Basketball Update

So, we didn't win on Tuesday night. In fact, considering the weather, we shouldn't have even played the game. As soon as we got to Middletown to play our game (about 45 minutes away) someone from their school walked in and said everything was cancelled and told us we had to leave. Then, after we worked out the fact that the JV game would be cancelled and we would only play the varsity game, we found out the second referee was stuck in traffic. Then, both of our athletic directors wanted us to start the game with one ref (not a good idea). Eventually, we were able to hold off until the second ref arrived. In the end, we were outmatched. We had a girl that was 5' 6" guarding a girl that was 6'4". We did have some successes, though. First, we scored 3 1/2 times as many points as we did the first game against this team, we had fewer turnovers and no traveling or double dribble calls against us. We're improving!

Pat on the Back

A lot of times, the only "pat on the back" that we get is a "self-pat." You know, the one where you reach back over your opposite shoulder and give yourself a couple of taps. Well, lately, I haven't had to do that very much. I've been getting plenty from other people and I feel a little mixed up about it. It has to do with taking over the basketball team. Since I took over 2 1/2 weeks ago, we have gone 0-7. That's right, we haven't won a single game. We came close with a 6-point loss last Thursday that turned out to be a real "barn-burner." Sadly, in the end, we haven't gotten over the hump. Strangely, through all the losses, I have received nothing but praise from parents, administrators and even people I don't know. They come up and tell me what a good job I'm doing and how much better the girls have looked since I took over. Even one of the girls told me that she feels they've learned more in the last couple of weeks than they learned the entire rest of the season. I'm ecstatic to hear it. It's just hard to feel too good about it when we still haven't won a game. Tomorrow, we face a team that, just 3 weeks ago, beat us 61-8. I pray that the girls keep their heads up and remember their roles on the court. If they can do that, we should make a game of it.

Exercising My Rights

I exercised my right not to vote today. I know you're thinking poorly of me because I didn't vote. The problem really is that, when they asked me at the DMV if I wanted to be registered to vote, I said, "Yes." Then, they asked what party I belonged to. I answered, "Ha! Neither!" It actually works out pretty well for me right now. I am a true Independent. There are too many choices for me to really select either primary to vote in. Come November, I'll be in a booth. Today, Delaware has decided that my independence has negated my ability to vote in a primary.

Breaking 200!

This is actually the opposite of what you might think, as far as "breaking" a number is concerned. When I graduated high school, I only weighed about 150 lbs. Over the few years after high school, I actually was able to gain some muscle and got up to about 165 lbs. Then, my metabolism slowed down and my eating did not. Many factors contributed to this but for the last couple of years I have fluctuated between about 215-225 lbs. When the new year began, I turned off the switch. The "switch" I'm speaking of is the one that drives me to eat till I am full. I turned it off. Last week, I weighed myself on the scale used by the wrestling team (has to be accurate). I weighed 199.1 lbs. I'm still losing. My goal is to get under 180 lbs. We'll see how it goes.

Winds of Change

They are a blowing! For those of you that have kept up with the fact that I'm frustrated with our basketball program, things have happened. On Friday, right before we play four games in a row (Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday) our head coach was suspended and I was named as the interim head coach for our girls basketball program. It's actually a frustrating situation to be in. I now feel like I'm coaching with my hands tied behind my back because we're not doing anything I would want to do. I just have to coach a broken system as best I can. I'll get my first practice since taking over on Wednesday.

The hardest part about all of this happening is being the messenger. I had to be the one to tell the girls and just as difficult was being the one to tell the parents after the games last night (The head coach was out of town and didn't find out till yesterday right before the JV game).

The nice thing has been that everyone has been very supportive. In fact, I received an email yesterday, pre-knowledge of the change, from a parent who wanted to express his support and appreciation and his encouragement to apply for the head coaching job next year. After finding out, he emailed me back and said that, if I wanted him to, he would get the other parents to send a letter to the athletic director saying that they would like me to be the head coach next year, as well. That feels really good; the confidence and the support!

I just hope at this point to get through the rest of this season with one or two more wins.

Then, I'll think about next year.

Sick (Not for those with weak stomachs)

I'm not sure if anyone can empathize with this but I truly hate throwing up. It is not just unpleasant for me but tends to be one of the most painful occurrences when I get really sick. Over the past week, my family, one-by-one, has gotten a stomach bug. The nece thing has been that it was a short-lived bug. All three kids had it first and were done throwing up within 6 hours, or so. Irene got it next, in fact, just about an hour after Rosemary had finished, Irene started. I think it lasted longer with her because she was up all night with Rosemary so she was already worn out before she got sick. She tends to be a real trooper when she gets sick. There are times that she has to be left alone but for the most part, she tries to help when I need it. After the other 4 got this bug, I was just waiting. Then, when I got up yesterday, I felt it coming. I put in for a substitute teacher and went back to bed. Within a few minutes of that, I went to the bathroom to do the deed. I don't know if other people are like this, but when I throw up, it's like a whole body kind of action. Every muscle tenses up and I am not allowed to stop until I am completely empty. I once threw up so hard that it tore the lining of my throat and I started throwing up blood. Most of you probably don't want to hear about this, I'm sure. I just felt like getting it off my chest. I only threw up twice and both times were horrible. Today, I'm better!

Going under the knife!

It's really not as bad as it sounds. Yesterday, my orthopaedist told me that I needed to go ahead and have arthroscopic surgery on my knee. The official term is, arthroscopic meniscectomy. Sounds fancy, huh! Anyway, he had wanted me to baby it and try to stay off of it and that turned out to not be conducive to my lifestyle (chasing after 3 kids upstairs and downstairs during most nights and weekends, teaching all day during the week, oh yeah, and trying to help out a struggling basketball team). So, my knee has improved some over the last month but not enough. The nice thing is that I can do it on my own time. We're going to wait until after basketball season is done. I'll go in on a Friday and be back to work on Monday. He also said I should be back to full, regular activity (not necessarily running) within a week. So, I guess I can live with that.

As far as basketball, our girls lost a couple of close ones last week. That brings our varsity's record to 1-9. We weren't outplayed, simply outcoached. What's more disappointing than the losses, especially the one on Friday, is to have to listen to the coach put the blame all on the players. It's a hard pill to swallow for me and I'm sure it is for them, too. It's not all their fault. They played their hearts out. Unfortunately, the team we play Friday, just beat a team we lost to last week. Wait, they didn't beat them, they pummeled them by 50 points. These girls of ours have some surprises but it's not looking good this week.