Playing Goliath in your conference

We don't have a Goliath in our league, but we do in our state. Top 10 nationally on a consistent basis. I'll tell you what we've done: lost to them over and over and over again.

In all seriousness though I think you just have to let your kids know that you're expecting to compete and perform as well as you can, regardless of the opponent. Sports are about competition, if the other team is great then your kids have a great opportunity in front of them to compete among the best.

I'll agree that there is a major difference public/private.

Been coaching in public schools, and coaching against/with the 'haves'.

The biggest thing is to ignore it.

Make Monday a Monday, Tuesday a Tuesady, etc... and plow through.

EVERYONE will appreciate that in the long run.

I feel strongly about this and will post later…posting now to follow.

There is nothing you can do about the resources or players anybody else has.

So focus on maximizing those that you have ("Control those things over which you have control").

Also - Lou Holtz once said "Run an offense that gives you a chance to beat the best team on your schedule."

Yes NFL is the best around, it should be when you can pick who is on your team and pay them millions of dollars. The real coaching is when you have 10 players out for a 8 man team and one is a 300 pound down syndrome kid that has seizures before games and plays on skates all night and you have to play a lineman at receiver because he dislocated his shoulder but if he doesn't play the whole team doesn't play.

and? 

We have that situation here too. We are just outside that invisible border for the oil money. Our neighboring district (relative term here- 60 miles away) has a new turf field, new track… now a new school.  It hasn’t improved their program… they are OK... kind of a middle of the pack team.

The school up the road (another 60 mi. or so) has beautiful facilities. Their practice gym is bigger than our competition gym. For gym sports (BB, VB, etc.) they play in a 5500 seat arena. It looks like a Division 2 college... and they have really struggled.  Part of it is they had to move up a class for most sports and have to do so despite a somewhat transient student population, but in football, minus some readjustment that moved some smaller schools out (us included), they’ve been in the same class for a while and they won 2 games this year (surpassing their win total for the last four years) and one was against a new school who had no seniors.

Before the oil patch traffic, both of these schools has crummy facilities like we have. And both of them were pretty good. The second school I mentioned won several state titles through the 80s – early 2000s.

I always remind our guys that when Rocky was training in a dirt alley, chasing a chicken in the grey sweatshirt with the holes in it, he won the title. When he got the new, fancy gym that had the gold ropes around the ring Clubber Lang beat his @ss. We kind of embrace the dungeon (we just need a larger one).

I remember a few years ago we had a former player come back from college for a few days before he had to report back to pre-season camp. He was a big weight room guy. He told me he went to his friend’s house in another town (not a very good program there) one weekend and was raving about how nice their weight room was etc.

You're right. I definitely prefer a league that penalizes greatness in exchange for a false sense of fans' hope so they'll throw more money at your dumbed down, terrible product. It's fantastic.

ignore the opponent, quit thinking about what you dont have or do have, line up your shot and take it...

Stop making rules to penalize it? Every rule the NFL has put in since Pete Rozelle is designed to keep all 32 teams equally crappy to keep that cash flowing. Salary cap, drafting, free agency rules, hell, even in game rules. It's a giant scam.

It is only a trap because quite frankly, half of the "grumpy old man" type things you post are simply ridiculous. I mean look at yourself...you claim that measures to increase fan interest and involvement and thus income in a BUSINESS is "a scam" In another thread you accuse someone who is questioning their  relationship choices and future of being a psychopath.  

Trust me, very few if any of the well respected and sensible members of this forum would call much of what you post in this vein "arguing" anymore than they would consider a wolf howling at the moon "arguing" 

Maybe coachpithy would think the stuff you posted was a constructed argument. 

It is one thing to say that one doesn't enjoy NFL football for whatever reason.  But to argue that it is not the most competitive football across the board, or that somehow measures to ensure that constitute a "scam"...are just objectively foolish. 

Oh no, you called me names. How will I ever live with myself?

Well if your my twin I could use some help, got some teenage girls I need help raising, dogs and cats to take care of and a wife that doesn't really like me.