Ted's tough game/Andy's work of art

the painting has a glass w/ too much reflection, sorry folks

Ted's Homecoming game started off rough w/ 2 TDs scored by the Broncos. Then, Ted suffered a hard hit to the knee, straining the ligaments and was crying as he came out. With 3 minutes left in the game, the other assistant coach told him to just relax, and if he felt better, he could come in for the 2nd half. His mother who administrated the team's ice pack, asserted the same.

Ted ignored them both. He was upset that without him the Broncos scored another TD while Ted's mom held the ice pack against his knee. But he was upset and wanted to get out there. Within one minute, he went from laying down, to standing up, walking, and running out onto the field to play center for his team. To my delight, he countermanded both the other assistant coach and his mom. You could hear the 49er parents from a 1/2 mile away as they loudly cheered Ted as he ran back on the field.

The hardest part came at halftime as I had to work very hard to lift his spirits. Down 20-0, this was a game that we fully expected to win. Ted and I both scouted the Broncos and were very misled. They played the Oak Forest Steelers 2 wks. ago and the Broncos looked little and underwhelming. What we did not realize was that one of their big linemen were out of the game we scouted and was back in during our game. So Ted felt worthless, as he got beat on the run outside as a defensive end and didn't get any flags/tackles on defense, and didn't catch any of the poorly thrown balls thrown to him on offense.

The biggest problem that our 49ers face is that every team circles the game they play against Ted's team on their calendar. We have NOT won a game in a season & a 1/2 as we started 2008 as an expansion team in the league. The coaches have not done a good job of drafting big strong players. The teams come in very, very motivated and hyped that the 49er game is the one they will win. The Broncos came at our small line with 9 or 10 players.

Rallying the team at halftime worked. The 49ers shut the offense of the Broncos out in the 2nd half. Ted pulled a flag and held the running back to no gain. He knocked a defensive end to the ground pulling on a sweep which sprung our running back for 25 yards. As you can see, from the picture below, he earned another "POW" for his flag pull as DE and another football for his good blocking and flawless snaps as a center.

The Broncos got frustrated that they failed to push the 49ers around in the 3rd quarter so they resorted to punching. When I went out onto the field to coach the defense, Pablo Vega had tears in his eyes. The coach's son punched him on repeated plays (Bully #22) I responded by calling a blitz where Johnny Nietzel sacked their quarterback. "Where did that boy (Johnny) come from???" the Broncos coach said in a fog of confusion.

On offense, Head Coach Nietzel ordered Teddy and 2 other teammates to body slam and pile onto dirty #22 slamming him to the ground. Teddy saved his hardest hit for "dirty 22". Next play, when Dirty 22 raced into our quarterback to hit him after the play, Liam popped his elbow into his ribs. The gun sounded as the game was over. The 3 of us coaches confronted the Broncos coach, and boldly discussed Dirty 22's uncalled-for punches. The coach didn't mouth off, but rather, meekly played "stupid". He even admitted that Dirty 22 was his son!!

Ted was tired and winded. He deserved a lecture from both Mom and me. He admitted that he refused to eat lunch (which I tried serving him) because he was too finicky to eat. He admitted that he was light-headed from going 8 hrs. with nothing to eat but a big breakfast of bacon, milk and pancakes. He admitted he nearly fainted on the last play. His mother wisely told him that if he refused 5 options of food at lunch, he had no one to blame but himself. I glibly told him that he takes after both parents, who were both picky eaters as kids. Mom angrily denied being picky, but I silently recalled the fact that both kids graduated high school scrawny. Like a good Communist rewriting history, Momma forgot her own self-admission on that point! Just kidding, we don't fight nearly as much as 2002-05.

I've concluded that when I compare Ted to me as a 5th grader, we both suffer the curse of being a slow runners. We both played in pain when we got hurt in a game. My experience was a basketball game in Highland where I had the same injury but came back while our team won.

Ted, however, is more mature, smarter, and stronger as a football player. I just couldn't come close in grade school to accomplishing what he has. He has faithfully learned the plays, and, as center, snaps the ball with 99% accuracy, not only on direct snaps but on the shotgun play too. As coach John said last year, "Ted gets it!" Coach John Neitzel in the last 2 years has never said one discouraging word to Ted, and we calmly make suggestions whenever Ted makes mistakes. We have all recognized that Ted leads the team along with the 2 alternating quarterbacks. He proudly wears his All-American blue "C" for Captain that I had sewn into his jersey. (He's even a voice of reason at home!) With a better offensive line, the 49ers would have 2 more victories in a 4 game season. Seeing the start of Ted becoming a young man is an inspiration to all of us!

Coach John said the following during Homecoming dinner (& there are no dates for the 2nd through 5th grade team, lol, just a big ole supper by a large group of great parents, especially the football mothers who are with the 49ers through thick and thin!!)

"We had 3 goals I wanted the '9ers to accomplish.

1. Play the whole game hard and never quit.


2. Score a touchdown.


3. Win Homecoming.

We didn't win, but we held the ball 8 of 14 minutes in the 2nd half. We didn't score, but we at least accomplished 1/2 the goal. We definitely did NOT quit through the entire game. So by accomplish 1 1/2 goals and rounding up, we won today. Our young team rallied to Pablo when the Broncos gave him the brunt of their dirty play. Did we punch back, team?

NOOOO! shouted the young team.

"That's right, we played good, clean 49er football! We held our heads up and denied them any scoring that 2nd half. We begin as a team, and we'll end as a team. Now, let's give a big round of applause to the fine 49er moms who put out a sumptuous feast for all of us!"

Cheers and applause. Ted was hurt and dejected at halftime, but he and the rest of his teammates joined together after supper playing on the playground like the young winners they are.

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We all know what a tough year my oldest son, Andy had last year. A 25-foot fall off a balcony last 9-13-2008, scoring 60th percentile in the standardized reading test in Illinois, suffering and struggling with below average grades in Writing and Reading both last year and currently this year, and of course, suffering Asperger's Syndrome. We've helped, and we rewarded him, because in the 4th quarter, he finished strong in the end. He earned a white belt in Karate this summer; his white belt test brought tears to his supportive mother's eyes. He was rewarded for working and doing a great deal of housework by earning over $30 these past 2 weeks. He finished all of his homework, and during Homecoming game, he ran the first down chains with 2 football parents and loudly supported Ted. During the 2nd half as he intently watched Ted and his team losing, Andy (at 5'7", taller than his mom and a lil' over 160 lbs.) turned to me and said, "I wish that I could give that offensive line 50% of my size!"

Now, you and I have had a supportive grade school teacher when we were much, much younger. From the ages of 5-13 yrs. old, there was that one teacher who guided and nurtured us. Andy found that teacher after his fall, last year, his wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Nix. He earned an A in Art in 2008 and is well on his way to an A+ this quarter with this painting. My phone camera didn't do it justice, but there it is, above. Last month, Mrs. Nix has enthusiastically invited him to the Art Club where he meets every Tuesday afternoon, and he is really enjoying his 1st extra curricular activity after school! By the way, Andy has continued to do very well in Math, was in the mid80th percentile in the standardized Illinois test, and continues to work hard and do his schoolwork with Bs and As on his tests.


God bless, Mrs. Nix. When she beheld Andy's work of art above, she spent $15 for the glass and frame. MB & I know that she is definitely going to be invited to Andy's 8th grade graduation party. Andy hopes she will be there. Special thanks goes to Andy's Aunt Karen who gave him a very nice art set about 5 years ago, and Andy used on a regular basis until the colors were gone and the colored pencils were short.