Some Thoughts on Coaching

   If I were the coach, I'll tell you what I'd do.
   I'd say, We have no starters, we have guys who are playing well. And, each game, the guys who were playing well would be the ones who started. No permanent starters, just guys who were hot.
   Occasionally, I'd hold short scrimmages the day of the game, telling the players they were auditioning for the starting spots. And, the guys who did well in the five-minute preview would win the right to start. If they were hot the day of the game, hopefully it would carry into the game.
   Good play would always be rewarded. If you entered the game, and the team was doing well with you on the court, I'd be slow to pull you out. The players would come to realize they always had an opportunity. They could show themselves in practices or they could show themselves in the games, but whenever they did show themselves, they would be rewarded with playing time.
   You've always got a chance. No one is buried at the end of the bench without hope of playing.
   And, I'd be a scouting freak. I'd look at every player on the opposing team, studying all the shots they made, and all the shots they missed -- especially all the shots they missed. Were there commonalities? What about commonalities in the defense played against them? Were they missing shots when hands were in their faces, or when the defender was right in front of them? Did they succumb to trash talk, or respond well to trash talk? When a second defender was sent to cover them, did they get rid of the ball, or take the shot anyway? What were the commonalities in their turnovers?
   We'd find the weaknesses, and attack those weaknesses.
   And, I'd be a stat freak -- with the stats that counted most. I'd pay some mind to the plus-minus. If the team performed well while you were on the court, that would mean something to me. But, the real type of statistic I would be looking at would be those such as the true shooting percentage and points per shot. I'd be looking at turnover ratio -- how many times you turned the ball over per how many times you handled it. I'd look at rebounds.
  And, I'd create what might be a new statistic: How many points per shot did the player make who you were guarding and how many times did he turn over the ball? I'd factor those two things together and call it your defensive ratio.
  I'd hail the assist. If you found an open teammate, I'd not fail to take note. I would have more than one stat to follow assists.
   You want to play, just show yourself in the stats that matter.
   But, all the stats and scouting in the world do not translate into wins if you are not preaching self-belief. You win games because players believe. I'd be a praising coach. I'd be a loving coach. I'd be a positive coach. I would look each player in the eye, and solemnly tell them they could get better. I'd try to be conscious of every good thing they did, and verbalize and recognize it.
  I'd preach happiness and a joy for the game. A player who is tight emotionally, misses physically. I wouldn't scar a guy for the misses he made, I'd throw my hands out like, "Oh, well," and smile at him, and promise him he'd make the next one.
  A player who fears is a player who loses. Don't teach them to fear their mistakes and they will be less likely to make them. The greatest driver of good play is a fervor to play the game. If you can enjoy the game, if you can relish the challenge, if you can keep in your mind's eye that you can succeed, you will win.
   Don't let your loses define you, and in the end, you will win. I would preach hope beyond each defeat. I would preach tomorrow and the need to make tomorrow today.
   I'd coach to the end of the bench. I'd talk to the guy not playing, and urge him to stay believing. I'd tell him to relax and not be upset about not playing, just be ready to come in and be a team player and play up to his capabilities when the moment came. Don't judge yourself by your lack of playing time, and maybe don't judge yourself at all, just come in relaxed and confident and believing when you do enter the court. And don't come in thinking you have to produce 10 points in five minutes because you are not going to have much time on the court. Just come in knowing you can play good ball. Come in knowing you are a player, and whatever happens in that five minutes -- good or bad -- you are a good enough player that it has a good chance to be good.
  I'd watch for that eyes-frozen-in-the-headlights look and drive it away. If they were in a slump, I'd teach them to return to their moments. Go back to the moment you were the star on the team, and remember your mental attitude and recreate it. In a way, live in your past, or at least use it for inspiration. Fixate on the mental attitude you had, and bring it into the present.
  Yes, scouting and stats and drawing Xs and Os are all part of coaching, but instilling belief in the player is the most important thing of all.
  Games are not so much won by Xs and Os, but by a fervor for playing the game. I think of one college coach, and of how many of his players move on to become pros early, even though they are not overly NBA-eligible players. I wonder at that. I wonder if they are failing to enjoy the game, so their decision to move on to the next level is as much of an escape as anything.
  And, I think of another coach, and of how he has his team playing relaxed and enjoying what they are doing. If you enjoy the game, you'll be more likely to win. Teach a love of the game, and not a fear, and you will be a successful coach.

We should not Send Them Back into the Eye of the Storm

  You don't gain refuge by standing in the storm. What are we asking of these immigrants? Are we suggesting they to return to the storm, and shake their fists at the sky?
   For, we do suggest that instead of coming to America, they should return and fix the problems of their own lands.
   These are the poor and the needy, and we would ask them to stand up to the crime lords and the corrupt governments? Storms are more powerful than those who stand beneath, shaking their fists. Even so, that is about all the power they have against those crime lords and corrupt governments. If they stay in the storm, they will only get swept away.
   If we know the meaning of refuge, we must see we cannot send them back into the eye of the storm. Screaming at the wind does not get you out of it. Shelter comes only from escaping the storm.

The founder of amnesty in the United States was one of the founders of our nation, Thomas Jefferson.

The Healing of a Hip is Evidence of Evolution

  I point to my own body as evidence of evolution. If I understand correctly, my hip is so damaged that it is not to make recovery. The only recovery available is through operation.
  Yet, against this wisdom, I have, most certainly, recovered, to some degree. Oh, I remain hobbled, limping, slow of pace, and far, far from whole. But, I have still made significant improvement.
   I thank my God, not Charles Darwin, but I see in what Charles Darwin taught as reason for why I may have had a small share of recovery. Darwin taught adaptation of species. He taught that the environment can shape the being. If you live in water, and need fins to cope, you might grow fins, as a species.
  I do not know that I believe that. I don't know whether it goes so far as one species evolving into another. But, I do believe in the body's ability to generate and create ways to respond to the environment. If it is injured, it begins a process to overcome that injury.
   Now, here is my significant thought for this evening: If there is something to evolution, to adaption of species, then that adaptation begins in the first generation, not the second. If we believe the change is transferred from one generation to the next, until millions of years later the change is completed, then the change begins in generation one.
   The body might die before the full change takes place. Healing from a hip takes time, and most might not have that time.
   But, the healing of a hip is evidence of evolution.

They say a bird will migrate,
They say a fish will, too,
Even little insects
To avoid being squished in two

Every major animal
They all go back and forth
So you begin to wonder if the human
Goes from some kind of south to north

I consider all the Christmases
All the Thanksgivings, too
I think of summer vacations
And, migrations to the zoo

Every form of life,
Has its migration set
And in the human's makeup
It's there, too, you can bet

Now, if you know migration
It's not just a yearly thing
Other forms of migration
Are more than a summer fling

Some animals flee the winter
Some come in search of food
But they all seek a better life
Where happy is more the mood

And so it is with the human
He comes from Honduras up
Just like an animal seeking shelter
From storms that might disrupt

Now, think of all this travel
By animals and man
And, notice every trip is taken
To reach beaches filled with sand

The migrants from old Mexico
And, those from Ecuador
They all have a reason
For knocking on our door

It's Christmas here, year-round to them
And they seek to celebrate
Holidays with family
In a land that is so great

America, America
Where every day's a holiday
Your beaches are our vacation
From life in Uruguay

It's friends and peace and family
It's moving with the wind
And, they fly across the border
And, we call that quite the sin

When all they seek is comfort
As migrants always do
They are birds of the same feather
With us -- with me and you

I think of how the human
The American, he's called
Migrates each year at Christmas
Across borders never walled

I'll tip my hat to strangers
I'll share my Christmas, too
With those from Nicaragua
And those from Timbuktu

I think of all the birds
That gather to this land
And how we'd let a million koalas in
Hailing them as grand

I don't sit partial at the turnstile
Letting just feathered friends on through
If animals can migrate
Humans ought to be allowed to, too

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I am shaken loose to making confessions on thoughts I have had of late, concerning the phraseology, He who hath eyes to see, let him see, and he who hath ears to hear, let him hear. The truth can be placed right in front of us, clear as the brightness of day, so that all we need to do is open our eyes and see it. All we need to do is listen with our ears, but we will not do that. Sometimes, instead, we run from the message, refusing to view it, refusing to listen to it. We hide our hearts from the truth. The scriptures also speak of hard heart, saying, Their hearts were hardened, that they would not hear the truth. So, do I wonder if we keep truth away, today, because of the hardness of our hearts.

Only a dead man knows the truth

   We sometimes suggest that when we "get on the other side," then we will find out the truth of certain matters. If this is true, then this becomes a worthy expression, that only a dead man knows the truth.