It's August! Temperatures Ghastly. Time for Alamo Heights Mules Football 2014! Welcome Back!

Alamo Heights Mules Back and in Starting Gate for 2014 Football Season

               By Bob Cohen,  Sr. Staff Editor, Union Shop Steward and Teller of the Occasional Salty Tale

Welcome back Mule Nation.  When we last left you, we were all bummed and turning blue in a frigid Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos last December.  But we’re happy to see that all of you have recovered nicely and are looking tanned and healthy after a long off-season and ready to get back to some Alamo Heights Mules football.  That hint of fall is in the air (in Maine).  Cool crisp autumn mornings right around the corner (there’s a corner in Norway where this is true, just not here).  Oh well, it’s hotter than h-e-double toothpicks out there, the boys are sweating it out in early season workouts and glorious Friday nights are sure as heck right around the corner, triple digit temperatures or no.  So let’s get crackin’ and begin the editorial portion of your season.

If this is your introduction to the Mule Fan, we will assume it is because you didn’t just discover the Internet.  Probably has more to do with the fact that up until now, you didn’t feel a need to wrap yourself completely in blue and gold football mania. Maybe your little Mule was making his way up to varsity and now “It’s On!”  “Gimme, gimme more!”  Maybe, just maybe, you have only just learned that there is a week-by-week narrative of all things Mules football and you’re peering over the proverbial fence for the first time to see what’s happening in here.  Whatever it is, the publishers, editors and support staff of the Mule Fan welcome you and say thanks for paying the subscription.

You are running your eyeballs over what is fortunately a union publication.  We say that because starting about now through mid-December (hopefully), we slave away over a hot computer with very little support from a miserly publishing board that thinks anyone can do this.  Our union gives us some shade from the withering heat put on us by these suited clowns who literally think bread and water is a little extravagant for our toiling.  Yes our work environment is something close to a Dickensian Work House. But make no mistake; we do it for the love of Mules football and to slake the thirst for information of parched Mules football fans each week.  Somebody must see to it that you are informed and marginally entertained.  It falls to this editor, now at the keyboard for his fourth varsity season (it started out as a one year deal a few years back, but we missed a renewal clause in the original contract, and can’t get out of it until all folk bearing this reporter’s last name have cleared their stuff from the varsity locker room), and his team of scribbling troopers to tap out prose that hopefully accomplishes that mission.

New to this Mule Fan blog are you?  Some have described the Mule Fan as a carefully handcrafted blend of consonants and vowels, woven together in a minimally colorful tapestry of facts, fiction, sarcasm, humor, confusing juxtaposition, colorful interviews, videos, typos and clever banter.  Your humble scribe will have none of that.  It is a blog with an occasional recipe for kettle korn or Irish soda bread thrown in.  Here’s what we do.  Each week, we’ll talk a little about the previous week’s clash and then preview the upcoming week.  We’ll talk to Mules head coach Mike Norment to get his take on things.  You’ll get up to the minute ticket information and news about how to listen to the games on the radio and specifically which ear gets the best reception.  The only professional thing about the Mule Fan is the dynamite action photos we get from our crack AH photographer, Mary Candee.  Mary can do stuff with a Kodak Instamatic that our forefathers intended.  Well actually it’s not the only professional thing.  We seek out medical and treatment advice along with complex surgical protocols from Mike Post and the Mules’ athletic training staff many of which you can try at home.  We’ll editorialize about stadium facilities and pregame tailgate choices.  Sometimes, we’ll comment on someone’s handbag or perfume, a grandparent’s choice of shoes, predict who will be the first to break out a fleece, predict which parent gives the best Halloween candy, give travel tips about our many tantalizing stops along the 27-5A way, and even second guess the training staff about the proper way to seal an ice pack or put an announcement on the bulletin board.  It could be anything.  Essentially we write what we want to write (however, we’re open to your suggestions as long as it is not something like “could you write a feature about neo-classical architecture” or “can you give us salmon fishing tips in Welsh this week?”). If you’re looking for a true X’s and O’s experience that takes the place of breaking down film, (or attending film night) you’ll be disappointed.  If you’re ready for a light-hearted read that hopefully adds to the fun of Mules Football each week, then this is the place for you.  We promise that you’ll be able to smell the sweat and B.O. of the locker room with every stinkin’ edition.  Heck, your fingernails might even get a little dirty reading these pages every week. 

So welcome and come along now as we begin the story of the 2014 season.  We kindly suggest you bookmark this site now for ease and convenience.  Go Mules!

 Season Ticket Pick Up & Other Stuff You Need to Know

If you wrote a check to Alamo Heights Athletics several months ago for season tickets to football games and don’t have anything to show for it, you need to put a note on your to-do list to drop by that very same athletic office and pick them up rather than panic on game day.  Those tickets don’t get mailed out. Ticket office hours are typically 8:30am-noon and 1:30pm-3:30pm Monday-Thursday and all day Friday from 8:30am-3:00pm.  Tickets not picked up will be handed out at the homeside ticket window on Friday night. (But why put yourself through all that and sustain a withering barrage of hate speech from a spouse about why you’re in this line, why didn’t you remember to come and pick these tickets up earlier, I don’t like your mother that much, when was the last time you took out the trash or took me dancing, etc.)  For home games, tickets are available to be purchased in advance and value priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students.  Those very same tickets are $7 on game night at the ticket window.  Gates open at 6:00pm.

Oh, you can also pick up your season tickets at the Mule Team Barbecue Kickoff dinner on August 27 the details for which are coming up-----NOW!

Mule Team Back-To-School Barbecue

You can’t miss this event.  It is a must.  The Mule Team puts on a big to-do every year to raise needed funds for all our teams and this week is the week.  Mark down Wednesday August 27 from 5:00pm-7:00pm.  Barbecue plates will be available and at a tasty price too of $7.50 each.  Eat it there or take it home.  But come and support your teams.  For more information, go to www.muleteambarbecue.com.  Dress is "barbecue casual". 

"Everyone's Gone to the Movies" - AH Football Film Night

One of the best things you can do with your time on a Monday night after a Friday night Mules game is to go to film night at 7:00p.m.  Each Monday night, Coach Norment takes you through an informative pay-by-play review of the previous game.  We Americans have grown used to instant replay.  Orem Stadium has not yet proceeded with plans to put in a Jumbotron for game night replay so this is the way to go.  And what’s even better is you get a narrative from the head coach.  You learn a lot about the nuances of the position played by your lil’ Mule plus you’ll see each and every play at least two times from two different angles.  Film night gives you what this blog cannot, namely accuracy.  It is a nice thing that Coach Norment does when he could be home messing with his fantasy league lineup and eating dinner with his family.  Join us in the Oaks building on campus.  Everyone is welcome (except for upcoming opposing team representatives) including dads, moms, grandparents, homeroom teachers and all them.

Mules on the Radio/Online

TSRN is carrying Alamo Heights football on radio again this year and we thank them for their interest.  The games will be carried on KRPT-FM 92.5 (also known in country and western circles as KBUC).  And you can hear a live AND ARCHIVED webcast stream of the game as well.  So tell friends and relatives who live outside the area to check out www.tsrnsports.com and follow all the action.  Ed Suarez handles the play-by-play duties except when UTSA Roadrunner football takes him on the road and Dave Parker returns for his 377^th season belting out color and analysis for every Mules broadcast.  Albert Gonzalez does all the statistical ciphering and analysis of same.  There is still a need to get some more sponsors on the broadcast, which makes it possible for us to have our games on the radio.  If you have a retail or service business patronized by Mule Nation, this would be a good place to do a little branding, reminding, thanking, preaching and hollerin’.  Contact Dave Parker at dparker77@aol.com for more details.

District Realignment

Every two years the University Interscholastic League shuffles the deck and realigns districts across Texas.  Well this is the year that we get some new entrants on the 27-5A dance card (yes I said 5A-remember there’s now a 6A so it is all the same but the UIL was able to cut a great deal on A’s so why waste ‘em.).  Anyway, our road trips this year will take us on our annual visit to Farris Stadium for O’Connor, we’ll hit Boerne, San Marcos, Edgewood Stadium (for Memorial-been a while since we’ve been there) and a trip up IH-10 to Antler Stadium for Kerrville Tivy to close out the regular season.  More travel tips along the way.

That’s Mary Candee Snappin’

No, not to Dalton Banks.  That’s her lugging around those cameras that are as big as bazookas at every AH event.  For football she points those things right at their nose hairs and gets some fabulous action photos.  We promise you they’re better than the ones you can take on your iPhones and that’s why they’re for sale.  Each week you can see a little sample of her wares on this very blog.  But she gets every muscle twitch and you can check them all out at http://dulcedesigns.photoreflect.com.

Hammer Time

Hats off to our Mules Football players and coaches who recently pitched in to help fix up houses in the Habitat for Humanity program in the San Antonio area.  This is something that AH football teams have been doing prior to the season start for several years now.  It’s a nice thing they do and we wanted to say way to go!

First Up on the Schedule – New Braunfels Unicorns

“Some Cats and Rats and Elephants as Sure as You’re Born, But You’re Never Gonna See No Unicorn.”  -The Irish Rovers  (Aye lad ‘tis a fine lyric.)

Well we’re actually gonna see heaps of ‘em. As many of you will remember, we used to play New Braunfels Canyon a bunch since they were district mates.    Well these are the other ones from further inland where mythical beasts run free.  Canyon was the Cougars.  But these are the Unicorns!  And it’s been a while since we lined up nose to horn with them.  Back in the day, Caledonia would have to be quite cautious about any fraternal mascot hugging and chest bumping or she’d get skewered.  It should be interesting to see how that goes now.

In any case, a challenging opponent from district 25-6A is the lid-lifter for Alamo Heights at 7:30 in Harry B. Orem Stadium.   New Braunfels finished 3-8 in 2013 with a district record of 2-3.  Their wins were against district opponent Wagner with two non-district wins against San Marcos and East Central.  Filling out their league is New Braunfels Canyon, Cibolo Steele, Converse Judson, Clemens and Smithson Valley along with Wagner.  Don’t see any “gimmies” in that lot.

“His Inside Voice”

A weekly discussion with Coach Mike Norment

The Mule Fan:  Welcome back Coach.  You’ve got a lot of kids out there on the field this year and you’ve been practicing formally for about two weeks and now have a scrimmage under your belt.  What is the most important thing to accomplish in these first couple of weeks and in the scrimmage before you game prep for a real opponent?

Coach Norment:  The first thing you do is layout your basic offenses and defenses.  Your base plays that you’re going to hang your hat on.  Your rules on blocking and running routes and your assignments on defense.  And then you’ll start making adjustments for a game but in the scrimmage we had an idea of what MacArthur was going to run. But they threw a lot more looks at us than we were expecting and that’s a good thing with an experienced offensive line which we have this year.  They ran pretty much what we were expecting on defense.  We’re just trying to get a feel for the kids.  You don’t want to give them a lot of different things so they have to think.  You just want to see what can they do. So you’re just putting in the base offense and defense and trying to get an idea of special teams and who is going to be on special teams.  Then there are the decisions about who is going to be on the varsity and the JV and at what positions.  Even now we’re still making a few changes to that.

The Mule Fan:  So this coming week will be more of a traditional week of game prep?

Coach Norment:  Yes.  Coaches are in the game week mode.  We’re watching the previous opponent.  We’re looking at the things we did well and things we needed to improve on. Then we watch film on New Braunfels.  We have their scrimmage.  About half the coaches went up to watch them on Friday morning at Dripping Springs.  We’ll start to look at what we think we can do against them offensively and defensively and have success.  Then we’ll start game planning.  We’ll tinker with a play here or there and maybe even add something new here or there and start working that during the week. Sometimes as the week goes on something that you thought might look good doesn’t look good and you throw it out.  Or you think of something on Monday and put it in on Tuesday.  After Tuesday, we don’t really want to put anything in. By Wednesday you finish up and the hay’s in the barn so that on Thursday you go over the things you know you’re going to try to accomplish and then Friday is game day.

The Mule Fan:  Each year, graduation puts a dent into some position more than others.  You’re used to that.  This time it swept out all your skill positions on offense with the exception of quarterback.  How do you feel things are shaping up at those positions?

Coach Norment:  We made some improvements during the spring.  We had a good seven on seven.  Seven on seven really helps us because it’s what we do.  For these first two weeks we’ve been able to look at some things.  Some people have grown.  We still have some question marks and some concerns because until they’re playing with the lights on the bullets are really flying you just don’t know what’s going to happen.  We’re pleased with where we are right now given the complete newness of that area but we know that things are going to change and we’re going to have to continue to work on that.

The Mule Fan:  Looking across the field, where else will we see some new faces in new positions?

Coach Norment:  There will be some new faces in the secondary, even though we had quite a few players in the secondary come back and some people moved up.  And a few linemen here and there on defense.  And of course as we said at the skill positions and we’re still making some adjustments, looking at other situations there. Probably the core is our linebackers who will be the same as they were pretty much last year and the front and we were fortunate to have a lot of those guys on varsity last year and so probably our strength right now would be the returning secondary and also the offensive line.

The Mule Fan:  District 27-5A has nine teams and that means one less non-district game than you’re used to working with.  Number one, have you ever faced that before and two, how does that change your approach to these first two games?  Does it rush you?

Coach Norment:  No not really.  I can’t remember anytime we’ve been in a nine team district since I’ve been here.  So we only have two non-district games instead of three. They’re good opponents.  We’re not going to rush.  Of course I want to win every game. That’s why we go out there. But against New Braunfels and O’Connor we’re still going to be adjusting and moving personnel around.  If somebody is dinged up or coming back, we’re going to be cautious about letting them play.  I would love to be 10-0 at the end of the regular season but you can be 0-2 and still win a district championship and go into the playoffs.  So that’s how I look at the non-district.  It’s a great way to get ready for the district season and we wish we had three but we don’t.  But that’s how we’re going to approach it.  We want to win the games and we’re going to do everything we can to win the games but at the same time we’re still evaluating players at that time too.

The Mule Fan:  You mentioned it a while ago.  Opening nights are always an adventure for both teams.  The lights are on, bands playing, people in the stands, cheerleaders and everything is different from what they have seen in the first few weeks.  The last time Alamo Heights faced New Braunfels was on a wet field at Farris on a playoff night a few years back right?

Coach Norment:  Yep, 2007.  Unfortunately after being here this long I remember that game. 

The Mule Fan:  Right.  But there are no slouches in that district.  What are you expecting from the 6A Unicorns?

Coach Norment:  They’re big and will be physical.  They are well coached with a new head coach in Glenn Mangold.  He’s been very successful at Madison.  Madison has won a ton of games and he’s been the offensive coordinator there so he knows what to do. And watching the scrimmage yesterday, as the scrimmage went on, they got better.  So what that tells me is that this week they’re going to get better and against us they’re going to get better.  So we’re going to have to be prepared against a well coached New Braunfels team and they have a winning tradition also.  It’s been a while since they haven’t made the playoffs.  They have not had the success that they wanted to but they’ll be well coached and we’ll need to be prepared for them.

The Mule Fan:  Regarding the scrimmage, was it my imagination or did the offensive no-huddle pace crank up a gear from where we left off last year?

Coach Norment:  It’s faster.  We were just commenting about that.  That first time we were out on the ball (in the scrimmage) was the fastest we’ve ever gone.  It’s an adjustment because Texas high schools have gone to a 40 second clock much like the colleges.  Because of that it takes some of the discretion away from the referees.  Whereas in the old way, they could set the ball as slow as they wanted to and then start the 25 second clock.  With the 40 second clock, unless something weird happens, when we finish a play and it’s blown dead, the 40 second clock starts which means the referees are on the clock and they have to get the ball set quicker and get out of the way.  So that’s going to hopefully get us moving quicker.  I think it will give us an advantage.  We’re not in shape to run it as fast and as often as I want right now. But that’s another thing we’ll use these non-district games for also is to get us in shape for the season and the playoffs so we can run as many plays as we possibly can.

Always Open to Your Comments

As mentioned earlier, the writers of the Mule Fan don't run and hide from the readers.  If you have a comment, criticism, story idea, need a price quote on international class fountain pen ink cartridges, need proper finger placement for the G7 chord on the Lyre, want to see more stories written in crayon or anything like that - just say so!  We'll take it all on board and put it out for a vote at our editorial board meetings each and every week.  Just send your feedback to bobcohen@sbcglobal.net.  We pick up the postage!

GO MULES!!!!