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JULY, 2006

Preparing Kids for the "Next Level?" Okay. But 9-Year-Olds??? (See"NEWS") So Now the Double Wing is a Farmer Offense, is it? (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 21, 2006 - "The way in which you endure that which you must endure is more important than the crisis itself." Harry Truman   NOTE: Because of camp commitments, the "OFFICE" will be closed from Thursday, July 20 through Wednesday, August 2. This will affect : (1) e-mails - It will be difficult to reply; (2) Shipments of materials; (3) Publication of this News page   *********** While wondering what kind of f--king nuts would choose Beirut for their vacation spot...   *********** A couple of my friends back East have got themselves in something of a pissing contest on a local forum, with a couple of guys who just love ragging on the Double Wing (gee, that's a new one). One of these guys - I am not kidding - says it's all about preparing kids for the next level, and that's something the Double-Wing just doesn't do. He coaches nine-year-olds.   Oh sure, he says - he could run the Double-Wing if he wanted to, and he could beat people 70-0 with it (he's that good a coach, evidently) but that wouldn't be preparing them for the next level.   And then he mentions a local high school program - a very good one, for sure - whose coaches told him they don't want to schedule any Double-Wing teams. The reason they give is that it wouldn't be worth putting in all that time preparing their kids to face an offense that they'll never see when they get to college.   They did admit to him, though, that the DW team might even beat them the first few times they played - but eventually they would figure it out and be successful against them.   Hmmm. Could that be why they don't want to schedule a Double-Wing team?   Sounds to me like when coaches at a very good high school understand enough football to admit that even they don't know everything, and that they might even lose a couple of times to a Double-Wing before "figuring it out," there's a lesson in there someplace for certain youth coaches.   These two guys are doing a lot of whistling past the graveyard. Frankly, with all the ignorant disrespect they're showing, it sounds to me as if they're plain scared of the Double-Wing. It's a lot easier to dismiss the other guy's offense by seeming to take the high road and claiming that their main concern is with their children's futures, than it is to stop it.   They provide themselves an out by saying that if they get beaten 70-0 by a Double-Wing team, why, it's because they're more concerned about working on their QB's three-step drop (they really say that they spend time on it with their 9-year-olds) and teaching their linemen to zone block than they are with stopping some "gimmicky" offense. Oh, sure - they could put up 70 points themselves if all they wanted to do was run an offense that was easy for their kids to learn and execute. But that's not what they're about, see. No, no - they're about preparing kids for the next level.   Bullsh--.   With all that talk about the "next level," they are trying to suck up to stage parents and to high school coaches.   What's really funny is that right now, the pros are bitching because too many colleges have gone to the shotgun-option attack, which isn't properly preparing their QBs for the pros (the next level).   What's the matter with those college coaches? Don't they realize that that's their job? (According to one coaching genius back East.)   I have news for all those "Next-Levellers" out there: college coaches don't keep their jobs by "developing players."   They keep their jobs by winning. There's not a college coach in America who can afford to put "developing players for the next level" ahead of winning.   (Actually, they "develop players" for the next level by recruiting those players in the first place - the ones who are going to be able to play at the "next level.")   In fact, a coach who has had eight or nine players from a losing team drafted by the NFL is sure to be on the hot seat, criticized as an underachiever.   Coaches need to win, and they win by doing what they think gives their players the best chance to win. Right here and now. Not next year or the year after.   Blanton Collier, great coach of the Cleveland Browns, was fond of saying, "Tomorrow isn't promised to you."   The great George Allen did a fantastic job of building the Washington Redskins with veteran players, and he was fond of saying, whenever he was asked about building for the future: "The future is NOW."   *********** Lock up your sons. No young man is safe in this climate. In a trial that exemplifies how women may be equal to men, but decidedly more equal where sex is concerned, Lamar Owens, Navy's quarterback, was acquitted of rape charges filed against him by a female Midshipman (Midshipwoman?). He was, however, convicted on Conduct Unbecoming an Officer. He claimed that the sex was consensual. She, having been observed having had at least nine drinks earlier, claimed not to have known what was going on. The female officer, who presumably took part in the same sex act (since she accused him of forcing himself on her), goes free, because although the jury believed Owens' claim that the sex was consensual it still shouldn't have taken place because he shouldn't have been in her room, she was given immunity for her testimony. F--king feminists.   *********** Anyone who ever jogged while someone called cadence will appreciate this...   July 17, 2006 - Army cadence calls change with the times   By Michael Futch - The Fayetteville Observer FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. &emdash; In years past, the military cadence caller occasionally spat out bawdy, if not downright vulgar lyrics. The training chants sometimes took aim at women, minorities and gays.   Many others targeted Russian commies, tours of Korea, Vietnamese fighters, diseased prostitutes, My Lai villain Lt. William Calley, even the Ayatollah Khomeni.   "In Vietnam, there were some very, very derogatory cadence calls," said retired Lt. Col. W.T. Heath Jr. of Fayetteville.   "There were some that every now and then, usually the leaders would not let those spread. They would shut them down quick. There were always some about the war, which was all right. Then they got into the negative aspects of war. There were some negative ones about killing babies and that sort of thing."   Cpl. Walkerson Bastia, a 21-year-old from Boston, pulls regular duty as a cadence caller in Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. He has been doing it since he joined up three years ago.   "I mix it up a little," he said following his company's nearly four-mile run on Wednesday morning on Fort Bragg. "It's a good way to start the morning."   The call-and-response chants for running soldiers are still around, but these days, a new sensitivity to women, minorities and gays has softened the language.   Gone, too, are the Jody calls, cadences in which a back-home character named Jody was ruining a soldier's life.   "Ain't no use in going home/ Jody's got your girl and gone./ Ain't no use in feeling blue/ Jody's got your sister, too./ Ain't no use in lookin' back/ Jody's got your Cadillac ..."   "We don't call them Jody calls. We can't use them anymore," said Sgt. 1st Class Keith Callahan. "No more profanity. We can't talk about women anymore. Back in the day, yes. Not now. It's more professional now. We still do some of them about killing. Now it's about Iraq, Afghanistan."   These little marching songs, sung as soldiers march or double-time in formation, are about as basic to soldiering as complaining about MREs and following direct orders. They are part of an oral tradition that has developed over time, passed on by noncommissioned officers to the next generation of soldiers.   Silly as the cadences may often sound, soldiers say they provide a little motivation as they train.   Alpha Company 2nd Battalion 325 Infantry Regiment "I used to have the high school queen/ Now I've got my M-16/ I used to drive a Chevrolet/ Now I'm running every day ..."   Although marching songs have been around for a long time, modern cadence tradition among drill sergeants and the soldiers under their command can be traced to 1944, when an Army private named Willie Duckworth started chanting the words to "Sound Off" to a formation of exhausted troops from Fort Slocum, N.Y.:   "Sound-off / One-two/ Sound-off/ Three-four/ Count cadence/ One-two-three-four/ One-two &emdash; three-four."   The tradition spread. Characteristically, these jogging jingles still contain that familiar "sound off" refrain.   The songs require a caller, who normally sets the pace and leads the formation. If all goes well, the caller and the soldiers develop a sort of rapport &emdash; a smooth-running formation in a sweaty groove.   A caller will usually lead two or three songs before dropping back into formation and alternating with another soldier. "It's tiring," Callahan explained. "It wears you out."   On Fort Bragg, one of the most common cadences is "C-130," which lauds the glory of the airborne: "C-130 rollin' down the strip," the soldiers sing, "Airborne Daddy gonna take a little trip."   "It's all about motivation. When the guys are feeling down, feeling weak, it brings up their spirits," said Callahan, who often calls cadence in that Joe Pesci voice of his for the Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 325th.   Heath, who retired from the service after 30 years in 1987 and now runs his own rental business, was a natural caller.   "I've always liked to run my mouth is the best way to put it," he said.   "The military gave me an opportunity to get out front. Most people wouldn't want to get out front and lead the troops. I thoroughly enjoyed getting out there and sounding off."   Typically, cadence duty falls on the sergeants, who are known to prepare by studying cadence manuals and recordings that are sold on post.   Some of the better callers improvise like jazzmen, incorporating their own lines into the passed-down songs. But it's not for everyone.   "Some can do that. I'm not that talented," said Sgt. Ryan Juliano, a 22-year-old from New Jersey. "I have trouble talking and running at the same time."   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I am writing you from Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we compiled back to back Super Bowl wins (one undefeated, scoring every 5 plays) using your system. Curious where the system of play-calling originated.) By the way, I coach Mites (7-9 years old). We tossed, trapped & countered, G.O. - the whole bit. Thanx, Coach Greg Barnes   *********** Mathias Bonner in Germany told me about the time he beat an opposing coach, a very superior sort, and heard later that the guy had said about him, "There goes a coach who nobody knows, with a farmer offense. I have been in the German Bowl three times - and he beat me with it."   Evidently, calling the Double-Wing a "farmer offense" is highly insulting in Germany.   Meantime, a couple of weeks back, this same coach lost his two wide receivers to injury, and decided to try running the Double-Wing, since it is a farmer offense, very primitive and not requiring much coaching.   He told one and all that he knew all he needed to know - he'd spent a week on a certain forum.   No doubt deluged with expert advice, he went out and got his ass whipped, 37-7.   *********** Coach - SUPER STUFF !! on the explanation of the Crossbuck & Scissors , Coach I learn more Nuts & Bolts of Fundamental Football from listening to You, Bill Curry and Old Video of Frank Broyles, than any A**Hole commentary that works a Sunday Game - great stuff ! John Muckian Lynn,MA (I appreciate the compliments. I am currently holding out for my own Wyattcruiser to get me around the country in luxury. Until then, I guess I will continue to fly with the hoi polloi. HW)   *********** This year on my team my line will average about 120 to 130 and my backs will average 100lbs.  They avg. opposing player will be around 140.  Can I still run Trap?  And what else you think I can do to attack the opposing team?  I am a Wing T guy with Double wing mix in.(As your videos say very similar plays.)  That is why I love you offense and Material.  I hope all is well.   Actually, if my linemen were smaller, I would expect trapping to be a major part of my offense, because I would expect defenses to try to overpower us upfront.   Whether or not you can trap depends, I believe, on how agile your linemen are, not how big.   A major factor in effectively blocking the trap - besides the defense's eagerness to be trapped - is whether your playside linemen can escape the defensive linemen opposite them - allowing them to penetrate - and get onto the linebackers.   If they can't get to the second level without hitting defensive linemen, you won't be able to trap successfully.   *********** Coach, I don't know who wrote the following, but I thought it appropriate given what is going on now:   How the Commie News Network would have covered Operation OVERLORD:   June 6, 1944. -NORMANDY-   Three hundred French civilians were killed and thousands more wounded today in the first hours of America's invasion of continental Europe. Casualties were heaviest among women and children. Most of the French casualties were the result of artillery fire from American ships attempting to knock out German fortifications prior to the landing of hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops. Reports from a makeshift hospital in the French town of St. Mere Eglise said the carnage was far worse than the French had anticipated and reaction against the American invasion was running high. "We are dying for no reason," said a Frenchman speaking on condition of anonymity. "Americans can't even shoot straight. I never thought I'd say this, but life was better under Adolph Hitler."   The invasion also caused severe environmental damage. American troops, tanks, trucks and machinery destroyed miles of pristine shoreline and thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive wetlands. It was believed that the habitat of the spineless French crab was completely wiped out, threatening the species with extinction. A representative of Greenpeace said his organization, which had tried to stall the invasion for over a year, was appalled at the destruction, but not surprised. "This is just another example of how the military destroys the environment without a second thought," said Christine Moanmore. "And it's all about corporate greed." Contacted at his Manhattan condo, a member of the French government-in-exile who abandoned Paris when Hitler invaded said the invasion was based solely on American financial interests. "Everyone knows that President Roosevelt has ties to big beer," said Pierre LeWimp. "Once the German beer industry is conquered, Roosevelt's beer-making friends can exploit poor Europeans hiding their unjustified surplus under the guise of 'profits'!"   Administration supporters said America's aggressive actions were based in part on the assertions of controversial scientist Albert Einstein, who sent a letter to Roosevelt speculating that the Germans were developing a secret weapon, a so-called "atomic bomb." Such a weapon could produce casualties on a scale never seen before and cause environmental damage that could last for thousands of years. Hitler has denied having such a weapon and international inspectors were unable to locate such weapons even after spending two long weekends in Germany. Shortly after the invasion began reports surfaced that German prisoners had been abused by Americans. Mistreatment of Jews by Germans at so-called "concentration camps" has been rumored but so far, remains unsubstantiated.   Several thousand Americans died during the first hours of the invasion and French officials are concerned that uncollected corpses pose a public health risk. "The Americans should have planned for this in advance," they said. "It's their mess and we don't intend to clean it up."   I'd like to dedicate this to Michael Moore, Dan Rather, and supporters of responsible, factual news coverage everywhere...   Adam W. Watters, Tucson, Arizona   *********** Coach, I just got back from a successful campaign in Auckland New Zealand. We ran a spread 4x1 and the DW and shifted in and out of both. The Auckland NZ All-Star Under 21 teams played extremely tough and were very physical vs. our Southern California - Washington All-Stars 18 year olds. I will fill you in more later when I get the pictures downloaded. Pete Smolin, Montebello, California   *********** Coach, I received the tapes and playbook I ordered a couple of weeks ago, and have watched them twice through. Last summer I purchased the Double Wing tapes from (-----) , and I really wish I'd bought yours first. I coach at a Class A school in Iowa, with 45-50 kids per class. I think you have a much better understanding of small-school football, and the manpower issues that crop up.   We switched to the Double Wing Week 7 of 2004. We have been a Wing-T school since I started there in 1993 as an assistant (I took over as the head coach in 1996). In 2003 we made it to the State Semi-finals with our Wing-T using a terrific runner at QB and a bruising FB (Trap, Belly, and Outside Veer were our big plays). In 2004 those kids had graduated and while we replaced the FB with his younger brother, in week 5 our QB pulled a quad. Behind him, I had a soph who'd never seen varsity action and was not emotionally ready. I ended up taking a senior who had only come out for football that year and had been playing CB and teaching him Toss, Trap, Belly, Counter, and a sprint out pass. I knew we couldn't teach him our entire Wing-T playbook, but he was smart and those plays alone are a pretty solid core. We finished second in the District, made the playoffs, and in the first round we upset a team that had the talent to win it all at their place. We busted a trap for 60 yds to win 13-10.   This past season we committed wholeheartedly to the Double Wing. During the regular season, we outscored our 9 opponents 440-10 (7 pts in game one, 7 straight shutouts, then last regular season game our opponents kicked a 27 yd field goal trailing 23-0 to snap our streak...we beat them 58-3). We advanced to the semi-finals again (though with less overall talent than our '03 team). We lost to the eventual champs. What is my point? Well, I wish I had seen your tapes last summer. In the Wing-T, we'd always used multiple formations...but had largely cut them out when we made the switch. Had I watched your tapes, I don't think that would have happened...and maybe now we'd have a ring.   This year, we'll be giving our opponents more to think about than just getting punched in the face.   Thanks for the tapes, keep up the good work, and best wishes. Oh, thought you might like this photo of a pretty good kickout block in the Semis.   Chad Beermann, Valley Community H.S., Elgin, Iowa (I appreciate the note. Yes, I have learned a lot by coaching at smaller schools. I'm not sure you've really coached until you've had to coach at a smaller school, where sometimes out of necessity you find yourselves running a different offense and a different defense every year. Sometimes every week. My Double Wing with all its adjustments to personnel variations was the first thing I found that would enable use to run a system, year-in and year-out. The photo Coach Beermann refers to shows an opponent who's just been knocked on his ass. HW)   *********** Hugh, Greetings from Connecticut. I hope your summer is going well. I am having a relaxing one, but I am itching to get the season underway.   I was looking through your coaching tips, something I do often since the clinic last spring, and I recently read the one about "10 in the box." I thought your answer was dead on. Last year when we made the switch to the DW, we would often see 11 in the box. I pointed this out to my kids and they were really excited because they felt a great sense of accomplishment in being able to run on a defense that was throwing everything at our running game.   Anyway, I just thought I would pass along that thought and say hi. Oh and I'm sure you've already pre-ordered your tickets for the new movie on the New York Cosmos....ha-ha.   Best Wishes, Sam Keator, Forman School, Litchfield, Connecticut ( I have to laugh whenever I hear someone on TV say, "they can't run because they're looking at eight men in the box." HW)   *********** The following letter was sent to John Bolger, President of the Army Football Club. It is Unclassified, so John shared it with the members of the club...   All... This is from my friend Paul Watkins.. Paul is Class of '71 and we played one year of football together.. He got out early and started trucking companies, and has one now down around Wink, Texas... Over time, Paul became a Colonel in the Texas National Guard, but thought he should go to Iraq were two of his sons were already serving...So, he had himself recalled and went back in as a Captain... Please read what he has written. I find it interesting to gather insight from those there on the ground... John B...   From: Paul Watkins [mailto:PWatkins@5winc.com]   Sent: Wednesday, July 19, 2006 8:05 AM   Subject: Iraq Update   I have been intending to sit down and write an update for about 4 weeks now, but as they say, I have been overcome by events. Certainly one could critique this as an excuse and, maybe it is, but one has just so much time. My days start around 6am and end around 10pm, and quite honestly, I'm bushed at the end of the day. It has been difficult to find time to send emails or even to read, which is something I love doing.   Anyway, here goes with the update.   My job allows me to travel quite a bit and I have been able to get around the country of Iraq everywhere except for the south, where the Brits control the Battle Space. I have no American units down there, so I have not been there and will probably not get down there. The Baghdad area is very flat and green. Many irrigation canals criss cross the area and the rural areas are laid out in small fields in which you can see women and children out working every day. The men do not do much work. I think that is one of the problems here. Men have too much time on their hands and decide to get into trouble. That's very simplistic, of course. Many times men will plant explosives or dig a hole for explosives because their families have been threatened with murder if they don't. For many, there is no option. Today, for example, a bad guy went to an area where men gather as day laborers. He said he had a job for them, loaded them into a van, then detonated the vehicle. It killed 50 people and wounded another 70. One wonders where they get men like that who have no regard for any human life. What is going on in Baghdad now is totally based on the politics of power. I will return to this theme a little later. The good news for me here in Baghdad is that I am close to Zach and I am actually working on a project for his Battalion. Thus, I get to see him rather frequently. Once I'm finished with the project that will change, but for now, it is a welcome burden.   Northern Iraq is very green with lots of water. In the city of Mosul, the water table is about two feet below ground. It is also in this area where the Kurdish influence begins. Things are quieter up here because the Kurds keep a lid on most of the bad stuff. They are making the political calculation that the end result of the national government will be they will operate autonomously and will get to keep most of the oil money from the fields in the north.   Western Iraq is nothing but a hell hole. It is desolate, hot, dusty and to my way of thinking, has almost no redeeming value. My guess is if we pulled out of there, the bad guys would not know what to do and would have to chase us someplace else. We are waging a very calculated strategy there right now. The town of Ramadi is being slowly squeezed and I doubt if we will have to go in and clean it out like we did in Fallujah. But then, I'm not the guy making those decisions and you may read about some big operation there in tomorrow's paper and you can say I am all wet.   Enough of the small talk. Let me return to the discussion about power and try to connect some of the dots for you concerning the events that have unfolded over the course of the last couple months. Everyone has heard about the death of Al Zarqawi. Here's what I think. The politics of Iraq are extremely interesting. So interesting in fact, that it is difficult for me to think the way they do. But, I do believe part of the reason Zarqawi was killed was because there was a political deal between the Sunnis and Shia. Immediately following the announcement that he was killed, PM Maliki announced the names of the three most powerful Ministers in the country, an announcement that could not be made previously because the government could not reach an acceptable agreement of who those folks would be. The deal was made finally, and Zarqawi got zapped. That was a down payment on the agreement on the part of the Sunnis. I also think Iran was involved in the whole deal as well. Now, the Shiite quid pro quo is clamping down on the Shiite Militias who are killing Sunnis, mostly operating in Baghdad under the leadership of the cleric Al Sadr, who is one nasty dude. That will be interesting because each Shiite faction that has its own militia is using the militia to protect its political bargaining position. Because of this ongoing political negotiating you will continue to see Iraqis killing each other. But, I am extremely optimistic about the outcome, which is that American soldiers are going to be coming home. We'll continue to have some soldiers here, but I believe the vast majority of them will be heading home prior to the end of 2007. Now remember, that's only Paul Watkins' opinion, and Sec. Rumsfeld has not called and asked my opinion. I know it is difficult to watch the news and see all the killing and butchery that goes on over here, but I do believe it is their way of finally reaching some kind of negotiated settlement. It is just a difficult process to watch and it is not how we are accustomed to seeing negotiations conducted. The negotiating is really all about power and money, oil money. The Kurds have oil fields in the north, the Shiites have oil fields in the south, and the Sunnis, who are in the middle of the country with only 20% of the population, have no oil at all. So, the negotiating is over whether the Sunnis will get a share of the oil money. Their only bargaining chip is violence. If they get some money, the violence will be toned down. It will never disappear totally, but it will be minimized to an acceptable level. And, that's when the troops will come home. It will all get sorted out over the next few months.   The job I have is very rewarding, because what I do saves soldier's lives. I cannot tell you exactly what I do for obvious reasons, but it does save lives and for that I am very thankful. I interact with soldiers and they all continue to amaze me how well they perform under extremely difficult conditions. On one patrol in which I participated, the temperature was 122 degrees. Fortunately, I don't have to do that every day, but these folks do and they just go out every day and get the job done and they are terrific. The disappointing thing to me is that most people at home do not know, or decide to ignore, the fact that these young men and women are fighting a war and that we are actually engaged in a global war; a world war. The conflicts are not just here, but we have Americans fighting these bad guys in a number of countries. How do you get folks to recognize this fact, especially since we have a volunteer force and most American families are not impacted by the war? In one sense that is a disadvantage of having a volunteer force. I can also tell you these young soldiers are the smartest and best trained soldiers I have ever seen. They are the best this country has to offer and the good news coming out of this conflict is these young men and women, all combat veterans, will become leaders in their communities and will someday run for political office and lead this country. We, the older generations, will be turning over the country to a great group of young men and women. I do believe the country will survive for another generation.   Well, my arm is tired from typing. I hope this made sense to you and I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, again, for all the thoughts and prayers.   As always, I am respectfully,   Paul (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners Camas, Washington Celebrates Greg Biffle Day! (See"NEWS") What's a Crossbuck? and What's a Scissors? (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 18, 2006 - " Anybody who says he or she doesn't want to be a role model shouldn't be a teacher." Mike Lude, former AD at Kent State, Washington and Auburn   NOTE: Because of camp commitments, the "OFFICE" will be closed from Thursday, July 20 through Wednesday, August 2. This will affect : (1) e-mails - It will be difficult to reply; (2) Shipments of materials; (3) Publication of this News page   *********** At last! A President who says what I would have said.   Chatting informally with English Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush had a suggestion for the United Nations: "What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doin' this sh--, and it's over!"    *********** My little adopted home of Camas, Washington celebrates its 100th year as an incorporated city this coming weekend, but on Tuesday it celebrates something much, much bigger - Greg Biffle Day. Biffle, one of the top NASCAR drivers, is a Camas High grad (although some of my wife's friends, who taught there when he attended, still wonder how that could be possible). They expect some 10,000 fans to show up at the school football stadium, just across the street from us, which would be the largest crowd in the town's history - even bigger than some of the Camas-Washougal football crowds. Give the guy credit - he raced last weekend in New England and he races again next weekend at Pocono, in Pennsylvania, and you have to like flying - a lot - to want to come back here in midweek. , They will be renaming a street in his honor. Many locals think it would be most appropriate if it were the one where he picked up the most speeding tickets as a teenager.   *********** Where do I sign up for a job like this?   Senator Maria Cantwell, one of the loony Democrats who represent our state, could be facing a tough run this fall because of her earlier support of the war, so she just added a guy to her campaign staff as her "Outreach Director."   Nothing wrong with that. Except this guy, an anti-war liberal, was her most vocal opponent in the primaries coming up in September. He called her all sorts of names.   And then he suddenly withdrew from the race last week - to work as he "liaison to anti-war Democrats", and she's going to be paying him - only after considerable prodding by the news media did the actual figure come out - $8,000 a month!   Another of Senator Cantwell's rivals said it looked as if Cantwell might be "trying to buy off the opposition."   Gee. You think?   *********** With two NBA first-round selections in the last two seasons (Nate Robinson and Brandon Roy), the University of Washington is in danger of becoming known as a basketball school.   That's cool, and all that, but football pays the bills, and football at the "U" is hurting.   Back in the Don James days, the University of Washington's football media guide boasted that the Huskies sold as many season tickets as the three local pro teams - the Mariners, Sonics and Seahawks - put together.   But as my grandmother used to say, "Not no more."   The Huskies have gone 3-19 the last two seasons (1-15 in Pac-10 play) and now they find themselves selling hard to try to stanch the loss of season-ticket holders.   *********** I, and my staff, greatly enjoyed your clinic in Philly.  Very detailed and I really enjoyed some of the new variations of plays (ie 66G) and the 800/900 pass.  I will definitely be using them this upcoming season. I have a question on the wedge play and maybe this has been covered and I missed it, but here goes anyways.  I was wondering why the wedge play is run as a wedge at 2 or wedge at 3 (up the tail of the guard).  Can it be run as a wedge at zero (up the centers tail) against an even defense??  Or is it necessary to run the wedge "at" a player so there is a focal point for the blockers.  Thanks for your help   We call it "2" Wedge or "3" Wedge so that the runner knows which side of the QB he's going to take the ball on (and which foot the QB's going to take his first step with). But we are wedging on the first down lineman from the center out.   You could run it at a "bubble" but at some point you will get hurt. Penetration could be a real problem, because it is always possible that your two A-gaps will be penetrated if your center gets off too fast for your guards to seal down onto the center.   It may sound crazy, but blocking into a defender helps by slowing down the point man slightly so that his teammates can close in and triple-team with him. We are always looking for that triple-team.   There will be people who will tell you to wedge at a bubble. Do not listen to them. They are self-appointed experts.   Listen instead to a real expert, Coach Charlie Caldwell. long-time Princeton coach. He and George Munger at Penn ran very similar unbalanced-line single wings at about the same time and the wedge was a major part of their attacks. My high school coach, Ed Lawless, played for George Munger at Penn in 44-46-47, and it was a major part of our offense.   Read what Coach Caldwell wrote in "Modern Single Wing Football" back in 1950. (Why Coach Caldwell? The first sentence will make it obvious.)   "We are one of the few Single Wing teams really stressing wedge-type blocking, and we use it a great deal. We would use it as part of our offense even if it, of itself, did not work out too well, because it teaches as nothing else does, the important elements of sustaining blocks and carrying through on an offensive charge. It takes us four or five weeks to get a really good wedge charge organized. In the learning process, we work on the ability to sustain, follow through, and keep the legs driving, all of which are needed for effective power blocking."   He goes on...   "The wedge may be likened in some respects to the snowplow. The maximum amount of drive must be delivered at the apex of the wedge to effect the initial breakthrough. Every bit of power developed at the apex is used solely to drive straight ahead. On either side of the apex, power is used in two ways: to contribute to the straight ahead thrust of the apex and at the same time, to prevent infiltration from the sides. The apex of the wedge, in order to obtain maximum power, is designed to take advantage of the opportunity to put three offensive men against one defensive man. We try to assign three men definitely on one, and with this ratio we should be able to get the wedge under way at this most crucial point. The rest of the team folds in toward the apex and blocks space rather than assigned men..."   Note that Coach Caldwell was looking for a three-on-one. If you wedge against the bubble, as some so-called experts will advise, you will not get a three-on-one. You won't even get a two-on-one. You will get a none-on-none.   Where do you form the wedge?   "...with changing defenses, it is not always the same man who forms the apex... depending on which has a man head-up on him..."   In other words - Always wedge on a covered man - I ran the wedge for years and did okay with it, but I did have some problems on occasion. Only when I went back to Coach Caldwell's book and grasped that important principle did I really have full control of the play.   What if both the playside guard and the center are covered?   (This is translated from Coach Caldwell's unbalanced line to our balanced line) "Coaching Points- Stress that a man head-on the center (in our balanced line) takes precedence over any other spacing, even though there might be another man head-on the guard (in our balanced line)." In other words, wedge on the nose.   What if there is a man in the playside A-gap?   "If a man is in the slot between (the center and the right guard) then he is double-teamed by those two men and driven straight back..."   What if they are submarining?   "If the man submarines him, (the apex man) continues right over him." Translation: show no mercy.   I would say there is only one case in which we would NOT wedge on a down lineman, and that would be if Christmas came early and we saw a "split" front, with no down lineman between our guards' outside shoulders.   Sorry for the long answer, but it got me going back to the Bible.   *********** I am a 21 year old college senior at ------- University. I was wondering what you think would be the best way to get my foot in the door at any college or university in the southeastern United States for an entry level coaching position.  I have coached Pop Warner and some High School but I believe I have the dedication and willingness to learn as well as some good knowledge to offer a program at a young age. If you could, please give me some advice on this subject as I am ready to move on in the coaching world. Greatly Appreciated. It is getting late, but it may not be too late. But you are going to have to move fast.   First of all, if you have any hopes of getting into college coaching, you will have to serve an internship known as a graduate assistantship. There is no other way. It is that simple. It doesn't matter if you were team captain - you would still have to spend your time as a graduate assistant.   Like any internship, the pay is poor, the work is menial, and the hours are long. That's the good news.   The bad news is that there aren't that many of these jobs. The positions are limited by NCAA rules, and competition for them is severe. Lots of people want to get into college coaching, and this is the gateway. Anybody who expects to be hired on as a full-time, paid assistant has to put in his time as a graduate assistant. And there is no shot at becoming one if the head coach at a college doesn't know you. Here, it does help to be the team captain, because the coaches already know a lot about his attitude and work habits.   In your case, I would try to arrange a meeting with Coach ---------, which won't be easy, because a college head coach is a very busy man. It is going to take some aggressiveness on your part to get to see him, but that in itself should impress him. That's what a coach looks for when he sends an assistant out to recruit. I think walking in and asking to meet him personally - maybe even hanging outside his office door until he comes out - is FAR more effective than an e-mail, or a phone call, or a faxed resume, and displays the sort of aggressiveness a coach looks for in an assistant.   Keep trying. And once you get to see him, tell him your plan, and impress him with your willingness to do anything - anything at all - to help his program. Do not be too proud to pick up towels or sweep floors. At this point, he has something you need, and he has all the chips.   In exchange, all you want from him is the opportunity to watch what goes on, firsthand, and to show him what you can do.   Time is wasting. I wish you luck. (You would be amazed how many e-mails I get like this one, and whether it is high school coaching or college coaching, my recommendation is always the same - make personal contact with the head coach at your school, or as many local coaches as you can and offer to help out in any way you can, in return for knowledge, experience, and a possible recommendation. Interestingly, I have yet to hear from a single one of these guys, letting me what transpired. It could be that they are on their way to coaching a Super Bowl champion, but my suspicion is that they didn't like my advice - perhaps they thought that some head coach, somewhere, was just sitting back, in his chair, waiting for some inexperienced young guy to come along and save his program. I don't know. Or maybe it's because I mentioned hard work. Few young guys have any idea how hard an assistant coach really works - how much time he has to put in if he expects to keep his job, much less make it up the coaching ladder.)   *********** Found your site the other day and really love it. I have a question for you: Is a crossbuck the same thing as a scissors play? I came across the scissors in an old paperback book called, "The Best in Football From Scholastic Coach." As I read about it, the term "crossbuck" popped into my mind. They both seem to be similar types of misdirection plays, right? Crossbuck seems to be an old term that is not used any more, so I'd like to get a clearer idea of the differences or similarities between scissors and crossbuck. Thank you, Jimmy Stovar, Houston Great question. I caused me to do some digging. After doing a bit of research, the short answer seems to be either (1) there is no difference between a scissors play and a crossbuck, or (2) This is my preference - A cross-buck involves giving the ball to a halfback (one set in the backfield approximately behind one tackle or the other) running to the opposite side of the line from which he lined up, after first faking a "buck" - a smash straight ahead or nearly straight ahead into the middle of the line - to another back.  A scissors play involves giving the ball, usually with an inside handoff) to a wingback (one set just off the line and just outside the widest tight linemen) running to the opposite side of the line after first faking an off-tackle or an outside play to the other backs. The long answer gets complicated. Both terms come under the wider category of "misdirection," a play intended to deceive the defense by first showing action (motion, flow, faking) in one direction, but then actually hitting in the other side. Misdirection would include such plays as end-arounds, reverses and counters. Scissors plays and cross-bucks now generally come under the category of counters, and are usually so-named. To understand what a "crossbuck" is, it helps to know what a "buck" is, because the term has fallen out of use. Simply, it was a straight-ahead run into the middle of the line by a big dude. The term "plunge" seemed to be synonymous, and both of them seem to date to the earliest days of football, when running straight ahead was about all they did.  By 1927, the game had become a good deal more sophisticated that that. In his book entitled "Football for Coaches and Players," published in that year, Pop Warner wrote, "One man in the backfield should be a line-bucking specialist..." In his "Functional Football," John DaGrosa wrote, in 1936, "Line bucking is the running of a ball-carrying back into the bucking area, which is between the defensive tackles. Players who are line bucking should be located within the bucking area and able to receive a direct or indirect pass from center. Usually the biggest, roughest and heaviest back - generally the fullback - is used." I would have to say that nowadays, our Wedge play is the closest you can get to an old-fashioned buck. Nowadays, the term "buck" is mostly hidden in terms such as "buck sweep" (technically, a crossbuck in which the "plunger" hits up the middle while the left halfback sweeps right or the right halfback sweeps left. I should really avoid use of the term "sweep" because that can get us into another discussion), or "buck-lateral," describing a single-wing (oops- another term that needs explaining) play series which always begins with the threat of a buck. I think of a scissors play as a form of inside reverse. My first introduction to the scissors play was as a result of Syracuse running it in the late 50s and early 60s. Syracuse's coach, Ben Schwarzwalder, ran an unbalanced-line wing-T. He took great pride in playing hard-nosed football, and in pounding opponents off-tackle until suddenly - wham - he'd hit them with his famous scissors play, a counter play in which the quarterback, fullback and halfback would fake the off-tackle play, then the quarterback would slip the ball with an inside handoff to the wingback.   But as I say that, I have an old clip from 1961 of Rip Engle at Penn State (Joe Paterno's predecessor) explaining his scissors play ("our bread and butter" he calls it), and it is shown with both and inside and an outside handoff. And then there is the book "Fly T Football," published in 1957 by Hamp Pool, who had been a highly successful coach of the Los Angeles Rams, and in it he diagrams his "scissors," and I'll be damned if it doesn't look like what most of us nowadays would call a "buck sweep." In other words, a crossbuck. The diagrams I've shown both represent my interpretation of what the two terms mean, and how they figure into my system. Our "buck sweep" would be called "38", and our "scissors" would be "47." They are shown being run from a Wing-T Right formation, and there is a lot more to them than what you see, but they originated with the single wing, and go all the way back to the days when the single-wing dominated football. As I said, great question. Not so sure about the answer.   *********** I moved this month and came across some coaching materials (my former head coach) had given me. One of them involved tackling and said "the waist is a waste - don't try to make a tackle above the knees." I let out a very nervous laugh.   I am shocked to think that there is even one high school coach left in America who's still teaching that. I know this to be an exclusive private school, and it is scary to think that this is the way he coaches the sons of the very wealthy, who probably demand the very best from their sons' classroom teachers. The idea that their sons' coach is ignorantly risking their lives like that is appalling. *********** Not that everything has been said about Zidane's head butt, but I am surprised that no one has yet touched on its essential unmanliness (as traditionally defined in America). To any real American, it was pure chickensh--, a sneak attack on an unsuspecting opponent. In the America that many of us still remember, a real man fought with his fists, and a real man would never sucker punch an opponent. Zidane chose to use a head butt, which evidently is the punch of choice for people who don't know how to use their hands. It can only be effective if it is used on someone who is off guard - I mean, given any warning at all, what person with any fighting skills couldn't have whipped the ass of a guy who came charging at him with his head down?   *********** A working coach who came to practice once or twice a week (he walked on for one year at Michigan, '87, LOVED Bo) had a trick play he liked. It involved convincing the defense we had too many men on the field, ordering one 'off.' As he was shuffling towards the sideline we snapped the ball and threw deep to him.   The defenses invariably froze and he ran unmolested downfield. The play never worked because Mr Quarterback Stud couldn't put a deep ball on target to save his life, but it was a slick idea.   I thought the play was kind of cheap, but I wasn't prepared for one ref's reply when we told him about it: "You ain't runnin' it. That's deception, that has nothing to do with good football."   I understood an official telling us not to run a serious trick play, especially at the JV level, but I had to laugh at him saying deception had no place in football. Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California   Officials have no right to try to design the game to their liking. That sounds like baseball umpires each having their own strike zone. Granted that that sort of trick play is sort of scorned on, but if it is legal, officials have no business telling a coach he can't run it.   *********** Long, long ago (or so it seems), the Chancellor and AD at Auburn flew into Louisville under cover of darkness and talked about their coaching job with Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino. (They were identified when someone at the Louisville airport traced the tail number on their private plane to a big Auburn booster.) Problem with the whole deal was, the Auburn job wasn't open yet. Auburn still had a coach, a guy named Tommy Tuberville, and those snakes were sneaking around trying to set up a deal with another coach before they pulled the pin on Coach Tuberville. To Coach Petrino's discredit, he met with them, in violation of an unwritten code of coaching that says you don't interview for a job that's still held by a fellow coach.   But everything seemed to work out well. Call it a win-win-win. The good people at Auburn, to their everlasting credit, were embarrassed by the shameless conduct of their leaders, and those leaders are now history. Win Number One. Coach Tuberville stayed on and led Auburn to several great seasons, and has been rewarded with a long-term contract. Win Number Two. And Coach Petrino stayed on at Louisville and continued to maintain the powerhouse, for which he was richly rewarded with a new contract just this past week. It would be nice to think that he's not the same person since that Auburn incident, and that he took a page from former Pacific Lutheran Coach Frosty Westering ("Make the Big Time Where You Are!"). That would be Win Number Three.   *********** Hi Hugh: After reading the last few "News You Can Use", I figured I may as well put in my two cents. Here is my recollection of soccer growing up. In grade school we called it soccer, but we actually used a teather ball and it was the 5th grade vs. the 6th grade. We used the entire field which was approximately one hundred sixty yards long by one hundred 120 yards wide. So imagine 60 or 70 kids on each side and the only rule really was the ball had to hit the fence. The first priority was to knock the dog crap out of the other team. Funny thing, we still scored more than these present day wussies. We played this before school and football was left for recess, PE and after school. The only soccer player I can recall was Pele' and that was because of his bicycle kick. I barely passed soccer in college and I still refuse to teach it in class. We play Razzle Dazzle and the only resemblance to soccer is the ball. This is an old fashioned rough house game that is politically incorrect, but then so am I. Respectfully, Norm Barney, Chiloquin High, Chiloquin, Oregon   *********** Christopher Anderson wrote a scathing column in the Stanford Daily, ripping soccer, and was given a columnist's highest reward - he received nasty letters. Among the beauties was this one, from which I've printed excerpts...   Sure, in soccer players fake injuries, try to get into each other's heads and don't use their hands (besides the keeper, of course) - but that's what soccer is. And what Zidane did was certainly not right - but hey, who are we to judge?   For all of soccer's faults, the guy wrote, it "brings people together." Yeah. Great. So does the United Nations. Actually, if I could only keep one or the other, I'd keep soccer.    (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners My Theory: Was Soccer Once a Manly Game? (See"NEWS") Shouldn't Barry Bonds Get the Shoeless Joe Treatment? (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 13, 2006 - "Good pitching always stops good hitting. And vice-versa." Casey Stengel   *********** The rest of the world loves soccer. Except for the US.   So, we are told by the One-Worlders, the US should go along with "the rest of the world."   Meantime, "the rest of the world" just voted in the United Nations to condemn Israel for defending itself.   *********** Nike did a commercial several years ago which it called "Evil Soccer." Thanks to a close friend of the family who worked for Weiden+Kennedy, Nike's ad agency, I have a copy of it. Trying to "hang a set of balls" (as we used to say in the advertising business) on the sport of soccer, Nike featured several of the world's best-known soccer players (or so I was told) and showed them playing against an opposing "side" that could only be characterized as pure evil. Ugly, scary creatures. After a succession of indignities committed against our Good Guys, the great Zidane makes everything right by kicking a ball straight through the heart of the devilish monster playing goal. Ironically, among the indignities was an ugly head butt, delivered by an evil monster against a good guy. It's a nasty scene, one designed to influence young soccer players (if you get what I mean), and I'll be damned if it hasn't been edited out of the sanitized version you can see at http://www.soccercommercials.com/ (click on Nike- Good vs. Evil)   ************ Hey, Coach Wyatt! So somebody got head-butted in a soccer game... Big deal. There's probably more of those in a hockey game - per minute - than most soccer refs could shake a card at (they do wave those cards a lot, don't they?)   Funny article on the world cup head-butt "crisis"   http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/13/zidane_headbutt_outrage/   btw, didn't the US get knocked-out of competition by some great soccer power this year...? The Lesser Antilles club team or something...?   Have a good one, Steve Smith, Suwannee High School, Live Oak, Florida   (On that Web site, I read "For the record, we at Vulture Central believe that - contrary to current wisdom - the Materazzi-felling incident was provoked not by references to Zidane's mother and his Algerian ancestry, but rather the suggestion that Italian wine may be of equal, or superior, quality to its French equivalent.:" HW)   *********** Not to say that I think soccer, at least as it was played in the World Cup, is much of a sport, but I actually don't dislike soccer as much as I do the culture that it's a part of it here in the US.   An interesting theory is shaping up in my mind. It goes like this - soccer hasn't always been a jerk sport in the US.   Somewhere along the line, as society itself became increasingly feminized and child-oriented, as the goal became making childhood risk-free, soccer proved to be the ideal sport for the little children of the elite. And those little kids are so precious in their little uniforms. Add in the fact that they don't really do anything, and as one critic says, "everybody can be so-so,: and it's the perfect "trophies for everybody" sport. Oh - and it's androgynous. little boys and little girls can play it equally well, and often together.   In other words, in the US, the soccer that little urchins play in the streets of Third World countries has been hijacked. it has been yuppified. And it wasn't always so.   I submit as evidence...   an e-mail from Christopher Anderson, in Palo Alto, California, telling of a conversation he'd had with an acquaintance who knew something of his high school from an earlier time:   John Goodwin, legendary football coach at Seattle Prep in the 50's & 60's was a huge believer in kids playing soccer through the 8th grade.CYO was considering adding tackle football and John said it was a bad idea from several perspectives. The primary reason was he didn't want to have to undo bad habits kids picked up from less experienced coaches..Also he felt soccer footwork experience and conditioning had value.Other considerations were mentioned such as cost and injury.   Christopher writes, "I find this difficult to believe, except in light of the fact that Prep was a major power in the 60's (three state titles, pre-playoff days). I'm going to go ahead and assume that Goodwin knew where to find good football players and how to get them into the school, and it could be that he didn't want O'Dea and Blanchet having access to more skilled players coming out of the middle schools. Maybe soccer was a more manly game in Seattle at that point in time.   "The argument that soccer is the world's game is perhaps the lamest, most deserving of the jump-off-a-bridge speech parents give to impressionable youngsters. As I told a friend - more than half the world is lactose-intolerant, but you don't see me putting down my ice cream.   "I'm writing columns for the summer Daily. I had a section where I blast citizen-of-the-world types who berate American indifference to soccer, then in the same breath alienate American sports fans with terms like "football," "pitch" and "nil." It's not that they don't get it - they DO get it, and trying to make us European is something many of our elders fought hard to get away from. Waves of immigrants fled the Old World to not be ruled by the sort of Byzantine oligarchies that are still with us."   And then came this...   Hello Coach, I had to pass this on...   One of my closest friends was the soccer coach at my school through this past season (he has stepped down for reasons you will understand in a moment). As a high school sophomore he started for a coach named Dan Sullivan, who I believe is the winningest coach in CT history (he did 30+ years in soccer, basketball and baseball...an ornery Irishman who knew of only one way to do things...his way!). Anyways, my buddy played for him in all three sports and as a sophomore they won the state championship in soccer having barely qualified for the tournament with a .500 record. Sully's theory was "Make the tournament and anything can happen." He was right. Soccer was known as "Sully-ball" in this particular town. Play tough. Don't piss and moan about calls that don't go your way. Don't make excuses about how you f_ _ _ _ed up. Old school mentality applied to the game you and I despise.   Anyways, my buddy had done a great job at our school over the last 10 years or so, but a pattern of sissiness started to show a few seasons ago and it manifested into a soccer mom type of situation over the last few years. "It's not my fault, the ref blew the call" "Ref, he hit me. Where's the card?" (meanwhile, the guy who "hit" our kid is running down the field with the ball.) You know exactly the type on stuff I'm talking about.   As the season wore on last year I asked my friend what the hell was going on and he said...and I quote, "You know you are in trouble when your toughest kid has a hyphenated last name."   I nearly pi--ed my pants, but he was right. Take care, Patrick Cox, Tolland, Connecticut   And then this...   Hey Coach, Just so you know, the 'football' played at the World Cup was nothing like the football I played while I was at school… 'An overpaid bunch of pansy diving fairies' is the best description I have heard. Thanks, Ben Armstrong, HC, Reading University Knights, Reading, England (I really do believe that with the antics of the "pansy diving fairies," not to mention the oh-so manly fighting methods of the great Zidane, soccer just blew the best chance they'll ever have to win over the 85 per cent of Americans who speak English. Of course, by the year 2010, that figure will probably be down to about 60 per cent. HW)   *********** Hi Hugh, Great as always!   But I feel I must state that the behaviour of the "seals on the field" doesn't faze me. After all, I've seen worse (if not different) from our spoiled brat superstars here.   Question for you, when did playing cards become a televised sport? I mean is it that bad that we have to televise playing cards as a sport? Do the TV guys have so much money to spend on advertising that we need to televise playing cards? Like the lyrics of a Springsteen song say, "57 channels and there's nothing on". Thank God the start of the football season is right around the corner.   Regards, Matt, New Jersey (Love the "seals on the field." The poker thing absolutely mystifies me. And just think - so far, they've only shown the American public ONE GAME! Based on that, I would say their future is unlimited - they haven't even touched Night Baseball with threes and nines wild and an extra card for a four, and they never play High-Low or Five-Card Draw, deuces and one-eyed jacks wild. I envision a Poker Channel shortly. HW)   *********** I loved Matt's "seals on the field" description of soccer players.   It hasn't escaped my notice that soccer is one of only two games you can play with your hands in your pockets. The other is a version of pool.   *********** Media reports, based on interpretations by lip-readers, have suggested that the Italian soccer player may have called Zidane a terrorist or insulted his mother or sister. The Italian denies these claims, too.   "For me, the mother is sacred, you know that," he told a newspaper.   Right. I know that. Seems to me I've heard certain American athletes say that, too. They're the ones who wave and say "Hi, Mom!" whenever the TV cameras are on them.   And then they go out and call each other Motherf-----s.   *********** A guy wrote on the Army football forum, "Now, I'm not favoring the French guy, but it's maybe the first time in this World Cup when an Italian guy actually took a shot before hitting the turf."   *********** I am new to coaching football and have a couple questions.  One, what are the rules concerning sending a player in motion?  I though he had to be running parallel to the line of scrimmage, but I noticed when watching the videos your A Back when in motion is moving towards the QB away from the line of scrimmage when in motion.  Obviously, this is allowed or it wouldn't be in the offense.  I just wanted to understand it better. Can he run away from line of scrimmage, but not towards it?  Can he be moving when ball is snapped?   The rulebook (7-2-7) states... "Only one A (offense) player may be in motion at the snap and then only if such motion is not toward his opponent's goal line."   *********** My daughter and he husband and three sons are headed to Australia to visit her brother and his wife, and she asked for some tips on buying a digital camera. Here's what I wrote her...   To be honest, I wouldn't overdo it. I wouldn't go overboard and buy a high-end camera.   I've had good luck with my Canon Powershot S200 "Digital Elph." I've had it for at least 3 years, I've taken it everywhere with me, and although Canon has since come out with more powerful cameras, with more features, it is still going strong.   It is nice and compact - about the size of a pack of cigarettes. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but not so compact that you can't find it, and it feels hefty and durable (which it has proved to be).   It is only 2 megapixels, and although that is puny by current standards, it's all I've ever needed because I have no plans to blow photos up to poster size. Not even to 8-1/2 x 11. That is the main reason you need a lot more. With 3.2 megapixels or at most 4.0, you'll be fine.   It fires up pretty quickly when I need to turn it on and shoot. Be sure to check that out on any camera you look at. As I was writing this a mother racoon and her little baby just ran across the deck and I was able to pick up the camera and get them.   As for the lag-time between the time you hit the shutter and time the camera actually takes the shot, and the ability to take shots in rapid-fire fashion, that evidently is a problem for professionals shooting action, but for me it has never been a big deal.   I could use a better zoom. Mine is just 2x optical. Most are now 3x. Be sure to look only for optical zoom. Pay no attention to digital zoom. It sounds impressive, but it's brought about by "borrowing" pixels, and it results in lousy pictures. Digital zoom is useless and seems mainly to be a lure to pull in suckers.   My charger isn't much bigger than the camera, and fits flush against the wall when you plug it in. I would definitely advise getting another battery or two, so that you always have one charging.   Here's a link to a review of the Canon next size up from mine, the Powershot SD300, which looks like an identical but improved version of mine. http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd300-review/ It is 4 megapixels and 3x optical zoom, and it has a larger LCD than mine. Like mine, it also has an optical viewfinder. Many newer cameras don't. Don't underestimate the importance of an optical when you're shooting in bright sunlight. It is also a lot easier to hold a camera steady when you're not holding it away from your body.   For me, it has the advantage of operating about the same as my present camera, so if I were shopping for another camera, it would probably be the one. I see it priced well under $300 online.   Pay maybe $100 or so more for 5 megapixels and you get the Powershot SD400. It's still 3x optical zoom. http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_sd400-review/   Canon makes an SD500, but I have read some unfavorable reviews. Enough to scare me away.   Whatever brand you look at , check out the features I described.   *********** Dear Coach Wyatt; A source of information on the Short Punt that I happen to own is Lou Howard's "The Modern Short Punt: A Winning Formation." I was able to locate some quite expensive copies at www.abebooks.com, which is a used book reseller similar to Amazon. The book is so old that it doesn't have an ISBN. (Actually, it is 1959. HW)   I've been researching it as a fourth down offense, to be used for punting and punt fakes. I think a limited version of the system would work very well in that role, and would really be not much more difficult to install and rep than a standard punting unit out of tight and spread.   There are a couple of changes that I would make to the system. For one thing, rule 9-4-6 wasn't added until long after Coach Howard left coaching. 9-4-6 is "roughing the snapper" and it prevents the defense from crashing "immediately" into the snapper. The only way to take advantage of this rule is to be in a scrimmage kick formation, which means that there has to be no one in position to take a standard T-formation snap from the center, and there has to be at least one person on the offense that is at least seven yards deep. The simplest change to make is to just pull back the punter to that depth. This can make a big difference in the styles of defenses that you face, and take them out of their game, effectively neutralizing an aggressive nose tackle.   An interesting part of Coach Howard's book is his descriptions of defense, since it was published during a period in which a player had to leave the game for a quarter when they left the field, so he continually refers to offensive backfield members as "linebackers." It's a neat glimpse at 1950's football, although there's an irony in there as well: despite the title and the main thrust of the book, he discusses everything on both sides of the ball in some detail with the exception of HOW TO PUNT out of the short punt formation. His description of the punt is limited to one paragraph.   I really like Coach Howard's philosophy with the offense. He never double teamed with a back and a lineman because of the timing issues. He trapped with his backs rather than his linemen, because they were generally better athletes, and because the linemen usually weren't his studs he used them to double team. He also spent most of his time trying to attack the defense's right guard because he felt that "It will be the defense's toughest man." A youth coach could put some time and effort into internalizing this basic philosophy and probably do pretty well on game day.   Very Respectfully; Derek Wade, Petaluma, California. (It would be worth looking at taking advantage of the rules change by positioning the tailback at 7 yards rather than 5, with one very important caveat - it would be necessary to bear in mind that those old-timers were smart guys, and their tailback's depth of five yards had to be pretty well thought out and tested. It is always smarter, I find, to use something "right out of the can" - to do what somebody else has already tested and proved rather than to make our own modifications and then have to prove it under game conditions. I did show Fritz Crisler's diagram with his tailback at 6 yards, but I should have noted that Coach Crisler, a master of the single wing at Princeton and then Michigan, was not, to my knowledge, known to run the short punt. PS- Still looking for someone who is actually running it! HW)   *********** Hugh, The following from Gen. Shelton on your NEWS today caught my attention:   Hugh: I visited Fort Riley, Kansas from 5-8 July and had a great time with all the Black Lions there. Over 500. LTC Pat Franks was my host and I spoke at a stag "Dining In" to all the officers and Senior non commissioned officers. We were all in formal wear and it was a blast. I'll send you a program. The skits were outrageous and mostly busted the battalion commander, the XO, and the Command Sergeant Major's balls. I spoke to the group for about 15 minutes including the letter from the 13 year old who said--"I'm a Black Lion, Dad. I couldn't quit" That really got to them and they are hot to get high schools involved in the program. You will probably have a few contacting you out of the blue. Anyway I wanted you to know about it and I wished you were there.We'll do it one of these days. Black Lions. Jim Shelton, Englewood, Florida. P.S. Best to Connie.   Coach, Ft. Riley can't be more than 90 minutes from Beloit. Is it home to a Black Lions unit? Is there someone that I can contact to see about getting a Black Lion to come and visit our team during the pre-season and then return to present the award following the season? Thanks. Greg Koenig, Beloit, Kansas (Coach, Fort Riley is not just home to a Black Lions unit - it is THE home of the Black Lions, and I can almost guarantee you that we will find someone there who would be happy to get involved with your team! HW)   *********** I understand that Saddam Hussein went on another hunger strike recently. May I suggest force-feeding him? Rectally?   *********** Joe "Shoeless Joe" Jackson was one hell of a baseball player. In 13 seasons in the major leagues, be had a lifetime batting average of .356. In 1911, his first full season in the majors, he batted .408.   Not that you'd find any of that in the record books.   That's because he was caught up in the so-called Black Sox Scandal, in which the Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. A jury acquitted him and seven teammates, but no matter - baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis banished them from baseball for life - and banished their records, too.   As the Communists in the Soviet Union used to do with their political enemies, Judge Landis made them non-persons. In the official records books of baseball, they ceased to exist.   (In the tainted series, by the way, Jackson hit .375, with six RBIs. He batted .351 in the regular season. Some fixer! And in the 1920 season - the story hadn't yet come out - he had a gorilla season: he batted .382, with 218 hits, 121 RBIs, and 105 runs scored.   I merely bring this up because if Barry Bonds is nailed for perjury - for lying about his use of "enhancements" - there is plenty of precedent for baseball commissioner Bud Selig to obliterate his name from the books.   If they could make a nonperson of Joe Jackson for one stupid, misguided act (for which a jury failed to convict him), Bud Selig can certainly do it to a guy who over and over and over cheated the American public, dissing the public and the media and making the game of baseball a big joke to many of us.   *********** David Maraniss, author of "Clemente," is a member of the Board of the Black Lion Award. David helped honor the Roberto Clemente, the great Pirates' star, by attending Tuesday night's All-Star game as the guest of Commissioner Bud Selig. As David took part in a book signing at the University of Pittsburgh book store, the Chancellor of the University came in and bought 80 copies of "Clemente" - then waited while David incribed them all!   *********** Not a fan of today's baseball, I happened to tune in to the All Star game just in time for the seventh inning stretch. Lord- as if watching 7-1/2 innings wasn't punishment enough, those who had watched the entire All-Star game up to that point were "treated" to absolutely the most nauseous look-what-I-can-do-to-screw-with-your-song version of God Bless America that I have ever heard. Definitely an SSTB (Somebody Shoot the Bastard) moment.   *********** Coach Wyatt, I was notified yesterday I was chosen for the head coaching position for the Middle School. Plus, I'm still the head coach for the Grid Kids. Three teams......my wife is gonna kill me! I guess we can tell the world now.   Looks like I'll need the Black Lion Award for three teams!   Mike Studer, Kittitas, Washington   PS I thank God for an excellent group of assistant coaches in the Grid Kids program.   *********** Walt Leitner's funeral was last Sunday. He was one of the best guys I've ever worked with.   Walt was born in 1940 in Leipzig, Germany. If you know your history, you know that at that point Germany was caught up in a World War (which the US had yet to join) and at some point his father, a Methodist minister, was drafted. Before the war was over, he was captured by Allied forces and taken prisoner.   In 1946, with the war at an end, Walt's family found itself behind the Iron Curtain, in the Russian sector, and the story of how they made their way to the relative freedom of the West and reunited with his father is inspiring.   When Walt was 10, his family came to the United States. He didn't know a word of English. When he was 14, they moved to the Pacific Northwest.   To make a long story short, Walt, obviously imbued by his family with a great work ethic, made it through high school and college and became a teacher. I first met Walt in 1980, and taught with him for 10 years at Hudson's Bay High, in Vancouver, Washington. I have to say that that faculty was one of the best teams I've ever been associated with, and Walt was one of the reasons why.   Walt accepted me as a fellow intellectual when he discovered that I was the one who kept taking his Wall Street Journal from the faculty room after he was finished with it. He asked me two or three times - you actually read it? When I assured him that I didn, indeed, he was really impressed to think that the football coach - the football coach! - read the Wall Street Journal. Thanks to Walt, I became a subscriber, and I've been one for almost 25 years!   When I first arrived at "Bay," I was in awe of that faculty. It was administrator-proof. It was absolutely impossible for any administrator to come in and B-S that faculty, especially Walt.   By the time I met him, Walt had been teaching for 15 years or so, and there wasn't a whole lot any administrator could tell him about teaching German, and the greatest of all Walt Leitner stories was about the time a bright-eyed diligent young administrator came into his class to "observe" him. All teachers reading this understand what an observation is. To all non-teachers, it's that time when your boss comes in and observes as you supposedly teach a typical lesson. But everybody really knows that , having been warned, most teachers do their best in order to impress.   Not Walt. For him, this day was no different from any other. The administrator asked to see his lesson plan, and Walt told him he didn't have one. (Bear in mind, he'd been teaching German for 15 years.)   Aghast, the administrator asked, "Well, then, what is your objective in this class?"   Said Walt, "To get to the bottom of the page."   (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners Boy, Am I Going to Miss Having Soccer to Kick Around! (See"NEWS") Calling All (Any?) Short Punt Formation Coaches! (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 10, 2006 - "When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective." General George C. Marshall   *********** Coach Wyatt, I'd like to enroll the Westminster Wildcats of Westminster, MD, for the Black Lion Award for 2006. We'll award it for our six competitive teams.   Following up on your discussion of Hank Hill and King of the Hill in News from last week, I'm attaching a scan from the book "WD-40 for the Soul." It's copyrighted so it would be difficult, at best, to include on your site. But it's even more interesting in light of all the discussion of the World Cup lately. I copied it and posted it on my bulletin board at work since so few of us there are native Americans.   If there's any way I can contribute to the Black Lion Award program, please let me know.   Thanks, Jim Runser, Westminster Wildcats, Westminster, Maryland (You're all signed up again. The Hank Hill bit is great. I joke about it, but I really do think that soccer is a major part of a larger assault that is taking place on our culture, spearheaded by the "multicultural" crowd, and helped along by overprotective mothers and their overly-compliant husbands.   As for what you can do for the Black Lion Award, it is very nice of you to offer, but until it grows really large, we are able to manage financially. You can help by spreading the word about the award, and in that regard you could help by writing us a note saying how you use it in your program to benefit your kids. I think that more notes like that from people like you would help convince others that it is worth their time and effort. HW)   *********** I think that this World Cup clinched it. The advertising people may keep shoving soccer down our throats (ever notice how many commercials show Mom driving kids to "soccer practice?" And all the little twerps in satin shorts piling into minivans? There's no escaping the f--king sport!), but it is all over for the Beautiful Game here in America, at least as far as the mainstream in concerned. There is simply no room on the American agenda for scoreless games (shotless, even, in some cases), phony injuries, extra time added on, penalty kicks, yellow cards, and players with only one name. And then, to top it all off, a team's best player puts all thoughts of his team aside and cowardly head-butts an opponent, getting himself thrown out in overtime of the final game - and he's honored as the outstanding player of the tournament. What the f--k kind of sport is that? As the Surgeon General said about second-hand smoke - The debate is over. Only a continued tidal wave of immigration can keep a pathetic sport like that going in America.   ***********Coach Wyatt: Here's another bit of evidence of what a f***ed up sport soccer is. Are you kidding me? A guy head butts an opponent for no apparent reason and is awarded with the most prestigious individual award available. Unbelievable!! Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois (What a worm. What a team player. The World title is on the line and Zinedine Zidane gets his sorry ass thrown out. Actually, considering the guy's rap sheet of past offenses, I'm surprised he didn't spit in the Italian's face. That would have been just as honorable. He won the Golden Ball? Just one? He needed two of them. HW)   *********** Any chance soccer had of convincing Americans it was a manly sport went straight down the drain when Zinedine Zidane, the French soccer star whose name sounds like the title of a song little kids would sing - over and over and over - on a long bus ride, got thrown out of the final game of his career for head-butting an opponent. His less-than-manly cheap shot called to mind an old poem, probably brought back from Europe by World War I troops who'd been exposed to the French and their, uh, "unique" ways:   "The French they are a funny race - They fight with their feet, and ---- ---- ----- ----" (I am not going to finish it, for fear of losing my PG rating. Get some old-timer to finish it for you. I will only tell you that the last word is "face.")   *********** This is a great one -one rumor circulating is that what set off Zidane was a "racist remark" - the Italian player he head-butted supposedly had called Zidane, who was born in Algeria, a "dirty terrorist." Haw.   The Italian player denies it.   I believe him. After all, what language could the Italian have used to address a Frenchman? He couldn't have used English, the common bridge language throughout Europe, because no self-respecting Frenchman will stoop to admitting he speaks our gutter language.   Pssst. Hey Zidane. Your mother was a hamster,. And your father smelt of elderberry   *********** Coach Wyatt, I keep hearing about the lack of sportsmanship in this year's World Cup and I absolutely can't understand why people feel this way. I can honestly say in the 45 seconds of all the broadcasts I saw (while flipping channels) I didn't see anything wrong. Actually I wasn't paying attention because I was looking around to make sure my 17 year old football playing son didn't see me with soccer on the TV. Greg Stout, Thompson's Station, Tennessee (Actually I'm amazed that even in the short span of 45 seconds you didn't see some guy fake death in order to draw a penalty kick. But imagine yourself as a football coach and your 17-year-old, football-playing son catches you watching soccer. Better he should catch you downloading porn. HW)   *********** Good morning Coach: Hope this e-mail finds you well. Soccer, is a dishonorable sport. The feigning of injuries, the phantom slip and falls. Arrrgh! It's all part of the game. Those guys don't care what the replay shows, they "do it for the team." How about how some of the big games that have been decided by penalty kicks? Not the OT penalty kicks mind you, but the ones that result from said dives. Being a football coach in a soccer town makes me just ill at the thought of this foul game. No pun intended. lol. God bless Coach. David Livingstone, Troy Michigan (Nailed it. When games are decided by 1-0 scores, and the "1" often results from a penalty kick, it gives the official - one official - way too much power, as they are finding out in Italy in their fixing scandal. HW)   *********** I read some commentator saying we had to mine the inner cities for better athletes for USA Soccer. I laughed out loud - we can't even get black kids to play baseball these days! Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (So true - there wasn't a single black kid represented on USA Today's High School Baseball All-Stars. I, too, laugh at the soccer people thinking they can get American kids who like their sports active and tough - manly, if you will - interested in the Beautiful Game. My guess is that our national soccer team will continue to be made up mostly of immigrants and suburban kids whose overprotective parents kept them sheltered from other sports (football comes to mind) so long that they no longer had any other options. HW)   *********** How can any self-respecting sports editor refer to an event as "The Cialis Western Open?" If the people who run a golf tournament (or a stadium, or a bowl game) can find suckers who will pay them for "naming rights," I suppose that is their business, but I can't understand newspapers and TV going along with them without getting anything in return. I mean, I thought they were in the advertising business too. There is ample precedent for their refusing to go along - As one example, they have carefully kept TV cameras from picking up those giant Marlboro signs on scoreboards, and now they have the ability to digitally erase any signs they choose. And then, of course, there is the Portland Oregonian's politically-correct refusal to use native-American team nicknames, as in the 1995 World Series, when the "Atlanta team" played the "Cleveland team."   *********** Coach, I would like to enroll our School for the Black Lion Award Program. We began our High School Football Program only 4 years ago. After only three years of having a Varsity football team, the John S. Burke Catholic High School Eagle's have won their first Section 9 Class B Championship this past season.   As we begin to prepare to defend our title this upcoming year, I feel that the Black Lion Award would be an ideal addition to our recognition program at the school. Thank you for assisting ups with enrollment in this program.   Ed Van Curen,Jr., Defensive Coordinator, Burke Catholic Football Eagles, Goshen, New York - 2005 New York State ~ Section IX ~ Class B Champions   *********** No one ever knew for sure when famed pitcher Leroy "Satchel" Paige was born, since no one could find any record of his birth, but since it is believed to have been about 100 years ago, and at about this time of the year, the late Hall of Famer's 100th birthday was celebrated last week. In one of the stories I read about him, much of the credit for keeping his fabulous arm strong over the years was given to a trainer named - I am not making this up - Jewbaby Floyd.   Now, as unbelievable as that name sounds in these more sensitive, more enlightened times, that was the name he was known by. I am willing to bet that the decision to print or not to print the name gave many a sports editor a sleepless night or two.   *********** Hugh, Seattle's own Nate Robinson has seen fit to rip Larry Brown to the press:   "Coach Brown is so old-school," Robinson told the New York Post. "He wants everything done just like this, not getting the crowd involved. Isiah wants everyone to have fun.   "At first he (Brown) was trying to take my joy (away). 'Don't do this, don't do that.' At the same time I had people in my corner saying, 'Don't ever change who you are. You got here by being who you are. By being Nate Robinson,'" he said.   The Man was keeping him down? The words speak for themselves, beyond my ability to satirize.   I'd like to say that the organization that drafts guys like this is certainly dumb enough to fire a coach after one season, but these egomaniacs are all over the NBA so I won't single out the Knicks. What a zoo.   Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California (He is typical of what happens when an uneducated kid whose ego has been amply fed from the time he was a baby is asked to give an intelligent answer. It happens all the time in the NBA.   So Coach Brown was all about taking away his joy, was he? Trying to tell him what to do?   Spoiled children like Nate Robinson actually think that the fans are paying to watch a circus, rather than a winning basketball team.   Come to think of it, they might be right. No less a person that Mark Cuban has been quoted as saying that he;d never fill his arena if he had to depend on basketball alone to do it.   *********** Coach - the Greasy Neale thing was Great !! What a Blast from the Past !!  The "Legacy" segment !!  I use to get on a Roll  gettin The legacy Right for 6, 7 weeks then you would throw a curve ball to everyone and ruin my streak  LOL !!   Coach  the Everett E-Club  re-did the Football webpage Fantastic !!!     http://www.eclub.org/football/ (Great site! HW)   You will notice the Legendary  Mario Yo-Yo Giannelli in the Top Left in his Philly Eagles days.   Coach -Listening to  the local News/Talk station this week, and they were Talking about another  John Kerry Run for President, Will The F***Kin  dumb A*** Liberals from our territory up here in the Pompous Northeast Corridor ever realize -  that Yes that John Kerry and Hillary Clinton and that ilk that there Song and Dance ONLY works in the Liberal Northeast Corridor, but when you go out side past PA or below Washington D.C.  they will get there Clocks Cleaned ?  Like a buddy of mine told me a few years ago, He went to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention out in Worcester, During the  Ceremonies they were introducing Youth Groups etc,  Marching Bands, CYO groups, Girl scouts, and then The Boy Scouts. Well about a third of the Crowd at the Convention starts Booing the Boy Scouts  (For their BAN on Gay Scout Leaders )  my buddy says - "These Liberal Elites will NEVER get it. You may be able to Boo the Boy Scouts in Massachusetts , But You can't Boo the Boy Scouts in Kansas, Idaho, Indiana, Missouri, Georgia, etc !! "   I must say he is 110 % Correct ! see ya next week coach - John Muckian   Lynn,MA (Once you get to the Left Coast you can resume booing the Boy Scouts. But you'd still better pick your spots. Actually, I'll bet there are some spots in Western Mass where you might get a knuckle sandwich if you booed the Boy Scouts. Funny about these liberals - they love to put their sh-- in your face, but when somebody gets after them for it, they're shocked. Around Portland the other day, some guy had a huge "TRAITOR" spray-painted on both sides of his car. He told the TV news guy that he suspects it was because of all the anti-war stickers on the car. Why do I think that one of them said "BUSH LIED, MEN DIED?" HW)   *********** I was wondering if you could do me the favor of putting out an APB via  your site for anyone, anywhere that is still running the classic  Short Punt formation? I know of many single wing teams, even some  Notre Dame box teams, but not one Short Punt team.   To my knowledge it is extinct, but if it is living & breathing  somewhere I would sure like to know about it.   Todd Bross, Sharon, Pennsylvania   Coach- I will put out a call. If anybody, knowingly or unknowingly, is running the short punt, please e-mail me (coachwyatt@aol.com).   Meantime, for my readers, here's what we're talking about (some stuff I've gathered from my library) ...                                         John DaGrosa is of special interest to me, because he lived near me when I was a kid. His son, John, was in my Boy Scout troop (yes I suppose we were little homophobes, because we pledged to keep ourselves "morally straight," and without giving much thought about whether we might have any atheists among us, there was also something in the oath about doing "my duty to God and my country") but I didn't know anything about his dad until I happened to mention John to my brother, who said, "J----- C-----! I'll bet he's Ox DaGrosa's kid!"   I never got to meet the man, but I later learned that Ox DaGrosa (with a name like that, I rather doubt that he marched in many Gay Pride parades), had served as line coach at Georgetown (1926-1930) while getting a law degree there, had served in the same capacity at Temple from 1930 to 1933, had assisted the Philadelphia Eagles in 1936, and had been head coach at Holy Cross from 1945 through 1947. At Holy Cross, he went 8-2, 5-4 and 4-4-2. Of special note is the fact that he went 3-0 against then-archrival Boston College. (Holy Cross has since stepped back and dropped to Division I-AA, while BC has stepped it up and moved into the ACC.)   His book, "Functional Football," is a very good, detailed explanation of the football that was being played in the 1930's, and a lot of it is still applicable to today's game. As you might expect, the offensive portion of the book is heavy on single-wing and (direct snap) double-wing, and the defensive portion is mainly concentrated on stopping them.   Ox DaGrosa was well-known in Philly sporting circles, and he served for a time as Pennsylvania State Athletic Commissioner, mainly responsible for the sports of boxing and (pro) wrestling. In the photo, he's shown between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey.   *********** Hugh: I visited Fort Riley, Kansas from 5-8 July and had a great time with all the Black Lions there. Over 500. LTC Pat Franks was my host and I spoke at a stag "Dining In" to all the officers and Senior non commissioned officers. We were all in formal wear and it was a blast. I'll send you a program. The skits were outrageous and mostly busted the battalion commander, the XO, and the Command Sergeant Major's balls. I spoke to the group for about 15 minutes including the letter from the 13 year old who said--"I'm a Black Lion, Dad. I couldn't quit" That really got to them and they are hot to get high schools involved in the program. You will probably have a few contacting you out of the blue. Anyway I wanted you to know about it and I wished you were there.We'll do it one of these days. Black Lions. Jim Shelton, Englewood, Florida. P.S. Best to Connie.   *********** Is it just me, or do receivers who bitch about being interfered with remind you of soccer players?   *********** I thought I told you not to watch that sh--!   MOGADISHU, Somalia - Radical Islamic militia fighters in Somalia shot and killed two people who were watching a banned World Cup soccer broadcast, a radio station reported Wednesday.   The hard-line Muslim fighters, who have banned watching television, opened fire after a crowd of teenagers defied their orders to leave a hall where a businessman was showing Tuesday's Germany-Italy match on satellite television, according to Shabelle Radio, an independent local station. It said the businessman and a teenage girl were killed.   Hard-line Muslim fighters, who wrested control of the Somali capital from warlords in June, have forbidden people from watching television or movies in line with their strict interpretation of Islam.   *********** I'm actually writing about the parent that mentioned the closed practices to you. I'm in complete agreement. Before I even got to the end of his questions and your comments I was asking myself, "What is this coach hiding? What is he afraid of?" Either he's doing something unprofessional or he's overly paranoid, and neither one is really acceptable, especially in a FRESHMAN coach.   Personally, I WANT the parents at practice. The practice FIELD is off limits, but I want them to see how hard their sons are working. I want them to understand that their kids are going through a rite of passage to becoming a young man. The parent that only sees his son after practice and on game day really doesn't have any concept of the things that boy went through to become a player. I notice that this also tends to keep down the complaints about "My son never gets a chance!" The parents can see for themselves that we work with EVERYONE, and that sometimes their little darlin' just isn't ready for it yet.   Anyway, must pretend to work some more. Hope to see you and Connie sometime soon, maybe on my trip north in November.   Very Respectfully; Derek Wade, Petaluma, California (You are right on about the closed practices. Forget the parents. That goes without saying. But it goes for members of the community as well. Their taxes are making it possible for us to have football. And it goes for fellow coaches, too. If you walk up and you introduce yourself and tell me you've been a high school coach somewhere and you just moved to town or you're just passing through - and we can be sure that you are not a spy - you are always welcome at my practices. HW)   *********** Yikes. Even at Harvard.   Matt Thomas, Harvard's 2006 football captain and one of the Ivy League's top linebackers, captain of the 2006 Crimson, was arrested in early June by Harvard University police and charged with assault and battery domestic abuse, breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony, and malicious destruction of property in connection with an incident in a former girl friend's dorm room.   According to the University Police Department report, an individual who was unidentified in their report had returned to her room that night to find Thomas asleep on her floor. After waking, Thomas reportedly "became confrontational, yelling and striking the individual."   Friends of Thomas reported that he had been drinking heavily and after entering the girl's room had fallen asleep on the floor.   Thomas was suspended indefinitely by Coach Tim Murphy, who left open the possibility that Thomas could be dismissed from the team.   "All I can say is that I'm deeply troubled by the allegations," Murphy said. "I don't know that much, but based on the allegations I have suspended Matt from the team indefinitely until we can ascertain the facts and when we do know the facts, then further discipline will be forthcoming."   Two other Harvard players had already been suspended for this fall's opener against Holy Cross for their role in an altercation following the team's annual spring barbecue in April. Alcohol is said to have played a prominent role.   Two additional Harvard players were suspended for the 2005 season, one after his arrest for public intoxication, the other for an unspecified offense.   "The only thing I'll say," said Murphy (after having already said, "All I have to say..."), "is that I am definitely concerned about drinking and binge drinking. "I think historically our kids have had a remarkable record of citizenship on campus, but there have been just a couple things this spring. Both involved heavy drinking and obviously I'm very concerned."   My apologies to Florida State.   *********** Marcelo Balboa was one of ESPN's World Cup broadcast commentators. Maybe he knew his soccer - I wouldn't know - but he wasn't exactly what you'd call eloquent, employing such unique grammatical constructions as "he coulda did." And he was such a motormouth that I concluded that they had to be paying him by the word.   But the real shock came when I finally saw the guy.   I guess they'd been keeping him under wraps, for fear the anti-soccer types (like me) would see him and really go bonkers, because he was bearded and his hair (I guess he wore a ponytail when he played) was so long it had to go halfway down his frigging back. If you know your Russian history, think Rasputin. If you don't know your Russian history, picture a guy guarding his pot farm deep in the heart of a national forest.   (How'd you like to have your little kids pestering you because they want to look like Marcelo Balboa?)   Not a chance that a guy who looks like that would be calling any other sport. Just another nail in soccer's coffin. Just another reason why soccer as it is presently constituted will never make it in the US.   *********** Coach, Well, it's that time again……we need more tapes from you! We had a great season for 2005, our 9 year olds really picked up your system well. We finished with a 6-1-1 . Went to the semi-finals and lost on one play final score was 0-6. But now we're a year older and stronger. I am getting prepared for our non-contact practice week and need to order some additional videos this year. I will need "Installing the Double Wing" & "A Fine Line". Thanks so much, Jen Green, Public Relations Director, Green Mountain Junior Football Association, Lakewood, Colorado   *********** Josiah Bunting III is the former Superintendent of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), and on the eve of July 4, he wrote in The Wall Street Journal about the kind of men who founded this country, and said that they have only been rivalled by the kind of men who led us through World War II. Among the latter, he mentioned FDR, Douglas MacArthur, George Marshall, Ernest King, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry Truman, Omar Bradley, William Halsey and Chester Nimitz.   He pointed out that all but FDR and MacArthur came from "the Heartland," and came up in "modest, even hardscrabble upbringings." He maintained that our present culture, which seeks to make everything easy and painless and risk-free, and plays down self-reliance and "useful service to the nation", is not one likely to cultivate the qualities we need in our leaders.   To illustrate those qualities, he wrote about a great American and a distinguished VMI graduate, General George C. Marshall...   "Consider the character of George Marshall, leader of the American Army from 1939 to 1945, whose name, President Truman insisted, be given the Plan for European Recovery (The Marshall Plan) in 1947. A small episode, early in Marshall's final retirement, is illustrative. He was offered very large sums of money to write his memoirs. He declined instantly. It would not do to call attention to himself. His country, he said, had already compensated him for his service - and besides, what he would be obliged to write, writing truthfully and accurately, might cause pain to people who had done their best, and who deserved well of their country."   Needless to say, General Marshall didn't go out on the speaking circuit, either. Nowadays, we can only shake our heads in wonderment at the thought of a leader refusing to cash in when his years of service to his country are at an end. Contrast George C. Marshall with William Jefferson Clinton, who has already received an advance of $12 million for his memoirs.   *********** Not saying that we Americans are on the right track with the big-ass vehicles we drive, but a friend, Mathias Bonner, just returned to Germany from a visit to the states (including a few days staying with us in the Pacific Northwest) and the first thing he did when he got back was buy a black Dodge Ram 1500 pickup.   *********** I believe I've mentioned before that very few of those Europeans who like American football have any idea that there is such a thing as college football, much less high school football, so pervasive over there is the NFL mutation of the game.   The NFL on TV influences the style of play to the extent that Germans are even more prejudiced against a running attack than Americans are, if that's possible. The idea of a team having several players go both ways, not unusual in US high school football, is marvelled at as "Iron Man Football." And maybe best of all, even in fourth division games whose crowds are far smaller, I'd venture, than your JV games, the referees are miked-up, and take great delight in facing the "crowd," switching on the mic, and announcing penalties   *********** What do you think it would be worth to be mistaken for Michael Jordan? To be the subject of adulation wherever you go? To walk into crowded restaurants and get seated right away? To go to an athletic event and be ushered into the owner's box? To go to a Las Vegas casino and be given an open line of credit? To command sums of upwards of $50,000 just to make an appearance someplace? To walk onto any golf course in American and never have to wait for a tee-time? To have beautiful women throwing themselves at you, willing to...   You get the idea.   To some guy in Portland, it's worth $832 million.   He's 6 feet tall (Michael himself is 6-6) and he's 51 years old (Michael is 43). But he is black, and he does shave his head and wear an earring, so when you take the fact that no one should ever, ever overestimate the intelligence of the American public and combine it with the distressing truth that there are still some dimwits out there who say "they all look alike," it is possible that he is sometimes mistaken for His Airness. (The guy does claim to play a little basketball, but I doubt that anyone on a basketball court notices much resemblance.)   Anyhow, to him, it's worth $832 million.   But get this - that's not what he's willing to pay for the privilege. That's what he's suing for!   Remember, this is America, where no lawsuit is considered too stupid to occupy our courts (see overlawyered.com), so this guy is suing Nike and Michael Jordan for $416 million apiece. He claims that because of the resemblance he's been the object of harassment, discomfort, unpleasant feelings and "permanent injury"- and it's their fault. From his point of view, the whole venture is risk-free. It cost him just a little over $200 to file the suit, and he is acting as his own attorney.   He told John Canzano of the Portland Oregonian that this has been going on for 15 years. "I'm too old and tired for this," he said. "I'm asked two or three times a day about it. It's getting to be very bothersome."   Why, he told Canzano, he was at a downtown blues festival recently, and he heard some people whispering, "That guy looks like Michael Jordan."   Wow. Talk about harassment.   Now, I think that an American jury is capable of anything, and so do most attorneys, which is why so many such suits are settled early. But I really do have serious doubts about this one, based on Canzano's interviews with a couple of the guy's neighbors.   He asked them, "Do you think your neighbor really looks like Michael Jordan?"   One of them said she thinks the guy looks more like Lou Gossett, Jr.   Another, who said he'd lived in his house across the street from the guy "for years," asked Canzano, "Which neighbor?"   *********** I was watching a CFL game between Saskatchewan and Calgary Saturday, and sat up straight when I heard that they were going to announce the "Warrior of the Game."   Say, Warrior? In professional football?   As if that wasn't comical enough, the guy they gave it to won it because, playing for the visiting Calgary Roughriders, "he faced the adversity of a hostile crowd."   Wow. What a warrior. For that kind of courage, are you sure "Warrior of the Game" is enough? I think the Congressional Medal of Honor would be more appropriate.   *********** Hugh, Although I read your site at every update, it is good to start hearing coaches write in about the pre-season preparations. Talk of conditioning camps, watching tape, dusting off the play books....good stuff.   I have to agree on your answer to the coach that asked about the horse collar to protect the neck. Two years ago we were forced to buy one for a kid in Ketchikan. He wore it for 3 days and took it off. I must sheepishly admit I wore one in high school for a while. It certainly did not add any neck protection, but it looked real cool.   We got lights, transformers, poles, and about $10,000.00 donated to light our stadium. Still a lot of work to get everything mounted on the poles and then sticking the 70 foot poles into the ground. Some day I will get to coach for a school that just needs a coach not a fund raiser, travel agent, equipment manager, light pole builder. Until then I still love it, money or no money. We are going out later today to chalk our field for camp. We actually paint the lines on our own field, but the camp doesn't want the lines panted on their field.   I gave our head coach Safer and Surer Tackling last night. I advised him not to expect "full speed" contact for at least three weeks and then no hamburger drills or any other such silliness. I am a 100% loyal assistant, but I would not let any coach chew up my kids. Last year they lost over half the team to injuries, most of them in practice. I told him we would have a week of no pads (as required), a week of half pads, then we could get into pads. I have to thank your video, as until he watched it he could not figure out how we could teach a kid to block and tackle without pads. I have to say the other two coaches are very agreeable to most of what I try to pass on. They let me start a flexibility program, a hydration program, and a speed program. They even let me tell all the parents that they are welcome at practice if they do not interfere, a major step in some places these days.   Well gotta run, big day tomorrow, need to go find my lucky whistle. Hi to Connie.   Richard Cropp, Brunswick, Georgia   *********** Best wishes to Pat Fitzgerald, new Northwestern head coach and, at 31, youngest major college head coach by five years. May he prove to be the man that his mentor, Randy Walker was. A former linebacker at Northwestern, he won the Nagurski Award, twice won the Bednarik Award as the nation's top defensive player and was Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year in 1995 and 1996. He helped the Wildcats win at least a share of the Big Ten title in both years, and played on the Northwestern team that made its first appearance in the Rose Bowl in 47 years. He spent time as an assistant at Colorado, Idaho and Maryland before joined the Northwestern staff in 2001 as the defensive secondary coach. In 2002 he was named linebackers coach, and since that time has added the title of recruiting coordinator.   *********** The announcement read, "The October 12 game between Clemson and Temple, originally scheduled to be played in Philadelphia, will now take place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte." Ouch. Sounds like Temple football is still a hard sell in Philly.   (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners Meet Greasy Neale! (See"NEWS") New York's Mayor Would Have Loved Slavery! (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 7, 2006 - "I try to get six or seven hours of sleep a night, and I try not to miss any meals. All the time that's left goes to football." Woody Hayes   FROM THE PAST - Back in January, 2002, as part of a regular feature I ran called "A Look at Out Legacy," I ran this guy's photo, with a few clues to his identity.   Greasy Neale, born Earle Neale in Parkersburg, West Virginia (but never called anything but "Greasy" throughout his football career) should be better known to today's fans. Consider:   He coached a Rose Bowl team, coached two NFL champions, and played in a World Series. And he's in both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.   In the days before the birth of the NFL, he played pro football for the Canton Bulldogs and the Dayton Triangles, using an assumed name while also coaching a college team.   He played eight years of major league baseball, with the Cincinnati Reds, and in one of the most famous of all World Series, the notorious "Black Sox Series" of 1919, he played in all eight games and batted .357.   He coached at Muskingum College and at West Virginia Wesleyan, and he coached little Washington and Jefferson, heavy underdogs, to the only 0-0 tie in Rose Bowl history, against mighty California. Eleven men played the entire game for W & J, which held Cal to just two first downs, and had a touchdown called back.   He was the first full-time coach the University of Virginia ever had, and after that, the first full-time coach at West Virginia.   At Yale, he coached back-to-back Heisman trophy winners in Larry Kelley and Clint Frank. The only other men to coach back-to-back Heisman winners were another "Earl," Army's Earl "Red" Blaik (Blanchard and Davis) and Ohio State's Woody Hayes (Archie Griffin won it twice).   Greasy Neale coached two NFL champions, the Philadelphia Eagles of 1948 and 1949, with Hall of Famers Chuck Bednarik, Pete Pihos, Steve Van Buren and Alex Wojciechowicz (I can't tell you how it is properly pronounced in Polish, but to the Philadelphia radio announcers of my childhood, it was "waw-juh-HOH-wix").   His Eagles' teams, led by quarterback Tommy Thompson, were explosive offensively, employing a T-formation offense which he'd begun developing back in 1941, when a wealthy Yale alumnus bought the Eagles and persuaded him to become their head coach. I'll let him tell how he did it, as he told Bob Curran, in "Pro Football's Rag Days"...   "When I started getting ready for the season, I began thinking about installing the T-formation. I was naturally impressed with that 73 to 0 beating the Bears had pinned on the Redskins the year before (in the NFL title game) and I wanted to know more about how they did it.   "One day I got hold of a newsreel fellow (in the days before television, "newsreels" were the news and sports highlights that movie theatres used to show between features), and had him run off the reel of the game. When he finished, I said, 'How is it that your cameras were shooting only when they were making the spectacular plays?'   "He laughed, and said, 'We shot the whole game, then we edited the footage so we could show all the big plays in a short time in the movie houses. We have the whole game on film.'   "'What will it cost me?' I asked.   "'I'll sell you a print for $156.' he said.   "I gave him the money and I took the film. Five hours every day during the next five months I studied that movie. And I found a way to improve on on the Bears' offense. They used quick-openers (today, they are called dives) that relied on brush blocking. This made them strong to the inside, But they weren't too powerful to the outside. So I decided I would work out an offense that would use some single-wing type blocking. I also figured that I would use my fullback more for blocking than for carrying the ball. Later, the Bears used this idea, too.   "There was another reason besides the Bears' big win that steered me towards the T-formation. Tommy Thompson, our quarterback, was a fine passer, but he could hardly run at all. In a single-wing formation, we would have had trouble designing an offense for him. And I wanted him running the team, because besides being a good passer, he was a team leader. Before he was through, he won three Eastern championships and two league championships for me."   Greasy Neale is given credit for the invention of the Eagle defense, which employed its inside linebackers to hold up opposing receivers, and depended on a powerful "middle guard" (now called a nose man) to stuff the inside running game. In the Eagles' case, it was a tough dude named Frank "Bucko" Kilroy. By backing the "middle guard" off the line, first in passing situations and then full-time, subsequent NFL defensive coaches helped Greasy Neale's Eagle defense morph into the "4-3" that is still played today. The "middle guard" soon enough became known as the middle linebacker, a position made famous by many great players, including Chuck Bednarik, Sam Huff, Bill George, Joe Schmidt, Ray Nitschke, Dick Butkus, Willie Lanier, Jack Lambert, Nick Buonoconti, Mike Singletary.... undoubtedly I've missed some good ones, but you get the idea of Greasy Neale's impact on the game.   The Eagles were in the NFL championship game in 1947-48-49, winning the title in 1948 and 1949.   In 1950, they started out 5-1, losing only to the Cleveland Browns, who would go on to win the championship in their first year in the league. And then the wheels came off. The Birds lost five of their last six games - by a total of 18 points - to finish 6-6.   In the seven years since the Eagles were re-formed in 1944 (During World War II, with able-bodied players hard to come by, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers merged, with Neale and Walt Kiesling serving as co-head coaches), Greasy Neale's overall record was 54-22-3. His winning percentage of .683 would easily have ranked him among the elite of today's coaches.   Yet after the season, while in Florida for the NFL draft, the greatest coach in Eagles' history received a telegram from management that read simply "YOUR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED."   And that was it. He never coached again.   Greasy Neale was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969.   In "Pro Football's Rag Days," he told Bob Curran about his job interview at the University of Virginia:   "Before I was hired, Dr. Henry Edward A. Alderman - he's the man who made a well-known political speech for Woodrow Wilson - asked me a question.   "'How could you get a team from a school like Washington and Jefferson, a school with an enrollment of 250, some of them co-ed, and go to the Rose Bowl, and almost beat California?'   "'That's easy.' I said. 'We went out and got 'em. We brought the players in. Didn't make any difference how many players were in the rest of the school!'"   *********** You may have been reading about the incredibly high ratings the World Cup telecasts have been getting. Don't believe everything you hear.   Yes, viewership is up, but it's not what you think.   On ESPN and ESPN2, it's been nothing special. According to The Wall Street Journal, "ESPN isn't drawing many more eyes for the World Cup than it does for a regular-season baseball game."   ESPN has been pulling in about 1.4 million viewers. For real soccer numbers, compare that with Germany, where their team's first four games averaged 21.9 million viewers.   Yes, overall viewership in the US is up - but mainly because of Univision, the Spanish-language channel. With 2.2 million viewers a game, it has been outdrawing ESPN. Of course, with 10 million or more illegals in the United States, you have to wonder how many of Univision's 2.2 million viewers really should be sitting in front of their TVs someplace in Mexico.   Put another way, soccer interest is not growing among Americans. It is being imported. Maybe a better term would be "smuggled in."   *********** Coach Wyatt, I just came across your website and am very interested in purchasing your video on SAFER & SURER TACKLING....I am just waiting for another payday. What is your opinion on the McDavid Cowboy collar? My son just started practice for the freshmen team for his high school. Their record was 9-0 but of course their practices are closed to parents. He is playing defensive end but still is unsure on tackling. He is not afraid...he is a big strong kid. 5'11" 215 but wants to know how not to hurt his neck. Thanks for any input . You should be getting a check from me in a couple of weeks for your video.   If you don't mind, I'd rather not get into the pluses or minuses of collars. Personally, I've had very few players wear them. Based on the players who have wanted them, my personal suspicion has been that they wanted to make a fashion statement, to show the world that they were "big hitters" (they were not).   For sure, you want to make sure that your son's coaches are teaching tackling correctly. That would mean that they always stress keeping the head and eyes up at all times, and that they don't proceed to high-speed, hard-hitting drills until the players are quite confident in what they are doing.   And they should be regularly doing exercizes to strengthen the players' necks.   PS. I'm definitely not in favor of closing practices to parents. I don't see how that can be defended. If my son is on your team, I am going to watch practice. I will sit quietly in the stands, but I will watch. If a coach has got something he doesn't want a dad seeing, I'm not sure I'd want my son playing for him.   *********** Kerry Eggers wrote in last Thursday's Portland Tribune...     ... former Pro Bowl quarterback Neil Lomax will not be back as offensive coordinator at Tigard High. After meeting with head coach Mitch Sanders, Lomax determined it would be better to move on.   "There are no bad feelings about it, either," Lomax says. "Mitch is a great guy and the program is going to take off. I told him I'd like to put in a better effort next season, call all the plays, start running more of a spread offense and have some fun with it. I want to call the whole thing for the offense, but he does, too. He says that's the fun part of it for him, and he's the head guy. Two chefs in the kitchen wouldn't work, but we left on very cordial terms."   Boy, would I have liked to be a fly on the wall when that meeting took place. I do not know the situation, but I can tell you that Mitch Sanders is a Double-Wing coach, and a very successful one at that. I saw his teams at Hood River, Oregon go up against much bigger, much more talented clubs and just crush them. On the strength of the job he did at Hood River, he was Tigard's choice to succeed a very successful coach named Frank Geske, who ran afoul of the state association for alleged off-season practice infractions, and when he was hired at Tigard at just about this time last summer, the dominoes started to fall. Hood River turned immediately to my head coach, Tracy Jackson, and Tracy, being nobody's fool, jumped at the chance to coach in a beautiful community that supports its schools and their sports. And that left the kids at Madison without a coach, and so...   Anyhow, I am sure that Mitch Sanders ran into a little bit of opposition on his arrival at Tigard, not only because there was a dedicated and vocal contingent of kids and parents who strongly supported Frank Geske and would have been unhappy with any new coach, no matter who it was, but also because he ran - gasp! - the Double-Wing. Ohmigod.   Enter Neil Lomax. You will be excused if you are saying "WTF use does a Double-Wing team have for a former Pro Bowl quarterback?" I can't answer that. I have no idea how he wound up on the staff, but I am cynical enough to allow for the possibility that he might have been forced on Coach Sanders. But however he wound up at Tigard, you can be sure he wasn't brought on board to coach defense, and I rather doubt that his idea of "having some fun" on offense meant running off-tackle, much less running off-tackle five or six plays in a row.   The Tigers had a pretty good year, finishing 11-3 and making it to the state quarterfinals before narrowly losing, 17-14. I have no idea what they were doing offensively, but from the sound of things, Mitch Sanders has decided to be his own offensive coordinator. And since he told Neil Lomax that he wants to "call the while thing," it sure sounds to me as if Tigard's opponents this fall had better brace themselves.   *********** Hey Coach! I was out in Texas in May. My cousin (Brett Moseley) got married. He is a football coach, and we were, naturally, talking football. I was trying to sell him on the DW... again... and he asked if I knew of "a coach out west... Wyatt."   It seems in his previous job, in Durham, he coached/taught one of your grandkids (I didn't know your grandkids were that old). Your daughter apparently told him about your site, and he said he always meant to look at it, but never got the chance.   We had a great conversation about the DW, and since I had some videos, we sat down and watched. He is an assistant (varsity o-line, frosh head coach), but said he'd at least talk about it with his OC (they are very "multiple").   Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool, but then forgot when I got back and saw all the work staring me in the face. Jody Hagins, Summerville, South Carolina P.S. Is it un-American for me to be glad that the USA lost in soccer? I mean, I don't think I could stand it if that game were even more in the news or on people's minds. What babies... rolling around on the ground after someone breathes on them. It's a joke.   *********** Coach-Please hold my name if you use this.   Coach Wyatt, My name is (------- -------) from (-------, --) and I have written you on a couple of occasions. I was catching up on my reading of your page and saw all of the soccer related info and felt I needed to share my experience.   To make a long story short, after hearing how my 6 year old son should play soccer instead of football (from my ex-wife) I found a camp brochure ($60 for 1 week of instruction from kids who barely pass my PE class at the high school) and sent him out. The 1st day when I came to pick him up, I saw him playing goalie. He got a little bored and started doing chinups on the crossbar (the goal was like a hockey goal). They tried to start the game at 11:00am (camp goes to 11:30), but spent almost 20 minutes trying to divide the 12 kids into 2 teams because they only had 3 pinnies. The next 2 days were forced inside because of rain. The 2 hour camp consisted of over 40 minutes of water breaks, popsicle breaks, and bathroom breaks. The camp director gave him a hard time for jumping into another group that was actually doing something other than sit around. When we got home on Wednesday he went out to the garage and said "Dad let's play football" and fired a pass to me. When I brought him to Monday morning's football workout at my HS he actually took part in the form running and stretching. Later, he jumped into the agility lines to even out the numbers. To top it off, he shotgun snapped for one of our QB's in a drill. When he overheard me working with one of the young QB's he proceeded to remind this kid about 10 times in a row "that throw was good, but your feet weren't quite right".   "Thank you bad soccer camp for making my son like football more than I could have ever hoped".   ************* Just in case you buy the hogwash about how astute the NFL guys are at evaluating talent...   Writes Sam Walker in The Wall Street Journal, "Roughly 27% of the players in the NFL at the end of last season were originally signed as undrafted free agents."   Wow. What an incredible indictment of NFL personnel departments and their policies and practices.   If you're not a mathematician, that means one player in four now in the NFL wasn't considered by the player personnel department of a single NFL team as belonging among the 255 players drafted.   Even worse, consider all the money wasted on scouting and evaluation that went into draft choices that were utterly wasted while productive players were ignored.   *********** First year cadets at the Air Force Academy are allowed to leave the Academy without penalty up through the end of first-year Christmas break. Those who came back were assigned to write a paper on why they chose to return. Here is one young cadet's masterpiece, which has begun to be widely publicized...   Why return to the Air Force Academy after Winter Break?   So after our sunburns have faded and the memories of our winter break have been reduced to pictures we've pinned on our desk boards, and once again we've exchanged t-shirts and swim suits for flight suits and camouflage, there still remains the question that every cadet at U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs has asked themselves at some point: Why did we come back? Why, after spending two weeks with our family would we return to one of the most demanding lifestyles in the country? After listening to our 'friends' who are home from State or Ivy League schools chock full of wisdom about how our war in Iraq is unjust and unworldly, why would we return? And after watching the news and reading the papers which only seem to condemn the military's every mistake and shadow every victory, why would we continue to think it is worth the sacrifice of a normal college life?   Is it because the institution to which we belong is tuition- free? Anyone who claims this has forgotten that we will, by the time we graduate, repay the US. taxpayer many times over in blood, sweat, and tears. Is it because the schooling we are receiving is one of the best undergraduate educations in the country? While the quality of the education is second to none, anyone who provides this as a main reason has lost sight of the awesome responsibility that awaits those who are tough enough to graduate and become commissioned officers in the U.S. Air Force. I come back to the Academy because I want to have the training necessary so that one day I'll have the incredible responsibility of leading the sons and daughters of America in combat. These men and women will never ask about my Academy grade point average, their only concern will be that I have the ability to lead them expertly; I will be humbled to earn their respect. I come back to the Academy because I want to be the commander who saves lives by negotiating with Arab leaders... in their own language.   I come back to the Academy because, if called upon, I want to be the pilot who flies half way around the world with three mid-air refuelings to send a bomb from 30,000 feet into a basement housing the enemy... through a ventilation shaft two feet wide. For becoming an officer in today's modern Air Force is so much more than just command; it is being a diplomat, a strategist, a communicator, a moral compass, but always a warrior first. I come back to the Air Force Academy because, right now, the United States is fighting a global war that is an 'away game' in Iraq - taking the fight to the terrorists. And whether or not we think the terrorists were in Iraq before our invasion, they are unquestionably there now. And if there is any doubt as to whether this is a global war, just ask the people in Amman, in London, in Madrid, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, and in Bali. This war must remain an away game because we have seen what happens when it becomes a home game... I come back to the Academy because I want to be a part of that fight.   I come back to the Academy because I don't want my vacationing family to board a bus in Paris that gets blown away by someone who thinks that it would be a good idea to convert the Western world to Islam. I come back to the Academy because I don't want the woman I love to be the one who dials her last frantic cell phone call while huddled in the back of an airliner with a hundred other people seconds away from slamming into the Capitol building.   I come back to the Academy because during my freshman year of high school I sat in a geometry class and watched nineteen terrorists change the course of history live on television. For the first time, every class currently at a U.S Service Academy made the decision to join after the 2001 terror attacks. Some have said that the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan only created more terrorists... I say that the attacks of September 11th, 2001 created an untold more number of American soldiers; I go to school with 4,000 of them. And that's worth more than missing more than a few frat parties. Joseph R. Tomczak Cadet, Fourth Class United States Air Force Academy "   (U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) had Cadet Tomczak's essay read into the Congressional Record, and at a meeting of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors he presented Cadet. Tomczak with a framed copy of the essay.)   *********** Hugh - I read the News Page today, very good - as always, but I wanted to share with you a story about Randy Walker.   I found out about his death after having my first day of our conditioning camp. I was driving to my therapy session and tuned on the Sports Talk Radio. It was the day of the first game, of three, between the White Sox and Cubs at Wrigley Field, and I was just wanting to catch an update about the game. Instead, they were talking about Randy Walker's untimely death. I was stunned to say the least - I hardly knew the man in any sense of the imagination - yet I really felt bad. I wished I had known earlier before camp, or even during camp, so my kids could have dedicated their prayer for Randy Walker, his family, and his team.   I was fortunate enough to have met Randy Walker during the "Coaching Clinic Circuit" around February/March. He was a speaker at the Chicago Catholic High School Association Clinic, and not considered the headliner. On paper, it would have been Charlie Weiss(ND), or Ron Zook(Illinois), or Joe Novak(NIU) that might be considered the big draw coaches. Without a doubt, you ask anyone there, Randy Walker was the best talker/Coach/Teacher there - without exception! The man was incredible! He talked about his past, his work ethic, his family, his belief in God, his belief in this Country, all the taboo topics. The best thing, he really did not talk about football per se, he talked more about life lessons. He talked about how his kids at Northwestern were there for school first, football second, and how he wanted them to become successful in life. I had four or five pages of notes.   After his talk he walked by me and my coaches and stopped to ask us what we thought. I was surprised at how little a guy he was, but I was so impressed that he would stop and talk to a bunch of grade school coaches, when he had all of the high schools coaches around who would be his eventual pipeline. It was only a brief conversation - but it made a lasting impact on all of my coaches. We had the whole staff there, all 7 of us, and we all were better for having gone.   Northwestern had a coaching clinic on their campus that I regrettably could not attend this past spring. One of my coaches, Ed Keating (the fireman you did not get to meet at our Clinic) does double duty - he coaches at Queen of Martyrs and at De La Salle High School - and he went to the clinic. Ed was by himself, the only coach from his school, in a clinic with full staffs from other schools, and was the last in line for the chow line. He said that Randy Walker sat down with him and talked with him at his table during the lunch. They talked football, life, and finally - the part that blew him away - was when he asked how the coaches at his grade school were doing. Neither Ed, nor I , could believe that this big time college coach would remember some youth coaches from two months earlier, but that is just the type of guy he was.   So when I heard the news, I was sad, really sad. I was sad that none of "my kids" at Martyrs will ever have had the chance to meet and have hopefully played for such an excellent man and coach. After reading the comments from his players, and coaches, you just knew that this truly was a great man. It really was a very tragic passing. I went back and took my notes out from the clinic and re-read them, then I put them in plastic covers - I hope to hold onto them until Gavin gets older and he can read and understand them.   Best, Bill Murphy, Chicago   *********** Hugh, I have been disgusted with the sportsmanship, officiating and play of this soccer tourney they've got going on over in the Fatherland. Every time I flip the channel and think "maybe I'll give soccer a try for a sec," I see some total bulls*** that makes me change the channel to HGTV to see some real men again. Those Italians are so full of crap.   When visiting Seattle, I watched a lot of English Premier League soccer on my friend's TiVo. I am struck by the contrast between EPL and the World Cup - not only was the EPL more exciting, it was marked by a professional attitude among the players, with a lot less flopping, cheating, and arguing with officials.   I can think of several theories:   1. These teams are all-star teams carved up by national boundaries, so we are seeing "dream teams" that are not really teams in the best sense of the word. They can't train together for too long and lack the chemistry of league squads ("sides")   2. The opportunity to play in the World Cup is so rare for any given player that they feel they are justified in whatever cheating they undertake   3. Don't tell the liberals, but a lot of these countries hate each other and concentrating the nationalism onto a soccer field brings out the worst in the athletes   4. The World Cup stage, only once every four years, is detached from the professionalism of a first-world league like EPL since the teams don't have to line up against one another later in the season.   5. The officials have not seen enough of these particular teams to prepare for them and properly officiate the game (lame)   In other words, the World Cup is a giant second-world sandbox for guerilla soccer.   Christopher Anderson, Palo Alto, California   *********** Coach, This will be my 4th year running your double wing system. We will be working with 3rd graders this year &endash; kids who have never strapped on a Helmet.   The first year we ran this offense we had 5th graders and my offensive line coach felt that in a lot of situations the pulling tackle was "wasted" or ineffective on superpower because they had a hard time getting around to make blocks.   Because we are working with even younger kids this year my O-line coach (who is a very good coach and loyal) is strongly suggesting pulling only the guards.   What do you think?   If you think we should still pull two linemen what would be the best way to position it with my assistant?   Thanks in advance for your help.   You can do it pulling only the guard and still make it work.   It is a better play when you pull the tackle because we instruct our runners to try to get a hand on the tackle, follow him through the hole, and if possible, cut back off the tackle's tail.   Whatever way you decide to do it, it is your call. As for the assistant, unless you have given him total control of your offense, I wouldn't give him a second thought. You are, after all, the head coach and he is an assistant, and an assistant's job can best be described in one great acronym passed along to me just yesterday by a coach in Canada:   FIFO (Fit In or F--k Off).   *********** Listen to what New York's Mayor Bloomberg told a Congressional hearing on illegal immigration:   "Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders... our city's economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported."   Got that? New York's economy is more important than anything, including the Law of our Land.   I'm guessing that New York's economy might benefit from legalizing narcotics, too. And people would flock there from all over the world to buy automatic weapons. Great for the economy.   Maybe New York's tourism board could lure people to the Big Apple with a new advertising campaign: "Come to New York and Break the Law of Your Choice."   So New York's economy depends on a lower-lower class that will do menial jobs and work cheap, does it? Someone should point out to His Honor - someone who knows more about American history than he does - that Southern leaders once used the same argument to justify slavery. (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners Hey Whiners - Be Glad You Weren't Here During the Revolution! (See"NEWS") My Joint Solution to Flag Burning and Immigration! (See"NEWS") "Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it." (Proverbs, Chapter 8, Verses 10-11) My Offensive System My Materials for Sale My Clinics Me     July 4, 2006 - "I've lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?" Benjamin Franklin   *********** Let the Muslims moan about being "profiled." Let the weenies wail about the "torture" of our prisoners at Guantanamo.   They should be grateful they weren't around at the founding of our nation.   The so-called Tories, Americans who did not agree with the movement for independence, have often been portrayed as traitors of the worst sort, but in reality, most of them were ordinary people who simply didn't think their lives were all that bad - not worth fighting a war over. And they certainly didn't have a lot of faith in what might result should the revolutionaries be successful and try their hands at running things.   Said one clergyman, "They call me a brainless Tory, but tell me - which is better: to be ruled by one tyrant 3,000 miles away or by 3,000 tyrants one mile away?"   Nevertheless, as the movement for independence gained momentum, it soon became a matter of "which side are you on?"   And life was not easy for those who made the wrong choice.   Wrote Cynthia Crossen in the Wall Street Journal, "In 1774, the first Continental Congress authorized local governments to form 'committees of inspection,' which would test their citizens' allegiance to independence. People who refused to take the Patriot's oath often lost their homes and were prohibited from working.   "The General Court of Massachusetts advised Harvard College's overseers to question their faculty and 'dismiss any instructors who appeared to be unfriendly to American liberty.'"   Many Tories, who called themselves Loyalists, were tarred and feathered. I'm sure the hot tar felt every bit as bad going on as it did being peeled off. Added Crossen, "one Delaware Loyalist, convicted of aiding and abetting the enemy, was sentenced to be hanged, 'but not 'till you be dead, for you must be cut down alive...and then your head must be severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters...'"   What was that you were saying about humiliating and embarrassing prisoners in Iraq by making them wear women's panties?   So on July 4, the question arises - how did a people who pursued independence through such fervent devotion to their cause get to the point where we can't aggressively interrogate known enemies, we tolerate people who burn our flag and refuse to stand for the pledge allegiance, and we allow college instructors, under the protective cover of tenure, to routinely give aid and comfort to the enemy?   And when did we ever allow newspapers to decide it was their patriotic duty to let our enemies know about our government's secret strategy to detect them?   *********** Coach Wyatt, My dad always enjoyed "King of the Hill." I always thought my dad was "Hank Hill." When I watch the show, I see my dad.   HANK: "Bobby, I never thought I'd need to tell you this, but I would be a bad parent if I didn't. Soccer was invented by European ladies to keep them busy while their husbands did the cooking."   That has to be one of the greatest lines in the history of television.   Dave Potter, Durham, North Carolina   *********** Those hard-core soccer people who understand that some of us dislike their sport still insist that at its highest level of play, soccer is a great game. I once bought into that argument. I once thought that when the world's best were playing, soccer was at least watchable. Not any more. Now, all I see is that at its highest level of play, soccer players may have greater skills, but those skills include a gamesmanship that would put NBA players to shame. International soccer players are at their best, I'm afraid, when it comes to flopping and taking dives.   *********** From the sounds of things, Bruce Arena isn't exactly lobbying to be back as head coach of the US soccer team.   A politician, he ain't.   Professional soccer in the US, in the form of MLS (Major League Soccer) is the sport's last hope of gaining a toehold in the US sports market, but its place is anything but solid. It is nowhere near self-sustaining, and with paltry crowds and minuscule TV revenues, is being kept alive by a couple of billionaires named Philip Anschutz and Lamar Hunt (the same Lamar Hunt who helped found the American Football League and now owns the Kansas City Chiefs).   Those men aren't likely to give up the fight, but should they lose heart, it is all over for pro soccer in the US.   And the plan to build the MLS is based on developing home-grown stars - and keeping them home.   So what does Arena do? On the heels of the US exit from World Cup play, he goes out and says, "The way for us to get our players to get better is, we do need to get more of our younger talented players in Europe. We need them in a year-round soccer environment."   In other words, not back in the US, screwing around in the MLS - the very place where, like it or not, pro soccer is being kept alive and breathing in the US.   Now, it would have been perfectly okay for him to say what he said if he were a TV commentator, but given that he is perhaps the most visible representative of US soccer, it was, at the very least, dumb.   Maybe he will soon be a TV commentator after all. But probably not for MLS games - which, somebody should have told him, is about the only TV gig available for a soccer guy.   *********** There isn't all that much for commentators in the booth to say during a soccer game anyhow, so how come we haven't seen any sideline bimbos at the World Cup? Why are soccer fans so special that they are spared the agony of football fans, who have to listen to inane interviews while the game on the field is ignored?   *********** It is interesting to watch all the German flags on display when Germany plays in the World Cup. It's a rare sight in Germany.   Here in the US, it's July 4, and as a matter of course, we wave our flags and hang our bunting. Many of us hang out the flag on any number of national holidays, so what's the big deal?   Call it national guilt. The last time Germany got carried away by nationalistic fervor, things didn't work out so well. That was World War II, and since then Germans, all too aware of the horrors of taking nationalistic spirit too far, have been reluctant to show signs of national pride. So for many of them, waving the flag at the World Cup provides a great release of latent patriotism.   But not so fast -   Just in case someone might get some funny ideas - Germany's largest teacher's union remains opposed to the singing of the national anthem.   *********** "He's a warrior, in every sense of the word." My wife and I actually heard one of the motormouths on ESPN2 say that - about a soccer player!   *********** Maybe the critics are right - maybe, as seldom as flag burning actually takes places, we don't need a constitutional amendment banning it.   Actually, I'd be perfectly happy if our politicians would stop all the posturing and just give us a law providing a free pass to anybody who smacks a flag burner in the mouth. If they want to throw in citizenship for any immigrant, illegal or otherwise, who beats us to it, that would be all right with me, too.   *********** Off the Internet - A recent poll showed that 43 per cent of all respondents say that immigration is a serious problem. The other 57 percent said, "No hablo ingles"   *********** Most of you have heard of Eddie Robinson, the great coach who established Grambling as a football power and a prime source of NFL talent, back in the days when the large southern state universities were closed to black athletes.   Coach Rob's football success was but one part of the plan of Dr. Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, Grambling's president, to turn Grambling into the national university for blacks, much as Notre Dame was for Catholics. Some of you may remember a highly-successful part of the plan - "Grambling Playback," when the Grambling game of the week was replayed all over the US.   But highly instrumental in Grambling's climb to prominence - and also playing a major role in recruiting players and grabbing the attention of NFL scouts - was their sports information director, Collie Nicholson.   That was back in the days when NFL scouts tended to overlook small colleges, and especially small black colleges.   Recalled Coach Rob in his autobiography, "Never Before, Never Again," with Richard Lapchick...   "We tried to do a lot to let the scouts know Grambling was developing some real players. Collie Nicholson was a great writer. We came to call him "The Man With the Golden Pen." He understood the media and the value of public relations. Collie kept all of the black papers around the country in the know, sending up to 200 press releases out each week. His phone bills were legendary, and he brought incredible prestige to our program...   "One NFL scout told me that he was glad when Collie left Grambling in the early 1980s because he had written so much about our student-athletes that his team felt they had to draft our players. He said that if they didn't draft a player after all Collie had written and somebody else drafted him and he did well, that he would lose his job as the team's scout. Collie's writing brought people to our games. Collie helped establish us as more than a school in northern Louisiana. Collie Nicholson did a whole lot for our program by putting our vision of what we could do in the mind of the public."   This past week, Grambling announced that the press box at Eddie Robinson Stadium will be named in honor of Collie Nicholson.   *********** Penn State's football camps are expected to draw some 3,000 high school players. Do the math ($$$).   *********** Coach, In four seasons of women's football, our record is 36-8. Thanks for your offense. Craig Scheff, head coach, Milwaukee Momentum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin   *********** While high school grads all over the US kicked back and enjoyed the summer before headed to college, some time in September, those admitted to our service academies started their college lives a whole lot sooner.   Here follows a description, sent to Army people, of their first day at the US Military Academy, at West Point, New York...   R Day for the incoming West Point Class of 2010, on Monday, 26 June, began very early (6:30 am) with the arrival of the first cohort to begin the long day of in-processing and drill that culminated in the taking of the Cadet Oath at Battle Monument that evening. New cadets from the US Military Academy Prep School (196) and 15 International Cadets (including one Iraqi) actually formed up before 6 am. Although the morning was cool and overcast, summer had arrived with a vengeance in the Hudson Valley a few days before, bringing temperatures in the nineties, humidity to match, and late afternoon thunderstorms. The now-traditional "Mock R Day" on the previous Friday morning, using volunteers ranging from teenagers to old grads to test the logistics of the system and give the First Detail some practice teaching basic military courtesy and fundamental drill (and correcting the inevitable errors), took place in the heat. Now, however, it was time for the big show, with 1,311 genuine new cadets who had to be transformed from civilians to uniformed new cadets in less than twelve hours, and rain threatened.   Many of the new cadets boasted an entourage of parents, siblings, relatives and/or high school sweethearts. The mood was almost festive, despite the unpromising weather, as they assembled outside Eisenhower Hall according to assigned reporting times, awaiting the orientation briefing in the auditorium. Following each briefing, the ominous warning was given: "You now have 90 seconds to say your farewells." While the new cadets then exited under the control of the upper class cadets of the First Detail, their family members were shepherded to the ballroom, where various activities vied for their attention until the 3 pm Superintendent's Welcome at Ike Hall and the 5:40 pm Oath Ceremony at Trophy Point.   The Army Athletic Association offered season football tickets for $149, the Thayer Hotel took reservations for Plebe Parent Weekend in the fall and Graduation almost four years hence, and Academy Photo displayed graduation portraits of previous classes, in full color and beautifully framed, resplendent with full dress hat with ostrich plume, saber and full dress coat. The Association of Graduates publicized its support of West Point and its alumni, its Gift Shop and its open house at Herbert Hall and sold subscriptions to ASSEMBLY. Parent clubs from near and far hosted tables and solicited membership. The Daughters of the US Army offered various souvenirs, including a toy bear in full dress over white and a reprint of Red Reeder's book, Bringing up the Brass, and the Post Exchange set up a display of cadet-uniformed teddy bears and other such items. The USMA Bookstore and Cadet Store also were there. As in years past, the favorite souvenirs were T-shirts and a tote bag, listing the names of almost all of the members of the new Class of 2010, sold by the ODIA Gift Shop. But it was the West Point Women's Club boutique that stole the show. Their offerings included an orange T-shirt emblazoned "Old Grad," a doll-sized cadet long overcoat, a 70 by 90-inch lace West Point tablecloth, and old books, such as "Dick Prescott's First Year at West Point," circa 1910, by H. Irving Hancock.   Parents and family members also had the option of viewing a somewhat damp display of military equipment on Daly Field, taking a bus tour, attending mass at the Catholic Chapel, open houses at all chapels, and an organ recital at the Cadet Chapel, visiting the Museum, climbing up to Fort Putnam or taking a boat across the river to Constitution Island.   For the new cadets, however, it was all business of a different nature. Although the Oath Ceremony would be impressive for the families, the actual oath (different for international cadets) would be explained to the new cadets in small groups in Thayer Hall and questions answered before all were required to sign the oath. Those with tattoos and/or piercings that did not disqualify them from admission would have these documented. Additions while a cadet would lead to disciplinary action, possibly dismissal. Some would require inoculations; others military eyeglasses. All would require the basic summer uniform of white short-sleeved shirt, blank shoulder boards, gray trousers, white gloves, and black socks to be worn later that evening, plus the athletic shorts and shirts worn for most of the morning and afternoon. Camouflage ponchos and collapsible canteens completed the uniform, although dehydration was not as big a problem this year.   Upon leaving Thayer Hall, all new cadets faced the inevitable confrontation with the Cadet in the Red Sash ("Step up to the line, not on the line, not behind the line!"). New cadets carrying large duffel bags of issue material were a common sight, as were groups of cadets being taught the intricacies of the hand salute or right face. "Hurry up!" was the command heard most frequently as the cadet detail spirited their charges from one location to another. Other comments concerned donning the rain poncho: "The hole in the middle is for your head. Do not wear the hood. We do not wear the poncho hood in the Army, New Cadet!"   The Cadet in the Red Sash's tape line had spawned other tape lines in the sally ports where much of the indoctrination took place. Tape marked various numbered lanes, open at one end and closed at the other, which new cadets only were permitted to enter via the open end. Violations of this tape protocol brought instant and loud correction. In the poorly lit sally ports, where lists were posted and new cadets were processed by members of the detail seated at desks with laptop computers, commands and corrections echoed off the walls with great ferocity, providing, for some already confused new cadets, a frustrating approximation of Dante's Inferno, despite the intermittent rain showers falling outside. "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Although an occasional new cadet was corrected for smiling or smirking, no one was having fun yet.   Despite their harried look earlier in the day, the Class of 2010 marched out smartly to Trophy Point in a light, misty rain to swear their oath and be photographed by hundreds of proud relatives and friends. Then it was back to the reality of Beast Barracks and their first meal as official new cadets. When the new Class of 2010 finally bunked down for the night on R Day, another date loomed large: 12 August, the date upon which those who endured would become bona fide members of the Corps of Cadets. Today, that red letter day is just 43 days and a wakeup away.     *********** It was October 1974, and at Birmingham,'s Legion Field, TCU's Kent Waldrep was tackled running a sweep against Alabama. In the pile of bodies, he landed wrong and suffered a broken neck that left him paralyzed.   Alabama coach Bear Bryant did not go directly back to Tuscaloosa with his team following the game, a 41-3 Alabama victory. Instead, Coach Bryant went straight to the hospital for the first of many visits with Waldrep.   And from then until he died, Coach Bryant kept in regular touch with Waldrep.   "At least once every three or four months, I'd pick up the phone and it'd be Coach Bryant," Waldrep recalled. "He'd say, 'What's going on, Kent? How's therapy coming? Are you working hard every day?'"   The last call came shortly before Coach Bryant passed away, in January, 1983.   Kent Waldrep, now 52, remains a quadriplegic - his paralysis affects all four limbs. He must use a wheelchair at all times, but he does have some movement of his arms and more feeling below his chest than is considered normal for his condition.   And he is anything but inactive.   Kent and his family - his wife Lynn and sons Trey and Charley - live in Celina, Texas, a Dallas suburb. Kent Waldrep owns and operates Waldrep Medical and Disability Solutions Inc., and for years has played a major roles in spinal cord injury research and served as an advocate for the rights of the disabled.   He founded the Kent Waldrep National Paralysis Foundation, which is now part of the University of Texas Southwestern Hospital in Dallas, he helped found what is now the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, he served on the National Council of Disability and he helped draft the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.   "I have to think God's hand is in there somewhere," he said. "There's just been too many good things, too many positives that have come out of my breaking my neck. I mean, that's happened to other college football players too. But I've had opportunities to meet people and work with people to make so many good things happen.   "If I'd never been hurt and become a banker or whatever I'd have become, it would be hard to believe my life could have had the impact it's had because of this injury."   In 1973, Coach Bryant endowed a scholarship fund, primarily to benefit the children of his former players. Alabama officials estimate that in the years since, more than 500 students have received a Bryant Scholarship, including 100 this past year.   And now, for the first time, a Bryant Scholarship will go to the child of a former Bama opponent. This past April, Kent Waldrep received a phone call from Bama athletic director Mal Moore, telling him that Trey Waldrep had been awarded a Bryant Scholarship to attend Alabama.   Said Kent Waldrep, "We feel we'll never be able to do anything to fully say 'thank you' to the people in Alabama who've taken us in and treated us like family."   *********** Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler was not only the first QB chosen in the NFL draft, but he was recently selected as the school's Male Athlete of the Year.   *********** Tennessee football has had its off-field problems over the last few years, but the Vols are doing something right. Thirty-nine members of the Tennessee football team made the university's spring semester honor roll with a GPA of 3.0 or better.   *********** The Oil Bowl, the summer high school all-star game between teams from Oklahoma and Texas, celebrated its 69th anniversary this year.   *********** The unexpected death of Northwestern coach Randy Walker is most sad. As reported in the National Football Foundation's weekly news release...   Randy Walker, who was set to enter his eighth year as the head coach at Northwestern this year, died suddenly last Thursday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 52 years old. Walker became the first coach in school history to lead three different NU teams to the postseason when he led the 2005 squad to a berth in the Sun Bowl. Back in 2000, in just his second season in Evanston, Walker earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors after Northwestern captured a share of the Big Ten title and a berth in the Alamo Bowl. His 37 wins with the Wildcats rank him second all-time in school history. Walker previously served as head coach at Miami (Ohio), his alma mater, and accumulated 59 wins in his nine seasons there, including a 10-1 in his final year in 1998. His career record of 96-81-5 placed him 27th among active Division I-A coaches for career victories. Walker played for Miami (Ohio) from 1973-1975, helping the school to a 32-1-1 record and three Tangerine Bowl victories during that time. Among his teammates in Oxford was current Illinois head coach Ron Zook.   Only the legendary Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf, who went 49-45-7 from 1935 to 1946 before going on to build a powerhouse at Cal, won more games at Northwestern than Coach Walker.   And get this - he is the winningest head coach in the history of Miami, called the "Cradle of Coaches" because of all the head coaches who either went there or coached there, including Earl "Red" Blaik, Paul Brown, Weeb Ewbank, Woody Hayes, Paul Dietzel, Sid Gillman, Ara Parseghian, Bo Schembechler, John Pont, Carm Cozza and Bill Mallory, who was Walker's coach. (It wouldn't surprise me if I missed a couple.)   Ironically, Northwestern will open the 2006 season against Miami.   Coach Walker had no serious heart troubles but in 2004 he did have a brief case of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle normally caused by a virus. After experiencing chest pains, he checked himself into a hospital, where he was treated and released after two days.   Coach Walker's tenure at Northwestern was not without its difficult times. In the summer of 2001, defensive back Rashidi Wheeler collapsed and died during an off-season workout. Wheeler's mother, Linda Will, repeatedly called for his firing, but throughout it all the university stood behind Coach Walker.   Senior linebacker Nick Roach told the Chicago Sun-Times, ''He stressed in his coaching that we are a family and taught us a variety of ways to deal with broken plays in the course of a game. Whether it is a broken play, a player getting kicked out of a game, a teammate suffering a cheap shot, he'd always draw a parallel and relate it to life. He was always there for us and taught us that you get through setbacks by learning to be accountable as men, sticking together, trusting each other, adjusting and playing through them.   ''He was like a father away from home. My parents really liked him when he came to our house (to recruit). He convinced them that he was an old-school, hardcore coach who meant business and was determined to make us the best players and the best people we could be. Now, the irony is pretty crazy with him dying so quickly and so young. It seems like a play gone wrong in the worst way. It really hurt us all and real men do cry.   ''But after a while when we all can get this out of our system, I'm more than confident that he has prepared us for this. It's more on us older players because the young guys didn't have him as long. Never in my wildest imagination did I think we'd have to deal with him dying. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it. He had taught us that there's a time to pay your respects and mourn for a while. But he was always about how you respond after that. And how we bounce back from this will define us as a team and as a program.''      (2006 CLINICS) CLINICS START AT 9 AM SHARP AND GO UNTIL 4 PM WITH A 1-HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH CLINIC LOCATION FEB 25 ATLANTA HOLIDAY INN AIRPORT NORTH - 1380 Virginia Ave - 404-762-8411 MARCH 11 LOS ANGELES HOLIDAY INN-MEDIA CENTER -150 E. Angeleno, Burbank - 818-841-4770 MARCH 18 CHICAGO ST. XAVIER UNIVERSITY - 3700 West 103rd St., Chicago APRIL 8 RALEIGH-DURHAM MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave - Durham - 919-383-8575 APRIL 15 PHILADELPHIA HOLIDAY INN, 432 Pennsylvania Ave, Fort Washington, PA. - 215-643-3000 APRIL 29 PROVIDENCE COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 POST RD, WARWICK RI - 401-732-0470 MAY 6 DENVER WESTMINSTER HS - Westminster, CO (For more details call Coach Kevin Uhlig - 303-870-8582) MAY 13 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS - LATHROP, CA. JUNE 10 PACIFIC NORTHWEST PHOENIX INN & SUITES - 12712 SE 2ND Circle, Vancouver WA - 360-891-9777   Attendees will receive a complimentary DVD breaking down, play-by-play, the Full-House Belly-T offense of the powerful 1953-1954 Army teams, coached by Earl "Red" Blaik, with Vince Lombardi as his offensive assistant. On the video you will see action clips of Army greats, including the immortal Don Holleder, whose memory is honored by the Black Lion Award. This DVD is not for sale. It is provided by the Board of the Black Lion Award in the interests of furthering football and the Black Lion Award itself.     Osama shows that he will stop at nothing in his plot to weaken America... BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD TO ONE OF YOUR PLAYERS! Army's Will Sullivan wore his Black Lion patch (awarded to all winners) in the Army-Navy game (FOR MORE INFO) The Black Lion certificate is awarded to all winners

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