Tag: football

  • Daddy Days

    This weekend, Kristen is off to Chicago with Erin for a girls getaway. Since I’m traveling a little over 1/5th of 2010, she certainly earned some time to herself.

    Kristen’s definition of a girls weekend is Thursday afternoon to midnight on Monday. I like her style.

    As we compared notes leading up to this trip we determined that this is the first time Kristen has ever done anything like this. It’s been fun to hear her talk about the trip for the last month or so, all the places she wants to visit, and of course– all of our favorite food places she wants to enjoy. (We lived there for 8 years. She is busy satisfying cravings for Johnnie’s Italian beef and Oatmeal shakes from Irazu. I’m totally jealous.)

    The flipside is that I’ve earned some solo time with Megan and Paul!

    So far, so good.

    I’m not going to lie. I love that I get this time to be with them like this.

    Last night, over a healthy dinner of tacos, rice and beans, and chips… we talked about all sorts of drama at school. Apparently, Foursquare provides endless playground theater that I was previously unaware of. There are some kids who like to steal the ball and throw it over the fence. Yeah, straight thugging.

    We don’t have overly adventurous plans for the rest of the weekend. Which leaves plenty of time to do what they love to do most. Relax and be kids.

    • Thursday night I was impressed that I could make a healthy, well-balanced meal that they actually ate. Roasted fish, roasted apples, and whole grain rice.
    • Friday was a marathon of driving as we went from school to the San Diego State ticket office back to the YS offices to the house then to dinner at Rubios. I felt like a soccer mom with all of that carting!
    • Today we plan on going to the nursery so we can start seedlings of our winter garden, doing some weeding and cutting of grass, relaxing in the afternoon, then going to the Aztec game a bit early to enjoy some of the tailgate festivities before SDSU plays Colorado State tonight.
    • Sunday, I hope to keep it simple. Church in the morning and then finish painting the dining room while the NFL games are on. At some point, Paul needs to do his homework.
    • Monday, I’m just happy to get them to school. We will spend some time in the early evening making sure the kids rooms are clean(ish) before mom gets home.

    Goals:

    1. Quantity time.
    2. No trips to the ER.
    3. Keep the house clean.
    4. Convince the animals to sleep in tomorrow for daylight savings time.
    5. Create some memories.

  • SDSU beats Air Force

    When I decided to buy season tickets to San Diego State I have to admit that I did it on a whim. In 2008, they were horrible. But they got a new coach and I figured that for less than $100 per seat, I couldn’t lose.

    My hope has always been that my kids would learn to love football the same way I learned to love football… on Saturday’s with dad at the stadium. Last season was a bit rough. The only thing the kids liked about the games was spending some time with me and our trip to Rite Aid to load up on candy to take to the game. This year, with the team noticeably better, they’ve started to get into it a tad more.

    Last night was a huge win for the program. But it was also a huge win for Paul becoming a football fan. For a big chunk of the last five minutes of the game Paul stood on the back of the seat in the row in front of us, shoulder to shoulder with me, screaming “Defense! Let’s go Aztecs! Defense! Oooooo!” (And stuff like that.)

    When we scored, he joined in the chorus of high fives. When we recovered the onside kick, he shouted YES!

    It was a cool bonding time for us.

    Here’s a couple of videos I took on my phone from the beginning. (I’ve got kind of a meme going)

    National Anthem (Ahem, that’s not me singing, that’s the guys in front of me)

    Football team taking the field

    The video above is from 619sports.net. They are local sports nuts who have created a name for themselves by doing a local sports blog. I had a similar idea to do this in Romeo but never got around to it. Kudos to them for creating something out of nothing.


  • You’ve got to finish

    My little football heart got broken last night. First, San Diego State gave up a touchdown with 50 seconds left to giveaway a victory to #25 Missouri. That would have been their best start in 30+ years. Then, a few hours later, Notre Dame gave up a silly trick play for a touchdown to lose to Michigan State.

    In both cases, it was about finishing the game. Both teams were sloppy. In one game, a lack of tackling discipline cost them the game. In the other, being over-aggressive cost them an embarrassing lose and landed them on Sportscenter for all the wrong reasons.

    For those of us who lead, both games were a powerful reminder for finishing.

    In life, just like in football, your last play leaves a lasting memory. No one cares how well SDSU or Notre Dame played on Saturday. We’ll only remember the embarrassing finish.

    Do you have a strategy for finishing a project well?

  • SDSU taking the field against Nicholls State

    Last night, Paul and I went to see San Diego State beat the tar out of Nicholls State. (It’s in Louisiana. I had to look it up, too)

    The final score was 47-0 but Paul and I left at the beginning of the 4th quarter when it was 30-0. If you listen to Brady Hoke, the head coach, they could have done a lot better. But I think it was their first shut-out in a very long time.

    Now, the video doesn’t show the level of excitement as the game got into full force. San Diego folks are late comers to all sports. In the end, nearly 26,000 people showed up… which is a big win for SDSU. (The next game will nearly sell out because of the annual “Sky Show” after the game.) The visitors side actually filled in a bit. I look forward to seeing them in late-September. If they have a few more wins and they put on a good performance at the next game, I think they will start to fill up the stadium more.

    As a person who grew up around the campus of Notre Dame, I really appreciated and “got” what coach Hoke was trying to do by adding a bunch of traditions. They had Marshall Faulk come out and spear the field at the beginning of the game. They somehow got every freshmen to come and fill the student section. And I love how they came into the stadium through the band and cheerleaders… nice and slow. They even introduced a secondary mascot, a panther. I kind of liked it but the alumni in my section were pretty ticked off.

    If you listen to Hoke’s postgame interview… this is all part of creating a winning tradition. And winning will draw more fans and make the whole thing more fun. The net result being that winning and more tradition will attract better quality recruits.

    Clearly, there are very talented underclassmen who got to play big chunks of the 3rd and 4th quarter.

  • Notre Dame Football Trailer

    Oh man, I’ve got a fever. I might not sleep tonight.

  • College Football Season is Here

    All summer I’ve waited for college football. With the NBA and NHL completely irrelevant to me, both Phil and Tiger non-competitive on the PGA Tour, and MLB failing to find a storyline to draw me in, it’s been quite a sports draught since the end of the World Cup. In truth, I stop caring for the World Cup when the United States was eliminated.

    Back to football.

    This is a turning point year for the team college football teams I am most vested in.

    San Diego State University

    I’m not a native fan. But SDSU is a couple blocks from my house and for less than $200 I was able to get season tickets on the 50 yard line. (This year I moved back about 5 rows for a better view)

    With second-year coach Brady Hoke settling in the Aztecs were noticeably better last year. There is a tremendous amount of talent in high school football in Southern California and Hoke knows that if he can put a winning team on the field, establish some tradition, and get a couple players drafted high he can pull a lot more talent from the area. So I was excited to see that Hoke has added a couple of traditions for this year. Before they open against Nicholls State tomorrow players will make the “Warrior Walk” from the bus to the stadium. It’s not much, but it is a step towards creating a football feel around town.

    With a veteran QB in Ryan Lindley and star WR Vincent Brown… it will be clear that the Aztecs can move the ball. The question will be if they can hold teams under 20 points.

    My prediction: They will go 7-5, but will include one showcase victory against either BYU, Utah, or TCU.

    University of Notre Dame

    Photo by Ryan Greenberg via Flick (Creative Commons)

    Growing up near the campus has secured me as a life-long fan. And as a life-long fan it has been a tough decade. As much as I liked Charlie Weis and was sad to see him let go I think everyone knew he had given up and didn’t have any solutions to get the Irish back to prominence.

    In came Brian Kelly. A proven winner at every level of college football yet desiring the one thing that has alluded him– a BCS Championship. He seems to have figured out what both Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weis missed, that winning and losing is only half the battle in South Bend. More than just winning and losing, the head football coach in the ambassador of the county’s largest employer. It’s a very big deal that the locals like coach Kelly.

    Two categories separated Notre Dame from a BCS bowl appearance last year. Their pass defense was horrid. And their red zone TD percentage was embarrassing. As I’ve kept tabs on the news stories it has become clear that these were points of emphasis for the new coach. Let’s hope they can get in the top 50 in both of these categories.

    Coach Kelly’s offensive scheme doesn’t really depend on talent at every position. He’s always lacked talent and found ways to win. It’s a fast-paced style that will confuse most of their early opponents. Even if Dayne Crist is mediocre as a starting quarterback, TE Kyle Rudolph and WR Michael Floyd are NFL quality and will score a lot of points. The key to the offense working is preventing the defense from loading up outside the box and slowing down the pass game by successfully running the ball and controlling the clock. It concerns me that the Irish are weak at RB.

    Another concern about Notre Dame this year is their lack of away games. While Notre Dame is an amazing place to play college football, it is actually a tough place for the Irish to win because of the national TV coverage. They only go on the road to play Michigan State, Boston College, and USC. In recent years they have gotten pounded at those stadiums. Their only hope for those games is at USC. With fewer professional athletes on the field USC’s offense was fine last night, but giving up 36 points to Hawaii shows they are a joke. The tradition lately has been that first-year coaches win 10 games. But I think Kelly is on more of a Lou Holtz trajectory than a Tyrone Willingham one. With a new QB and a completely new system, I see the Irish struggling early and often. (Unless the pace just outsmarts people)

    My prediciton: They go 8-4 and advance to a the Gator Bowl to play Cincinnati. I think they start off their first 5 games 2-3 but rally later with a schedule that includes Navy, Army, Tulsa, and Western Michigan. I do think they beat Michigan and USC– which makes him a winner in South Bend no matter what.

    USC sidenote: Anyone give Kiffin more than 2 years? That dude’s mouth would make Bob Knight blush. And how many more weeks until the NCAA reveals that Pete Carroll is under investigation? I have a feeling they have the death penalty coming.

  • 5 Ways to Make Soccer More Exciting for Television

    Photo by adem80 via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    Yada. Yada. Yada. There are those who think that soccer is an amazing game for watching on television. But for the other 95.7% of Americans I have five ideas for making it more palatable to the American market.

    1. Make goals worth 7 points. We get that. A game that ends in 1-0 seems pointless. But a game that is 7-0 seems like a defensive battle. But not nearly as good as a 42-35 throw down.
    2. Every time a team scores a goal, they lose a player. With fewer players on the better teams that gives the poorer teams the chance to score more often. That means that the more goals that are scored, the fewer players on the field, and more opportunities to score. Another alternative would be to substitute a small child for a player each time a team scores a goal. About 6 years old seems right.
    3. Add a little hill near the middle line and get rid of the offsides rule. Make the hill reasonable… but it’s important that there is a sightline issue so that a hidden forward can lay low enough to cherry pick for an easy shot on goal.
    4. If a game goes to overtime add an additional ball every five minutes. I don’t mind the idea of playing an extra period. I just don’t want to watch a bunch of tired guys pass it around and wait for a shootout. If it’s still tied inside of 5 minutes in overtime, both managers get to play too.
    5. Eliminate the red card and substitute in a penalty box. All of the weenie flopping is hard to stomach. If there’s a hard foul, give the offender a 5 minute timeout. Americans love the aggressiveness of hockey. But the acting on display at the World Cup reminded us of a soap opera.

    These are my ideas for making soccer more interesting.

    What are yours?

  • Soccer in Tent Cities

    We were very encouraged to find a decent soccer field and some team practicing. We came back the next day and played a U18 group. It was fun to play… while we had some valiant plays we eventually got creamed. I will let you know that both Joel and I scored goals though. His was legitimate and mine was a fluke. (You don’t score many goals off a goal kick. But I did!)

    This was one of the many signs of health we saw at this tent city. Plenty of commerce. Lots of organization. Clean water, showers, and toilets. And organized sports for various ages.

    Sidenote: The guys were lobbing passes across the field while we were filming thing. You’ll notice that about a minute into the video there’s a little disturbance. I guess one of the Haitian guys thought it’d be funny to try to snipe me while I was filming. I never saw the ball coming at my head from about 40 yards. Thankfully, Josh stuck out his arm and blocked it. Otherwise… this would have been my ticket to $10,000 on Americas Funniest Home Videos. Er, maybe that’d be the Haitian version?

  • Innovating with an established ecosystem

    Photo by fmgbain via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    Starting a new organization is an entirely different task than innovating to change an existing organization.

    Both are hard. But changing and existing organization is way harder.

    For most of my career I’ve been in turnaround roles. Kristen and I have a little joke… My entire adult work life has seemed like one roller coaster ride after another.

    Click, click, click, click… up we climb.

    Click, click, click, click. My heart races.

    Wait for it. Wait for it… Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

    Arms up. Screaming bloody murder. Thinking of the Tom Petty song, Free Falling.

    Down the big hill we go.

    Over and over again I’m left to help try to innovate our way out of the mess.

    And, so far, I’ve been pretty successful at it by most people’s judgement.

    How does one innovate within an existing ecosystem?

    1. Become Switzerland. There are political factions within any organization. If you want to get stuff done you need to be neither and empathetic both sides at the same time.
    2. Spike the football. When you do something that everyone is happy with its OK to just look into the camera and say, “Thank you very much. Woohoo! Hi mom!” I’ve seen a lot of people fail in an organization because they were afraid to take the credit for their own ideas doing well. Don’t be an idiot. It’s OK to be the guy to do good stuff. Spike the football.
    3. Own the data. Existing organizations are horrible at owning their data. I like to look at the results of a long-standing program that has had no results and say, “30 years of VBS and not a single new family? Why didn’t we just light that $300,000 on fire? At least we would have had a good BBQ.” When people are tied to tradition or the way they’ve always done things, sometimes you need to be the person with the frying pan who hits them in the head. Helping people in leadership own the data is the catalyst to getting stuff done in an existing organization.
    4. Be creative. Face it. A fist full of money and a fat belly has never created a single good idea. Have you seen Bing? No budget, no time, no research, shot in the dark… that’s when good stuff happens. That’s when the best ideas pop into your head. Creativity and innovation come out of suffering and frustration. These are your friends and allies, not your enemies.
    5. Opportunistic eyes. I keep a list of ideas I’ve got on ice. Then, when I’m in a meeting and everyone is scratching their heads looking for something new, bam… I’m pull out my concept. If I ran around screaming about every idea I had all the time I’d look like a mad scientist.

    What are some ways you’ve learned to innovate within an existing ecosystem?

  • Notre Dame vs. Stanford

    Last night Kristen and I went to the game between Notre Dame and Stanford with my cousin and fellow Irish fanatic, Trent.

    It was a fun game with lots of points scored, lots of exciting plays, and a few times we thought, “they are going to pull away and win for sure.”

    That isn’t the way it worked out and it isn’t the way the whole season has worked out. A month ago they were looking at a BCS bowl bid and Jimmy Clausen was being mentioned as a Heismen candidate. Now it looks like Weis will be fired today, Clausen will likely leave for the NFL, and my favorite team will be back to rebuilding.

    We have become the Cubs.

    I have three requests for Notre Dame:

    1. Hire an experienced head coach.
    2. Join a conference. The Big 10 seems likely, but any conference will do.
    3. Tell NBC to go away. Nothing good has happened as the result of being on National TV. No Heismen’s. No National Championships. Nothing.

    There is always next year. I know that. But I really wanted them to win last night!