Hyenas
Just a short post today. I started coaching my oldest son’s basketball league this week. Our first practice was Monday. Our team name is the Hyenas and a more apt team name was never given. I say that because 4 of the players are actual wild dogs, which really surprised me at first since dogs are not known for being good at team sports. Actually, it is because so far the thing the kids are best at is giggling like Hyenas. While that trait makes teaching the finer points of the “triple-threat” position somewhat challenging, I think it is great. My team appears to be made up of kids who are silly and fun-loving which, in my book, is exactly what you should be as a 7 year old.
Of course, we could go the entire year having a great time and learning about being nice to your teammates and that playing sports can be fun and never win a single game, but something tells me this team’s fanbase would be alright with that. I know I would be and if you knew me when I was younger (and by “younger” I mean earlier than a few weeks ago) you would never think I would make that statement. But my uber-competitive streak has slowly given over to the joy of seeing kids having fun. Of course, ultimately they will have even more fun if they win, but we can wait until their 8 for that kind of pressure.
If I thought they would get it, I might share this story to help reinforce my desire that they will bond as teammates. A player for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team whose Mom calls him Andy and I call “Side show Bob” because of his cartoonish hair, recently ended a prolonged contract dispute/holdout with his team. The holdout drew the ire of many fans of that team. He returned to the court last night as did injured megastar (on the same team), Lebron James…maybe you’ve heard of him. Well to everyone’s shock, Lebron did not start the game and instead came off the bench. When asked why, Lebron said that he requested to come off the bench and enter the game with Side show Bob so the fans could not boo without booing him as well. He said, “he’s my teammate and I had to protect him.”
Whether or not you sympathize with athletes in contract disputes, that was one very cool move by a guy whose ego allows people to call him King James. I already like Lebron, but now I really do. I hope someday some of my Hyenas will want to stick up for their friends like that.
Of course, we could go the entire year having a great time and learning about being nice to your teammates and that playing sports can be fun and never win a single game, but something tells me this team’s fanbase would be alright with that. I know I would be and if you knew me when I was younger (and by “younger” I mean earlier than a few weeks ago) you would never think I would make that statement. But my uber-competitive streak has slowly given over to the joy of seeing kids having fun. Of course, ultimately they will have even more fun if they win, but we can wait until their 8 for that kind of pressure.
If I thought they would get it, I might share this story to help reinforce my desire that they will bond as teammates. A player for the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team whose Mom calls him Andy and I call “Side show Bob” because of his cartoonish hair, recently ended a prolonged contract dispute/holdout with his team. The holdout drew the ire of many fans of that team. He returned to the court last night as did injured megastar (on the same team), Lebron James…maybe you’ve heard of him. Well to everyone’s shock, Lebron did not start the game and instead came off the bench. When asked why, Lebron said that he requested to come off the bench and enter the game with Side show Bob so the fans could not boo without booing him as well. He said, “he’s my teammate and I had to protect him.”
Whether or not you sympathize with athletes in contract disputes, that was one very cool move by a guy whose ego allows people to call him King James. I already like Lebron, but now I really do. I hope someday some of my Hyenas will want to stick up for their friends like that.
Comments
I imagine G-2 loves watching G-1 on the court.
I had an idea, see what you think. You know how at work you always get 9,000 work related emails that are really just junky-junk and meaningless? How about if I post a few of those emails on Josh's blog anytime he goes 10 days without posting?
Here's a good sample:
"The scores are reported on a scale called the RIT scale. RIT stands for Rasch UnIT, a measurement scale developed to simplify the interpretation of test scores. This scale is used to measure student achievement and student growth. The scale is an equal-interval scale, like a yardstick in inches, so that a change of one unit indicates the same change in growth, regardless of the actual numerical values. RIT scores range from about 150 to 300. RIT scores make it possible to follow a student’s educational growth from year to year."
What do you think??? Yea or Nay?
"District Staff:
DataPort will be offline today at 11 AM as we move the four DataPort servers to a new location. The move should take no more than 30 minutes. We appreciate your patience during the move."
And there's PLENTY more where that came from....
G-1 and Randy:
Aproximadamente a las 7:50 de la mañana hoy, el 20 de diciembre, la oficina recibió una noticia de que alguien escuchó unos tiros cerca de la escuela. Según la póliza del distrito y bajo la dirección del departamento de policía de XXXXXXX, la escuela se puso en lockdown, que es cuando cerramos todas las puertas y ventanas y nos escondemos adentro de los salones. Luego supimos que la causa fue unos cazadores que estaban cazando en propiedad privada afuera de los límites de la cuidad. Durante todo el tiempo los estudiantes estaban seguros y los maestros los aseguraba de que todo estaba bien. El lockdown se acabó a las 8:20 y a esa hora todos siguieron con sus actividades normales. Como siempre, en una situación como eso la seguridad de los estudiantes es nuestra primera prioridad.
Yeah, you can tell what my day was like....
It would be ideal if we could have 2 from each middle school to try this program out and give us some feedback at the end of the year. Tim suggested selecting teachers who are in the PRS meeting that day since we already have subs - but if you have another interested teacher that would be OK too.