SPORTS EDUCATION STARTS WITH KNOWING YOUR TEAM

Sports education with Raider Coach Tom Fores started in middle school at a parent teacher conference.

I was the parent, the teacher was Miss Flores, my kid’s teacher.

She was whip smart and knew how to reach her students in ways other teachers couldn’t. As a science teacher, she had an advantage.

The night of the conference, the science advantage included dissected frogs.

If you’ve ever had a science class that included dead frogs, it was a gross then as it ever was.

So I showed my enthusiasm and understanding with one of the dumbest questions I could think of. You’ve probably heard this one:

When a yokel knows someone from another city or town, like New York City where I lived in the late 70’s, and they meet someone from there, they ask, “Hey, you probably know Dennis Trois. He lived in Brooklyn, looks like Sylvester Stallone.”

Hey Dennis.

That’s what I did to counter the gag-on-a-dead-frog feeling in Miss Flores science lab.

“Miss Flores? Do you know Tom Flores, the 2-time Super Bowl winning coach of the Oakland Raiders?”

Just doing my part for sports education, and got caught.

She smiled a pretty, young, teacher smile, very tolerant and understanding like you’d hope your kids might see once in their lives to counter the grizzled old crones in the profession.

I was pretending to be a rube, which my wife and kids don’t get. It’s an act, you guys. They counter with, “But you’re from North Bend.”

To which I say, “Don’t mess with a Bulldog, we’ll get you.”

This bight light of science teaching, the opposite of my own junior high science teachers, said, “No, I don’t know Coach Flores, but he lives next to my parents. Would you like an autographed picture? I’ll ask them.”

And that’s how I came into possession of one of my sports education touchstones.

The other touchstone is Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys. He’s in this link. Give it a click.

Know When To Dump Your Team Based On Sports Education

I’m a Cowboy fan, been one since the Dandy Don days of the 60’s when they played the Packers and lost before the first two Super Bowls. My dad was a Packers man, so that made it even more fun.

He even looked like Ray Nitschke.

When Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys he looked to Raiders owner Al Davis for tips on how to run a team.

Al Davis had John Madden, then Tom Flores before fading out. Jerry had Jimmy Johnson. It’s been a long time since Jimmy. It’s been too long between Super Bowls for both teams.

If you lashed your fan-hood to a team bandwagon when they were good, you’ve jumped off long ago. The rest of us wish we could.

Sports education says we can’t jump off and jump back on. When you’re gone, it’s over. That’s the bottom line. If things get too stupid for too long, find another team.

I’m almost there after the Danny White decade, the Tony Romo years, and now Dak. But not quite.

When To Change Sides

If your team is sliding away due to ignorance, aggressive ignorance, or agnorance, the time to change is getting closer than you think.

Hanging too long is bad for mental health, yours and everyone who listens to you hype your team.

Let it go, bro. Take a deep, deep, breath and cut the cord.

Know when enough is enough, and move on. But, you ask, when is enough too much?

Good question. Let’s amplify sports education with something more current.

This comes from a legal suit filed in Oregon. Expand your screen for easier reading.

If nothing else, sports education reveals the fallacy of false beliefs held by die-hards ready to go down with the ship.

Know your role. Know who speaks for you.

Be better than that.

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