AFTER A PARTICULARLY ROTTEN SCRIMMAGE VS SYOSSETT HIGH SCHOOL PRIOR TO THE START OF THE SEASON, "FRITZ" LOOKED OVER AT ME ON THE BUSRIDE HOME AND WITH A WRY SMILE SAID, "BALDY, SOMETIMES SPORTS JUST SUCK."..THOSE WORDS REALLY HIT HOME THAT NIGHT.
OF COURSE HE WAS RIGHT..SPORTS, LIKE ANYTHING ESLE, DO NOT ALWAYS GO RIGHT..SOMETIMES YOU LOSE, SOMETIMES YOU TAKE YOUR LUMPS, SOMETIMES YOU EXPERIENCE MASSIVE DISAPPONTMENT. THOSE WERE THE LIFELONG LESSONS THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO LEARN AT THE TENDER AGE OF 17.
YESTERDAY WAS ONE OF THOSE DAYS HERE IN BERGAMO WHERE FRITZ' WORDS RANG TRUE. YESTERDAY SUCKED FOR ALL OF THE REASONS THAT SPORTS SOMETIME DISAPPOINT. AND NO ONE IN FOOTBALL IS EVER IMMUNE TO THE TYPE OF DAY THAT THE BERGAMO LIONS HAD.
SATURDAY HAD ALL OF THE BUILDUP OF WHAT EVERY TEAM FEELS ON THE AFTERNOON OF THEIR FIRST BIG SCRIMMAGE, IN PREPARATION BEFORE THEIR FIRST GAME 2 WEEKS AWAY WITH THE DESPISED PARMA PANTHERS...IT WAS SUNNY..ON THE WARM SIDE OF 14 CELSIUS...GOOSEBUMPS ON THE RIDE TO THE FIELD..CAN FEEL THE DELICIOUS SMELL OF PADS POPPING AND WHISTLES BLOWING AND BOYS GETTING THEIR YA YA'S OUT..TESTOSTERONE OVERLOAD..ITS WHY WE LOVE THE GAME.
THE GOOSEBUMPS WERE DEFLATED A BIT WHEN WE SAW THE CONDITION OF OUR FIELD..2 LARGE PUDDLES SAT THEIR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD LIKE 2 SAD-EYED LADIES OF THE LOWLANDS WAITING FOR A BUS TO NOWHERE..2 DAYS OF SUNNY WEATHER DID NOTHING TO DRY OUT OUR RICEPADDY..YUCK.
THAT HOPELESS VISUAL OF A POOR FIELD PAILED IN COMPARISON TO WHAT HAPPENED NEXT.
OUR LINEBACKER COACH, COACH NEIL, WAS GREETED BY OUR OWNER AND WAS TOLD THAT HE WAS BEING RELEASED...SOMETHING ABOUT TOO MUCH CONFLICT WITH THE DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, DAVIDE'..PERSONALITIES AND EGOS AND THE WAYS THAT TEAMS PLAY WILL ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION...THATS THE BEAUTY OF FOOTBALL...THERE IS NO ONE WAY TO TO WIN AND THERE IS NO ONE WAY THAT A JOB CAN BE DONE..OFTENTIMES IT IS THE SOLUTIONS THAT ARISE FROM CONFLICT THAT IS THE RIGHT WAY.
THAT WON'T BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN HERE IN BERGAMO..COACH NEIL, A FORMER PLAYER AT PENN STATE, WILL NOT BE AROUND ANY LONGER...I FEEL BAD FOR HIM..I THINK HE MEANT WELL AND WITH TIME COULD HAVE BEEN AN ASSETT..NO ONE, REGARDLESS OF DIFFERENCES, LIKES TO SEE A COACH OR PLAYER RELEASED.
THE NEWS WORSENED WHEN WE WERE TOLD THAT OUR STAR AMERICAN DEFENSIVE STUD, FRANK, WAS DIAGNOSED WITH WOLF PARKINSON'S WHITE SYNDROME..IT WAS DETECTED FROM HIS VERY FIRST EKG EXAM WHEN GIVEN HIS PHSICAL..IT IS A RARE DISORDER AND IS POSSIBLY CUREABLE. BUT THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIONS WILL NOT BE THE ONES THAT PICK UP THE EXPENSE OF TREATING FRANK AND POSSIBLY GETTING HIM READY TO PLAY..INSTEAD A HARD BUSINESS DECISION WAS MADE TO SEND HIM BACK TO HIS HOME OF GARLAND, TEXAS.
IT WAS DIFFICULT TO SEE THE SADNESS IN FRANK..IN THE LITTLE TIME HE HAS BEEN HERE, HE WAS OBVIOUSLY A TALENTED PLAYER, BUT MORE THAN THAT, HE WAS A SWEET KID...PRIOR TO HIS DIAGNOSIS THERE WAS SO MUCH MISUNDERSTANDING WHAT HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH. SO HE WAS MET WITH THE END OF FOOTBALL AND A DOUBLE WHAMMY OF DEALING WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION THAT IF LEFT UNTREATED COULD IN RARE INSTANCES BE FATAL..UGH!!!..IF THER IS A SILVER LINING FOR FRANK IT S THAT THIS FORM OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE IS NOW DIAGNOSED AND MAYBE THAT KNOWLEDGE SAVES HIS LIFE DOWN THE ROAD.
OH DIO OH DIO..LIFE CAN BE SO CRUEL AND UNFAIR.
AND THEN THERE WAS OUR SCRIMMAGE...CAN YOU GUESS WHERE THIS IS GOING?
A SIDE NOTE TO ALL FOOTBALL FANATICS READING THIS WORLD REKNOWNED BLOG...AT EVERY LEVEL, AND IN EVERY LEAGUE...IF YOUR OFFENSIVE LINE IS NOT SOUND AND IS NOT THE LEADER OF YOUR TEAM YOU WLL EVENTUALLY FAIL...TAKE IT TO THE BANK OF WISDOM.
I AM THE COACH OF OUR OFFNESIVE LINE AND THE ABOVE STATEMENT IS TUTTI VERO.
YESTERDAY, WE WERE WITHOUT 3 OF OUR STUDS ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE; NUMA, PIETRO AND CHRISTIAN ALL HAD CONFLICTS AND COULD NOT ATTEND. WOW, DID WE MISS THEM.
PARTLY AS A RESULT OF LOSING 3 CRITICAL LEADERS, THE TEMPO WAS NOT RIGHT..10 PLAYS INTO THE SCRIMMAGE COACH COS HAD ENOUGH..GASKETS BLEW, FRUSTRATION MOUNTED AND FINALLY THE FINAL WHISTLE BLEW.
A PAGE FROM LOMBARDI ENSUED..THE LAID BACK CALIFORNIA KID FROM SACRAMENTO, CALI, COS SAID," BASTA BASTA BASTA!!!
COACH COS
EVERYONE ON THE GOALLINE AND INSTRUCTED ALL 34 PLAYERS TO RUN...100 YARDS DOWN AND 100 YARDS BACK..LUNGO GASSERS...UNTIL THE TONGUE FALLS OUT....UNTIL THE PLAYERS DOUBLE OVER AND PUKE WHATEVER WAS IN THEIR STOMACHS
ATTENZIONE ATTENZIONE...SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE..IT STARTS WITH EFFORT..IT WASN'T WHERE WE WANT IT TO BE AND THE PLAYERS, REGARDLESS OF AGE OR OF PAST SUCCESS...EFFORT AND EXECUTION HAD TO CHANGE FROM THIS POINT GOIING FORWARD
MANY OF THE SENIOR PLAYERS CONCUURED..MOLTO CAPISCO...WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT IMPACT THE BLOWING OF MOUNT VESUVIUS' BY COACH COS WILL HAVE WHEN WE MEET ON LUNEDI SERA.
THESE DAYS HAPPEN IN FOOTBALL..EVERYONE GETS HUMBLED, INJURIES MOUNT, EXECUTION STINKS, COACHES GET FRUSTRATED..NOW WHAT WE DO ABOUT IT GOING FORWARD WILL DETERMINE WHATEVER SUCCESS WE HAVE
STAY TUNED..DUE SETTIMANA AWAY FROM OUR FIRST GAME..LOTS OF WORK TO DO AND I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL YOU ABOUT IT........AND TO HARRY FRITZ ROTE, YOUR WORDS STILL RING TRUE..
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