One of the reasons Spec-Taters came into existence was my fascination with the changes that are going on in youth sports. Now, make no mistake about it, when I coach a team, I coach to win, but the extremes that I have seen coaches and parents go to in order to achieve their own personal objectives at the expense of the kids truly are the catalyst to the entire Spec-Tater concept.
Let me clarify something. When I say I coach to win, I believe that the best way to win in youth sports is to raise the level of play of all the kids on the team. This means that Read more »
Filed under: Uncategorized on March 3rd, 2010 | No Comments »
I guess in a world where the ability to throw a ball has more monetary value than the ability to solve a quadratic equation it comes as no surprise that Lane Kiffin, the head coach of USC (for at least the next 14 months anyway based on his history) has offered 13 year-old David Sills a football scholarship.
Let’s forget for a second that Lane Kiffin was a head coach in Oakland for less than two seasons and only made it through one season at Tennessee Read more »
Filed under: Uncategorized on February 5th, 2010 | No Comments »
And so it ends, not with a bang, like most of his towering home runs, but with a whimper. Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids for much of his career. The fact is he virtually admitted as much back in March of 2005 when he wouldn’t address whether or not he had taken steroids in the past, preferring to “focus on the future”. That non-denial, even at the time, was only slightly less irritating than Rafael Palmero’s finger-pointing, Clintonesque denial (“I did not have physical relations with dianabol!”)
One by one, the boys of summer are stepping out into the light and Read more »
Filed under: Coaching, Parenting on January 20th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I suppose that nothing should shock me anymore, but I can’t believe the pass that Pete Carroll is getting in the media as he leaves the head coaching job at the University of Southern California to take the position of Coach and Executive Vice President of the Seattle Seahawks. As witnessed by this most recent article from ESPN, things just couldn’t be better for Pete – what a wonderful opportunity he has in front of him!
What I can’t figure out is why nobody on ESPN is looking into the fact Read more »
Filed under: Uncategorized on January 13th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
On the heels of the firing of Kansas football coach Mark Mangino (written about earlier in a previous blog), Texas Tech has just suspended head coach Mike Leach from coaching in the Valero Alamo Bowl for allegedly going “Dursley” on redshirt sophomore receiver Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, confining him twice to small, dark rooms under the threat of being kicked off the team if he came out. James’ offense? Being unable Read more »
Filed under: Coaching on December 29th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Ruth. Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Aaron. They will live forever as legends of baseball. America’s obsession with sport, history and the boys of summer will always keep them at the forefront of our collective consciousness. We remember how great they were and reminisce about how great it was “back then”.
Another baseball legend retired this week, but to virtually no fanfare. By the numbers, one could claim that he may have been one of the greatest players of all-time. He owns Read more »
Filed under: Miscellaneous on December 12th, 2009 | No Comments »
Tiger Woods is not the first professional athlete to cheat on his spouse, though he may be the most famous. Golf’s billion-dollar man has a Q factor that is in rarified air. Only a few human beings in the history of the world can relate to Tiger’s life – Muhammed Ali, Michael Jordan… I go blank after that.
So Tiger, like all the professional athletes that came before and after him is human, just like the rest of us. Professional athletes, Wall Street financiers, teachers and businessmen, right down to Read more »
Filed under: Parenting on December 5th, 2009 | 7 Comments »
If you’ve ever had a child involved in youth sports, you undoubtedly have attended the obligatory end-of-season party. Win, lose or draw the team gets together one last time to celebrate the season, whether grilling by the pool or at the local pizza place. This has always been an enjoyable event for me as both a parent and a coach. These get-togethers remind us why we spend so much time taxiing our children back and forth to practices and games. It’s not the victories, though they are fun. For me it is watching a group of young individuals grow together, forging friendships that potentially could last a lifetime. Read more »
Filed under: Coaching, Parenting on December 1st, 2009 | 1 Comment »
A follow-up to an earlier blog, the charges against University of Tennessee freshman safety Janzen Jackson have been dropped. The DA’s office said that neither he nor the woman that was driving the car were aware that the robbery was going to happen.
So Janzen Jackson is off the hook. I hope that rather than Read more »
Filed under: Miscellaneous on November 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »
I have to admit, at first I was a little confused about all the hubbub surround recent allegations that Kansas football coach Mark Mangino is responding to. Incidents of verbal abuse, grabbing kids and poking them in the chest would certainly be an issue at the level that I coach (young kids from 5-10 years old), but I hardly find it newsworthy that it’s occurring at a top level BCS school. I imagine that kind of behavior happens all the time at that level. Read more »
Filed under: Coaching on November 20th, 2009 | No Comments »