Coaching

Tonight I want to write about why I think I would be a good coach and some of my philosophies.  First things first, I was a manager for our girls basketball team at my high school.  After my freshman year in high school I was struggling to find a place to fit in when our girls basketball coach at the time asked me if I wanted to be a manager.  I said yes and never looked back, even after he left after that year I stayed on with the new coach and while things weren't quite the same, she didn't let me do near as much, but I still enjoyed it.  When I first started I had no idea on how to keep the scorebook at the games, which seems strange now because whenever I'm at a game you'll probably see me keeping score.  It's a fun way to stay focused on the game and I nice way to analyze players.  

I grew up a Cat fan, mainly because it was close and my grandpa went there, but I never hated the Griz.  The men's coach at the time was Mick Durham, who has his jersey retired at my school and is a family friend.  I met with him my senior year and was going to be a manager there, which I'd hope would lead to becoming a graduate assistant.  Then he retired which changed my plans.  I was angry because I felt he was forced out.  It's pretty obvious he didn't want to retire because he had a job the very next year.  So instead of going to Montana State, I went to the University of Montana, which is one of the best decisions I've ever made.  

So you're probably wondering how could a guy who only played the game in the 4th grade could be a basketball coach.  See while I don't know as much about the fundamentals as I probably should, I don't think that really matters.  This is especially true at the college level where players should already know them.  I think it's mainly what you get out of the talent you have.  Motivating players is something I think I would be good at.  Teams that have the most talent don't always win, which is evident in the NCAA tourney when mid majors don't match up on paper, but their coach is good at getting the most out of their players.  

My style of basketball would be a lot of fun to watch, that's if you like fast, uptempo basketball.  My players wouldn't be the biggest but they would sure be in the better shape.  When the other team is tired and out of gas, my team would be still full of energy.  I'm definitely a fan of shooting threes, they are not the most high percentage shot but if you have guys that can shoot them, it's a good way to blow out a team.  When it comes to defense, I believe in using a 3-2 zone against a team that likes to shoot threes and man to man for teams that like to play in the paint.  The best thing a coach can do is to be flexible and coach a style that best fits the players they have rather than force them to play a style that doesn't work.  Sometimes you get players that are really tall, like Derek Selvig, but aren't very bulky.  While you could play him inside, because he's 7'0", his athleticism and ability to shoot the three make him a better fit at the wing or 3 spot in the lineup.  In this spot he would create a huge mismatch which would benefit everyone involved. 

Thanks for reading

Why I Love Baseball

February 11th is a big day for me, cause this marks truck day.  In case you didn't know, and I'm assuming most of you don't, truck day is when the trucks leave Boston bound for sunny Fort Myers, Florida for spring training.  This is a big event tons of people show up and there's music, food, games and other fun things.  I've never been there for this, but it's definitely on my bucket list.  It's the sign that even though there may be a foot or more of snow on the ground baseball's not far away.

Let me explain something, in case you didn't know baseball is huge in Boston.  I would say as popular, if not more popular, than football in the south.  Kids are raised around baseball and learn the game and the legends early in life.  This is one of the reasons I want to live in Boston, it's a place that I can go that people actually want to talk about baseball.  It's January and I find that it's really hard to find somebody who wants to talk baseball.  

I've never been a person who's had a much of a social life cause I don't like to drink.  I do have friends that I spend time with, but baseball has always been there for me.   Most of my friends are what I like to call work/school friends.  These are people who are real friendly and nice to you when you are at work/school but are basically strangers away from there.  These are great people and after some of the things I've been through growing up I feel real lucky to have them.   I consider myself in a relationship with baseball considering I've never had a girlfriend so most of my time gets devoted to baseball in the summer.  If I was in Boston this would be no problem but I find it's hard to find girls who are into baseball here in Montana.  

Keeping score during games, even ones that I'm watching on TV is a lot of fun for me.  Those who know me probably have no trouble believing this.  A good friend of mine compared me to Peter Brand, the character played by Jonah Hill in the movie Moneyball.  For those of you who haven't seen this, it's a must watch, one of the best movies I've ever seen.  His character is obsessed with baseball stats and that's me to a t.  He understand the value of buying wins, you don't always need the big names, you just need players that get on base.  My favorite part of the movie is when Hill's character calls Kevin Youkilis the Greek God of walks and one of his favorite players.  Being a baseball GM is a dream of mine, I know it's the perfect job for me, but I don't know how to get there.  I never played the game, but that doesn't mean I don't know the game.

Thanks for listening and one more thing this is the tattoo I'm thinking about getting I'd appreciate the feedback