Here it comes….Training Camp…..almost

The days leading up to training camp are always interesting to me.  I don’t care where it is – there are always problems that need to be cleaned up in the final 24-36 hours.  Whether it is Kutztown, Arizona State, the Lions or even at the major power that we are here at Moravian College there are going to be last minute screw ups.

There is no calm before the storm anywhere in the country as training camp opens.  (It is generally a small tropical depression before the storm.)  Every head coach I have ever been around will lose his mind (not as badly as they do on game day) before we even get the team into the dorms.

As a head coach Jeff is no exception.  The poor guy has to handle so much BS that it is amazing he still finds a way to coach the football team.  If someone breaks a window in the dorms, if someone drives their car on the lawn, if someone gets into a skirmish – first guys blamed are the football players here at MC.

Actually our guys are really a pretty good bunch of young men – yeah we have our problems like everyone else.  Occasionally one of our heroes has thrown an illegal party – drank a beer on campus, fell asleep on a porch walking back from the OBT late at night…but on the whole they are just college students..

None-the-less Jeff has a lot on his plate.  So consequentially he has some melt downs in the hours preceding training camp.  (Murphy’s Law!)

This year several players reportedly hadn’t paid their bills or cleaned up their financial aid packages.  The administrators in one office pretty much said those guys cannot come to training camp unless things get squared away.  Nice to know 48 hours before camp opens.

When 42 of your 90 guys are going to be held out you might have a small problem fielding a team let alone having a practice.  But come on, if I was in the bursar’s office and 42 people had some kind of problem I would have tried to find out what the problem was a week ago.  But that’s why they are administrators and not coaches.

Of course Jeff has to find out what the trouble was and fix it.  Or…we won’t have a team.   Naturally he is going to be a little worried.

He comes into the football office where we are basically eating pizza and drinking beer – well maybe not.  Probably watching film and fixing playbook etc.

Jeff came in – lost his mind….then found it behind his desk.  Assigned everyone a handful of guys to call.  A giant pain in the ass of course.  But we find out that the majority of the players were just waiting on the release of their grants and loans.  Ironically a lot of this money was coming from the school and yet Moravian didn’t even follow up and find this out on there own – just give it to Jeff.

So a job that should have been handled by the institution had to be handled by the coaches.  The coaches were supposed to be working on football, but instead were tracking down players at the last minute.

Yeah well….that’s the way it is.

Early quiet in athletic facilities – everything empty.  No one in the weight room..on the field running.  But give it another 12 hours or so and thongs are going to get pretty busy around here.

Back in the Saddle Again

Well after a whirlwind summer of exploring Europe, Marrying off son number two and the usual raising hell, drinking beer and building beeramyds.  Time to get back down to the Lehigh Valley and become my usual mature self.

First order of business was to spend time at Steve and Wendy’s house where she created her usual fabulous meals.  (Steve …well you all know that he was given the nickname “Insane” for a reason).  Slept on my normal couch – with the cat on my feet?  Cats – I like them and for some reason they seem to think I am OK.

Then down to Reggae on the River at the Tri Boro with Captain Saturn controlling the tunes.  The usual suspects turned up and George Reenock told us of his wild escapades before, during and after his time in the Air Force.  For those of you who don’t know George – he is what a Konkrete Kid is.

As expected quite a few beers were had.

Followed up that wild afternoon with the annual Motorcycle raffle at the Hungarian Hall.  I was convinced I would win this year.  Ahh…not so fast.  But it was a hell of a time.

First of all Andy does a fantastic job of getting things moving – Then Jeff and the rest of the crew keep it moving.  One small glitch early on forced me into service spinning the money wheel for an hour or so.  I must say I thought I did a fantastic job of bringing in the $$ for the club.  (Well maybe they were being nice to me – but I did my best.)

Crowd was awesome saw many many old friends.  Doug and Sue….there son Derek (all 7-0 of him).  JoAnn, Patti and Leigh, Patti’s sister Lisa, Tom Catcher his son Kyle and wife Kathleen, Money Wolfer, Daniel – trying to behave himself.  Had a hell of a conversation with one of the all time great athletes from Northampton – Billy Paulkovitz.  That man could play ball!

Have to say the security was a little lax – although Marty did his best to pick up the slack Captain Saturn created.  Lonnie may be the most amazing person I have ever seen behind a bar.  She is just so smooth…I tried to help her.  Could not keep up and basically was just best for me to get out of her way to the money wheel.

What a blast!  This is one great organization – you can’t beet the Hungarian Hall in Northampton

So far have made my Pizza stops at Mario’s and Frattelli’s – made it to Yoccos and Carvel.

Football starting up on Thursday as the lads report to Moravian.  Really looking forward to getting going again.

I have to say…don’t know if this is any better than putting it on Facebook…but, it is a lot easier typing.

Hah!  What a life!

 

 

Too Blog or not to Blog

Last year several friends said I was too long winded for Facebook.  That my posts were too long.  Several suggested I try to use a blog instead.  Alright we will give it a try.

Old shot from travels in Switzerland – Fribourg!  Beautiful medieval city in western part of the country.