Photos courtesy of Mary Candee-Dulce Designs
NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING
MULES FALL TO LAKE TRAVIS 27-13
Terrific season comes to an end
Oh the weather outside was frightful,
but football in December was delightful
Up north to San Marcos we will go,
let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Quite an interesting week around Alamo Heights. The beginning of the week was cold and rainy. While Lake Travis practiced inside its covered bubble, the Mules weathered the elements to prepare for the State Quarterfinals matchup. The middle of the week was nice, but Friday evening was to be cold and possibly snowy. The teams made contingent plans for a Saturday game in case IH35 froze but the snow skipped the area clearing the way for football on a Friday night.
The day was special on campus. At the First Friday in The Oaks, Ms. Cade and her team bubbled with team spirit. The pep rally was moved to the afternoon, allowing the team to filter directly onto the buses with a great sendoff. In case you missed it, the pep rally featured the cheerleaders and the band at their finest. Jonathan Barshop and Parker Jessee would've recieved a thumbs up from Simon and Paula and Brandt Bakke thrilled the ladies (but likely not the administration) showing his six pack to the crowd during a dance routine. The theme of the pep rally was "heart"...a word that became the theme of the Mules during their playoff run. The boys left the school and headed north to Bobcat Stadium.
A nice crowd braved the cold weather as most jackets appeared to have lft tickets clipped to the pockets. Some 09 women used the game as an excuse to pull the fur coat from the closet. Lake Travis, the #1 team in the State received the opening kickoff. The Mules held and started at their own 43. The Mules picked up some first downs but the drive stalled aroung the LT 30. Lake Travis moved the ball and Brewer ran it in from the 7 for a 7-0 LT lead with a minute left in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Mules put together a nice drive behind the passing of Cullen Mills. Mills completed passes to Clark Hudnall and John Cabell before throwing to Bryson Marshall who made an outstanding catch for a touchdown and the game was tied at 7-7 with 6:30 left in the 2nd quarter. Lake Travis took over at the 48. The Lake Travis line gave Brewer great protection on the drive and the Junior QB completed several third down passes, the last to Andy Erickson for a 16 yard touchdown and a 14-7 LT lead with 3:16 left in the 2nd quarter. The Mules then went on one of their patented ball control drives. Starting at their own 22, the Mules moved the ball behind the running of Justin Rosenthal and the passing of Cullen Mills. The offensive line played extremely well, both on the run block and the pass block. David Cantu, Sam Hall and Bryson Marshall all made nice catches on the drive. The Mules could not close the deal from the red zone and relied on the kicking of Kristian Stern, whose 20 yard boot as time expired cut the Lake Travis lead to 14-10. Halftime.
At halftime, Mules fans seemed fairly upbeat. Their beloved Mules trailed by 4 though the Mules had played step for step with LT. The Heights defense, which became stronger and stronger as the season progressed, was holding the explosive Cavalier offense in check. The Mules offense was moving the ball fairly well. However, at halftime, LT made defensive adjustments, coming with numerous blitz packages in the second half that caught the Mules off guard.
The Mules started the third quarter receiving the ball. William Thompson's kick returns were a highlight on the evening and he put the Mules in business on the 32. The teams exchanged possessions in the third quarter with neither team threatening. A big play in the quarter was a strip and recovery by Garrett Hisle. The quarter ended with LT up 14-10. Heights was hanging with the very best.
The Mules continued moving the ball to start the 4th quarter. However, the Mules again could not put together a drive and forced Stern to attempt a long field goal. The Cavaliers got the ball back but the ball was picked off by Cliff Molak. On the day after the game (and since it doesn't matter now), Molak reported exclusively to The Mule Fan that he was "not exactly, positively, without question certain that I caught the ball" continuing that "it all happened so fast and it is more than remotely possible that the ball may have skipped off the turf". We appreciate Molak's post-game honesty, but we applaud him more for his in-game acting which gave the Mules the ball again. The LT blitzing scheme gave the Mules a hard time on the next drive, forcing the Mules to turn the ball back to LT. Still folks, with 7 minutes in the game, Heights was within 4 of #1 Lake Travis. The Cavs then went deep to Gilbert for a touchdown giving Lake Travis a 20-10 lead with 5:19 left in the game. The Mules took the kickoff and moved downfield. Needing two scores, the Mules elected to pick up three of them on a 29 yard Stern field goal. The Mules went for the onside kick but it was recovered by Lake Travis. LT ran for a late score and the final was Lake Travis, 27, Alamo Heights 13.
A Few Words with the Head Coach of the Mules – Don Byrd
December 8, 2009
Mule Fan: Coach the Mules gave Lake Travis a heck of a fight but it didn’t go our way in the end with the 27-13 loss. You trailed by 4 at the half and until about seven minutes to go in the game. How did you feel about the way the game had gone until that point? What adjustments did each team make at the half?
Coach Byrd: Well I felt going in that we had a great plan offensively and defensively. Of course we knew that it was imperative that we keep the ball out of Lake Travis’ hands on offense and we had to get yardage but we had to be very patient about it. I thought we had an outstanding defensive plan. We were giving them a lot of different looks and disguising things. We had ways to help our corners against their larger receivers. So the first half fell into place pretty well. We didn’t get a first down that we should have. We should have gotten a little bit more offensively but we did have the ball about 17 out of 24 minutes. Defensively it was great to give them a lot of different looks. With the offense using the clock the way it did it gave us a chance at halftime to be right there with them. And we even had a shot to be ahead of them. They were a very athletic team and I knew there was no margin for error anywhere in the game. When you’re going against a team that is that well coached and that athletic it’s going to be tough to overcome things. That got us to that point. On halftime adjustments, they did some things to move their secondary up and take away our short passing game. I knew that we couldn’t just run on them and that we were going to have to throw the ball a little bit. When they moved everybody up and “collisioned” our receivers it made it a little tougher because the play was going to be slower developing and our offensive line was going to have to hold some very good athletes and pick up some great blitzes. That eventually got us in trouble. We missed a field goal which hurt. We also jumped offside a few times which made for longer drives for us and that was hard to overcome.
Mule Fan: The defense was keeping it close but as the game wore on as you mentioned it became harder and harder for our receivers to get open against their secondary and it was compounded by more long yardage situations. There were so many things going on in those situations. You mentioned how physical they were with our receivers. What other tactics were they using to slow down the Mules offense at that point?
Coach Byrd: They collided with our outside guys pretty heavily. They put their linebacker (#51) on the tight end. He was very physical and grabbed a hold of them. They were worried about giving help outside. They were worried about our tight end. They were signaling to make sure they were very aggressive with him. That hurt us with the passing game. As it unfolded and we started having to make some more plays, their athleticism and physical play really showed up on defense.
Mule Fan: We’ve talked earlier in the year about the recent history of your program. Keeping things in perspective, this was an exciting 10 win season with a lot of success. Ten wins is right up there with some of your best seasons. How did you sum it up with the boys and the staff either after the game or this week?
Coach Byrd: It’s really tough on that last game, especially being on the road, to get everybody together. And it’s tough after you work so hard for a game, you’re right there and you’re a couple of plays away and it just doesn’t get done. But basically I’m proud of these young men. The number one thing that will always come to mind with this team was the chemistry. And not being selfish. The other thing that comes to mind is I think the program has taken that last big step and realizing that Alamo Heights is not scared to play anybody. You look at this season. Two losses by one point. The Lake Travis game was very close, closer than the score indicated. With Stony Point, it was just tough playing a team that was that athletic that early in the season. Kerrville Tivy is still playing and we beat them 42-14. So it just shows where the program is. The thing I noticed is that the community and everybody really believes in Alamo Heights. We’re not scared to play anybody and that’s where this program needs to be. That’s the last ingredient that we needed. Also the school spirit and participation of the fans at the game was phenomenal. It was an unbelievable crowd up in San Marcos. We had a phenomenal pep rally that day. It’s exciting what’s going on here with the student body.
Mule Fan: You’ve talked about chemistry today and lot this year. That is something that obviously sticks out in your mind about this 2009 team. What is the effect that has on a team?
Coach Byrd: They played so well together. I’ve said this for many years at Alamo Heights. Year in and year out, there’s not a whole lot of difference in the athleticism. But how unselfish they are and how well the players get along is the difference. How they focus less on themselves and more on our team dictates what kind of season we have. The other thing that will always be in my mind about this team is that we were tremendous over-achievers. We really don’t have the speed and size of a lot of teams that we went against but we had more fight than anybody we played.
Mule Fan: Teachers have to say goodbye to seniors every year but they have them for an hour each day for one year or a semester. You’ve got these boys sometimes six days each week for hours and throughout the year for four years. We know you’ve been doing this a while. This group of seniors was the last bunch that was around here for the state championship run. How different is it to say goodbye to a senior class in football?
Coach Byrd: Everything you mentioned is true. The hours you spend with them for 12 months for three and a half years are just phenomenal. But the other difference in education is that every boy is out there because they want to be. A lot of them get assigned to a class because the computer puts them into it and the state says that you have to take these classes. But these young men are there because they want to be. To show you the power of it; you come up here during the summer at 6:30 in the morning and you’ll see more than 100 athletes giving up part of their summer to try and become something special and that puts it all in perspective. It helps to win football games. But the ultimate guide is to see where these young men are going to be when they’re 20, 30 and 40 years old. My main goal for these young men is to apply this kind of passion and this type of work ethic and lessons of winning and losing. If they can do that as college students and parents and employees, then their future is unbelievably bright. All of this packaged together gives them the drive and self-confidence and the tools they need to be productive in our society.
Mule Fan: Off-season training begins soon. What will that entail?
Coach Byrd: We will talk about our goals. Number one and two will be strength and quickness. It’s huge. We cannot win here at Alamo Heights unless we have an unbelievable off-season program. We’ll talk about the self-discipline and all the little things about being responsible. To play at the intensity that we need to in order to win here we need to make sure that off-season is that way. That has to become the norm and not just something that happens during the football season. We’ll set down strict rules that they have to be here a few minutes after the bell and sprint to where they’re going. It’ll be a “fly-around”, moving situation. It’ll be intense for 45 minutes during the athletic period. Hopefully they’ll run track and do the things that will help them become better athletes.
Mule Fan: Coach on behalf of all the parents and fans who regularly visit this website, we want to thank you and your staff for your cooperation, support and access to your entire program each week. Hopefully we were able to show some Mule fans parts of the football program that they had not seen before plus give them a deeper look at each week’s game and next opponent. We feel that everyone appreciated it. We thank you on everyone’s behalf.
Coach Byrd: There’s not a better place to work than the Alamo Heights community. I enjoy it. These young men put in so many hours just like all the sports. But we’re talking about football now and it’s great to get the exposure and let people see some of those things. I’m proud of everything we do here and it’s neat with the internet and the things that we have these days to be able to present that to everybody and see what our program is about. I appreciate everything that y’all brought to the table and your time. It’s been great.
December 8, 2009
Mule Fan: Coach the Mules gave Lake Travis a heck of a fight but it didn’t go our way in the end with the 27-13 loss. You trailed by 4 at the half and until about seven minutes to go in the game. How did you feel about the way the game had gone until that point? What adjustments did each team make at the half?
Coach Byrd: Well I felt going in that we had a great plan offensively and defensively. Of course we knew that it was imperative that we keep the ball out of Lake Travis’ hands on offense and we had to get yardage but we had to be very patient about it. I thought we had an outstanding defensive plan. We were giving them a lot of different looks and disguising things. We had ways to help our corners against their larger receivers. So the first half fell into place pretty well. We didn’t get a first down that we should have. We should have gotten a little bit more offensively but we did have the ball about 17 out of 24 minutes. Defensively it was great to give them a lot of different looks. With the offense using the clock the way it did it gave us a chance at halftime to be right there with them. And we even had a shot to be ahead of them. They were a very athletic team and I knew there was no margin for error anywhere in the game. When you’re going against a team that is that well coached and that athletic it’s going to be tough to overcome things. That got us to that point. On halftime adjustments, they did some things to move their secondary up and take away our short passing game. I knew that we couldn’t just run on them and that we were going to have to throw the ball a little bit. When they moved everybody up and “collisioned” our receivers it made it a little tougher because the play was going to be slower developing and our offensive line was going to have to hold some very good athletes and pick up some great blitzes. That eventually got us in trouble. We missed a field goal which hurt. We also jumped offside a few times which made for longer drives for us and that was hard to overcome.
Mule Fan: The defense was keeping it close but as the game wore on as you mentioned it became harder and harder for our receivers to get open against their secondary and it was compounded by more long yardage situations. There were so many things going on in those situations. You mentioned how physical they were with our receivers. What other tactics were they using to slow down the Mules offense at that point?
Coach Byrd: They collided with our outside guys pretty heavily. They put their linebacker (#51) on the tight end. He was very physical and grabbed a hold of them. They were worried about giving help outside. They were worried about our tight end. They were signaling to make sure they were very aggressive with him. That hurt us with the passing game. As it unfolded and we started having to make some more plays, their athleticism and physical play really showed up on defense.
Mule Fan: We’ve talked earlier in the year about the recent history of your program. Keeping things in perspective, this was an exciting 10 win season with a lot of success. Ten wins is right up there with some of your best seasons. How did you sum it up with the boys and the staff either after the game or this week?
Coach Byrd: It’s really tough on that last game, especially being on the road, to get everybody together. And it’s tough after you work so hard for a game, you’re right there and you’re a couple of plays away and it just doesn’t get done. But basically I’m proud of these young men. The number one thing that will always come to mind with this team was the chemistry. And not being selfish. The other thing that comes to mind is I think the program has taken that last big step and realizing that Alamo Heights is not scared to play anybody. You look at this season. Two losses by one point. The Lake Travis game was very close, closer than the score indicated. With Stony Point, it was just tough playing a team that was that athletic that early in the season. Kerrville Tivy is still playing and we beat them 42-14. So it just shows where the program is. The thing I noticed is that the community and everybody really believes in Alamo Heights. We’re not scared to play anybody and that’s where this program needs to be. That’s the last ingredient that we needed. Also the school spirit and participation of the fans at the game was phenomenal. It was an unbelievable crowd up in San Marcos. We had a phenomenal pep rally that day. It’s exciting what’s going on here with the student body.
Mule Fan: You’ve talked about chemistry today and lot this year. That is something that obviously sticks out in your mind about this 2009 team. What is the effect that has on a team?
Coach Byrd: They played so well together. I’ve said this for many years at Alamo Heights. Year in and year out, there’s not a whole lot of difference in the athleticism. But how unselfish they are and how well the players get along is the difference. How they focus less on themselves and more on our team dictates what kind of season we have. The other thing that will always be in my mind about this team is that we were tremendous over-achievers. We really don’t have the speed and size of a lot of teams that we went against but we had more fight than anybody we played.
Mule Fan: Teachers have to say goodbye to seniors every year but they have them for an hour each day for one year or a semester. You’ve got these boys sometimes six days each week for hours and throughout the year for four years. We know you’ve been doing this a while. This group of seniors was the last bunch that was around here for the state championship run. How different is it to say goodbye to a senior class in football?
Coach Byrd: Everything you mentioned is true. The hours you spend with them for 12 months for three and a half years are just phenomenal. But the other difference in education is that every boy is out there because they want to be. A lot of them get assigned to a class because the computer puts them into it and the state says that you have to take these classes. But these young men are there because they want to be. To show you the power of it; you come up here during the summer at 6:30 in the morning and you’ll see more than 100 athletes giving up part of their summer to try and become something special and that puts it all in perspective. It helps to win football games. But the ultimate guide is to see where these young men are going to be when they’re 20, 30 and 40 years old. My main goal for these young men is to apply this kind of passion and this type of work ethic and lessons of winning and losing. If they can do that as college students and parents and employees, then their future is unbelievably bright. All of this packaged together gives them the drive and self-confidence and the tools they need to be productive in our society.
Mule Fan: Off-season training begins soon. What will that entail?
Coach Byrd: We will talk about our goals. Number one and two will be strength and quickness. It’s huge. We cannot win here at Alamo Heights unless we have an unbelievable off-season program. We’ll talk about the self-discipline and all the little things about being responsible. To play at the intensity that we need to in order to win here we need to make sure that off-season is that way. That has to become the norm and not just something that happens during the football season. We’ll set down strict rules that they have to be here a few minutes after the bell and sprint to where they’re going. It’ll be a “fly-around”, moving situation. It’ll be intense for 45 minutes during the athletic period. Hopefully they’ll run track and do the things that will help them become better athletes.
Mule Fan: Coach on behalf of all the parents and fans who regularly visit this website, we want to thank you and your staff for your cooperation, support and access to your entire program each week. Hopefully we were able to show some Mule fans parts of the football program that they had not seen before plus give them a deeper look at each week’s game and next opponent. We feel that everyone appreciated it. We thank you on everyone’s behalf.
Coach Byrd: There’s not a better place to work than the Alamo Heights community. I enjoy it. These young men put in so many hours just like all the sports. But we’re talking about football now and it’s great to get the exposure and let people see some of those things. I’m proud of everything we do here and it’s neat with the internet and the things that we have these days to be able to present that to everybody and see what our program is about. I appreciate everything that y’all brought to the table and your time. It’s been great.
THANKS
The season is now behind us and we are all somewhat sad that it came to an end without a State Championship BUT we will all look back and be thankful for this terrific season. The Mules were Co-champs of the toughest district in Texas. [We look forward to February 1 and redistricting which will, among other things, likely move Steele to 5A.] And what a thrill for our team to go four rounds into the playoffs--to the State Quarterfinals.
THANKS to these boys for their hard work and dedication. In each of the 14 games, the Mules were normally the smaller team physically. However, the Mules played with such heart. With no egos on the team, the offense pulled for the defense and the defense pulled for the offense. These boys gave up sleeping in in the mornings and goofing off (or studying) in the afternoons. The boys went to the weight room without complaining and ran sprints with only minor complaining. The boys practiced on the grass in August when the heat on the turf was 120 degrees and on the turf in December when it was 30 degrees. These boys gave up August trips and Thanksgiving week, all for the thrill of the game. Some played a lot and some did not...but they all contributed to the success of the program. What school our size has 41 seniors stick with a program through their senior year--when only 11 line up on offense and 11 line up on defense? We will miss the seniors and hope that they passed on the dedication and leadership to the underclassmen. We thank the underclassmen in advance for what they will have as leaders of next year's team. THANKS BOYS.
THANKS to the coaches and their families: Don Byrd, Mike Norment, Randy Osborne, Ron Harris, Jeff Hooks, Glenn White, Mike Walker, Chris Troilo and Luke Moody. Thanks, gentlemen, for all you have taught our boys about football, but more importantly about life, discipline and respect. Thanks for being so committed to our school and our community. During football season, these men do not take a day off. They do not have long weekends at the coast or day trips to see the family. They are excited with 4 extra weeks of 90+ hour weeks that come with post-season preparation. They never complain (at least to us) about the early mornings, late nights and weekends. These coaches become almost like father figures to our kids as they spend time teaching, each in their own way (is that a fair word, Mike N.?). And to their families who rarely see their husband or dad...thanks so much for letting them be with us. This year we've worked begin incorporating the coaches families into the AH family, with tailgates, etc. Let's hope that trend continues. So to the Coaches and their families (and dog...Chris), THANKS.
THANKS to all the others at the school that make the program work. Thanks to Gene and Patty for making things run smoothly in the Athletic Office. Thanks to the trainers Mike and Adrianna and their student staff for being there early in the mornings for treatment and closing up in the evenings--allowing our injuries to heal quicker. Thanks to the administration--Dr Brown and Dr Foster for their support of Mules football. With so many activities on campus, attempting not to favor one while recognizing the community importance of football. THANKS.
THANKS to the countless hours put in by other students. The Band, the Spurs, the Cheerleaders, the Caladonia, the JROTC, the Team Manager and the Faculty behind each of these. While the boys are on the field, the music, the cheers and the dances all keep the spirit going during the games and before. The band puts in countless hours on the field, oftentimes well into the evening after football practice has ended, or early in the morning, trying to get everything right for Friday night--these things are noticed. And the Spurs and Cheerleaders practice throughout the week and make treats for the parents (I mean the boys) on Thursdays. To you all, THANKS.
THANKS to the parent volunteers. To the Mule Team and The Mulepushers and all the helpers in the concession stands. To the donors who supported the kickoff barbeque and those whose financial contributions allowed so many people to listen on the radio or through the computer. To Sue Wernette whose programs rival any high school program in the country. To the captains moms for all their dedication and hard work. To Rick Shaw...not only for allowing us to poke fun at him, but also for allowing us to be more spirited at the game (and to his entire crew). THANKS.
THANKS to any one we missed here...and for their understanding that we are sorry about that...Send us an e-mail. THANKS.
AND most of all we can all be thankful that the season ended with no life-threatening or life-altering injuries. Many boys were injured during the season and several missed many games. We saw the disappointment on their faces or the pain as they moved on crutches or in back braces. But the season is over, their bodies will heal over time and that, in my opinion, is the item for which we are the most THANKFUL.
Now let offseason begin, boot camp:), spring practice , 7 on 7 and summer workouts. Before we know it, it will be time for Mules Football 2010.
Thanks to Mary Candee for providing the Mule Fan with great photos these last two seasons. Please remember to get your photos of all the activities of the 2010 season.
Photos courtesy of Mary Candee http://www.dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com/
Your Personal Photographer Your Community Photographer
Dulce Design Photography
Your Personal Photographer Your Community Photographer
Dulce Design Photography
“The Drawer”
A Reflection by Bob Cohen
While looking in my son’s closet for one of my shirts recently, I opened “the drawer”. Not “a” drawer. It was “the drawer.” After a pause, the realization of what I was seeing hit square. I’ll bet nearly everyone reading this has one of these drawers as well. Folded up inside the drawer, or wadded up to be truthful, were pants, jerseys, sweat bands, belts, 8 ½ inch long shin guards, mouth guards small enough to fit a puppet, socks and more representing the game gear from a career in kid’s sports.
How is it possible that my oldest son has played his last game? All the 8:00 am Saturday soccer games, the nights at the Little League fields, spring afternoons in the batting cage, the weekday fall afternoons watching football practice and then finally those indescribably wonderful Friday nights under the lights in all those stadiums in all those places. Poof-over! Only the intramural fields await but I won’t see any of those contests, not without causing nearly irreparable embarrassment anyway.
Obviously this is a moment that is typically reserved for the parent of a senior, or at least a senior that isn’t moving on to the next level of organized athletics. But most of us are having our own little moments like this right about now. While I watched it all wind down last Friday night in that cold stadium in San Marcos, I struggled hard to put a period on the sentence. Can you be ready for that moment? Those were hard yards…
I stood there silently with all of the other dads, moms, grandparents and friends surrounded by my own emotions and a teary wife. Mentally it felt like being yanked out of that stage of my life into the next (with this kid anyway). I watched him kneeling down on the goal line watching the other team's celebration and wondered what he was thinking. Did he realize that he would probably never again experience the feeling of “team and camaraderie” in quite the same way? Did he recognize that he had shared an experience and a journey that he will always remember with some guys with whom he will remain life-long friends and some with whom he will lose touch? He’ll remember them all and that includes the coaches. It’s a different memory than the one about the guy who sat next to you in biology.
From running up and down a soccer field at the age of 6, right arm thrust in the air shouting encouragement to teammates while staying as far away from the ball as one can and still be in-bounds to the first year of pads and getting into a three point stance that looked like something from a Three Stooges episode to locking up in the biggest game of his life with a defensive lineman with a weight and height advantage and probably a future of playing on Saturdays…these are the images that will be etched in this parent’s memory.
There are people to thank and I’ll leave some out but not mean to do so. You fill in the blanks with your own list as you look into your drawer. Thanks to all the dads who coached him early and gave positive encouragement and constructive criticism. Thanks to the moms who cheered from the camp chairs on the sideline and who car-pooled to practice and who went to Vivroux for the umpteenth time for another batting glove or mouth guard. Wait a minute; come to think of it Vivroux should probably thank me. There was enough merchandise in that one drawer to cover their rent for a month! Thanks to the trainers and docs for keeping him patched up especially for that all-important senior year. Thanks to all the parents and grandparents and other dads for the camaraderie. These are kindred spirits brought together for an experience that is naturally shared from the inside out. To all those people who were sick of the football parents who could seemingly talk about nothing else for four years, thanks for your understanding. It will ease off now we promise. Thanks to the boys for all of the time and effort spent making themselves the best players they could be and for the priceless memories. Yes it sometimes was a hassle to tell us about every syllable that was uttered by the coaches at halftime and after the game. We’re not sorry. It was as close as we could come to a do-over. And finally, thanks to the coaches at the junior high and high school. When we hand off to you, you play a vital role. In my very ordinary playing career I had a few good coaches and a few that were dreadful. I remember each of them. I personally am grateful , and I know others are as well, for the experience, skills, values, lessons and confidence that this Mules coaching staff imparted to our kids from junior high on up.
If you haven’t done so yet, approach “the drawer” with caution. Do it because you have to eventually cross over. But give yourself a few minutes and reflect on the importance of the moment. Don’t just open it and shut it like you would the one just above it. Remember the hours in the backyard tossing the football or baseball, tackling the guys in the hallway in their pajamas before bed, hauling the juice boxes and donuts on your snack day, painting their helmets, throwing batting practice, car-pooling to practice, playing H-O-R-S-E, and all the rest. Then close the drawer. Maybe you can use the stuff for the younger brother. If this is truly the end of it, I hope you soaked up every minute of this year and stored the memory in its own special place. I did.
While looking in my son’s closet for one of my shirts recently, I opened “the drawer”. Not “a” drawer. It was “the drawer.” After a pause, the realization of what I was seeing hit square. I’ll bet nearly everyone reading this has one of these drawers as well. Folded up inside the drawer, or wadded up to be truthful, were pants, jerseys, sweat bands, belts, 8 ½ inch long shin guards, mouth guards small enough to fit a puppet, socks and more representing the game gear from a career in kid’s sports.
How is it possible that my oldest son has played his last game? All the 8:00 am Saturday soccer games, the nights at the Little League fields, spring afternoons in the batting cage, the weekday fall afternoons watching football practice and then finally those indescribably wonderful Friday nights under the lights in all those stadiums in all those places. Poof-over! Only the intramural fields await but I won’t see any of those contests, not without causing nearly irreparable embarrassment anyway.
Obviously this is a moment that is typically reserved for the parent of a senior, or at least a senior that isn’t moving on to the next level of organized athletics. But most of us are having our own little moments like this right about now. While I watched it all wind down last Friday night in that cold stadium in San Marcos, I struggled hard to put a period on the sentence. Can you be ready for that moment? Those were hard yards…
I stood there silently with all of the other dads, moms, grandparents and friends surrounded by my own emotions and a teary wife. Mentally it felt like being yanked out of that stage of my life into the next (with this kid anyway). I watched him kneeling down on the goal line watching the other team's celebration and wondered what he was thinking. Did he realize that he would probably never again experience the feeling of “team and camaraderie” in quite the same way? Did he recognize that he had shared an experience and a journey that he will always remember with some guys with whom he will remain life-long friends and some with whom he will lose touch? He’ll remember them all and that includes the coaches. It’s a different memory than the one about the guy who sat next to you in biology.
From running up and down a soccer field at the age of 6, right arm thrust in the air shouting encouragement to teammates while staying as far away from the ball as one can and still be in-bounds to the first year of pads and getting into a three point stance that looked like something from a Three Stooges episode to locking up in the biggest game of his life with a defensive lineman with a weight and height advantage and probably a future of playing on Saturdays…these are the images that will be etched in this parent’s memory.
There are people to thank and I’ll leave some out but not mean to do so. You fill in the blanks with your own list as you look into your drawer. Thanks to all the dads who coached him early and gave positive encouragement and constructive criticism. Thanks to the moms who cheered from the camp chairs on the sideline and who car-pooled to practice and who went to Vivroux for the umpteenth time for another batting glove or mouth guard. Wait a minute; come to think of it Vivroux should probably thank me. There was enough merchandise in that one drawer to cover their rent for a month! Thanks to the trainers and docs for keeping him patched up especially for that all-important senior year. Thanks to all the parents and grandparents and other dads for the camaraderie. These are kindred spirits brought together for an experience that is naturally shared from the inside out. To all those people who were sick of the football parents who could seemingly talk about nothing else for four years, thanks for your understanding. It will ease off now we promise. Thanks to the boys for all of the time and effort spent making themselves the best players they could be and for the priceless memories. Yes it sometimes was a hassle to tell us about every syllable that was uttered by the coaches at halftime and after the game. We’re not sorry. It was as close as we could come to a do-over. And finally, thanks to the coaches at the junior high and high school. When we hand off to you, you play a vital role. In my very ordinary playing career I had a few good coaches and a few that were dreadful. I remember each of them. I personally am grateful , and I know others are as well, for the experience, skills, values, lessons and confidence that this Mules coaching staff imparted to our kids from junior high on up.
If you haven’t done so yet, approach “the drawer” with caution. Do it because you have to eventually cross over. But give yourself a few minutes and reflect on the importance of the moment. Don’t just open it and shut it like you would the one just above it. Remember the hours in the backyard tossing the football or baseball, tackling the guys in the hallway in their pajamas before bed, hauling the juice boxes and donuts on your snack day, painting their helmets, throwing batting practice, car-pooling to practice, playing H-O-R-S-E, and all the rest. Then close the drawer. Maybe you can use the stuff for the younger brother. If this is truly the end of it, I hope you soaked up every minute of this year and stored the memory in its own special place. I did.
Best Wishes from Bob Cohen and Bobby Rosenthal
As we have indicated for several weeks, we knew this day would come. This is the last Mule Fan post from the leaking pens of Cohen and Rosenthal. As we write this we are hearing rumors through the Mule Fan office corridors that the publishers have simply had enough of us and can’t get us out of here fast enough. Those ungrateful *&^%*&#@!!
Anyway, we snuck in after hours to knock out a little parting message. It has been a real pleasure to write these little messages for you these last two seasons. Did we know what we were getting ourselves into? Sort of. But it all took on a life of its own and we can both say, hand on heart, that it was fun creating it as we went along. We would like to thank you all for being loyal readers too. Yes, we were paid tens of cents to do this and that part was nice. But the real currency for us was that you came to this site over 14,000 times in two seasons. Our goal was to give you a place to go each week to check in on what was going on with Alamo Heights Mules football. We thank Coach Byrd, his staff and the boys themselves for two years given to us of wide-open access to a great program. We tried to take the Mule Fan to places to which parents and fans don’t always have access. We tried to give you detail of the games and previews of the next opponent that you wouldn't get anywhere else. We hope you felt like “insiders.”
As you all know, we are parents of seniors and we are sorry it is over but grateful for an amazing experience. It is a program with caring people up and down the line. We should all be proud. There is something about high school football in Texas that creates a bond amongst the players, coaches and parents which is hard to describe or duplicate. We will miss that.
You’ll recall our “recruitment” efforts on these posts for the past few weeks to find someone to take over this duty and run with it next season. At press time there is still no word on who will do it. No surprise really. These crazy publishers will make it as hard as they can to sign somebody new. That’s just the kind of scrawny varmints they are. But we feel certain that someone will come forward and the Mule Fan will be up and running again next year. We will be there to offer support and to prepare the new writers for the constant pounding they take from relatives, friends, clergymen and former piano teachers who want their favorite Mule to get some extra “pub.” And we’ll be there to follow the Mules in 2010 and years to come. Thanks and GO MULES!!!
As we have indicated for several weeks, we knew this day would come. This is the last Mule Fan post from the leaking pens of Cohen and Rosenthal. As we write this we are hearing rumors through the Mule Fan office corridors that the publishers have simply had enough of us and can’t get us out of here fast enough. Those ungrateful *&^%*&#@!!
Anyway, we snuck in after hours to knock out a little parting message. It has been a real pleasure to write these little messages for you these last two seasons. Did we know what we were getting ourselves into? Sort of. But it all took on a life of its own and we can both say, hand on heart, that it was fun creating it as we went along. We would like to thank you all for being loyal readers too. Yes, we were paid tens of cents to do this and that part was nice. But the real currency for us was that you came to this site over 14,000 times in two seasons. Our goal was to give you a place to go each week to check in on what was going on with Alamo Heights Mules football. We thank Coach Byrd, his staff and the boys themselves for two years given to us of wide-open access to a great program. We tried to take the Mule Fan to places to which parents and fans don’t always have access. We tried to give you detail of the games and previews of the next opponent that you wouldn't get anywhere else. We hope you felt like “insiders.”
As you all know, we are parents of seniors and we are sorry it is over but grateful for an amazing experience. It is a program with caring people up and down the line. We should all be proud. There is something about high school football in Texas that creates a bond amongst the players, coaches and parents which is hard to describe or duplicate. We will miss that.
You’ll recall our “recruitment” efforts on these posts for the past few weeks to find someone to take over this duty and run with it next season. At press time there is still no word on who will do it. No surprise really. These crazy publishers will make it as hard as they can to sign somebody new. That’s just the kind of scrawny varmints they are. But we feel certain that someone will come forward and the Mule Fan will be up and running again next year. We will be there to offer support and to prepare the new writers for the constant pounding they take from relatives, friends, clergymen and former piano teachers who want their favorite Mule to get some extra “pub.” And we’ll be there to follow the Mules in 2010 and years to come. Thanks and GO MULES!!!
Extra-Extra!! Read all about it!
Mule Fan Editors Sacked Unceremoniously in Newsroom Ouster!!
Attention all Mule Fan readers: This is the management of the Mule Fan. We don’t know about you but we were sick of the rambling, soppy goodbye speech by these two hacks who call themselves bloggers. They were overfed and underpaid and it was time to put them out on the streets to bother others. So we’ve sent them packing and tossed in expletives they haven't heard before just to make sure they knew we meant it. It is time we told OUR story. We are tired of being portrayed as dopey goofballs who don’t know a vowel from a trowel. We taught those two bozos everything they know about writing. You should see the way they left this office. There is one entire office filled with Fig Newton cookie wrappers and they left their black light poster of Elvis captaining a shrimp boat. Total slobs!! Oh yes you can be sure that we’ll find someone else who can do the job. It’ll be someone that will be a lot less trouble for us. You people just keep paying the subscription. We don’t need to hear any complaining. If those goobers owe you money or have any overdue library books, here’s how to reach them: bobcohen@sbcglobal.net and brosenthal@trpsalaw.com
Attention all Mule Fan readers: This is the management of the Mule Fan. We don’t know about you but we were sick of the rambling, soppy goodbye speech by these two hacks who call themselves bloggers. They were overfed and underpaid and it was time to put them out on the streets to bother others. So we’ve sent them packing and tossed in expletives they haven't heard before just to make sure they knew we meant it. It is time we told OUR story. We are tired of being portrayed as dopey goofballs who don’t know a vowel from a trowel. We taught those two bozos everything they know about writing. You should see the way they left this office. There is one entire office filled with Fig Newton cookie wrappers and they left their black light poster of Elvis captaining a shrimp boat. Total slobs!! Oh yes you can be sure that we’ll find someone else who can do the job. It’ll be someone that will be a lot less trouble for us. You people just keep paying the subscription. We don’t need to hear any complaining. If those goobers owe you money or have any overdue library books, here’s how to reach them: bobcohen@sbcglobal.net and brosenthal@trpsalaw.com
Sincerely, The Publishers
