Every day more and more guys come to display their
skills on our practice field. Now that we are in the
conditioning and learning phase of things, guys choose to
be all-stars in shorts and t-shirts. Yes, you are fast and
athletic in a pair of shorts with minimal contact. Yes, you
can turn heads and bring attention to yourself. Now the real
challenge begins. With this practice coming up, there are
a ton of guys wanting spots. The hunger that I see from
practice to practice really has me interested in what I might
see this weekend. I just hope I can find some popcorn for
the show.
There are a ton of roster battles, and position battles,
but the battle that I am already tired of is between players
and coach. Protocol is simple. If you cannot make it to
practice, you cannot make the team and you cannot play. If
you cannot call that you have to miss out, you cannot be
apart of this team and you cannot play. We, as coaches,
have always stated that and went against it making our
word crap. Hearing that its just minor league football and it
will be that way always upsets me. The only reason it is
allowed is because we, coaches, allow this to happen.
What if we changed things? What if we cut a guy that led
the league in tackles because he had commitment issues?
What if the touchdown leader for three years don't have a
team to play on because he is not a team player? These
guys are allowed to get away with things because we allow
them to get away with it. This being my first head coaching
position I'm going to find out how tough it will be to change
everyone's thinking on the matter. One thing that should
aid me is that I don't owe anyone on this team anything and
the returning players that don't want to conform are gone or
soon to be gone. The plethora of new guys are talented
and ready to be given a chance. Clearing the roster and
having everyone start over was the best course of action
and I will get the best players available
With the recent decision to remove
themselves from the GMFL, I feel that the two
time reigning champion St Charles Cyclones
may have robbed everyone the opportunity to
measure their team. "To be the best, you have
to beat the best." I'm not saying that my team
is the best (not right now I'm not) but that would
have been a hell of a gauge for my team.
The team we have now has a ton of veteran
presence but not so much that the veterans
actually hurt the team (yes there is such a
thing). The amount of new talent on this team
has me happier than a kid in a candy store.
Now what do I do with all this talent?