Sunday night is Andy Rooney night in my house. He always has a few zingers to throw to the viewing audience. I am no Andy Rooney, and I have no zingers, but a few things do irk me. I will mention a few.
Things That Irk Me by Alan Maher
Sunday night is Andy Rooney night in my house. He always has a few zingers to throw to the viewing audience. I am no Andy Rooney, and I have no zingers, but a few things do irk me. I will mention a few.
· Freddy Adu is still fourteen! And a high school graduate. Wow. I am seventy-three and will be so for exactly twelve months. Then I will be seventy-four. Freddy will still be fourteen,
· I think that goal keepers are picked on by the rules of the game. If the keeper has the ball in his hands and he is fouled, the referee blows the whistle, signals about the foul and points to the ground. So now the keeper places the ball on the ground and kicks it. My keepers over the last thirty five years would rather punt the ball from the hands. So I ask, why is the keeper punished when he is the victim of the foul? Can anybody explain that to me?
· How to end tied games. We seem to have a problem with tied games. I am talking about play-off games or championship games. Most follow this pattern. Two timed extra periods of play followed by penalty kicks. Oh, those penalty kicks. How about this: reduce the number of players on the field to 9 for the first overtime period. For the second overtime period, reduce to 7 players. This will produce a winner.
· Why do referees talk to players? Blow the whistle, give the signal and get the game going. When the referees talk to players, the players feel entitled to speak. A dialogue. This is often followed by a yellow card or red card. So stop talking.
· Why do some referees ignore coaches who run on the field? I do not mean to pick on referees, but I cannot stand that. I tell my players that the game of soccer is played in a fish tank. Twenty-two players and a referee are in the tank. No one else. No one. Do not come off for water or to talk to the coach.
· Now I will mention coaches. I cannot deal with coaches who yell during the whole game. And they yell nonsense. One friend of mine yelled at a midfielder, “what are you doing?” The player stopped running and scratched his head. The yell took him out of the game. Silly. I like to let the kids play the game. It is not a giant chess game. The work of the coach should be done before the start of the game. It is like final exams in school. The teacher can only be a bystander in the process. The best coached teams in Europe that I have seen, are coached by silent coaches during the game. Let’s face it; the start of the game is too late to start coaching the team. Sit back and see what happens. Remember the fish tank.
· And a final one about coaches. I really get upset with the egocentric coachs. They are easy to spot. They have a clipboard, whistle and a shirt that has the word “coach” printed on it. The egocentric coach talks all the time and is the focus of attention. The egocentric coach plays with the team. How can a coach evaluate the players when he is in the middle of the field with half the players behind his back?
That is not a long list. I am sure that the gentle readers can add many more items. I would love to share common irks.
Alan Maher
Sunshine Square
April 16, 2004
