I’m leading off with the blog today; putting firmly in my mind so I can put it out of my mind for the day. I want the mental space clear and ready to write fiction, because I have a ton of fiction to write. Before I get there I need to talk here about sports. I’ll start at the High School level and see how far I get.
My son’s team is terrible. I found myself saying that out loud the other day when my mother called and asked how his team was doing. They are 1-5 and ranked 29th out of a possible 31 teams in the 6A. This is in spite of being the 5th largest school in the state. Sloppy. Just plain sloppy stuff right there. If you have over 3000 students you ought to be able to find 24 (kicker and punter) starters to make a competitive team. They didn’t. They haven’t even found a coach who’ll stay longer than a year. I’m hoping this one will, if only to provide some consistency.
There are two teams with worse records in 6A, and it is my deepest hope that we get them on the schedule for the next two years. I am openly lobbying to get 27, 28, 30, and 31 on the schedule. We already will have 25 (who is a fellow district team and who we play in a few weeks). That could offer the chance for a 5 win season. Throw in a 5A team and we could be looking at a 6 win affair. In fact, we have a 5A this week. The team, Ironwood, has gone 4-3 this season, beating terrible teams and losing to the ones with winning records in 5A. We are not a winning record by any means, but we are larger (for however much that counts) and we did whip these guys 42-0 last season. Of course, that was a different coach and a different Talis-boy leading the secondary. Ironwood too has changed. They have a shifty QB who drank the Lamar sauce. I’ve been studying film this week in order to help the kid get an in-game and prep advantage. I’m going to teach him how to read the linemen preplay. He has the cues on how to read the qb once the play starts, but now the WRs are the next read. A two-stage read is an important skill for a safety, so here is an opportunity to grow and to harness that.