I need to vent

ok....If you know me or have read this blog then you should know I try to teach a little bit of life lesson and honesty with football. I honestly set out to teach the kids how to play ...have fun doing it and if we win good..if we lose...there is always next time. Sadly ...this season I feel as though I may be the only one who thinks this.

In this season I have seen some thigs that disturb me and I need to let them go....
1 I saw a coach I really respect tell his kids to make a fist and slam it into the knuckles of the kid trying to block him...in order to deter the other child from blocking him again.....I was shocked its not dirty and its not clean....if you argue this technique...you will hear ....they are going to be tought way worse...or its football toughen up....or something equally dismissive...it honestly hurt to hear him coach that....he is a friend and i respect him as a coach...further more he is better than that....he was comming off of a two game losing streak for the first time since i met him so im sure it was out of frustration but even still....I cant help but feel like if i was cought doing that ...there would be another "Aaron Rule"

2 I had another coach jump all over me because of the score board and my parents cheering! we were up 34 to 6 in the playoffs and I was making an effort to keep it from getting too bad...i was letting everykid touch the ball.....kids who arent even sure what way to run got to run the ball....basically the game was in the bag so i was scaling it back ...unlike what any other team does.....and we managed to break off an amazing touchdown run by one of the smaller guys in the league....when the play was over the parents cheered loud...as they are encouraged and should... then one of the parents changed the score....the next thing i know i have an angry coach yelling at me about showing the score on the board and telling the refs to have the parents STOP CHEERING.......thats just laughable....we should not cheer for our team because the other team doesnt like it! we obliged anyway because we are good sports ...and I personally changed the score board to show the other team wininng......... earlier in the season against the same coach, I accidentaly left my QB in durring our 2 min ...safe play...all he did was hand off the ball to a smaller guy and stand there....the other coach pitched a fit about me leaving him in so in an attempt to rectify the situation not only did i take the QB out for the next three series when i didnt have to...i took out all of my big guys and let the little guys match up against the big guys.....didnt have to...but i did it any way....never mid the fact he left THE BIGGEST KID IN THE LEAGUE IN THE GAME BECAUSE HE WAS 7 and the rule is 8-9 year olds out first then biggest and most aggressive....my QB has a 1 in 50 shot of hurting someone durring safe play as he is one of the smaller kids on the team but he is 9 so i was wrong.....his kid hurts the biggest kid on my team every time we play but thats not "agressive" so by letter of the rule he is 7 and can stay in and hurt kids while my 9 year old is out for an entire quarter for handing the ball to another kid.

3 in one of our last regular season games we would be facing a tough opponent and we were without 3 of our guys...that meant we had to bring in 2 guys who dont normally play durring "safe time"....and instead of making the decision on who to bring in.....though it is ultimately my choice....I let the other coach decide who HE wants me to bring in as an attempt to keep it fair.... Not every coach does this as i would learn, because, he turns to me and says oh yeah....my big guy is in anyway so bring in "Player 1" ....18 points later player 1 is tired from all of the extra play time and needs a break....i let the other coach know im going to change him out for player 2...he says to me " dude whatever, its not like it matters now" this was in the first quarter...well at half time we are up 25 to 0.... The other coaches by this point are complaining about the refs on EVERY play.....even when the play was a better result than the penalty...they would still complain....I chalked it up to anger....and simply just kept playing.....in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter the other coach starts yelling about my player breaking the Aaron rule even though he scored on the play...when i take the field he yells at me for it like i could prevent it from happening from the sidelines....i ignore his obvious frustration and go about winning the game......After the game I am helping the the refs clean the field while the other coaching staff is huddled up talking....when im done cleaning the field...i notice the other coaches are talking to the league president.....I go up to see what they are talking about....the other coach is upset with the outcome of the game and is trying to get the game thrown out and replayed!!!!!!!!!!!!! screaming about how he was cheated by the refs and they should be fired and the game is unfiar....I told him about how the season before i lost 5 straight games and attributed more than half of those to close calls that didnt go my way.....so when that was met with opposition he accused me of CHEATING!!!!!!! saying that i have been breaking the Aaron rule all season long and i did it 3 times in that game alone.....I explained to him that...I coach the players to play by the rules and if that 3 times in that game a rule was broken I am sorry....sorry the refs didnt catch it or think it was being broken and that if 3 times in one game a 8 year old gets excited and runs to a part of the field he isnt supposed to I can tphysically be there to hold his hand and stop him......he responded with "MY Kids don't do it"...and I responded with " well congratulations....your a better coach than I am" luckily the kids were not there to see me get heated and he walked away before more damaging words were thrown...... Now in this game i never brought up the fact that his small kids were not on the field at the alotted time or that some of his kids physically threw a puch at one of my kids or were choking my kids instead of blocking to the chest.....nonw of that was complained about....on top of that the refs told me they were wy more lax on the other team in the second half as far as penalties go because of the 25 point lead in the first half......plus I scaled back our offense...I could have just stuck to the plan and scored 50-60 points but i pulled back to play nice.....

There are many many more things that bother me about the season these are just my big three....the biggest is this...it happened before the season even started....the "Aaron Rule"
I will explain in nother blog the reason behind it and why i like it...just know its aimed directly at preventing my defense from using a specific player to dominate the line and its chalked up to a "safety" rule.

I know there are two sides to every story so please understand the other teams most likely felt like they were right to do these things, but these things and more REALLY bother me so i had to get it off my chest. I dont want the parents and kids thinking I was a cheater... or rough coach ... or the type of coach who verbally attacks the refs....though i have seen all these things happen I do not approve of these things nor do i want to be remembered as participating in any of them.