Anybody ever just stop.....

All the time, that is what makes it worth it.

- kids playing paper cup football behind the stands
- my children coming up with funny names for opponent's mascots around the dinner table
- watching the sun come down behind an old stadium built by the CCC during the Great Depression, setting between the smoke stacks of the old closed down textile mill, like a slow motion field goal being made.
- listening to the same story told for the umpteenth time by the old janitor about how good they were back in the day
- playing remember player so-in-so with the coaches while the JV players warm up for their game
- rating concession stand hotdogs
- having punt, pass, and kick contests with the players
- ditto with kick back
- and drop kick contests too
- the look of dew on the grass before the first 2-a-days
- the smell of musty practice bags being pulled out of the storage shed in the last month of July
- finding 8mm film in the back of a storage closet
- the locker room's pet snake Fred
- that old recliner in the coaches office, and being the first down the hall to it
- the hum of dual tires on a yellow buses taking the back way, down an old tar and gravel road, without a sound being said
- the tree stand called a coaches box

just a couple off the top of my head

We play on top of a hill surrounded by trees (which when the leaves start to turn it is awesome) and are lead up the hill by a bag piper..the piper gives me goose bumps everytime...

Scouting and rating the concession stands (we all know who has Chik-fil-a and who doesnt on our staff)

Bull$%^ing with other coaches when scouting

watching the fat guys all try out for back up kicker during pre season

our carwash fundraiser (DO NOT LET A PLAYER GET A HOLD OF THE HOSE< YOU WILL GET WET)

chasing the goats back into the barn area (our animal science barn is right next to our field)

I could prob go on forever

One thing I get a kick out of is the difference on perspective from the freshman to seniors. Example..say somebody from the other team trucks one of our kids. The starters get fired up to go retaliate, the freshman set back laughing and admiring what a great hit it was, not thinking they will be the one getting hit someday.

We played the two time defending state champs 2 weeks ago. Tied 7-7 with 2 seconds left. We kick a 41 yd field goal, miss, but they rough the kicker.

We get another kick of coarse, and they block it, and scoop it up (perfect bounce) and take it all the way back for a touch down for the win.

I've felt like I'd been stabbed.

To make matters worse, my cousin was the starting Will Linebacker. I'm an offensive line coach. He single handedly stopped 3 touchdowns by himself (interception, snagged a wide open option pitch (some BS rule gave us possesion back, but it was a TD for us otherwise if he doesn't nab it) and he was the only person who could have stopped a screen, and he did). He also made like 14 tackles and I think had a sack.

After the game on the 50, I walk over to him,give him a big hug. The family wants a picture (I'm trying not to throw up) after we get by the stands. Neither of us wanted to be in it but you know how family is.

After all that BS (about 10 minutes worth) He asked if we could walk in my school together on our ways to the lockerrooms. That moment choked me up a bit. When we got to the bottom of the stairs (we were about to go our seperate ways), he gives me one last hug and then he goes, "You need to talk me up to your coaches, I just want to be all-conference just like you were". He never says stuff like that, fairly quiet kid, very humble. I fought back some tears there. That moment made me forget the kick for about 2 minutes, which was a lot considering it took me about 4 hours to fall asleep (I never, ever, ever do that, I'm usually out).

Those 2 minutes though put everything in perspective. Best 2 minutes after a tragic loss ever.

I will add the the family thing. I am like most coaches in that I can be a bit testy during football season, especially when going through one like I am this year.

However, nothing is greater than hearing my two year old daughter on Saturday morning come into my room and say "da-da up" and jump on the bed with me. It puts everything into perspective and even with 4 hours of sleep after a tough loss, I get a smile on my face.

I can not wait for the day to come where she can stay at the game for the entire time. Hopefully she will want to be as involved as Silky's daughter and be part of the program.

I'll add to the family thing - at half seeing my 17 month old daughter waving furiously and having her hands out for a hug during half time as we walk back on the field. Getting that hug and knowing no matter what happens in the game, she's there.

After the game it fun watching her go to the pylons and pick them and attempt to carry them as far as she can. She loves those things. Thinking about getting her own at home to play with. That after game hug is the best thing after a tough game (which we've had plenty this year) and for the moment you forget about football.

Other things are the smell of the field, the grass, the concessions, the view of the mountains and once the sun sets behind them the awesome sky, amazing.

A few years ago...a longtime coach was on campus on a Saturday. Two young boys with some football gear that was too big for them were hanging around the entrance to the stadium. The old coach just stood and watched as these boys pretended to be taking the field like the varsity team does. Including doing their own impressions of the PA announcer and making the fake crowd noise sounds with their mouths. The coach stood at the entrance of the lockeroom and thought to himself about how those boys will be Miners (our mascot) someday. He soaked in that moment even after many years of being a part of the program.

Great thread.

www.thusspiked.com/2011/10/football-on-main-street.html

^^
Something I wrote last week about my kindergarten-aged daughter marching with the home coming parade and taking stock of where I lived and what football means around here. This was a moment as a dad and a local citizen, not as a coach.

I gotta say family makes anything awesome.
At halftime we were heading into the lockers and my son came running up to me at half time. I scooped him up for a hug and realized just how little the score matters. I was out there playing a game I love and my wife and son were there supporting me, no matter what. After the game I was sitting in the stands with all my gear sitting there and he wouldn't stop trying to get my pads on.
Favorite football moment ever

What a great thread...

I took this when we went back into the locker room before our opener. It was 20 minutes until kickoff and the place was packed.

What gives me chills everytime and I don't know why is walking out to the field, the sound of cleats on the sidewalk, all in unison that click clack sound- walking past the concession stand with the team heading to the field, the smell of burgers on the grill and everyone stopping what they are doing to clap or offer encouragment, crossing the track and seeing the band lined up and the drummers going nutts and the team breaking down and sprinting to the bench- I will miss that as much as anything when I step back from coaching.

Something else that is cool for me this season is that I have 2 sons on the team. One a starter and one a freshman. To be on the sideline with those two in a game is a great thing.

The other cool thing about that is if my oldest messes up, I get to hear his younger brother bust his b@lls!

A couple of years ago we were playing for a chance to go to the playoffs against our rival team, as I was doing the standard head coach pregame pleasentries, I looked over and saw my father, who had been disgnosed with cancer two Fridays earlier, playing catch with my two yr old son. When I sent the team in for pregame I stayed out and played catch with both of them. Best moment ever as a head coach, gets me still choked up today. Plus we won and his cancer is gone. Great thread. Keeps everything in perspective.