Passion

When I retire I am going to collect my thoughts and write a book.  My guess is that I would sell ONE copy!!!   I've got some logic on people's general desire to belong to groups, and some thoughts on the importance of passion in life.  

Rod Stewart had in right when he wrote the following... 

"Even the president needs passion

Everybody I know needs some passion

Some people die and kill for passion

Nobody admits they need passion"

I have come to believe that it's really important to be passionate about something ... not to the crazed level, but probably close...

I suspect people can be passionate about work, church, hobbies, activities, and probably not many limits...  passions change as you age, quality over quantity, and I assume a healthy component of a fulfilling life... I have mine...

Andrew has played hockey for 6 years.  I think it is an amazing TEAM sport.  The movie Miracle, and the whole 1980 USA Olympic Hockey team story is the greatest sport story of all time... but the odd part is that I DON'T skate... never played hockey...

I hope during my parenting years I can help cultivate passions in my kids lives... I’m sure I would do anything to support their passion... not sure it has to be obvious... 

I am sitting at an ice rink watching my son play 3 on 3 at open hockey for the Alliance Bulldogs...

Something STRANGE has happened over the last two weeks...  for each of the last 16 days my son has been on the ice a minimum of an hour, up to three hours...  he asked me to take him to open hockey, and he played a game this morning... he is starting to ask about specific equipment, says his new skates are amazing and is mad the NHL is on strike ... he is stick handling and shooting in the garage... 

I NEVER expect him to play in the NHL... but way more important, I think he may have FOUND IT!!!

"DADDY BALL" Baby!!!

A player on our Texas Glory Adkins Team just quit this weekend, a day before a tournament.  Her Dad sent emails to the Coach, and other parents explaining why his daughter quit the team.  Among numerous factual inaccuracies, and obvious vision problems he was pretty "mean" to the coach.  The Coach has given up his time for the team...  until you've done it you don't know how much time it takes...

Yes, and as hard as it is to believe, he spent a good amount of typing complaining about me.  My goodness, he said our team was all "DADDY BALL".  So, I did a Google search on "DADDY BALL" and found this excerpt from an article.

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 “We lost that game because of Daddy Ball.”  Maybe I am a little slow at times to figure things out, but either way, the light bulb in my head finally turned on and I realized what “Daddy Ball” is all about.   Ah ha!  We blame losses on coach’s kids.  One of the coach’s kids makes an a couple errors and the manager stays with him or the manager’s son is pitching and can’t throw a strike and he leaves him in there and he walks the park.  Manager’s son plays short stop the whole game and can’t catch a cold, costs the team runs, and we never switch him out.   These are only a few of many “Daddy Ball” examples out there, and I am sure that if I were to ask, I would hear a hundred or so more!  Are people who say those things justified?  Are managers and coaches guilty of this?  Is there a way to fix this?

For what it is worth, here are my two cents on the topic.  First of all, it is impossible to rid the world of “Daddy Ball.”  And to be honest, I feel we sometimes use this term as a crutch or a way to justify a loss.  Basically, “Daddy Ball” is playing favorites, plain and simple.  The coach and or manager are accused of playing his favorite players (the coaching staff’s kids) in the most critical positions because of the game because he can. "

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You can also search Google and find the same article.  There is more... but, since I was the "target" of the DADDY BALL comparison, I assume based on what I have read, that Maddie is the reason we occasionally loose our championship game... because Maddie is pitching, or hitting in the position she is...  um, ... if that is his perception, I guess it wouldn't be worth my effort to argue.  And it is probably a good decision for them to move to a better team.

He did give some publicity to this blog... told the parents I was egotistical, and that is why I keep the blog...  I guess he didn't read all the blog posts...

Ten years ago, I would have written a two page email response... now, I have realized that you can't please everyone all the time...