!@#*% Referees

O.k. I need to vent a little. Let me preface this by saying I hate to complain about referees because I know it is usually the losing team that does that BUT today was horrible. We had a Ref on our sideline that did not call anything all day except 3 sideline warnings for us being to close to the field(and maybe for expressing our feelings on his lack of officiating). I would not be as upset if I felt he just made bad calls because I understand people see things differently but he was just inept he would not make a call and he really blew a call by doing nothing at all. The game was a real battle the score was 0-0 with about 50 seconds to go they had the ball and we stripped the ball from there running back and one of our players jumped on the ball and was down. Well a Bingham kid jumped on ours and wrestled the ball away from us. The ref from the other side did not have a good view and all he saw was the Bingham player come out with the ball however the ref on our side had the same view as us but he would not blow his whistle and tell the other ref what he saw. It was like he was afraid to say anything to the older refs. Just to show you his knowledge of the game he was suppose to be officiating, we asked him if the game goes into overtime do we start from the 10? We all knew the answer but wanted to see what he said...Well he thought for a second and then said "I don't know" are you kidding me? We pay for this??? There really should be some sort of qualifications that the officials should meet. Anyways it was like not have an official on our side of the field.O.k. I am done.

ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE.....


The game was a defensive battle and know one could score they drove the ball a few times but we always stopped them down inside the 20. Micah had a great game he had an interception in the end zone and had several good runs. But he doesn't care because we lost the game. Bingham scored with 10 seconds left. Which they shouldn't have even had the ball because of the fumble. I don't know if we would have won for sure, but it should have gone into overtime. We beat them in 3 overtimes the last time we played and there is a good chance we could see them again in the playoffs. I was really proud of our boys they fought hard and never gave up. Bingham is so much bigger than us but we did not back down. We just have to put this game behind us and get ready for Riverton.

Taming the Grizzles

Well Saturday started early for us, we had a 9:00 am game @ Copper Hills (7800 S0. 5200 W) We met at McDonalds and left at 7:15. We had game film on Copper Hills so we felt prepared as possible. The field was pretty crappy it was high on one end of the field than the other so you were either running up hill or downhill slightly. During warm ups on of our players was running out for a pass and just fell, I could not figure out what he was doing then he stood up and said there was a hole. We went and looked and there was a hole a good 5-6 inches deep, he was lucky he didn't break his ankle. We put one of are orange cones in it and you could only see about 2 inches sticking out. They did come and fill it in about the 2nd quarter. Once the game started we played pretty good, Micah had some big runs and we were moving the ball really well until we fumbled it. :( But our defense was tough and we got the ball back and ended up scoring 20 points in the first half and we did not let them score. In the 2nd half we didn't score but we kept them from scoring until about 2 minutes left in the game. The nice thing about being up by 20 is that you can get everyone into the game and get them more minutes than they might get in a tight game And they deserve it after all they work hard all week in practice. After Saturday everyone in our league has at least one loss so there is like a 5 way tie for first place. It will be a tight race right till the end, last year we had a 4 way tie for 2nd place and had to have a playoff to get in.
Micah running the ball for a first down.

Tamming the Grizzless

Ouch!

So Wed. night in practice Micah was diving for a fumble and landed on his shoulder and it kind of just stuck in the turf. I did not realize at the time that he had hurt it. At the end of practice he told me it was bothering him and what had happened but he kept practicing so I thought it was nothing more than a bruise. Knock on wood Micah has not been hurt to often. It bothered him a bit that night and I told him to see how it felt in the morning, well in the morning it still hurt but he got up and went to school and I kind of forgot about it until he texted me and said it hurt and did not feel right. So I took him in and got it looked at and he had strained some muscle around the rotator cuff. They said it was the most rare muscle to strain on the rotator cuff. Anyways the good news is it was not the rotator cuff and that it would heal on it's own with a little help from some daily Aleve for 10 days. Micah was bummed because they told him NO contact for 2-3 days because it is really weak and if he got hit or fell on it wrong he could make it worse, which means he had to watch all the contact drills at practice. He tried to tell me it felt fine and he could hit but I reminded him that he could make it worse and maybe miss the game. So he did the smart thing and just watched. But he should be o.k. to play Sat. This Sat. we play Copper Hills who we barely beat last year by a touchdown.

Beating the Beatdiggers!!!

Well it is already Thursday and I thought I better mention last Sat. game against Jordan before we play again. Last Saturday we played Jordan and it proved to be a close game. Last year we beat Jordan pretty good. But because of the rule that Sophomores can play down on the 9th grade teams last year really doesn't mean much. From what we heard this Jordan team has 6 Sophomores. They had won there first two games and had not even been scored on, although they were not against really tough teams. The game started out really tough. We got the ball first and went on a long drive that took the whole first quarter but we didn't score. Then we went back and forth they couldn't score and we couldn't score a real defensive battle. Then in the 2nd quarter we scored on an interception, our end made a really good play and picked of a screen pass and returned it about 40 yards for the score. Then we scored again on a long pass and that was how the game stayed until the last about 3 min of the game when Jordan picked off a pass and then scored on the next play so it was 14-7 with about 3 min left. We got the ball but could not get a first down so we had to punt. They then scored again on another long pass. But then they fumbled the snap on the extra point and we got the ball back and ran out the clock. The final score Viewmont 14 - Jordan 13. Whew!!!!!!

The Small Things

Isn't it funny that in our busy lives it is sometimes the small thoughtful things that can really make your day. Payton left this on my white board in my office.

Still got it (if I ever had it)

Looking up the river from Michigan Ave.

Well I am home from Chicago. I am disappointed in the mobile blogger, I set this whole blog up so I could blog and post pictures for my family while I was gone. By the way the mobile blogger works great from home. I thought I would put down some of the events anyways.O.k. so I am walking up Michigan Ave. in the pouring rain with Greg another Riddell rep. When a woman coming out from the opposite directions get right up next to me and yells out "Hey Baby" I was a bit surprised and managed to get out a "hey" back at her, I just kept walking afraid to look back in fear she might be following. I looked over at Greg who was laughing and said " I guess I still got it" even though she was obviously drunk and had a wooden leg. O.k. I am not sure she had a wooden leg but she had one heck of a limp. If nothing else it was good for a laugh. Also when I was leaving in O'Hare waiting for my plane I saw Oprah's boyfriend checking in at the same gate. I wasn't sure who he was at first just that he looked familiar and yes I am embarrassed to know what Oprah's boyfriend looks like. Then I heard the ticket agent say his name so I called Karrie and asked if that was him and sure enough it was.

Off to Chicago

Well it is that time of year that I head off to my annual meetings with Riddell. I thought it would be a good time to try the mobile blogger. So here I go, all of the pictures are taken with my phone so they might not be that great. I hate leaving my family any time of the year but it is really hard this time of the year because I miss a football game (Micah's) and I am nervous the whole time calling Karrie trying to get updates and today we lost to Brighton so it makes it that much worse. Well today was pretty uneventful I spent 3 hours on a plane getting to Chicago and another hour getting luggage and waiting for the bus to take us to the resort. When I started with Riddell I made friends with 3 other guys that I was trained with Luke who is from Southern California and Kevin who is from Boston and Dan who is from Miami. The best part of this 4 day event is getting to hang out with them. The hotel is a really nice Hilton resort about 30 min. outside of Chicago. When I got on the Bus Luke was on the same bus so we got caught up. The last 2 years I roomed with a guy from Alabama. So when I was checking in today I thought I would be with the same guy but I was happy to find out that I was rooming with Luke. Luke is a good guy, a fairly new Dad his daughter is almost 2 and he is also a college football coach in California so we always have something to talk about. After we got to the Hotel they had lunch/dinner for us then we had to sit through 2 long, long hours of the opening meeting. Tomorrow will be a long day of classes they start at 8:30 and go til 4:30 with an hour for lunch and I thought church was long! Well this is a pretty boring blog, but so was my day. I really miss not being able to tuck my girls into bed at night and locking down the house. I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Hotel lobby from my window on the 5th floor.