Teamwork

I love to watch KU play and they won today playing Boston College. I wished that I could have seen the first half on TV but I was at J's Biddy Ball scrimmage. I could have told him that I wanted to watch KU instead, but this is my job as a parent to support my kid's activities and be at every one of their sporting events, music, or academic events.

I chose the above picture because it represents "teamwork." Here are the Jayhawks in a huddle discussing, together what they will do on the next possession. Unfortunate for Biddy Ball (J's team anyway) this doesn't happen.

We have three starters who play nothing but ball hog. If they get the ball in a rebound, then they bring it down the court, and attempt a shot. They forget that they are one of five people out there. There is no such thing as setting up the shot and passing it off to their teammates so one of them can get inside the paint and really dump in a bucket. No. They shoot from 3 point range and throw up an air ball. Even when the coach tells one of the bench players to wait under the basket because he has set up a play, the "ball hog boys," completely disregards what the coach has in mind and takes it in himself (and not necessarily making a good decision by missing the basket completely). There is one boy who is a team player. He passes the ball off to his teammates. Then the other starter is just in there because he's big, not tall, but a big boy. The bench, meanwhile, waits their turn to come into the game. They listen to their coach and the remaining starters do their own thing.

There is no such thing as "teamwork," or "team play." It's sad and disappointing if you kid is a bench warmer. You must put up with these things because your parents don't coach or you have marginal athletic ability. Kids at this age need to know what the coach says goes and should be benched for not following the coaches rules, until they get it right.

Once J got the ball in his hand and his "teammates," (the ball hog boys) yells, "Shoot it." WHY? He is from way out there is no way a shot would go in. They need to set up their plays, passing to each teammate, playing unselfishly and going for the "points in the paint." Often times the ball hog boys will pass, but the teammate has to be their best buddy.

Hopefully as they age, the style of play will change. They will have coaches who will tell them pass it off to your teammate because they will be closer to the basket. Or listen to the coach that's why they are the coach. Or if you don't listen to the coach you sit on the bench until you are ready to play team ball.

But until then we as parents, or bench players will have to endure this type of play until high school or college. Some kids just need to know what teamwork really means, unfortunately J is not on such a team.

We had J using ear plugs today as the sound of the buzzer makes him jump and plug his ears. We have seen high school refs laugh at him and his "teammates" make fun of him. So today he wore the plugs and he didn't jump or plug his ears. It was great! :) Then the big boy asks J why is he wearing ear plugs. (I thought of a question for him, but didn't think it was appropriate for me to ask him why he doesn't have a clue). Some people just don't get it.

Nothing Like Being Silent!

Yep, I got it again. Laryngitis! Once again I can't speak. Only can nod my head and say things in short choppy sentences. I take a deep breath so I can talk to the family and end up doing the mime thing...today I am Marcel Marceau (or Harpo Marx). Sometimes I WISH I had a horn to honk to say what I am REALLY thinking! LOL!

No, I didn't get it by yelling at the TV last night while the Hawks were playing. I felt that it was about to leave before that, like a couple of days before that. But I had more of a voice during the game than I currently do.

So I been trying to drinking cold stuff and rest my voice. (That's very hard to do, if you know me well). I can't hardly write my note, in long hand, and finish my thought process. It's frustrating. I tell someone one thing and another someone wants a repeat of what I said. Sigh! I hate to repeat what I just said. It was hard enough to say it the first time! I just want to say, "I'm not saying this twice, you'd better listen and understand it the first time." But of course, that would be too much to say. SO by the second time I am whispering and nearly sounding angry. I'm not mad. It just sounds that way. It just feels like some little gremlin is holding my voice cord tight!

When I lost my voice when I had a full time job, as an operator, that was bad. They wanted me to work and yet I had no voice. They were pretty unfair. How can you purposely lose your voice? You can't. Anyrate, I can't. It just happens. I get a cold, it goes in my throat and coats my throat and bam! It's gone. I get this stuff usually once a year. But back at my former job, I was soooo close of getting disability. I was out for a whole week (it was great) and I should have just taken disability. But me, being the honest person I am, didn't. It was back to the "grind." Sigh.

I expect I won't be singing in church this next Sunday, or participating in discussion, I may not even be there for that. I'll just be sitting there in Sunday services listening and next to no conversation.

Tomorrow, J has a scrimmage at C town (south of Beefton). So I imagine that I won't be yelling at his basketball game. I think J will be fine with that!! :) Sometimes it is good when mom isn't screaming at him.

KU are the CHAMPIONS!

Sing the old Queen song here, "We are the Champions, my friend. And we'll keep on fighting till the end. We are the champions, we are the champions, we are the champions, of the ORANGE BOWL!!!" It would have been great to see Lawrence last night and see everyone throw a party on Mass street. I hope that a parade in Lawrence will be thrown in their honor.

KU WINS ORANGE BOWL!!!!

WOW!!!! KU proved everyone was wrong. After KU was chosen to participate in the Orange Bowl over Mizzery everyone was crying on TV and didn't think that they were deserving of being in this bowl. Well, apparently they didn't know that KU had heart, Reesing, Talib and Mangino.

KU didn't look like a bad team tonight. Sure, a couple of plays didn't look great and they did get into more penalties than they have all season. But they didn't choke. They played smart ball. They faked a punt and got a first down, leaving the coach at Virginia Tech scratching his head. There were key interceptions during the game for KU. The defense was amazing.

Aqib Talib got the MVP award and he said that they finally played someone who was really good. Now maybe these naysayers should take note. Virginia Tech had an 12-1 record and was rated number 3 in the nation. It was great to see KU with an 11-1 record (with their only loss to Mizzery) rated number 8 in the nation, beat these Hokies.

Move over K-State, KU is the new football power in Kansas!! Way to go Talib, Reesing, Briscoe, McAnderson, and company! Thanks Coach Mangino! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

Orange Bowl Game tonight!

KU is playing in the Orange Bowl tonight against Virginia Tech. The last time that they play was in 1969. 39 years ago!!

What was the world like 39 years ago? Were you around? Flute wasn't here yet. I was 13 going on 14. In the year previous, Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. 1968 was a a turbulent year.

During KU's last appearance at the Orange Bowl they could have beaten Penn State but they had too many players on the field and they lost the game 15-14.

This year, I am hoping for a win for KU. Mark Mangino and Todd Reesing and company will do their best. I hope that KU can do it.

I'll be cheering tonight for them!! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK GO KU!!

Still Looking

Today I went to little W town and thought I could secure a new calendar there. Ha! I guess when it hits January 1st the wally world store at little w town throws out their calendars. That or they sold out all of their stuff. Which I can't hardly believe. I even checked the Kroger store too. Nada. Guess I'll be looking inside my bank tomorrow to see if they are handing out some "cheap" calendars. Last year's calendar was really cool. It was black and white photography and was old pictures of like 1880's or something. I would say it was cool because of my History background. So I am hoping they have this type of calendar this year.
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While at the KU game this past Saturday I was informed that other people from the H town was in attendance too. I wish that they could have told us they were going to be there so we could talk after the game or at half time. L's boss (TP) and son (DP) were at the game. They said they were looking for us. Last year we were just lucky to see KoB as she was in the student section. Next time when people from H town are coming please let us know ahead of time so we can phone you. It would have been nice to talk with them during halftime or after the game. It's pretty hard to search for someone when there are 16,300 people in attendance. Hope that they enjoyed the game! :)

Wanted! A New Calendar!

Happy New Year 2008!! Hope that everyone celebrated responsibly last night. We did. We had the pizza and the potato skins along with the sparkling grape juice. Yum! Staying up until midnight (and then some) toasting with our glasses in the New Year. I pulled some "party poppers" off, cracking the backdoor slightly and celebrating the New Year. We stayed up watching "The Beverly Hillbillies," really old stuff (about 45 years old) and that was it.

Every year I look forward to putting up a new calendar. Well, this year I just couldn't find what I wanted. I should have bought what I did find back in November when they had it. I wanted to get another "Office" calendar but the family was getting tired of it. Then I wanted a "KU Basketball" calendar, and that was pretty old none of the current juniors or sophomores were on there. Then I thought I could get a "Coca Cola" calendar, but didn't like the price of it. I should have just just bought it. Now I look around and there are dog and cat calendars, still nothing that just grabs me as I have to be looking at this all year long. Somewhere I have a calendar from my Alumni school but I really don't want to look at this all year either. So now I have my USD school calendar. It's plain. It has school stuff written on it. This is just temporary until I get what I want, or what I'll settle for. I usually like to write all my families birthdays on it and say, "Wow, they will be THAT old," or "It's been 20 years since our wedding." It's been 20 years since KU won the National Championship.

Let me know what kind of calendar you guys use. I am just looking for the "perfect" calendar that I can stare at the next 12 months while blogging. I think I'm not going to find "perfect," oh well.