October 16, 2002
I am starting to think about Las Vegas. Who will we play? Who did I forget to get a plane ticket for? Will we travel and all be safe and sound? One of the great things about Las Vegas is that it is hard to have some of the problems that are available to us in other places. It is almost impossible to stand out in Las Vegas ( How many Elvis Presley impersonators roam the streets? Could Sigfried and Roy live in Chicago? Wayne Newton lives there. I could go on). We had a wild team party pretty much at the corner of Harmon and Swenson Drive last year, and nobody even slowed down to look. Party on Wayne. Since the bars do not close there, I don’t have that whole everybody coming in at the same time (usually 2:30a.m.), everybody (except the DD’s) equally loud and drunk, and the ensuing calls to me (sober and asleep) from the front desk thing.
Actually we have very high expectations for the way we play in this “Best of the West” tournament next week. We have been to every one of them (this is the 5th), and have generally played well out there, too. I think that now, hopefully more than ever with this particular team, excellence remains our focus, and that this is very much a business trip until sometime later Saturday evening. I am not going to bribe them with a “buffet” dinner if we won all games, as I did last year, however. Can you say OUCH? We played great and all, but I need some cheaper inspiration. Hell, nobody gets out of Vegas without a nick or two I guess.
WHAT DID HE SAY?
I hate it when players that I coach are smarter than I am. Unfortunately, it happens all the time. A player might do something that upsets my little lacrosse movie, and I go to tell him what was wrong about what he just did. Then he comes right back at me, saying that he was trying to do one of my “mantra” basics. For example, say the player was out of position, too far from the pass. I yell at him. He says he was trying to “get away so that he could move to the ball.” GOT ME. I end up walking away muttering to myself.
I had a minor thing with K.J the other day. I was trying to “explain” my attacking style “lacrosse movie” to him. He allowed as how he has a movie in his head, too. I assured him that my movie was better. It’s like I have to convince him that the “Godfather” is a more powerful film than “Revenge of the Nerds”. Apples and oranges, of course, but I think I can do it. It just takes time.
