Black Monday

Five NFL coaches fired, one, Rob Chudzinski, after only one year to prove himself. Hummmm, wonder how bad he could have been. As I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough about pro football, I can't say whether these firings were justified. Coaches in the pros and in the college pros take jobs knowing that they are in the hot seat from day one. The HOT SEAT has been constructed for them by impatient owners, and in the case of universities, impatient alums.

I wonder to what extent the players on teams have to do with a coach being fired? Let's look at an analogy and see if it fits. In the 25 years I was a high school teacher, I recognized that many students refused to learn, citing a teacher being too boring, too complicated, too demanding, too strict. But never once, in my experience did students look beyond these admittedly unappealing traits and ask if these same teachers knew their subject matter. It seemed to me it was always on the teachers to find a way to impart knowledge and never on the studentss to make the effort to absorb knowledge. Did the students REALLY try?

How many coaches know their stuff, but don't have players willing to put out the effort to understand what the coaches are asking of them? I'm guessing that of the five fired coaches all of them have good football minds and a couple of them have great football minds. Did the players REALLY try?

Many years back when I was coaching the Carolina Cougars in the ABA, my assistant came up to me one day and said, "Coach, I believe the player's ears are getting small." Players with small ears don't win games and coaches with players with small ears get fired. I quit after my first year because I was an insanely bad coach, but I also had players with ears the size of a breath mints.

Speaking of fired coaches, will somebody please tell me why George Carl and Lionel Hollins are not coaching in the NBA? I can think of at least five NBA teams that would have much better records if either of these two fine coaches were at the helm.

I suspect I'll get a number of comments reminding me of how important motivation is. Motivation, give me a break! Is it important for a coach and teacher to hype players and students? Of course, no doubt, but teaching and coaching are not dog and pony shows. I remember back to my years with the Warriors to my two coaches: Alex Hannum was charismatic and too demanding but knew his stuff; Bill Sharman was boring and too strict but knew his stuff. We played hard for both coaches.

Speaking of demanding, strict, often mean coaches, my Lowell High School basketball coach, Ben Neff gave his players hell. Those of us who could put up with his intensity learned to play the game. Ben wouldn't have lasted ten seconds in today's game, but boy, oh boy, did he know his stuff.

Here's a poem I wrote for him:

Ben Neff

Coach, I loved you. I owe my fundamentals 
to you. I do not hold it against you
that you called me a sonovabitch and
that you questioned what I was good for
and that your anger wound up as spit on my face.
Those of us who could withstand your anger
learned how to play the game of basketball
so well that we carried it with us into college
and me into the pros. But I remember a boy
trying out for the team you frightened badly
who ran and you chased him and he swung
up into the standard and sat like a bird
perched above the hoop crying while you
threw basketballs at him, one after the other,
and the rest of us, thinking it was funny,
fed you the balls, throwing nice crisp
two-handed chest passes just the way
you taught us, fingers straight, thumbs down.

Blake Griffin Whining

Griffin is calling what Andrew Bogut did to him during the last game "cowardly basketball." Strong words. Let's see. Here's what I saw. Griffin posted up, got the ball and started his patented backing in, knocking the defensive man back as far as possible in order to lower his shoulder, slam into the defender, make heavy contact, then use his incredible leaping ability to score over the defense. I've watched the Clippers a lot this year. Most players on other teams, finding themselves in this position backed down by Griffin in the paint, succumb easily to the high flying and powerful Clipper forward. Andrew Bogut, however, is not a backing down type of guy. He fought to keep his position. Is this cowardly? As for the tangle that followed the play, I saw Griffin initiate it by hooking Bogut around the waist. OK, so once the tussle started, Bogut grabbed Griffin's shirt. If' I'd been playing I would have grabbed his nose. Blake Griffin is no small man. He'd better prepare himself to be beaten on for the rest of his career. Anyone who plays the low post game has to accept physical punishment. You give (And Griffin gives a lot) so you better learn to take and stop crying about "cowardly" basketball. I've watched Andrew Bogut play ball for many years, and the big Aussie is hardly a coward. The fact is, I've never seen an Aussie basketball player who isn't as tough as nails. Stop whining, Griffin. Grit your teeth and man-up.

It's all about television, I know, but aren't these Bowl Games ridiculous? Teams that won only fifty  percent of their games are playing in Bowls. The Bowls have to be pretty enormous to hold all the food they represent: Beef O' Brady's, Pizza from Little Caesars, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chicken fil-A and a  bunch of Idaho potatoes, mashed I hope. Totally ridiculous.

Congratulations to Serena Williams and LeBron James for being selected AP male and female Athletes of the Year for 2013. Can you imagine if LeBron and Serena had married and had children, what perfect athletes they would have produced. Scary, scary.

So-called Major sports dominate our sports pages. But let's hear it for Shaun White, the Olympic medalist in snowboarding for being one of the great athletes of our time. Winter Olympics is coming up and I'm looking forward to seeing the Winter Games sports dominate the front page of our sport's section. No second page or third page coverage. Give our winter athletes the respect they deserve.

Here's an unconventional poem about skiing by Martin Steingesser. I like the way his words imitate the motion of skiing.

Shhussssss

             sssss! stop -steel
edge/to/ice/edge
                  d
                     o
                        w       up
                           n
                                        over
                                 the world
                    between outstretched arms

                              below
                       trees like dark fur
                  on a small 
                                bear

                          so
                    still
                           closely gray barkblur&sun
                                                            -lightflash-
                                                                              ing

                             the distance
still
                         and clear
             clear as a
                                  tink 
                                        of  ice
                             across the blue
                                     snow mountain
air
                

Defense

It's tempting to say that defense is simple. All you need to have is the courage and toughness to go after an opponent. Of course Courage and Toughness are essential traits a defender must possess, but defense is hardly a matter of JUST willingness.

There is a lot of talk from Sacramento Kings coaches and players about how badly they play defense. You won't get an argument from me. Defensively, they suck royally - individually and as a team. However, the Kings are not the only team in the NBA this season that is playing atrocious defense. Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Utah, the Knicks, New Orleans, Denver, Minnesota, are all AWFUL.

I want to make a few observations about defense, that by no means provides all of the things a player needs to be aware of to play good D, but I believe are the principal keys to becoming a strong defender.

Primarily, the burden of how good a defensive team is falls on the INDIVIDUAL There are many professional basketball players who don't know how to play defense. Either they were never taught or they refused to learn. (Shame on any high school or college coach who uses only zone defenses and does not teach man to man D. You know who you are.)

There is one overriding principal for playing strong INDIVIDUAL defense. Just as players must ATTACK on OFFENSE, players must ATTACK on Defense. They must do their best to unnerve the opponent they are guarding. That means a defensive player must get in his opponent's face, belly up, refuse him the opportunity to go where he wants to go or to have a good view of the passing lanes.

If your opponent picks up his dribble, as a good defender you must swarm him. Make him make a difficult pass. If your opponent is cutting, make the cut hurt. If he is running off a screen, force him back the way he came. In all circumstances, BE PHYSICAL!

A defensive player one pass  away from the ball must crowd his opponent so the ball handler can't make the easy pass. All players must know where the ball and their man is at all times and be ready to HELP. All players must stay alert to the skip pass and be ready to CLOSE OUT fast and hard. In today's NBA, this is essential. In today's NBA, it is also essential that players learn how to defend against the pick and roll.

MESCHERY'S PRINCIPALS
     #1 All good jump shooters must be fouled hard on the first shot they attempt.
     #2 No player should make an easy layup. Contest everything in the paint.
     #3 Playing defense hurts. Suck it up and live with it.
     #4 When you fight over a screen, be sure the screener feels the effect of your effort. He'll not be
          so eager to set the next screen.
     #5 NEVER give up on a defensive assignment.
     #6 Take every defensive assignment personally.

The following is one of my favorite poems about sports and life by David Allen Evans

Bus Depot' Reunion

Just over the edge 
of my Life a young sailor
bounds from a Greyhound's 
hiss into his mother's hug,
steps back, trades hands 
with his father, then turns
to an old, hunched man
maybe his grandfather -

no hand, no word goes out,
they regard each other,

waiting for something, and
now their hands cup,

they begin to crouch
and spar, the old man

coming on like a pro,
snuffling, weaving,

circling, flicks
out a hook like a lizards's tongue,

the boy ducking, countering,
moving with his moves,

biffing at the bobbing
yellow grin, the clever

head, never landing a real
punch, never taking one

until suddenly, exactly
together they quit,

throw an arm around each other
and walk away laughing. 

Monday December 9, 2013

This is an important date because what I witnessed last night, I have not witnessed in the five years I have lived in Sacramento. Last night I saw the Sacramento Kings of the NBA play basketball like it's supposed to be played. That is: players passing to each other, setting screens, making the extra pass, rebounding, defending vigorously, talking to each other on D,  relying on their offensive sets to produce open shots, and playing with enthusiasm. The result was a resounding, effective win over the Dallas Mavericks, a team that has been playing surprisingly well this early in the NBA season, and certainly no push-over.

The Kings' new owner, Vivek Ranafdive and his partners, promised the the River City a good product and it looks as if they are keeping their word. While the reborn Kings were thumping the Mavs, the three new players that were acquired the previous day from the Toronto Raptors watched their new team. They couldn't have been anything but impressed. One of those players, Rudy Gay (who Memphis stupidly traded away last year to the Raptors) should turn out to be the small forward the Kings have been desperately seeking lo these many years. Gay has the ability to create on his own, a Go-To Guy as the clock ticks down to the last seconds. How the other two players, Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray will fit in is anybody's guess. Big kuddos have to go out to GM Pete D'Alessandro who orchestrated the trade.

I was also relieved that the Kings have finally had the good sense to see what point guard rookie and second round draft choice, Ray McCullam can do. His minutes against the Mavs was too brief to tell, but I predict that one of these days, sooner rather than later, he will be the Kings true Point Guard. No disrespect to the Pizza Guy Isaiah Thomas, who will always be an asset as the sixth man, a scorer and a disruptor, and deservedly a fan favorite.

The following poem should remind us all of our childhood days.

Playing the Game by Barbara Goldowsky

You stick out your fist: stone
breaks my two fingers playing scissors.

You offer your hand, open.
I shred the palm: it's paper.
I am still scissors.

Have you no heart? you ask.
But I am stone.

Your hand is still paper,
you wrap me up:
closer than blades,
harder than hearts. 

Some Thoughts About NBA Teams on November 22, 2013

Teams in the NBA fall into four categories: Competitors, Over-Achievers, Under-Achievers, and Non-Achievers. Competitive teams are those that have a realistic chance to go far in the playoffs. Over-Achieving teams are those that have limited personnel but are working hard as a team and could surprise, but in the end don't have a chance of going beyond the first round of the playoffs. The Underachieving Teams are the ones with reasonably strong personnel, but not playing to their potential for one reason or another. In my experience, underachieving teams usually don't get it together. Non-achieving Teams are just that, weak. They are weak for a number of reasons: marginally talented players, players who are quite talented but don't play as a team, ineffective coaches, ineffective administration, ineffective ownership or team in the midst of rebuilding, the Magic and Celtics for example. These teams will remain at the bottom of their divisions throughout the season.

Competitors: LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma City Thunder, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls. However, these team should not be too caught up in their greatness or one of the over-achieving teams will surprise them.

Over-achievers: Dallas Mavericks, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Blazers. Charlotte Bobcats, Toronto Raptors. Each of these teams are probably one solid draft pick or strong trade away from becoming a Competitive Team. Hats off to these teams, especially the Bobcats.

Under-Achievers: Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets. On paper, lots of star power, but. . . Get your s--t together fellows or you're going to be an embarrassment.

Non-Achieviers: LA Lakers, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavs, Boston Celtics. Something is fundamentally wrong with these teams. Such as: they lack the right personnel, good coaching, imaginative administration, inspired ownership. They maybe on their way up (rebuilding, Magic and Celtics for example) or on their way down, (teams that don't have a clue), but you won't see any Non-Achievers in the playoffs this season.

The Winter Olympics are coming up. I've been watching the U.S. Curling Trials on TV. It's more exciting than watching the Bucks play the Cavs. Here's a poem I wrote about the sport of Curling.

Curling by Tom Meschery

Let's hear it for curling, a sport in which
two brooms, like blockers in the NFL
(I"m thinking Packers, Greenbay in the snow)
lead the running back, a guy named Stone
(not exceptionally fast, but relentless)
down the icy field; masked fans in parkas,
sipping from flasks. They're watching curling
on local ice, while I'm enjoying building
this extended metaphor, thinking that Milton,
had he a sense of humor, which there's no
evidence he possessed, might have appreciated.

My wife also enjoys curling. "What's not to like
about a sport played with brooms?" she asks.
"The ice needs cleaning, and the players
are only doing what any good wife would do."
She's talking to me while dusting,
which comes before vacuuming, a rule
in her sport that must never be broken.