It's Football Season!

I know it's a week late, but I am so excited that football season is finally upon us! Last week sparked the beginning of the Ohio high school football season. Where better to live during football season than in Ohio? Our high school football programs and traditions are among the best in the country, and the same goes for our collegiate programs. We of course have Ohio State, but we also have national power Mount Union amongst us. We are so privileged to live in a state that shows so much passion for the sport.

Football season is special.
It's Autumn, the cloudy skies and colorful leaves laying on the moist ground.
It's the beginning of a new school year, with the whole school getting excited for the Friday night matchups.
It is the whole community gathering at the same place at the same time to root and to critique.
It's the Friday Night Lights.
It's running down the field during opening kickoff.
The turnovers. The highlight reels.
It's high school student-athletes giving their all for a sport they love alongside the friends they love.
It's the memories.
It's graduating the year before, coming back to watch the game, and it turns out to be aspontaneous reunion.
It's having all the Seniors over at someone's house after the game, waking up sore early the next morning and migrating to films, together.
It's grabbing the newspaper as soon as you wake Saturday morning to catch up on all that happened the night before.
It's JV football, a time to nurse your sores (physical or emotional) while you still get to watch the game of football.
It's Friday night. It's Saturday night. It's a whole weekend.
It's going from the local games on Friday night to the big games at big venues on Saturday night.
It's the marquee matchups.
It's the high hopes and the letdowns.
It's the rivalries.
It's The Ohio State University.
It's the Horse Shoe verse the Big House.
It's the scarlet and gray verse the maize and blue.
During this time of year, football is life!

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Dogs are Part of the Family

There are not many things in this world of which I am scared; only three, in fact. They are 1) awkward conversational moments, 2) endless ocean waters, and 3) the possibility of never finding a wife. That's it. However, there's been something creeping up on me for almost a year now that is beginning to scare me a little bit. One of my dogs is getting very old, and I'm afraid we're going to have to put him down sometime soon.

Anyone who has ever lost or had to put down a pet knows how hard it is. As the title of this blog says, "Dogs are Part of the Family." I guess you could substitute "dogs" with "pets," but I don't really like cats or birds or fish or iguanas, or cows (don't ask), so I'll stick with dogs. When I was about 17 or 18 years old we had to put down one of our 3 dogs, Brownleg. He was my brother's dog, and we had had him for over 16 years before his hips and legs got too weak to go up/down stairs or sit/stand up without pain or any progress whatsoever. He was indeed part of our family. I thought my dad, brother, and myself were all "manly men" with your typical reserved emotions; but that is one thing that, no matter how mature you are or how far away you see it coming or how much you try to prepare, still gets to you. We ended up taking Brownleg to the vet and then buried him when we got home, completing one of the toughest days any of us have ever gone through.

Well, we've had our yellow lab Max ever since I was in grade school, at least 10-12 years I think. He has been the one dog out of our three that I have bonded with the most. I used to be the one at home during summers taking care of him and the other dogs while my parents were at work, and my brother was the one that bonded with Brownleg (that leaves my mother's dog, Mo, our black lab that is mentally retarded but is wearing on me). Outside of the 2 years when I lived in Columbus for college, Max has slept in my room since as long as I can remember. When I come home late at night (which is a lot), he is always there laying underneath the kitchen table waiting for me. As I walk past the table to my bedroom where my computer and television are, he gets up from underneath the table and follows me into the room every time and lays down at the foot of my bed on the white-hair-layered, navy blue carpet. He will wait there until I get off the computer and crawl into bed, and then he'll get up and put his head on the side of my bed and wait for my okay before jumping up.

That's how it used to be, at least. About 2-3 months ago there were a few nights in a row where he would try to jump up onto my bed and would get stuck halfway, like a rock-climber losing his grip on the very top rock of a cliff. It was weird, because I seriously think that Max was embarassed when this happened. For about a month, I had to help him up onto the bed every night because he wouldn't jump without any assistance. After a while, I needed to completely pick him up and put him on the bed. After doing that for a while, I decided to force him to try to get up himself; but he would get stuck, and I kept having to help him back down off the side of the bed without hurting himself. He would then turn and cower by the foot of my bed for the rest of the night. After a few nights of this, I stopped giving him the okay and made him sleep at the foot of my bed.

After I stopped allowing Max up on my bed, he caught on quickly like most smart dogs would. But for some reason earlier this week, I was laying in bed and he put his head up on the foot of my bed like old times, waiting for me to tell him it was okay. I thought he had given up since I had, but I patted the bed and said "okay." He jumped right up like a champ... So proud of him. So, all this week he's been sleeping on my bed. I know deep down, though, that we are both setting him up for failure. But as I told my mom earlier this year, Max may not live another year or maybe two, so I'll let him jump up as long as he's able. I can handle the more-than-regular vaccuuming of my floor and changing/cleaning of my top blanket(s). Remember, he is one hairy, shedding dog!

As I type, Max is laying sprawled out on the carpet behind me, between me and my television/bed. But who knows how long we'll have him. I know the day is coming when we'll have to get rid of him, and I am kind of scared - I am curious as to how I will react. But that is still a little while off, so why am I dwelling? He is part of the family, and we will enjoy him as long as he's still with us.

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Fantasy Football's Saddest Story

Every year I join a couple different fantasy football leagues, some on ESPN and others on Yahoo. I even used to host a competitive league every year for about 6+ years from during junior high until after high school. I always tried to be a fair and "professional" league commissioner when it came to the draft, the scoring system, the playoff structure, team transactions, and the overall operating of the league.

Ever since my friends have gone to college, it's been hard to maintain my own fantasy football league(s) each year, so I have focused more on joining others' leagues. Brian Teter runs a good league on ESPN that I enjoyed being a part of last year, even though I finished 2nd to last - it's not always about winning in fantasy football! I am in his league again this year and am ready to compete in the "knock-down, drag-out world of make believe football." (See Bud Light's Real Men of Genius: "Mr. Fantasy Football Manager Guy"... hilarious!)

Then there is another league I am in this year called "fantasy foozeball 2008" on Yahoo. There are 12 (twelve) teams in the league, so I thought it would be an interesting experience and a challenge as well. Those that are familiar with fantasy football know the disadvantages and lack of depth that come along with having a 12-team league when most leagues have 8-10 teams. Well, this league went downhill as soon as the draft was completed. It was an autopick draft; and when this happens, each member is basically at the mercy of the commissioner. Most commissioners will have a scheduled date and/or time for the draft and make sure all members of the league are aware when that is going to occur, but this league was not the case.

The commissioner set the draft status to "Ready" and the draft was completed a few hours later. However, that's not the aspect with which I have a problem. What I do have a problem with is how the draft went down, being the most shady draft I've ever been a part of. Well, I wasn't even a part of the draft, as it was almost done for us. A normal commissioner would set the draft status to "random" so that nobody has a clear advantage over anybody else. Up until this draft, I thought the worst case scenario was seeing the commissioner give himself the first overall pick. Maybe even worse than that would be setting up the draft to get the first overall pick and the first pick in each round thereafter. But no, what this commissioner did was worse than that. The person in charge of the league went and obviously hand-picked his team before the draft even started, and the rest of the teams were left to pick from whoever was still available. Remember, this is a 12-team league. Here is his roster accompanied by a brief explanation for those not familiar with the players' rankings:

QB- Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger
Explanation: Tom Brady was the #1 QB and #1 overall point-getter last year, and it wasn't even close. In many leagues he was the very first player drafted. He has all his receivers back and will be amazing again this year. According to ESPN, Ben Roethlisberger is the #5 QB in the NFL when it comes to fantasy, especially with the emergence of some of his receivers. Dont' worry, it gets better (or worse?).

WR- Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald, Braylon Edwards, Donte' Stallworth, Anthony Gonzalez
Explanation: Randy Moss is the #1 WR by far. Terrell Owens is easily the #2 WR. Edwards is the #4 WR, and Fitzgerald #11. Then he picked Stallworth 'cuz he's on the Browns and projected to be the #2 WR on the team behind Edwards (when Edwards doesn't get the TD catch, it's probably going to Stallworth), and Gonzalez 'cuz he is from Ohio State and has Peyton Manning throwing to him.

RB- Ladanian Tomlinson, Adrian Peterson, Frank Gore, Steven Jackson, Darren McFadden
Explanation: Probably the most ridiculous of all the positions, Tomlinson, Peterson, and Jackson are the #1, #2, and #3 ranked players in the entire draft (ahead of Tom Brady and Randy Moss) according to Yahoo, which is where this league is being hosted. Gore is the #7 RB, and McFadden is the big-name rookie from Arkansas that will be the primary back for Oakland this season.

TE- Jason Witten, K- Matt Stover, DEF- Chargers...
Explanation: I grouped this positions together since there is only one spot for each. I'll begin with Matt Stover at kicker. This is the weakest spot on the commissioner's team, yet Matt Stover is a sure Hall of Famer down the road, and the #1 most accurate kicker in the NFL's history. He is towards the back end of his career, but he's still been consistent over the years. Jason Witten at tight end is a highly-coveted pick. Although the tight end position was deep this year with 6-8 elite TE's out there, just having a TE of Witten's caliber is ridiculous considering the rest of his team. Last but certainly not least is his defensive team, the Chargers. Now, defenses can be inconsistent and somewhat unpredictable, and that is exactly why this team's manager picked San Diego: They are the #2 projected defense on Yahoo and #1 on ESPN, and they have been proven and consistent over the years.

Well, that is the team's roster of the worst screw-job I've ever seen in fantasy football. It was a very easy decision for me to drop all my players in that league and ask to be removed. Since then, I have been locked by the commissioner so I cannot post or trade or make any roster moves, which is awesome. Who cares? I'm also happy that someone other than the commissioner picked up some of my players which could help that person's team. After being through this situation and seeing how bad league commissioners can really get, I now see how good most commissioners are. Thank you, good guys!

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Ode to the Offensive Linemen

I have heard the Ode to the Offensive Linemen a number of times over the years, and they are all true. There are a number of verions out there, but this one, I think, may say it the best. Here's to you, offensive linemen!

Offensive Linemen,

I am an offensive lineman
You will not see my picture on posters in young boy’s rooms.
You will not see boys wearing my number on replica jerseys.
I am an offensive lineman.

If I do my job, you will hear the crowd cheer
for the man carrying the ball.
You will be amazed at the statistics
my quarterback and running backs achieve.
My team will be successful. If I don’t do my job,
you will hear my coach complain to me.
You will hear fans complain about
my poor effort and lack of ability.
My team will fail.
I am an offensive lineman.

I am part of a corp of dedicated athletes.
Practice is harder for me.
Sprints are not easy for me like those of swift feet.
Conditioning asks more of me than those who touch the ball.
I do not complain.
It is my back on which the team depends.
I must work harder - I have more responsibility.
I am an offensive lineman.

I do not play a talent position.
I play a skill position.
Talent players see their names in the paper.
'The line did a great job tonight'
the talented player says in the paper.
You see, I have no name.
I am an offensive lineman.

I hold no grudge for the accolades given to my backs.
They are my teammates.
Their achievement is my reward.
I am a member of a corp of dedicated athletes.

I do not thrive on personal praise, glory or recognition.
I am satisfied with the companionship, loyalty
and cooperation of my fellow offensive linemen.
Achieving honor together is greater
than anything I can accomplish myself.
I am proud of the job I do and I am proud of the job WE do.
What others do for personal glory I do for my team’s triumph.
I'll never complain.
I will endure whatever is necessary so that
My team, My school and My community will be celebrated.
I am an offensive lineman

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Ode to the Football Mom

I heard this poem on (and copied from) 98.1 WKDD this morning on my way to work, and it was very good! Fall is one of the best times of the year, especially in Ohio. Here's to all you football moms out there!

UPDATE: I have since been notified that the original author of this article/poem was Deb Krieg, and it was published in 1982. At the bottom of this page you can see a picture of the original publication, as well. Enjoy!

Football Moms,

You dreaded this year’s arrival, but it has come just the same - a year full of promise but so many “last times”.

You have been top-of-the-world elated when your son has a good night and endured his deathlike silences when he hasn’t. It is amazing how the family mood bobs with the rhythm of each game.

You have laughed, cried, screamed, sulked, pouted, sweat, pulled your hair, bit your nails, bit your tongue, paced, worried, shoved, frowned, and smiled all very gracefully and within a two hour span.

Such is the life of a Football Mom.

You may not be in on the big play, but you feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat right along with your son. You keep your composure when some fan behind you wants your son’s head while the opponent on the field is smashing it into the grass. “Get off him, that’s my baby”, you’d like to shout!

You breathe football at this time of year - especially this time of year when your heart whispers, “just a little longer”, as the season slides by. You plead and bargain, knowing full well that some other mother on the opponent’s team is making her own deal with the almighty, but you do it anyway, because you no more want it to end than your son does. You do not want to see the desperation in his eyes and the pain on his face as he struggles to put away childhood dreams. You are helpless in the stands with no way to make it better.

Is it worth it?

You bet it is!!!

Every lost sock and busy Friday night; every recovering Saturday; every aspirin; every ruined hair do; hot bath; goose bumps; and every obnoxious fan and sportswriter you’ve had to tolerate is worth it. The fun isn’t measured by how many times your son gets into the newspaper, the game or what he does when he gets there. The fun – what makes those trips to the ER for the pigskin stitches all worthwhile – is watching a game, watching what a sporting experience can do to convert your little boy into a young man. Watching him tackle the word and you have a front row seat!

You still see that rambunctious 5-year-old playing football in the yard. You bite your lip and hold back the tears because though you are fiercely proud of the man, you miss the boy. In fact, you mourn for all the little boys. You have watched them grow up together, plot and scheme together, win and lose together. They have raided your kitchen, camped out in your basement, stole your heart. They are blessed with something they will never have again. They know it and you know it.

So you pray that wonder will last another game, and then another, because as long as it does, you hang on to a piece of your boy for a bit longer. Watching him walk off that field one last time will be no less painful than giving birth to him all those years ago.

Enjoy the season moms – you’re the best! And, hey guys – don’t forget to give mom a bigger hug this week as the season starts. There’s nobody in the stand cheering for you harder!
http://wkdd.com/pages/mattpatrickarchive.html?feed=270635&article=4084239

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Unbelievable High School Coaching Situation

I have removed my post, but you are still able to read the comment that someone posted.

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

Don't Doubt Baseball

Recently, on JJHuddle, there were a few people that were bashing the sport of baseball saying how it was easy and how you don't have to be a good athlete and were complaining about kids playing Summer baseball and so on. It didn't really strike a nerve with me, but it did prompt the following post, which I thought could serve as a nice little blog entry. The rest of this entire entry is my post:

I was reading the debate about baseball, and, being a high school varsity baseball coach, I thought I'd chime in. I hope I don't get too lengthy, and I don't mean to "preach" at all. I hope I am not reopening a can of worms or dragging back out the dead horse, but I am just sharing my perspective and personal opinions. :-)

Baseball is not an easy sport. It may be a "boring" sport for spectators that don't enjoy or understand the game, but it is not easy. Chemistry, attitude, and leadership are equally as important in baseball as they are in football or any other sport for that matter. They carry a little different role in each sport, but they are just as important to their respective sports. Football is the more obvious team game, where you must have everyone doing the right thing at the right time. Baseball is just as much of a team sport involving chemistry, but it's not nearly as obvious. Not even considering off the field and in the dugout stuff (that's a whole different ball game, there), chemistry on the baseball diamond, especially defensively, is equally as important. (The only exception might be the excessive chemistry needed for a cohesive offensive line unit, which I admire and admit.) When you have two middle infielders turning a double play, there needs to be excellent chemistry betewen them to be consistently good over the course of a season (see Omar Visquel and Robbie Alomar). You can't replace Omar Visquel with Ozzie Smith, and visa versa, and expect the same results! (Well, maybe with Ozzie Smith, but you get the picture. :-) ) Certain pitchers throw to a different catcher than the full-time/"every day" catcher because they work with that catcher more often. And so on and so forth.

As outfielders (outfield is my "specialty", if you will), knowing how the other outfielders play, their range, their vocal tendencies, etc. are all important when fulfilling your job as an outfielder. You can't always teach these things. Outfielders/outfielders and even outfielders/infielders must work as one unit as well. I preach to my outfielders the importance of communication... not just between the outfielders themselves, but with the rest of the team for various reasons, into which I won't go in fear of boring you. Baseball is not a one-person sport. You can only have your stud hitter get up every 9 batters, whereas you can easily give your best athlete the football every other play or your best basketball player the ball every posession. You will never see a single player dominate because of his physical prowess in baseball like you will in football or basketball. Pitchers are the lone exception because of how they can be put on a pedastil after a dominating performance (I wouldn't even call it an exception, since it isn't necessarily their physical prowess that allows them to dominate, as it is their technique and mind/location.)

All in all, baseball is a game of little things, just like any other sport. QB's and WR's throw on the field every day after lifting during the summer... baseball players play baseball games against other schools... basketball players play games against other schools. I read similar comments a while back on here - where football and basketball players can more easily be athletes and succeed, good baseball players need to be good baseball players, and you become a better baseball player by practicing. Being a student of the game is just as important, if not more important in baseball than the others. That's why there is winter hitting league, Baseball season, then Summer baseball, then Fall baseball, as opposed to Football season and the generally referenced "offseason." Don't get me wrong, I am not for Fall baseball. I want every kid to play 2 or 3 sports, as many as he is able to play. All the coaches at our school encourage multiple sports. Sometimes it is hard recognizing the fine line between the end of baseball (or any non-Fall sport activities) and the beginning of football, and so on, but that's the risk you take. We had a good discussion about that in relation to Smithville. It's a delicate subject.

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum

College Really Does Pay Off

All my friends and I have been complaining for years about our college debt and have dreaded repaying our student loans. Every once in a while in our conversations, the point will be brought up that it would have been so much cheaper just not going to school, and that the time spent in class could have been spent getting a start on a job. Through my personal experiences and those of my friends, though, I can tell you that you are not better off staying out of school.

We all know how expensive college is, but there are so many more advantages you will gain by going through school than the single disadvantage of another payment for so many years after you graduate. First of all, possibly the most underrated aspect of college is education. What you learn in college (or at least from some type of post-high school educational institute) is invaluable. That education is not always directly translatable into exactly what you will be doing when on the job, but the experience you gain in a variety of aspects of your major is a huge benefit. Also, many colleges and universities don't just have professors - they have experienced professionals that have worked in the field for so many years and held so many positions. This is huge, too! I know at DeVry University (where I went to school), every single professor I had had been a full-time professional for at least 5 years in that field sometime in their life. My psychology professor was a full-time psychologist. My public speaking instructor was originally a public speaker and corporate trainer for some of the biggest companies in the world Those are just a few examples, not to mention the countless programmers and business analysts that taught me.

Outside of the education, universities want their students to succeed (it looks good on their record, too!), so they will do everything in their power to make sure their students get the correct education and get placed into their desired field of study after graduation. I learned this first hand with my career services advisor, Veronica, whose number I even have in my cell phone. I worked closely with her (mostly because of her desire to help in my job search) not only with job search but also picked her brain for the unique knowledge she had of hundreds of companies that had hired from DeVry in the past. She knew managers and presidents, she knew hiring and interviewing techniques specific to each company, she knew what companies had awesome reputations, average ones, and those which she flat out told me not to pursue. She was a huge help in the development of my career, and I am thankful. Every school has career services advisors, though, even high schools. Use them!

Your work experience and job search doesn't start when you graduate, though. Some people, before they go to college, say "I think I might look for a part-time job on campus when I'm at school to earn a little extra money." Unfortunately, that's not how it works at a lot of schools. Almost every school for which I have examined their educational processes actually forces their students to engage in an official, professional internship in their field of study. First of all, this helps encourage kids to get off their butts when in the dorm and look for the right internship instead of getting what's left when the time comes, and it also adds the #1 most precious item to your resume: Work Experience! Though all my experiences (worked in my field of study at an Internet Service Provider, Software Company, and where I'm at now as an Applications Developer/Programmer), I have been reminded over and over again how important relevant work experience is for your resume and ultimately obtaining a real job. And this internship (and any other relevant) work experience will raise your entry level pay quite considerably! One note I must add, though, is that finding the right internship, making it work, and then participating adequately in your post-college job search takes lots of effort on your part. I never said it was easy!

Relevant work experience is the biggest advantage of internships for your career/resume (along with the potential to stay with the company full-time after the internship is over), but it isn't the biggest part of your interview. What is the most important part of your interview? Relevant work experience? No. Hard skills in the field? No. It is your personality! It may be hard to beleive for some of you, but it's true. Maybe not back in the day, but it is really what companies are turning to in today's working society. The better the person, the better work that person will do. They can be taught. (Some companies' specialty is proving training.) At IGC Software in Columbus where I used to work, there were three others interviewing for the same position. After I had gone through my second interview, I was still in the office taking my tour when another guy, who came in after me, had interviewed and left before I got back. I asked about that, and the employer said the following: "He was as stale as a bag of crackers. No personality. He sure knew his stuff, that's for sure! But he would not fit in here, working with us." Never forget that!

That's about all I have to say about college at this point. There are so many other advantages - living on your own, developing even more responsibility and discipline, re-recognizing your values and beliefs (not changing, but strengthening), and so on. Many have had negative experiences at college, and many times it's the result of a combination of a run of bad luck, a professor or two that got you off on the wrong foot, family problems, and so on. So many variables... but in the end, I wouldn't trade my expensive, distant, uncomfortable college times for anything.

May God continue to bless you.
-Marcum