Peaks and Valleys

Y'know, sometimes I wonder why I go through this self examination of concsience. I want more than anything to think about all of the positive things that happen in my life. Trust me, there are a lot... The bumper sticker that says 'God Bless America' can be a day late and a dollar short. We've been truly blessed in this nation and even though I'm poor, lumpy, annoying and too sarcastic for my own good, I have to admit that I have been very truly blessed. Even when bad things happen and I'm at a loss to try and figure out why, I know when all is said and done, The Big Man upstairs has really been good to me. I'm saying this because I've been soul searching in regards to some things that are happening in my life right now. Nothing really bad or anything, I'm just thinking that I am feeling a little quirky. No one specific reason. I guess I am feeling a little melancholy right now. I'm frustrated in my role with the Cherokee. I love my job, no question about it. The things that I do and the joy that I bring to people that listen to me online and I am so tickled when I meet families of the players from out of town who come up to me and express their gratitude for me broadcasting games online so they can keep in touch and follow their loved ones on the net. I know that they appreciate it and I feel very touched and honored to be able to do it. Working with the Toledo Cherokee, I have been so blessed to be a part of that organization... no, more like 'family' comes to mind. Until this year. Our record is up and down like last year. That stuff doesn't bother me. But right now, there is such disarray with coaches not really connecting with the players, and players who tune out the coaches because they can't stand them. I don't get along very well with my head coach. He and I are like oil and water... we don't mix. I talked to him for about 3 minutes today. That's way longer than I've talked to him in the last month. He's the head coach, I'm the broadcaster. We're supposed to work together and try to make each broadcast sound reasonably decent with each other's co-operation. But snide comments have been made in each direction and the end result is mud. We don't really do much to reach out to each other in any way, shape or form. We don't seek each other out to do anything together for a broadcast. I talk to his assistant coaches and I get along with those two just fine. Normally, I wouldn't let that stop me and I would try to be a nice guy and make peace. Not this time. This coach has already got the reputation of whining nonstop at the refs. He is constantly complaining and is even making the owners less than thrilled at the moment. The funny part is that he was originally brought on board as an assistant. But after the original coach was canned, he was made head coach. The owners were happy because the coach had name recognition, having played a couple of seasons in the National Hockey League. He also played in the minors and won a couple of championships with the Toledo Storm in the East Coast Hockey League back in the early 90's. But he tries to treat these young players as if they were in the pros. That's not what we're here for... These guys are still developing and learning. He spends more time yelling at the refs than he does getting on the players in his locker room. But he has alienated so many people in the last few months, that he may lose what little control he has over the team right now. You know its bad when the players are complaining about a lack of intensity and discipline from the coach. We lost in OT this weekend to Motor City last night and Flint spanked us today. One of our players got into a fight with a Flint player and cleaned his clock. That was the only brightspot of the game today... If we were winning, then it might not be so bad. But we're not winning much these days and the frustration is really starting to grow. Normally, you'd say that the players need to suck it up and do this and that... but right now it's the players that are frustrated with their coach, and if he's not careful, he might lose his players' respect. Even though there was a different coach last season, there were a number of returnees this season and the players that were here last year are not in tune with their new coach... at all. And you can see the results on the ice. And there are a lot of frustrated people on the Cherokee reservation. Including me...