Last night Bryan went to the first football game of the season as part of the band. It was an "away" game so we decided to follow him up there to show support and just because we wanted to hear and see him play in the band. It was his first "performance" with the high school band (having progressed upward from "beginner" band to "intermediate band and now on to the "big time". They sounded very good and the team won the game. They skunked them, 21-0.

The one thing I noticed more than anything was the coaches excessive behaviour. Ranting, raving, over-reacting...badically taking it WAY too seriously. My wife says all coachs are like that these days.

You have to wonder what kind of message that sends to the kids. They look up to these coaches and not a few model their behaviour after them. What do they see? A grown man acting like he's a few years younger than they are, with absolutely no self control.

Maybe it's a good thing that the players have a coach that so obviously wants the team to be victorious. But I also have to wonder how much of it is "for show". This particular coach is so popular that, when he told the administration that he was stepping down so that his wife (a teacher) could take a job at another school, they fired another teacher on the faculty so they could give her the position.

When I was a kid, there was only one coach who got slightly excitable, and of course he was well loved by his players. But I never saw him go halfway as ballistic as this guy.

But he teams win. And that, my friends, is the only thing that matters in a small town that has nothing whatsoever to do on Friday nights than go to the high shool football games.

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