How do you beat Perfection?

Here I am again.....june 2007 and this time I can't wait to coach. Last year I was unsure if I wanted to do this....this year is different..... Last year i spent most of the first few practices watching other coaches and going man....they got thier stuff together....and researching practice drills and plays....basically scrambling to find what to do next.....not this year though....this year I am the accomplished coach....I have a reputation.... I have a championship....I have a few new faces and all but 3 guys from last year....im a favorite and I know it..... the only things I dont have are 1 my reciever from last year....no matter though ill find one.... i dont have my QB...nate....its ok...i spent the off season working with my son...at this point he has a flawless 3 step drop and can run the ball if the play breaks down.....i dont have wilkes.....stings but thats ok too.....I would never trade him but the other coaches make it seem the only reason we won was because of him....and that bothers me.....I believe it takes a team and though he is a stand out he wasn't the ONLY kid on the team......and the last thing i don't have this season...is the correct focus!

I made the biggest mistakes of my coaching career this season.....i had a team of kids who had it all....veteran champs...new speed and new size....I didnt just think we would win....I EXPECTED IT.... I figured that the parents who brought thier kids back to me in season 2 would expect the same results....and while Im sad to say i couldnt live up to that I can say i gave them something more.

The cowboys droped the first 5 games of a 10 game season....it didnt look good....I had moments in the game where i actually started yelling at the kids for missing blocks or not executing plays propperly....I was so concerned with putting points on the board that when a child made a great play....instead of running down the field to join in the celebration and help him enjoy his momment i rushed them to the ball and prepped for the next play...nothing was making me happy..... my son who took over the QB job was laying his heart out...he was at best the 5th fastest kid on the team yet in the first 5 games he had run 6 touchdowns and thrown 3.....even by High school standards thats an outsanding start for a QB...and he was only 7.... and his reward for this hard play....a coach that was always angry...teammates who openly blamed him for losing.....and an overwhelming need to earn dads approval...... Looking back on those five games now I am embarassed of my actions ...and ashamed of how I was acting.....the pressure of winning was so great that my son isiah began making up injuries to get out of games....and i saw that ...rather than think i was wrong it enfuriated me and i began pushing him harder.....it wasnt untill that 5th loss that my wife finally gave me that much needed slap in the face....she sat me down and told me to forget the record and coach for the fun of it.....

reluctantly i put aside the record and the thought of a championship and tried to focus on teamwork.... we had game 6 comming up and it was against the steelers...the team we saw in the championship the year before and the team who was dominating everyone...they were the new undefeated team....and now instead of taking the hard-nosed approach and attacking the other team....I was going to adopt the style im now know for ...the "hug'em" style.....LOL..... the other coaches love to joke about how i would rather hug the players than yell at them..... Im constantly hearing...c'mon....its football man....not woodstock.....to which i reply man im only 28...whats woodstock....secretly they hate me LOL.....so its game 6 and we gotta beat these steelers.....believe it or not i can recall EVERY SINGLE PLAY of that game I saw josh throw a block on a 3rd an long to spring bull for a 20 yard td run...I saw george..normally reserved and quiet throw a block from the left side of the line that took out three steelers!!!! I saw AJ crash the line on defense and attack the QB...I saw Aaron play like the beast of a linebacker I hope he will oneday become....David and chris blitzing from the outside puling flags like they were getting paid to do it....I saw Sean...get steamrolled by a kid twice his size to pull a flag and save a go-ahead touchdown.....and i saw my son get back under center and lead his team to their fist victory of the year.....it was a hard fought game and the steelers are always hard to beat....id beat them before and would beat them again....but that day...that game was to this day the most important game I have ever coached...... it was that day i realised how a coach can affect the game....I saw that with positive reinforcement a group of kids can gell into something more...they can lean on each other... look to a leader... and become a team. I may never again witness such an awsome display of selfless play, teamwork, and effort. It was that day that will foreer make me well up with tears when i think about it.....I have never been so proud.
There were many other moments in that season and many other lessons....all of which i will write about ...but in an effort to wrap up this post..... the cowboys continued to win the rest of the way fighting back to a spot in the championship game against the Steelers.....we fought hard that day as well but in the end we gave up 1 long run down the right side for the go-ahead score...putting the Steelers up by 5 and with less than one minute left in the game the cowboys gave what they had and fell 10 yards short of that championship trophy......even in that moment of losing I was proud though....that loss was a proud one....it sucks to loose but that loss didn't hurt so bad....my boys went down fighting hard. We lost to Dan and his Steelers but it was his 3rd trip and he was due for a win ...so i was proud of him for getting it....and in the end....that one game..in game 6.... was the only loss the Steelers suffered all year, my boys once again gave me a perfect season.....I doubt anything will ever beat the feeling of a comeback season...man I love this game...and all my boys.