Monkey off my back!

Probably bad etiquette to follow up a post on improving your manhood’s performance with one about preteen boys, but I have never been very couth, so here goes.  Some of you may remember that I that I coach a youth flag football team. And although I am sure I can attribute at least a few grey hairs to this endeavor, I truly do enjoy teaching these young guys. Currently, I am 3 games into my third season with this team, and managed to have more than 50% of my players return from last season. The season’s first few practices had me thinking super bowl contenders, thanks in part to a few new players that were recruited by some very supportive parents. We were passing bombs, catching pitches, and handing off double reverses without a hitch. I was thinking undefeated season, and a sweep of the playoffs. But then something happened, we went against another team. The pressure of a rush was more than my boys could handle. Now bombs were looking like mortars, floating in the air for what seemed like minutes as the defense seemingly walked under them & picked them off. Our handoffs were being dropped at alarming rates. Of course that is only if the center did not flub the snap and either roll it back to the quarterback, or fly it ten feet over his head. Our season opener was against one of the toughest teams in our division, and although we outmatched them athletically, our own mistakes brought us a 20-6 loss. Next we played the defending champions from last season. Who, without 7 of their 12 players from last season were reeling from their first loss in 30 games. But we still had more mistakes than positive plays & let them feel good by giving them a 20-0 victory. By this point I was feeling a little less than as a coach, I have to admit it. I know my team overall is better than the two that we lost to, and next we would be facing the team responsible for giving those defending champs their loss. We spent the week focusing on offense, and not making stupid mistakes, and after two great practices we rolled out onto that field last Sunday with nothing but victory on our minds. For the first time this year, we drew first blood and went up 6 to nothing. But in a lucky catch in the corner of the endzone, the score suddenly became tied. We managed to keep holding them, while driving the ball down the field on two separate series. Unfortunately our red zone percentage in the 2^nd half was zero. With 1 minute to go in the game, they had the ball with a 4^th and 12, I started planning a drive to keep us from going into sudden death. But as I was fumbling thru the playbook, the parents all rose from their chairs and started cheering run buddy, run. In a great defensive play one of our players picked off the ball & raced in to the endzone to put us up 12 to 6. With less than a minute to go, they tried several aerial attacks, but came up empty handed. The crowd went wild, the kids all cheered & jumped up & down, and I finally got that God Damn Monkey off my Fucking back. Now we push on to the playoffs!