show - and the best you can give us is... Jason White? Look - he's a very good football player, and a very courageous kid. And he's been a major factor in Oklahoma's phenomenal success. But he played for a very good team, and that made him look better than he was. A lot better. I don't see how he can be the best football player in America because he's not even close to being the best college quarterback. If they'd just waited until after the bowls (which, by the way, would also have eliminated Larry Fitzgerald and Chris Perry), Jason White would have been off the chart. Just looking at quarterbacks alone he'd have had Matt Leinart of USC, Ben Roethlisberger of Miami, Philip Rivers of N.C. State, Ryan Dinwiddie of Boise State and, yes, Ell Roberson of Kansas State ahead of him. Way ahead of him. Hell, I'd take the kids from Memphis, Houston, Bowling Green, Cal, Virginia, Texas Tech, Oregon, Maryland, Clemson. I'm sure I missed some. (See how hard it is just to select the best quarterback? Jason White is no better than third best quarterback in the MAC.) Actually, I thought it was kind of sneaky the way they waited until after the Heisman was presented to announce that White would be back for a sixth (count 'em - six) year. Now, after his last two outings, both on national TV, it's conceivable he could become the first returning Heisman winner not to receive a single vote.   (Note - if they'd waited until after the Orange Bowl this year, he would have been.) *********** Don't feel bad for Oklahoma. It does eveybody good to get their asses kicked once in a while. Gives them an appreciaiton for how the other half lives. Feel bad for OU coach Bob Stoops - the loss cost him $150,000. But don't feel too bad for him. On New Year's Day, he got an automatic $100,000 pay raise - his contract calls for one every year - bringing his guaranteed 2005 salary to $2.4 million. And that doesn't include bonuses. He's already earned some of those bonuses for 2004 - $57,500 for winning the Big 12 championship, $50,000 for finishing in the top 10 in the BCS final rankings, and $100,000 for playing in the BCS title game. That's $207,500 in bonuses! Of course, he could have earned another $150,000 - bringing his total bonuses to $357,500. But his players let him down. Dang. *********** Looking back, I thought the Auburn-Virginia Tech game was a borderline stinker. Some great defense, but some poor play, too. In my mind, on the basis of that one game, Auburn did nothing to vault over USC or Oklahoma. Auburn remains third, I guess, and Virginia Tech is elevated a place or two. But I think Louisville could have played with either of them. Perhaps Utah, too. *********** My son, Ed, disagreed mildly with my statement that Penn State may have been the best team in the East this year. My point - Not that Penn State was any good, but that the big East sucked. Penn State may have been near the bottom of the Big Ten, but if they had played in the Big East this year, they'd have been in the Fiesta Bowl. That's how bad the Big East was this year, with Virginia Tech and Miami gone. And now that Cincinnati and Louisville and South Florida are in the "East," and Boston College in the "south" (ACC) Penn State can play in the Big Ten and still claim to be "eastern." *********** Is there nowhere we can go to escape the f--king influence of hiphop? I'm sorry, but that intro to the f--king Orange Bowl was just about the most disgusting intrusion of rap into our game that I have ever seen. If having to watch a rap star introduce a game is the price I'm going to have to pay to watch the game, I'll TiVo it and watch it later. IDEA- a recording machine that erases rappers. *********** And by the way, that national anthem sucked, too. Another "somebody shoot the b---h" rendition. At least at the Rose Bowl the Michigan band played a recognizable national anthem. And what was that red-white-and-blue triangular thing down on the field supposed to be? A flag? *********** What the f--k was Shaq doing tossing the coin? You don't suppose ABC broadcasts the NBA do you? *********** And hey- there's Mickey! What's he doing here? Oh. That's right. For a moment there, I forgot that Disney owns ABC. And ESPN. And, for all I know, the NCAA. *********** How do all those singers and actors manage to get sideline passes to big games so we can be subjected to so many f--king sideline interviews? *********** I like Lynn Swann, but just he couldn't let it go --- first thing out of his mouth in his post-game interview of Matt Leinart was a question about whether he was going to pass up his final year and turn pro. It's the colleges' Big Game, and we still can't get away from the influence of the f--king NFL. *********** The USC win compares with only a handful of big-game ass-kickings I have witnessed in my lifetime. The Trojans were overwhelming, and I have to admit that the way they went after OU, right from the start, I found myself getting caught up in the excitement. I did get a laugh at Bob Griese, dismissively saying before the game that USC was pretty much a one-man team - that Matt Leinhart didn't have much of a "supporting cast." Right. Except for that defense. With a defense like that, they didn't need much offense. But, just in case, they did have an offense, too. LenDale White. And those receivers - they never missed a pass, and that was without Williams. And, yes, Leinart was great, but his protection wasn't too bad, either. And here's the amazing thing - for maybe the first time all season, they didn't get a huge play from Bush! (Didn't need one.) *********** Did you catch that lameass announcer, telling Jason White to take care of his "girlfriend and infant daughter?" Cool. Like it's just part of the everyday routine now for every star athlete to have an illegitimate (yeah, I still use the word) child or two. Hey, Cowboy - it's been over a year now. Time to grow up. You made a baby. Now be man enough to marry its mother. *********** Tommy Tuberville kept saying that we need a "Plus One" format - match up the two top teams after the bowl games. He thinks that means that he'd have gotten to play USC. I think that USC would have killed Auburn. Wonder what makes him so sure that if we had a "Plus One," Auburn would be in the final game? I assume that a team's performance in the bowl game would be taken into account - otherwise, why play them? On that basis, given Auburn's less-than-overwhelming showing against Virginia Tech, I could make a strong argument for putting Utah in the final game. Not Texas, certainly. (Sorry Mack.) Texas' bowl performance was good, but in the final analysis, it was still just a last-second, one-point win over a 13th-ranked team, and we can't forget that Texas never could figure out how to cross Oklahoma's goal line. It's all academic anyhow, but do you really think that you would have had a USC-Oklahoma matchup, knowing that the loser was out of the mix, and the winner would go on? What you'd have seen was a wild scramble - seven BCS teams climbing all over each other for the chance to play the Big East champion. And doesn't that give all us Pac-10 guys some good laughs??? Could Jason White have started for a single Pac-10 team? *********** Dear Hugh, Happy New Year to you and yours. USC looked awesome. Did you think it was bush, running one in on 4th down when you are up 48-10 in the 4th? Coach, I had no problem at all with that. I don't recall Oklahoma ever letting up on anybody. I saw a 63-13 win over Houston. And remember the Oklahoma kid saying USC was average? It's not the worst thing in the world for those guys to be on the bad side of an ass-whipping like everybody else who plays the game. I still don't understand how Texas can always have the #1, 2 or 3 recruiting class year after year, and still get scorched so badly on defense during the year. It's why Mack Brown is known in Texas as Mister February. Can the BCS / will the BCS revoke the auto bid to the Big East Champion? At the very least, the Big East champion should have to play off with the Mountain West champ. I would have liked to seen Utah play against Auburn. It would have been a great game. Our Gophers played well, running for 310 against Alabama is an accomplishment. If our defense can upgrade from poor to average, we could finally get our turn next year. We have a fair weather fanbase in this state, no doubt about it. The last time Minnesotans were truly excited and passionate about Gopher football was Lou Holtz's 85 team. Since he left everyone has become so jaded and cynical. In the last 7 years every team in the Big Ten has had a taste of the top execpt Minn, Indiana and PSU. Fair-weather fans are everywhere. I think that Minnesotans are used to being set up - by soft early-season schedules - then let down by what happens when they run into the Michigans and Wisconsins. I was impressed by the Gophers' performance in the Music City Bowl. That was real hard-nosed old-fashioned Minnesota football. Don't even want to mention the current edition of the Vikings. I really admired Mike Tice the football player, when he came to the team at the very end of his career, he was still a dominant blocker, tough as hell. Total team guy. I don't understand why he puts up with mr. 59:58 minute man. Only Belichick - and now Cowher, I think - seems to understand that you don't have to put up with a**holes. Those people in Vikings' management know that Moss will never change. In Tice's behalf - the decision to keep or get rid of Moss may not be his. It is amazing sometimes to discover the extent to which NFL coaches aren't allowed to run their own show. The real sting has been watching the specials on Fox Sports North, they do a great job of these historical compliations of past teams. The 1969 Vikings was a neat program. Joe Kapp declined the MVP award, and coined the 40 for 60 slogan. NFL Champions, and the best cold weather team in the league. I still laugh to think how the Chargers went into Cleveland bare-armed, and whupped the Browns, who were all bundled up against the cold. Bud Grant sure knew what he was doing, didn't he? I need to quit watching these retro programs, the current product suffers in comparision. take care, Mick Yanke, Cokato, Minnesota The scary thing is that some day, when you are in a retirement home, you'll be watching NFL Films' "Best End Zone Dances of the Early 2000's" *********** Hi Hugh, I'm the first to understand that blowouts happen from time to time. But I also believe there is something else at work here. Cases in point: - my beloved Aggies are blown out by Tennessee after being very competitive in their conference - Okie State is up by 28 at half and loses by 30(?) to Texas - USC (which struggled mightily to beat Cal who was whipped by Texas Tech who lost convincingly to...) destroys OU Is it the "talent"? I don't think so. How about this: - your conference oponents know you real well. they know who you recruit and they know how you think. they can plan for you.- some people do a better job of preparing their kids MENTALLY as well as physically. I am shocked to see kids with enormous talent, go in the tank. Perhaps there's a little more need than raw athleticism. USC looked not only more aggressive physically, but stronger in the heart. Same for Auburn. The Va Tech kids were acting like thugs on defense with their post tackle shoving and talking. Those officials made no attempt to stop it. Memo to officiating crews - this is not an NFL game - throw the flag! BTW, the Texas Tech receiver group calls themselves the AFROS?! (I heard what it meant and can't remember it now but it was good!) Think Reverend Jackson or some such will be on them soon? Gosh love those Texans! Anyway, just my 2 cents Coach. Matt Bastardi, Montgomery, New Jersey ps belated Happy New Year to you! *********** Coach Wyatt: I am not a big fan of halftime shows, preferring studio game analysis. But I did catch the Orange Bowl show and it raised a question. Was it just me, or did I actually hear the crowd at the game boo that atrocity put on by Ashely Simpson? The first girl was OK, although it sounded like she had a problem with her microphone. The Country Western guy was OK too, if you are into CW music. But that Simpson girl with the bizarre getup just seemed to be yelling something incoherent into her mic. Did the crowd pick up on that too and reward her with a chorus of boos? Did she feel the need to scream into the mic to prove that she was not lip-psyching following the Saturday Night Live fiasco? Too bad that nice looking girl that sang the national anthem also felt the need to "jazz it up". In doing so she ruined it. At least she kept up a quick tempo and ended it quickly. Shame is that they had arguably the best marching band in the country (Southern Cal) at the game and did not use them to play the anthem. Finally, do you think that Auburn or Utah would have given SC a better game than Oklahoma did? Mark Rice, Beaver, Pa (I am no fan of mixing football and entertainment. I am a football-and-marching-band guy, so any time something untoward happens to one of those entertainers, I laugh my ass off. I wanted to shoot the b---h who garbled the national anthem, but I guess I should go after the person who booked the act. I mean, when the singer shows up in jeans and a tight blouse, you pretty much know what the National Anthem is going to sound like. Don't know how Utah or Auburn would have done against USC, but I do know that at least three Pac-10 teams (Cal, Arizona State, Oregon State) could have done better than Oklahoma. Hell, even Stanford played USC close (31-28). What a farce the Big-12 and their commissioner made of the BCS!HW) *********** Happy New Year Coach! 1. You just gotta love the way Navy's offense kept the ball. Best college football I've seen all year. Exactly what the DW does. I loved every minute of it. (Lotsa minutes to love, if you know what I mean!) 2. I am praying for you....out there in Commie-takeover-land. Honestly don't know what I'd do, but here in Texas....I'm mad enough! Good luck, and God bless you and yours. Best Regards, John Rothwell, Fort Worth, Texas (We manage to survive here in Washington. We get along the same way the proles in Communist countries got along. We mind our business and meet secretly to play American football, while the people at Headquarters - - that would be King County, home of Missing Ballots and Baghdad Jim McDermott - plot ways to foist more soccer on us.) *********** Hey Coach, I hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My family is well and we just got our house back after the in-laws (mother, father, sister, brother, a niece and a nephew) left to return to Michigan last Saturday. I usually don't the pre-game and halftime shows anymore but, for some reason last night I did. Big mistake. Once again, the network hires some psuedo-star, JoJo or YoYo, to sing HER version the National Anthem. I will never understand why these performers feel the need to take a perfectly good one syllable word and turn it into some multi-syllabic version of the word. Speaking of different versions of perfectly good things, how did you like the new versions of the U.S. Flag? Was that thing designed by some artsy fartsy type trying to boost the support for college football by the gay and lesbian community in South Beach? Last I checked, the U.S. Flag is rectangular in shape with 13 red and white stripes, a field of blue and 50 stars. That thing last night was a freakin' triangle with a couple of red and white stripes, a blue patch with a couple of stars and the image of an eagle superimpose over the whole thing. When they first started to unveil it I got pissed because, they had it dragging on the ground. I was screaming at the TV for them to get the Flag off of the ground. But then they kept going and I got to see what it was and wasn't upset anymore about it being on the ground. Then I got going about the "flag" itself. I can't be the only one that picked up on the fact that the gay and lesbian symbol is triangular in shape just like our new flag. Now these people are not only changing our National Anthem to suit their artistic sense, they are changing the very symbol of our Nation. The halftime show - I hope that the network didn't pay for that fiasco of a "show". My wife and I sat through that thing and at the end just looked at each other in total disbelief. That could very well be the worst performances I have ever seen on national TV. I have honestly seen better performances and production in highschool talent shows. The only saving grace for me was when Ashley, my sister is famous so now I am too, Simpson was finished "singing", the entire audience booed. Can't we just go back to the marching bands and frisbee-catching dogs? Donnie Hayes, Belleview, Florida (You nailed it! HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, I know you are very aware of the myriad of mistakes the play by play, color and sideline announcers make during football games. There are many. But I do have to admit I was very impressed with Bob Griese and his knowledge of a somewhat little known rule. In the NFHS rule book it is Rule 6, Article 2, Section 5 and it is called first touching. (I am not sure of the rule number for NCAA or any other rule book.) When USC punted early in the game to OU and the ball was being downed inside the 5 or 10 yard line it nearly touched a USC player. The OU player had to have thought so to or I can see no reason to run in an try to field the ball like he did and then fumble or muff it away to USC. The replay clearly showed the USC play did not touch the ball. What impressed me was Bob Griese's clear knowledge and explanation of the rule. This is a rule I know many high school coached do not know about and some high school officials as well. We teach our return men the rule and take advantage of it when we can. Several years ago in a pregame officials conference I was telling the officials our plans to use the rule. The referee told me he would not enforce the rule because he knew nothing about it. Unfortunately I did not bring my rule book so I let it go. I later had him again and showed him the rule. He still said he would not enforce the rule. So I had our state governing body write him about the rule and we had him again later on and he said he would enforce the rule but he did not like the rule and argued with me about it again. Fortunately I have not seen him officiating again since then. I hope things are going well for you in this off season. Mark Hundley, HFC Dublin Jerome HS, Dublin, Ohio GO CELTS! (Props to Bob Griese for his awareness of a widely-misunderstood rule that - as you point out - few coaches and officials, fewer players, and almost no spectators understand, and that is that the ball is NOT dead the instant a punt is touched by a player on the punting team. The return team is free to pick up the ball and run with it and, should something undesirable result (a fumble?), it will still have the option of putting the ball in play back where the punting team touched it - the "spot of first touching." The ball is not dead until it is "blown dead." It is for this reason that I have always coached players on a punting unit not just to touch the ball and head for the sideline, but to PIN the ball to the ground until the whistle blows. Coach Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech was famous for his belief in the power of the kicking game - a belief undoubtedly acquired from his college coach, the great General Bob Neyland of Tennessee. I recall back in the early days of TV (black-and-white) watching a Georgia Tech punt return man pick up a punt that an opponent had just "downed," and return it for a touchdown - while the punting team looked on in amazement. Not that the Oklahoma player was actually thinking of this when he carelessly picked up the loose ball in the Orange Bowl. He admitted as much later, calling it a "boneheaded" play. But as long as we're passing out kudos to Bob Griese. Nothing wrong with studying the rule book, but he should have found some time to look at USC on tape - wasn't he the one who said that Matt Leinart didn't have "much of a supporting cast?" HW) *********** Now that Dennis Erickson is gone, the San Francisco 49ers are in the market for a coach. Pete Carroll has been mentioned as a possibility. Like a guy who's been a flop with the Patriots and Jets but just won a second consecutive national title at USC would be interested in taking on the job of turning around the NFL's version of the Clippers. (Erickson freely admitted after his firing that if he'd known that the Yorks, the 49ers' parsimonious owners, were planning on unloading so much payroll - and talent - he'd have stayed at Oregon State.) Now, I'm not sure why I keep offering free advice to the NFL, which undoubtedly has offices full of suits paid well to come up with their own bright-ass ideas, but the smartest thing the NFL could do right now would be to get rid of every single 49er - hold a dispersal draft and sell 'em off - then sign Pete Carroll, Norm Chow and the whole damned USC team. *********** If the Anaheim Angels are going to be allowed to call themselves the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," undoubtedly in hopes of luring some LA people over to Orange County (the people in Anaheim are suing), why didn't the Major League Baseball people think of "The New York Expos of Montreal?" *********** The photo of the American Football Coaches Association's 2004 Officers and Trustees, taken a year ago at the AFCA's January convention, includes eight Division IA coaches: Chuck Amato of NC State, Mike Bellotti of Oregon, David Cutcliffe of Mississippi, Gary Darnell of Western Michigan, Fred Hatfield of Rice, Paul Pasqualoni of Syracuse, Tony Samuel of New Mexico State, and Tyrone Willingham of Notre Dame. A ninth, Bill Snyder of Kansas State, was not pictured. Now, these are among the most respected men in their profession. And five of the nine - coaches Cutcliffe, Darnell, Pasqualoni, Samuel and Willingham - were fired this season. *********** College presidents are often accused of living in ivory towers, but not Ole Miss chancellor Robert Khayat. He's different - he lives in dreamland. And not Dreamland, the barbecue joint in Tuscaloosa, either. Mr. Khayat, a former Ole Miss player back in the days when other southern schools hand't all caught up with Johnny Vaught's Rebel powerhouse, doesn't seem to realize how much the world has changed. "It's essential that the football program be competitive," he said, explaining the justification for firing David Cutcliffe, just one year after the Eli Manning era ended. (Coach Cutcliffe, who had coached older brother Peyton at Tennessee, was undoubtedly a factor in Eli's recruitment to Ole Miss, as well as his development into a top draft choice, but what has he done for them lately?) "It's not now-and-then competitive," Mr. Khayat said, "It's every-year competitive." So Coach Cutcliffe had one bad year, and now he is histoire. Seemingly unaware of the fact that Mississippi is a small state whose talent goes in three different directions (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss), that Ole Miss has a much smaller stadium and far fewer resources than its major SEC competitors, the Chancellor still expects his new coach to be "competitive," year-in and year-out. Hey, Chancellor Khayat - in order for Ole Miss to win consistently, somebody's got to lose. Somebody's got to roll over for you. You figure it's going to be Alabama? Florida? Georgia? Tennessee? LSU? Arkansas? Auburn? Or, for that matter, Mississippi State? See, they've got the same idea as you. (See what I mean about dreamland? ) *********** Coach, First, happy New Year. Second, would it be practical or a good idea for the NCAA to institute a rule similar to the NFL's and not allow schools to interview coaches until their teams' seasons are over (including bowl games) and perhaps have some sort of agreement with the NFL about the same thing? take care, Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts I don't think that would be feasible because college staffs need to get out recruiting well before the bowls. It is the recruitment that makes the college transition so much more urgent than the pros. I do think that this year's unseemly raids on each other's coaches showed colleges at their worst, and showed that, at bottom, they have no apparent concern for the fact that their actions are playing into the hands of the enemies of big-time football. $25 million contracts for football coaches? I don't care where the money is coming from - it is hard to square this with faculty members, with students, with womens' sports advocates, and with those who call for paying players. A major part of the problem is colleges' fundamental lack of ethics in refusing to recognize the sanctity of a contract. Colleges simply must agree to respect each other's contracts, and they must absolutely refuse to release coaches from their contracts. That also means no allowing guys under contract to talk with other schools, and no releasing guys from their contracts. I keep hearing the lameass argument that nobody wants a guy coaching at their place who doesn't want to be there. Why not? How about the kids they recruited with the promise that they'd be there until those kiods graduated? Don't want to be there? Make me laugh. I've got news for them - millions of Americans are in that same position, but they suck it up and go to work every day. Coaches are absolutely paranoid about having to sell life insurance or used cars. When they know they've got no place else to coach, they will find a way to get the job done right where they are. What are they going to do - lay down on the job? Lose on purpose? How's that going to help them get a better job? Oh yes - and without being able to get releases, coaches wishing to resign with time still remaining on their contracts would still be able to do so, but they'd have to sit out a full year before being eligible to coach someplace else. (That seems reasonable enough, seeing as how they have no qualms about imposing that same contraint on their players.) *********** The U.S. Military Academy had its annual awards presentation banquet on Tuesday night, and the Black Lion Award was the first item on the program. The presenter was John Simar, Class of '72, former Army player and President of the Army Football Club, and on hand to assist him were General Jim Shelton, Mrs. Caroline Ruffner, widow of Don Holleder, the Army star and Vietnam War hero in whose honor the award is presented, and one of Don Holleder's daughters. General Shelton, a former football player himself, said he was really impressed with Army's Black Lion, Will Sullivan. He learned, from talking to the Army coaches, that Will had broken his hand late in the season, but endured the pain for 23 days before finally telling anyone, and getting an X-Ray. By that point, the bone had healed - but improperly - and it had to be refractured and reset so he could play in the Navy game. Jim said Army defensive coordinator John Mumford told him, "He made a better coach out of me." I think it would be great if coaches could get their Black Lion Award winners to write to Will Sullivan, maybe congratulating him, maybe sharing their experiences with him, and maybe, if they care to, asking him about his life as a cadet. His e-mail address: William.Sullivan@usma.edu "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING 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 GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS) January 4, 2005  "No man owns a fortune; it owns him." A.P. Giannini, Italian immmigrant and founder of Bank of America  2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES DURHAM PHILADELPHIA PROVIDENCE DETROIT DENVER NORTHERN CAL Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here OUR SEASON - MADISON HS - PORTLAND, OREGON, 2004 A VISIT TO WEST POINT, NOVEMBER, 2004      NEW!A LIST OF SOME OF 2004'S TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! *********** The highlight of the whole bowl season for me came at halftime of the Fiesta Bowl, and the surprise reuniting of Army Sergeant James McCormick with his wife and kids after his being away almost a year in Iraq. If you saw it, you know what I mean. Don't know how the Tostitos people managed to pull all the strings necessary to get him home, but good for them. *********** Second best was the post-game shot of the Auburn Tigers, taking time after their big win to pray. *********** Imagine how great the bowls would have been without the best efforts to upstage them by empire-building AD's and the college presidents who let them throw obscene amounts of money at greedy, disloyal coaches. Of all the bowl teams that had lost, or were about to lose, their coach - Florida, LSU, Miami of Ohio, Notre Dame, Pitt and Utah - only Utah won. Of course, (1) they were playing a team that had also lost its coach; (2) they were at least partially playing for their new coach, a guy who's been on the current staff; and most important, (3) they were playing Pitt. Maybe now, after the horrendous bowl records of all those lame-ass duck coaches, athletic directors will finally begin to understand what Bo Schembechler meant when he said, "a Michigan man will coach a Michigan team." Bo, as AD at Michigan, let basketball coach Bill Frieder go, after learning that Frieder was headed to Arizona State. This was right before the NCAA basketball tournament, yet, with former assistant Steve Fisher in charge, UM won the whole damn thing. I was there in Seattle to see it. The crowning moment, I thought, was after Bo announced Frider's banishment, when a twerpy sportswriter asked him querulously,, "how can you do that, with the tournament coming up?" Bo's reply: "This is Michigan, son. We can do anything we please." *********** Utah (or Pitt) really exposed the BCS biggest problem - the obligation to take conference champs. It is what used to make a farce of the NCAA basketball tournament, back when only conference champs qualified, and the ACC would send its conference champion, while three or four other ACC teams, all much better than most other conferences' champions, stayed home. You telling me there weren't a half-dozen teams in the SEC (to take one conference as an example) better than Pitt? Utah (and Florida State) really exposed the Big East as a second-tier conference, now that Miami, Virginia Tech and Miami are gone. Only newcomer Louisville can save its reputation as a BCS conference, but wait - Louisville didn't exactly trounce Boise State, the champion of the non-BCS WAC. Utah also broke the pattern of lame duck coaches losing - but not necessarily, since Utah was the only one of the jilted teams to make an effort to maintain continuity by replacing the departing head coach with a member of the current staff. No one in the BCS should consider himself off the hook as a result of the bowls. Neither Texas' win over Michigan nor Cal's flop against Texas Tech - which one could argue was predictable, in view of the way Cal was shafted by the BCS - can vindicate the skulduggery that placed Texas in the Rose Bowl ahead of Cal. QUESTIONS REMAINING FROM THE BOWL GAMES: * Who was the clown doing play-by-play of the Auburn-Virginia Tech game? With Auburn up, 16-0 midway through the third quarter, he said that we were on the verge of a blowout; with Tech down and eight minutes remaining, he said it was their "last gasp." * Does Texas A & M regret firing R.C. Slocum? Coach Slocum was 14-10 in his last two seasons there, but he got fired; Coach Fran is now 11-13 in his first two years after being lured away from Bama - including one of the sorriest of all bowl performances - and he's getting an extension. * Not to diminish what he's done at Oklahoma State - including beating OU twice - but is it possible that Les Miles was auditioning for LSU when he came out uncharactersitically throwing the ball against Ohio State? (Makes about as much sense as anything else I've been able to come up with.) * Will anybody in the Once-Big East be able to give Louisville a game next year? * After what happened to UCLA in 1998 (Miami beat them, 49-45, ending their 20-game win streak), and Cal (although beating Southern Miss, they evidently didn't win by a big enough score, as some coaches used that as rationale for dropping them in the rankings), will any Pac-10 team ever again agree to a late-season replay of an early-season game wiped out by a hurricane? * What is Philip Fullmer at Tennessee going to do next year with three quarterbacks, all proven winners? * With all the blather about Texas proving something (with their last-second field-goal win over the 13th-ranked team), did anybody notice that they went in as seven-point favorites, and didn't cover? * What, exactly, did Texas "prove" in the Rose Bowl game? That it "belonged" in the BCS mix? What does a one-point, last-second win by a fourth-ranked team over a 13th-ranked team (a team that lost to Notre Dame) prove? All that it proved, it seems to me, is that it was capabable of beating a very good team in a very good game that could have gone either way. * Did Cal, upset by the underhanded way it was relegated to the Holiday Bowl, go in the tank, despite coach Jeff Tedford's denials? Could they have stopped Texas Tech if they hadn't? (Could anybody?) * After watching the way BC played against North Carolina, if Tom O'Brien could get his kids to forget about the last-season loss to Syracuse that knocked them out of the Fiesta Bowl, why couldn't Jeff Tedford do the same? * Think Utah have been unbeaten if they'd had to face the likes of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin? * Will we ever get to find out if Urban Meyer can recruit? Obviously, the guy can coach, but he's had two head jobs, and he's spent only two years at each place,. coaching other peoples' talent. * Why do the foo-foo creative guys keep wanting to go down to field level and give us artsy-fatsy camera angles whenever a team lines up to kick?  Did you notice how many key special teams plays - blocked punts, fake field goals, bad snaps, etc. - they missed? * So why couldn't we just believe Bobby Petrino? Following the Louisville Cardinals' final regular-season game, he told Eric Crawford, of the Lousville Courier-Journal, "As I've stated before, Louisville is the perfect place to raise a family and I plan for all four of my children to graduate from high school in Louisville... I want to make it clear, I'm not interested in any other coaching jobs and am happy at the University of Louisville." * Can't you just feel the excitement about getting Walt Harris, all you Stanford fans? * Speaking of Walt Harris and Pitt's woeful graduation rate... did anybody else notice that 27 of the 56 bowl teams graduated less than 50 per cent of their players? (Bear in mind that they do not have to come up with room, board or tuition money, they are provided with "academic counselors," who in some cases write papers for them, and they are allowed six years to graduate.) * What was so special about those turds from UCLA that they couldn't shake the hands of the kids from Wyoming following the game, instead heading right in? It can't be that Karl Dorrell is placing too much emphasis on winning to teach sportsmanship. He is now 12-13 after two seasons, with two straight losses to USC and two straight bowl losses (Fresno State, Wyoming). The best he could manage was 6-7 his first year, after inheriting talent from Bob Toledo that most people felt was good enough for a run at the Pac-10 title. (Toledo was fired after going 7-4 in 2001 and 7-5 in 2002 (8-5 really, but new AD Peter Guerrero, who fired him, wouldn't let him coach one final bowl game.) * Has any one man ever had a bigger impact on a bowl game than Vince Young in the Rose Bowl? * Did I hear Miami's Larry Coker say, "We have a very small senior class?" Uh-oh. * How badly were Charlie Strong's chances of getting a head coaching job damaged by the horrible play of the Florida Gators against Miami? * What would Paul Johnson do at a place with more talent than he has at Navy - like, say, Notre Dame? Could he get players at most "outside" schools to play as unselfishly as his Navy players do? * How low would Pitt have finished in the once-Big East if Miami and Virginia Tech hadn't left for the ACC after last season? What- a four-way tie for third? *********** Coach, I wanted to report on my first Black Lion award. I have never beennone to hand out post season awards .(in my opinion the last thing Johnnyb needs is having his butt smooched by adults) But I wanted to let you know that this is a fantastic concept. It was awarded by a young man just returned from 15 months in Iraq. It was an eye- opener for my kids. We live in an affluent town where most of the parents are quite satisfied to let someone else's children protect their freedoms. When the kids saw Sgt Foley walk in you could hear a pin drop. His uniform was immaculate and his chestful of ribbons impressive. When he announced to the kids that just a few years ago he had been a player in the same Canton Pop Warner program as them he really hit home. He did a fine job explaining his and his units experiences (over 500 ops in 15 months) and how leadership and teamwork played a vital role in their success and survival. He had crammed on Major Holleder the night before and was well prepared. The kids loved it. The coach (me) absolutely loved it! The past couple of years I have been doing some soul-searching as to my worth and motivation as a coach. I feel we actually did something positive here. I don't think the so-called stars of my team ever even appreciated the worth of our Black Lion winner this year. Now they do. He set the tone for everything positive that happened attitude wise with us this year. All season long this award was an abstract concept to these guys. Next year's returners will be striving to win this award! I am confident of that. Thanks Coach. Finding your offense and learning that there are still like minded people in the world have put more of a smile on my face this year. Dan Lane Canton, Massachusetts *********** Hugh, First off, I hope you and your wife have a Happy New Years and congratulations on a nice season at Madison. I looked forward every Monday to see how your team made out over the weekend. It's been awhile since I last wrote you, but I just wanted you to know the d-wing is live and well in Clarence,NY. I just completed my 4th season as a d-wing coach and each year I feel we keep getting better. I have received help from numerous d-wing coaches from all over the country and the best decision I ever made was to contact you 4 years ago. I coach my son's team and we just finished the season with a perfect 12-0 season, culminating with a league championship at the brand new Buffalo Bills Youth Football Stadium. This was a 12u team, 130lb weight limit. We had tons of talent, size and coupled with our d-wing attack, we were pretty much unstoppable all season long. It was rare when the first team failed to score on every possession. We had one game where we were held to 6 points, but we averaged 34+ per game, and in most instances, the first offense was done for the day by halftime. I have coached many of these boys for 4 seasons and we hit the ground running right from the start. I have pretty much had the same assistants too and they deserve much of the credit. I couldn't ask for a better group of guys to coach with. Here is a team photo and a little high light of our semi final and championship game. Here's to a healthy new year. I hope to see you in the near future. Thanks for everything. Sincerely, Scott Roberts, Clarence Bulldogs, Clarence, New York *********** Coach want to inform you that I implemented your offense this year and went from a 2-9 program to a Division championship and Super Bowl championship this year. First in the history of the school.I took the program over 3 years ago and in mywildest dreams I did not believe that this offense would turn it around so quick. Thank you and have a great holiday season. Coach Ned Scaduto, SE Technical High School, South Easton, Massachusetts *********** Dear Coach Wyatt; Hope you had a great Christmas and are starting out on a very happy New Year. Looks like Seattle can't do ANYTHING right. When they should be playing for draft picks and trying to get a new coach they end up beating Atlanta. Go figure. I guess that's what Atlanta gets for trying a draw on the goal line instead of learning to wedge. Oh, and did you hear the comments about Vrabel from the Patriots? Why is it so exciting when a linebacker runs a pass route on offense and catches a touchdown? My outside linebackers scored 16 touchdowns between the two of them this year, and we had a down year, offensively. (And by the way, will someone please tell those idiots in the booth that there's a difference between a fade, a corner, and a flat route?) Besides, considering the way the corner blew his responsibility (When the man you cover blocks down, you take outside and look for flow, you do not follow him into the block!) I think I could have thrown that pass. Still, it was more fun than watching Randy Moss. Did you see that f*cking pr*ck? He drops at least three passes because he's too good to practice his damn fundamentals, takes about a third of plays off, and then with three seconds left on the play clock and his team trying for an onside kick he doesn't even have the courtesy to watch, much less cross the field and shake hands after the game. The camera zooms in on him sauntering to the locker room. And the ANNOUNCERS make EXCUSES for him? "That's just Randy being Randy." What is that? How much do we need to tolerate from that jerk? It's RANDY being a f*cking PR*CK! When is an NFL coach going to develop the stones to keep the discipline that every youth coach in America can handle? I'm ashamed to think that Mike Tice used to play for my beloved Seahawks! Somewhere there's a high school football coach that coached that punk Moss who is probably in tears right now when he thinks about all the things he failed to teach that little sh*t about honor, respect, sportsmanship, teamwork and all the other things that make football great. I think, right there, we know why the Vikings aren't going to the playoffs. (Amazingly, they made it! HW) As far as I know, when you have cancer, it needs to be surgically removed! Okay, enough ranting from me. Sorry about the language, but I am so tired of starting each season by sitting my players down and telling them, "Don't act like that punk on TV." Is it too much to ask God for one more broken ankle? We've already silenced T.O. and Keyshawn. Please? I've been good! Actually, now that I think about it, I hope he doesn't get a severe injury. He'll probably pull a Theismann (rhymes with Heisman!) and head to the announcer's booth! Very respectfully; Derek "Coach" Wade, US Coast Guard, Petaluma, California ("Please - I've been good!") That's great. Only one thing I question - Not knowing anything other than where he is from, it is possible that Randy Moss had a HS coach who did everything in his power to straighten the kid out, but it is also possible the coach was one of the people who helped make him what he is, not daring to discipline Randy because he "needed" him. Remember, Moss was all set to go to Notre Dame and they cancelled their offer when he got involved in a "racial incident" at his school - allegedly stomping another kid. It is becoming harder and harder all the time to tell the difference between a real NFL game and EA Sports. Come to think of it - does Madden have a "meaningless game" setting where you can pull your starting QB after the first series? Happy New Year! *********** Coach, I'm showing my ignorance here, but I'd like to know what a "buck" is. In reading the early history and the switch from Z to A to B to C formations, I keep reading about fullback bucks, buck sweeps, etc.  So, can you help me out with what a "buck" really is? I was reading Danzig's book over the holiday, and found myself shaking my head.  In it the C formation was described, and it was noted that the wings could be split out to form a "spread" formation, which would be "good for passing."  The "new" stuff all of these guys are coming up with is almost as old as the "old and outdated" stuff we use.  Plus, it seems that the shotgun was the norm at the time, making it revolutionary to put the quarterback under the center.  So, I guess we're the ones on the cutting edge. Have a great day. Todd Hollis, Head Football Coach, Elmwood-Brimfield Coop, Elmwood, Illinois Coach, Definitely not showing your ignorance. This seems to be one of those things that most of us go along seeming to understand, but never being completely sure of. "Buck" is merely a generic term for a play in which a fullback hits between the tackles. (Like "sweep" to the outside.) Despite one search through some old books - by Bible, Bierman, Caldwell, Crisler, DaGrosa, Dodd, Killinger, Leahy, Little, Munn, Waldorf - and another through some really old books - Walter Camp, Pop Warner - I have not been able to determine its origin. The term "buck" seems to be used more to describe plays deriving from the buck, such as buck-lateral, buck sweep, buck pass, crossbuck, etc. The only actual use of the term "buck" I could find was in Jordan Olivar's excellent explanation of the Belly Series - "Offensive Football - the Belly Series" - published in 1958. He describes the base play of his offense: "Fullback Buck (Play 138-137)" as "the basic play or the starting point of the inside belly series..." (Coach Olivar was my head coach in college.) When I first became aware of the game - about 1946 or 47 - the T formation (with the QB under center) was the slick new formation. I am going to venture the guess that college football was then maybe 50-50 T formation/single wing, but swinging rapidly to the "T". The total changeover to the T took less than another 20 years to be complete. By 1960, there weren't a dozen major college teams (the Ivy League was then considered major) running the single wing, and by 1965 or so, it was just about all over. Interesting that it is now going full-circle. The single-wing tailback was a guy who ran lot and passed some. But he was a runner first, and since he took a pretty good beating, teams had to have several tailback types. Those guys didn't grow on trees (especially when many big-time collegse weren't recruiting black athletes). But the liberalized pass-protection rules, along with other rules written by a rules committee heavily stacked with coaches who favored the passing game, have made it possible for a good passer who can run a little to serve as the single-wing "tailback." Since he is no longer a runner first, he doesn't take the beating that the old single-wing tailback took. Hope that helps. *********** If there were a college football playoff and I had to pick the top 16 teams (after using the bowl games to screen them out), here's who I'd pick... My 16 best teams, based solely on bowl performance, including quality of opposition... Top six - OU (depending), USC (depending), Auburn, Texas, Louisville, Utah - then pick 'em - Boise State, Georgia, Iowa, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas Tech (#16 - I'll leave this for the selection committee: Arizona State, Boston College, Florida State, Minnesota, Purdue, Virginia Tech) *********** Speaking of a playoff... isn't the NFL playoff system great? Isn't it exciting to see how teams like the Colts, and Eagles and Chargers and Falcons can lock up their division championships, and then give their starters a rest in the last regular season game or two? Isn't it cool to have exhibition games (sorry- "preseason" games) both before and after the "games that matter?" Wouldn't you much rather watch something like the Eagles-Bengals, or Seahawks-Falcons,or Broncos-Colts than a bowl game? Shoot, those pros are so good that an NFL game in which only one team is trying to win is still better than a dumb old bowl game, right? *********** The NFL is like the politician who was once compared to a rotten mackerel in the moonlight - it shines and it stinks. Stinks? How bad are thrown games? The NFL has got itself a monster problem that it could never have foreseen. It is so worried about gamblers getting to players, or coaches, or officials and fixing games, and then here its own rules have allowed teams to lie down and go stiff. Think of it - of the 16 games played on Sunday, at least four were not on the up-and-up. Gamblers supposedly will do anything to find out who's injured and who isn't, which is why the NFL is so insistent that teams be open and aboveboard in making that information public. So how valuable would it have been to betters to obtain inside information that Peyton Manning was going to play only one series, after a week of public pronouncements that the Colts were going all-out to win? A sport that plays only 16 regular-season games, and charges its ticket holders and the TV networks for a full 16-game schedule simply can't afford to allow the public ever to see that there are times when its teams deliberately go less than all-out to win. There is one solution - set aside large amounts of money for bonuses, and tie them to regular-season wins. *********** Say what you will about determining a national champion by the polls... nobody's going to coast when they depend on voters to rank them every week. *********** But you sure can't knock the NFL for the exciting first-round games they're giving us. Granted, Jets at Chargers might be interesting, but let's look at the rest. Let's see- Vikings at Packers. They've met twice already, the last time on Christmas Eve. Green Bay has won both meetings - shouldn't that mean something? How many times do you have to beat a team? Denver at Indianapolis. They just played this past weekend. Of course, it was a JV game. St. Louis at Seattle. They've met twice, and the Rams have won both games. (Have you ever had to beat a team three times in the same season? I've been there as a player. It's one of the toughest feats in football. *********** Hugh, I know you're not a big NFL fan, and neither am I, but I have to tell you how it was reaffirmed this afternoon while catching the end of the Vikings-Redskins game. The Vikings had just scored with only 2 seconds left in the game to cut the score to 21-18. Still enough time left for a miracle (the Cal-Stanford game comes to mind). But wait! There was a camera on Vikings "CAPTAIN" Randy Moss walking off the field to the dressing room! The ONLY Viking leaving the field. Surely, because HE'S the "CAPTAIN", and because HE'S Randy Moss, he thought the game was over even with a couple of seconds left. Way to be a leader Randy!! Way to be a TEAM player Randy!! Way to be a role-model Randy!! Way to be an A&emdash;hole Randy!! People up here in Minnesota keep wondering what the big mystery is that prevents the Vikings from taking the big step every year. Well, if they know anything about team sports they just found out what the mystery is. The Vikings have NO leadership. Randy Moss is NOT a leader, never was, and never will be. And as long as Mike Tice remains his biggest PR guy and coach of the Vikings they will continue their futile effort to call themselves a good football TEAM. What were your impressions of the bowl games this year? How about basketball on grass?? I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Navy, and Minnesota games. Those teams can run the football. My alma mater, Fresno State, had a great win over a good Virginia team. Talk about balance. 38 runs and 38 passes! And I have to admit I am really intrigued with that Utah offense. They got my wheels turning thinking about how to incorporate some their stuff into the DW. How about a "Spread Gun Right" 38 G-O Shovel Pass! Anyway, best to you this year and I look forward to hearing from you. Joe Gutilla, Minneapolis *********** Todd Bertuzzi is appealling to the commissioner of the NHL to have his suspension lifted. All he did was attack an opponent from behind with a stick and break his neck. Just before being brought to trial in British Columbia, he pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and was given a suspended sentence and 80 hours of community service. Eighty hours! All he did was assault a guy with a weapon and take his livehihood away from him! Eighty hours! And on top of that, they want him to serve a suspension! Sheesh! Hasn't he suffered enough? *********** Coach - Again great insight on Bowl Season !! can't wait to hear your complete wrap-up Friday A ) Coach have you heard anything on Navy's chances of winning at Least a share of the Lambert Trophy ? I believe they Vote on it ( but not sure ), I think Navy deserves to share the thing with Pitt at least, plus I would love to see the BC A-holes get one more kick in the Ass by the East,for screwing over Eastern Football I know how much you hate BC, but they really did a job against Carolina. I think that they are far and away the best team in the East - including Penn State. I think that Navy is the second-best team. Based on what they accomplished, all season long, I would give the Lambert Trophy to Navy. B ) Coach great take on Coach P of Cuse, the man's accomplishment's ON and OFF the Field should of bought the man some capital ( capital that was EARNED and DESERVED ),plus I liked Coach P because he was  a HUGE proponent of Eastern Football ( I remember reading somewhere he always though Penn ST. would come back East  and solidify Eastern Football) . I think that people who talk seriously about a return to glory at Syracuse need to realize that their chances of ever winning a national championship are no better than those of UConn or Rutgers or Cincinnati. C ) Coach Do you not like present day USC ? or just Never liked USC in General ?  Even if you never liked USC you have to admit Coach John Mckay was one Funny Bastard !! I think maybe my dislike dates back to my move to the West Coast 30 years ago. Living in the Northwest, you learn to think of L.A. the way easterners think of New York, if you know what I'm saying. Plus, USC was good, and arrogant to go with it. Imagine New York with a major college football team that kicked ass. McKay was a hell of a coach, but he was my first exposure to the sort of guy whose public image seems not to line up exactly with what you see in real life. I was introduced to him one time in the press box at Anaheim Stadium, and for the funny guy I always saw on TV - the guy who all those great one-liners that had all the reporters eating out of his hand - he sure was a cold, aloof SOB to a little peon like me. John Muckian ,Lynn, Massachusetts *********** Not defending Cal's performance, but this was a classic "BCS moment."  There's no way that team was gonna be up for Texas Tech.  I don't care what Tedford says, even if they beat Tech badly, so what?  Texas did too.  Cal's season ended when the computer helped Texas jumped over them. Love, Ed Couldn't agree with you more. Which makes Tom O'Brien's job of preparing Boston College to play North Carolina - in Charlotte - in the Continental Tire Bowl - instead of the Fiesta Bowl - all the more impressive. *********** Say what you will about Trev Alberts and Mark May (I like them), you have to admit that they're a hell of a sight better than that monstrosity of a halftime show inflicted on us at the Sun Bowl by CBS, which just can't seem to understand that a rock concert at a football game is like a turd in a punch bowl. *********** A local sportswriter, Andrew Seligman of the Vancouver, Washington Columbian, wrote one of those end-of-the-year columns, listing things we want to see (in 2005) and things we don't want to see. Catch this one: "What we don't want to see: Soccer. Nothing against the game, but it's just boring to watch." Hoo-boy, is he going to catch it. From people who have never in their lives spent a nickel on a ticket to a soccer game or watched a televised game in its entirely, telling him what a beautiful game it is, and how benighted Americans are not to appreciate it. I wrote him, telling him to count me among those who say, Hear! Hear! A local sports reporter tells us what he really thinks! In a county swarming with little boys and girls kicking the futbol around, and parents in lawn chairs sitting and watching their little dears, it was time someone pointed out the cold truth: an awful lot of people fish, too. And bowl. And have fun doing it. And good for them. But that doesn't mean that anybody other than their loved ones is interested in watching them do it or reading about it. *********** Option, option, option. I get asked about it all the time. I have a small option package, and I probably spend more time what little option game I have than I really ought to. But I have said since I first started going out on the road that if you're going to get serious about running option, you'd better start paring down the rest of your offense. Otherwise, you're going to be crappy at your base offense, or crappy at running the option, or, worst of all, crappy at both. So there was Louisville, certainly not crappy offensively, but there they were, trailing 31-21 and driving - and they damned if they didn't run an option. And to the left, yet, with a right-handed quarterback. It was a simple option, and the quarterback turned upfield and got a yard or two. But then - if they were an option team he'd have known never to do this - he pitched under duress, and they lost the ball. A couple minutes later, it was Boise State 34, Louisville 21. *********** Writes Christopher Anderson, the son of two Michigan grads, "the game was fantastic, and Texas was great between the sidelines. The biggest surprise for me was how vulnerable the UT defense was. Vince Young was sensational, all the more surprising given Cedric "Lloyd" Benson's ineffectiveness. Chad Henne was a stud. It just stung that, for all the bad breaks Michigan has had in the Rose Bowl, the coaches decided to not run more clock by running on third down before we kicked FGs. Even when throwing to an All American. The only sticking point for me is still Brown, who was lustily booed before, during and after the game. He was on Jim Rome this morning, and he was still casting aspersions on Utah's BCS bid, and also posited something like 'if there's a guy in Mobile who wants Auburn to be #1, they'll vote them #1 and Texas #9.' I seem to remember it shook out the other way, in UT's favor. Enough carping about that - here is my Holiday Bowl report. San Diego was absolutely crawling with Cal fans, and the Texas Tech fans weren't wanting in number either. It was almost impossible to get on the train to the stadium. Cal looked ready to play on defense, but had curious braincramps offensively. Rodgers was awful on third down, which begged the question why they were throwing on third and short with a running back who ran for close to 200 yards. Texas Tech kept going after them every play, and they finally cracked. It was so weird, since Cal was fantastic in last year's bowl. I really think Cal suffered from the pressure of their first really big game, and that was the biggest factor in their humbling show. They certainly weren't the team I saw demolish Stanford. And I don't think them losing and Texas winning makes the ends justify the means. A guy on local TV said "Tech wanted to be here, and they played like it." Cal was enthusiastic on their sideline too, but they just didn't play together well enough to get in position to win. (Walt Harris made a great audition for the Stanford job, didn't he? If he takes us to the Fiesta Bowl we should be worried...not that that will likely be a concern.) I think egomaniacal athletic directors have replaced Title IX as the greatest threat to the sport. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California "The Beast Was out There," by General James E. 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 - RECOGNIZE OUTSTANDING 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 Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2004 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD (FOR MORE INFO)