Thursday, December 29, 2016

Runner up

The boys won three hard fought games, then ran into a killer team and lost twice. The Patriots beat this team last year at the same tournament but they added some talent from Maryland and most of the kids grew 3-4 inches. They were all Sam's size and we are overall slightly undersized for this age group. The other team was also making pretty much every shot and we didn't shoot well at all. It was good practice for the rest of the season. We shouldn't run into a team this big again. Besides, 2nd place ain't bad.

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Nasty Hombres

Another lovely Christmas Eve and 1st night of Hanukkah.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Endless Bridge

A great view from of the Mississippi from the back of the Guthrie Theater.

Theater Boys

Waiting for the Christmas Carol to start at the Guthrie.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Frozen Tundra

Made it to Minnesota without any issues and were greeted with plenty of snow. We haven't had much snow over Christmas the last couple years so it's nice to have a foot of the stuff covering the ground this year. We even have a chance of some new stuff in the next couple days.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Little Guy

The boys just got back from their physical with new official heights. Sam is 6-3 and a half while Dylan is 6-1 and a half. Basically 6-4 and 6-2. Dylan grew a little faster than Sam in the last year but I've actually shrunk a half inch over the past few years. They are bound to stop growing very soon. I know I stopped at about their age.

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Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Full Holiday

These cold, clear mornings are just beginning but the suns slow march back north starts in just a week. I like getting into the office when it's still dark and all the buildings have their holiday lights on. The almost full moon was nice too.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Winter Strings Concert

They sounded good this evening.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Merry Huesos

Bones got a Christmas upgrade.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Running Elf

It was a cold 5 miler this morning and I'm pretty sure she did it for the medal. Basketball game later today then dinner out.

Jimmy and Dent

Attended Micheal's Christmas party last night. Had some quality time with jimmy T and saw Dent for the first time in years.

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Winner

The Patriots controlled the game against Herndon most of the evening, up by 11 at one point in the third quarter only to lose the lead and trail by 3 late in the fourth. They did manage to rally and finish the game strong, winning 43-40 but they made us parents pretty nervous for a while. We have added some new talented players but the core team and the new players are still trying to learn each other's styles. Lots of wasted opportunities with passes going to where one player did something different than what the other player thought they would do. The mojo will improve.

Dylan had a few rebounds and a key steal. He started and as always played ferocious defense. The guards were getting the ball inside to Sam pretty well and he had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Next game is Saturday.


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Sunday, December 04, 2016

Flat Start

We were missing our starting point guard again and fell to Gainesville 50-40. The Patriots brought almost zero energy to the game and were very hesitant most of of the afternoon. Sam did end up with 14 points and a dozen rebounds while Dylan nabbed 4 rebounds and played tough defense. The team wasn't all there mentally today, I hope they pull themselves together for Tuesday nights game.

Saturday, December 03, 2016

Training

The boys are going to be working with Coach Scott the next few months. This is a good additional workout with skills training as we head towards high school ball.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Good Team

I may be biased but after watching some practice tonight, I think this is a really good team. The three new additions and the improvement in the old timers should make us extremely competitive this year. Our first real test is Sunday against Gainesville. They have been in the top two teams in the league the last four years. I like our chances.

Thanksgiving Puppy

One of Adam's thanksgiving guests brought this little puppy. I hung out with it when we he came out from under our bed a few times. The most frightened dog I've ever met. It was diagnosed with epilepsy recently so that may have something to do with it.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Mornings Walk

Got lots of exercise in this morning to make way for Thanksgiving treats. Always interesting sights in Washington Square.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Dinner and a show

School of Rock was really pretty good. We saw the matinee then went to dinner in the the east village. The kids in the show were impressive and it was a fun show.

Pre-Turkey Pasta

Great little Italian restaurant on 2nd Ave. @Cacio e Pepe

Christmas Village

The Knicks vs Trailblazers game last night was fantastic. Adam got us owners suite tickets with great mid court seats. Saw a number of other celebrities, including Bill Bradley, Phil Jackson, Leslie Jones and Billy Crystal. The Knick won by 4 with an amazing 4th quarter by Derick Rose.

The Christmas trees were being delivered to all the local stands in the village as we walked back to the apartment. It's cold and feeling like the holidays here in New York.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Anniversary Grandpa

Anniversary Grandma

Linda and Gil's 54th anniversary dinner at Balthazar in Soho.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

Waiting

Scrimmages usually include some instructive coaches time which leads to boredom as the boys wait for the action to start again.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Honor Roll

Dylan made honor role after just missing it by half a grade each quarter last year. It was great to see him walk up and get his certificate and it was really great that he buckled down and got the grades. Sam missed honor role for the first time in his middle school career. He did have to attend the ceremony because orchestra played at the event. To his credit, they played really well and I realized after all these years, he actually plays viola like a boss.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

See Ya

Sam and Dylan were getting past a lot of players last week. I upload the highlights of the two games to Flickr. 





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Sunday, November 13, 2016

Perfection

In my first coaching job since 2012 I wanted to accomplish something a little different this season. Most of these kids have been playing flag football for years and every season they worked at learning plays and running defenses with a lot of help from the sidelines. Of course they needed lots of help in 4th, 5th and 6th grade and calling in plays was a necessity.

My theory this year was that they could take the reigns and run the team and call the plays from the field. This allowed me to stop looking at a chart of plays and yelling in a string of names and numbers and giving me an opportunity to focus on what the other team was doing and providing strategy advice to the players. This came with some risk but ultimately, it empowered the boys to own the game and develop critical thinking skills. It also turned out that they had more fun taking responsibility.

We struggled during the season but I saw improvement with each game as the testosterone fueled play calling turned into more strategic decisions based on what they were seeing on the field and the advice I was giving on the sideline. We had great athletes but lost some close games because of small mistakes. I believed that over time they would become much more effective than the other teams in the league because they were in control and more capable of adjusting to the game situations in real time.

I'm happy to say that they proved me right. We played two games yesterday and won them both for the NVFFL Championship. The boys were clicking in the first game against the Eagles, winning 38-24. The whole team played well with Sam and Dylan hooking up for two long bombs for scores and Sam getting a pick 6.

The championship games was against the undefeated Saints whom we lost to twice in the regular season. They got to watch our game against the Eagles and were overheard dismissing us as we played. Over confidence is never a good thing and proved to be the undoing of the little flaggers.

The young Vikings played a flawless game and while it was close the entire game, we played calm, cool and collected football while the Saints carped at each other and threw little tantrums all game long. All the Vikings contributed with Dylan and Sam each scoring 2 TD's. The championship was 26-19 with Owen scoring a safety to basically destroy the Saints last real chance to score.

I'm very proud of (from left to right) Benjamin, Owen, Dylan, Avery, Corbin and Sam. Not to mention Braedon (not pictured due to vacation) and Dave (far left who assisted with a couple practices and provided strategic advice on the sideline). It was a fun season. I kept telling the boys after a win or a loss, our goal is to be in the last game of the season and we did even better, winning it.

Friday, November 11, 2016

Autumn

The post election shock has subsided some and glimmers of hope are still present as my favorite season quickly ramps up and shows signs of coming to a conclusion. The next four years will be interesting and possibly trying but the peaceful transition of power is on track and with one party rule in place we know who to hold accountable for policy moving forward. Half this country is already very disappointed, the other half is about to be.

Monday, November 07, 2016

Green and Yellow

I think we will be seeing peak color this week. The air is cool, the leaves are falling and outdoor sports are ending. A couple more football games this Saturday, then it's 5 months of gyms.

Happy 14th

A long day of basketball yesterday which made our birthday dinner and cake a little late but we got it in. So happy to have these boys in my life the last 14 years. They are getting a well deserved day of rest today while I work from home. Teacher work days today and tomorrow, they don't have to be back at school until Wednesday.

Sunday, November 06, 2016

Birthday Twins

Lots of basketball on their birthday but they wouldn't have it any other way.

Last Game

Soccer ends the season with another loss but the boys ran hard. We are at a preseason basketball tournament now.

Wednesday, November 02, 2016

Team Party

The boys are getting a little old for the team party thing. It was a rough soccer season but they had fun.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Nobel Chemists

Win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, get your face on our building.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween

The boys have given up on "trick or treating" this year. They were a little big for it last year but now they they are too cool.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

All Dressed Up

Pouty Face

Channeling Uncle Tom

Tom was a notorious land mine layer at parties and would have been proud of our work at Tim and Stephanie's wedding last night. This is just one of a number of good ones. Everybody looks happy in a land mine shot.

Gentlemen

They clean up good

Saturday, October 29, 2016

World Food Prize Building

The old central library turned into a LEED Platinum museum.

Farmers Market

We had a nice brunch and stroll through the Des Moines farmers market. Nice day in Iowa.

Uncle Bill

Got to hang with the Adelman side of the family after getting into Des Moines yesterday. It. Was good to see Tony, Tim, Stephanie, Robbie and of course Uncle Bill. The wedding weekend has begun.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Camera Shy

Ava seems more interested in the camera than Dylan, Mick and Sam.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Eighteen and Nineteen

It was a chilly night for soccer but Nicole and I got 2 and a half mile walk in around the track during the game. Our team is a little on the short side.
Flag Goodness

We got back on the winning track again yesterday in Flag Football.  We managed a very convincing victory over the Falcons with the boys showing some excellent situational awareness.  We never trailed in the game but it was close for a while.  We made a few mistakes but managed to learn from them and move on to the next play pretty seamlessly.  Remember, this is mostly the boys calling the plays and organizing the defense during the game. I simply give them advice from sideline based on what I'm seeing from my vantage point.  I've really been trying to help them run their own game this year and make them think critically about what's happening and how to adjust.  I think that will be an advantage as we roll into the playoffs.  The other teams have multiple coaches and are still sending in the plays.  I like our system better and win or lose, my team is being forced to find solutions on their own which will only benefit them as they enter high school.

We lost our 7th straight soccer game.  Sam had a nice goal and they both ran hard but our young and undersized team couldn't keep up.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Wheelbarrows

I used to have to do these in football. The boys had a 90 minute football practice then a 90 minute basketball practice. They should sleep well tonight.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Little Daylight

Soccer practice's are coming to an end soon. At least the ones on fields without lights. We share this field with a girls team. Both teams try to ignore each other but I catch the looks from both sides.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Band Man

The first concert of the year was tonight. They play better every year.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Strikers

Both boys played up as strikers or forwards most of the game but the Blue Strikers had a hard time getting the ball past mid field, limiting their goal scoring potential. Great day for soccer anyway.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Hallow Run

I guess you need to stop for a ghost or the during a 20 mile run.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Try outs

One more year of club basketball before high school. It looks like we will have a couple really talented new kids his year. One from a rival program with a notoriously horrid coach. My understanding is that a few kids from that team bailed to other clubs. Bad behavior as a youth coach catches up with you eventually.

Friday, October 07, 2016

Blueberry Sour

...via PhotoToaster, using these settings.




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Wednesday, October 05, 2016

Central Park

Been looking out this window most of the day. Meeting is going well but I'm thinking of things to do with the boys when we come back up for thanksgiving.