Erk Russell's Four F Filosophy for Flag Football

Every player, I believe, begins the season with plenty of desire to play hard, play smart, and have fun. A coach has many important matters to attend to when a season starts. Perhaps not attended to is the question: Am I going to be fueling my players' desire to play or will I actually extinguish much of their internal fire for the game? The short answer: If you are an authoritarian, militaristic coach who relies on punishing mistakes with exercise, yelling, and filling practice with rituals which contribute virtually nothing to playing well in games, then you are a coach who is likely killing your players' desire to play. While there is no one way to coaching success, a more positive approach fuels the desire to play that every player has when the season starts.

Erk Russell's Four F Philosophy provides a framework for positive coaching:

1) Firm- Develop a sound philosophy and stick to it. On offense we run plays as quickly as possible without a huddle or a snap count. Our system is sound and yet contrarian. Running the option from a tight formation means that most opponents have little chance to prepare specifically for us. On defense we run a zone scheme that relies on all players filling their roles. We know that every play is not going to succeed, but if we firmly stick to our schemes, we will have success.*

 2) Fair – Every player contributes in every game. We do tend to specialize linemen, but all others play offense and defense. This gives players variety and gives tremendous flexibility to the coach. There are at least two players experienced in every position. As coach it is important to always encourage every player, as every role is important. When players make mistakes, reassure them and give them advice on how to do better next time.

 3) Fundamental – Talk, show, do, then repeat, and repeat. Practice is filled with doing what it takes to succeed: running plays well. Adjustments are made and pointers are given between plays. Keep it simple: We can attack any part of field on offense yet our system is simple; we use only one formation. We learn foundational plays without a defense in one week and then run them against a defense in the second week of practice. New plays or variations to current plays are added over the course of the season. We do not waste time on drills, especially “character building” drills. Character lessons are built into the nature of the game and require no special drills and certainly do not require extra punishments.

 4) Fun – Perhaps first among equals is fun. All games are popular primarily because they are fun. Killing the spirit of fun kills player desire to play, period. Players who know their roles and can play well while not having their time wasted on mindless, and sometimes punitive drills will be having fun. They will look forward to practice and games. They will be confident because they know what they are doing; they have done it many times. Enjoy the time with your players; encourage them, teach them, joke around with them sometimes. Everything should be done in the spirit of fun.

Fuel your players' desire to play. Do not be seduced by militaristic approaches where the answer to every problem is, in some way, to “get tough” with players. “Get tough” coaching is lazy, counter-productive coaching. Use Erk Russell's Four F Philosophy of Firm, Fair, Fundamental, and Fun to provide the positive experience every player deserves and will remember fondly, win or lose.

*I am in a constant quest for better ways to do things. I make most majors changes in the off-season. In season we make “adjustments” usually.

 Erk Russell Bio Courtesy: GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com Release: 01/08/2008 Led Georgia Southern Football Team to an unprecedented National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-AA record three national championships in the 1980's. Followed back-to-back championships in 1985 and 1986 with a perfect 15-0 title performance in 1989. Arrived in Statesboro in 1981 to restart a football program which had been dormant for 40-years and averaged 10.4 wins a year over the next eight seasons. Headed into first season in 1982 with walk-ons and enjoyed 7-3-1 record. Joined NCAA I-AA in 1984 and won 70 of 84 games in six seasons. Led Eagles to five postseason berths from 1985 to 1989, garnering three championships, one second place finish and one quarterfinal appearance. Won 37 consecutive games at Allen E. Paulson Stadium, including 1989 Championship game. Retired as America's winningest football coach with 83-22-1 (.788) record. Named Coach-of-the-Year on 19 occasions. Inducted into Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. Born July 23, 1926 in Birmingham, Alabama. Earned Bachelors and Masters degrees from Auburn, where he was last four-sport letterman in Tiger history (football, basketball, baseball and tennis). Spent 17 seasons as assistant at Georgia where his defensive teams were known as the "Junkyard Dogs".
 

How To Watch Soccer: A Dumb Method for a Dumb Game

I have never liked soccer. I do not think my gym class in middle school ever got five minutes into a game of soccer before someone asked why we had to play this dumb game that does not allow you to use your hands. Everyone agreed and soon we were playing something similar, but sensible, like team handball. Like many Americans, you might be caught up in the mini-frenzy surrounding the latest iteration of the World Cup being played in South Africa.

If you have not watched a lot of soccer, you may be wondering how this game ever became popular in the first place. In the unlikely circumstance that you know any of their names, the players are still generally unrecognizable due to the wide camera angle required to cover the action on such an expansive playing field (a necessity caused by the relative lack of control that comes from using the feet to control a ball). If you have the patience to watch long enough to see a goal scored, you will likely be underwhelmed by its being scored on a penalty kick, a lucky carom, a shot off a player's head, or an embarrassing miscue by a goalie. "Quality" goals, where actual skill is rewarded, seem to be a rarity. The game appears to be a drawn-out series of mistakes, collisions, penalties, passes to no one, and balls going out of bounds.

Perhaps you have figured out that it is not that you just do not understand soccer, the problem is that soccer is indeed a dumb game. Any game where you cannot use your hands, your head is a ball-striking implement, and success is nearly impossible when the game is played properly just does not appeal to Americans used to games like football, baseball, and basketball where success is actually possible in the course of a well-played game. American sports actually have situations that unfold over the course of the game. This unlike soccer, where one minute of a game seems just like any other minute.

But you are still caught-up in the orgy of chauvinistic nationalism known as the World Cup--what to do? When I watched a player from Ghana get a bloody nose by diverting a ball kicked at point blank range with his face, an idea came to me. As I had been watching this game to ridicule the absurdity of the game, I thought why not turn watching soccer into a drinking game. What a perfect way to commemorate (and later forget totally) every dumb thing that happens in a soccer game.

Here are the rules:

Drink every time a player: falls down, hits a ball with his head, kicks a ball to no one.

Also drink every time the ball goes out of bounds.

If a kick to no one goes out of bounds, remember to drink twice.

Feel free add other drinking opportunities as the absurdity of the game unfolds before you. Although I think the above should provide the entertainment that a soccer game lacks as a sporting event.

N.B. This is humor (or an attempt at it), I do not recommend drinking games that include alcohol.

Catching With a Vintage Baseball Glove

I spent most of the baseball seasons from 1974 to 1979 either playing baseball, poring over my baseball cards, reading about baseball, or daydreaming about baseball. I thought back then that if there were any justice the universe, someone who loved baseball as much as I did would have to be a big leaguer some day. Well that did not happen but I continued on as a fan until I lost interest finally during the steroid era. Since I have had only a lukewarm interest in baseball for the last ten years or so, I from time to time quip that I have forgotten more about baseball history than most people know. I believe this to be literally true.

When my daughters expressed an interest in playing fastpitch softball recently, my interest in baseball was rekindled. As I played catch with my daughter I realized how much I loved and missed baseball. Not so much the modern game, where most players hideously wear their baseball pants down over their socks, but the game before the modern glove, say, before World War 2. I had been a Yankee fan for most of my life but I had always been captivated by the picture of the sliding Pepper Martin of the 1934 "Gashouse Gang" St. Louis Cardinals that hung on my bedroom wall. That picture captured the raw, hustling, and fun style of play I loved and tried to emulate as a skinny shortstop for the Thatcher Men's Club team of the Elmira Small Fry baseball league. So in my rebirth as a baseball fan, I decided that it was the St. Louis Cardinals for me. Again, I am not as much a fan of the modern team but of the 1934 World Series Champion team. My favorite player on the team is Joe Medwick. He was also Yogi Berra's favorite as a youth growing up in St. Louis.




The evolution of the baseball glove has always fascinated me. Just looking at an old glove that is so small and has not even got stitching between the fingers makes one wonder how those old timers caught a ball with those things. On the other hand, I was always contemptuous of the modern "peach basket" gloves that emerged during my youth and are still going strong. They just seemed like cheating to me. So I simply had to buy a vintage glove and try it for myself. I won a Joe Medwick autographed model on ebay. What follows are my observations on catching a baseball with a vintage glove.

My first observation is catching with vintage glove requires a more heightened level of alertness than a regular glove. Playing with a modern glove is fun but can be a pretty nonchalant venture. One needs to be on his toes and two hands should be used on every catch possible with a vintage glove or you will drop a lot of balls.

Next, vintage gloves can hurt. My hand swelled considerably after catching about twenty balls tossed underhand in to the air. This taught me that catching a baseball with a vintage glove was very much like catching a football: catch with two "soft" hands taking momentum off the incoming ball by easing it in toward your body and quickly get it into your throwing hand. If ESPN calls great fielding plays "Web Gems" because most great catches are made in the web of the modern glove, then great plays with a vintage glove should perhaps be called "Palm Pearls".



Finally, it is clear that there are balls that would be easy catches with a modern glove that will not be caught with a vintage glove. Chances that come in low to the backhand side are the toughest to deal with.

Catching and throwing a baseball is one of life's purest joys. There is nothing wrong with a modern glove, but every baseball lover should experience catching with a vintage glove. It is pure bliss.

How I Rediscovered Swill Beer

Like many folks these days, I have in varying degrees incorporated red wine, coffee, tea, cocoa and even beer into my daily routine after reading about their health benefits. Concerning wine and beer, let it be said that I have never been a big drinker. I started trying to drink one beer like a porter, stout, or pale ale every day because I read that they had the most antioxidants; I did grow to actually like them, savoring them for their taste. This despite the fact that, as my daughter reminded me, I do not drink beer for the taste but for the health benefits.

My trip into porters, stouts, and pale ales led me into the fascinating world of craft brewing. Craft brewing, or micro-brewing, is a classic reaction to the kind of blandness that inflicts many mass-produced products. Mass production has always helped the common man; it also creates the opportunity for small time producers who can make custom, niche products often with "snob appeal".

To most craft brewers, mass-produced beers of Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller are "swill", unworthy of the beer connoisseur. Thus the craft brewing culture bred a new kind of beer drinker, the beer snob. The beer snob often claims to be able tell what kind of barley, hops, yeast, and adjuncts are used in a beer and render a verdict on said beer's worthiness. "Adjunct" is dirty word in the world of beer snobbery. An adjunct is some other grain, usually corn or rice, that brewers of swill use to replace some of the barley malt of the standard water, barley malt, hops, and yeast that make up beer. Use of adjuncts by craft brewers is a cardinal sin to many beer snobs.

I must admit to becoming a small time beer snob myself. I had sworn off any beer produced by Anheuser-Busch, Miller, or any huge brewer. I rationalized that these beers just did not have the taste or health benefits of the porters, stouts, and pale ales I was drinking at a rate of one bottle per day or less. However, I discovered a craft beer, Session Lager, by the small Full Sail brewery in Oregon that would become my bridge back into mass-produced swill.

American beer before Prohibition was dominated by the lagers of 19th Century German immigrants which had displaced the ales of early American times (many of the framers, like Washington and Jefferson, brewed their own ales). It was the German brewers who introduced the adjunct, usually corn, that would characterize American beer. Corn was introduced to tame the the flavor of the six-row barley available in America (German brewers had used two-row barley in Europe). American beer was always lighter in flavor and easier to drink that its European counterparts. Americans were hard-working and America has a hotter climate than Europe so this style, American lager, fit right in.

Prohibition destroyed the American lager. The beer produced after Prohibition, was even lighter. This was the "Western lager" of Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and Miller, the beer that the modern craft brewing movement reacted against and demonized as "adjunct-laden swill". Enter Session Lager.

Some craft brewers decided that pre-Prohibition American lager was not so bad and might be an interesting brew, if only to provide a nice summertime "lawnmower" beer. Session Lager is such a beer. It comes in cool 11-ounce retro stubby bottles. I picked up twelve on a lark and was enchanted. I decided that Session Lager was my new beer of choice. Ever cost-conscious, however, I began to eye the sub-premium swill at the end of the beer cooler like Busch, Milwaukee's Best, etc. with renewed interest. I remembered from my youngers days that of all the awful cheap beer I ever drank, Busch was the best. So I picked up some Busch beer. To my surprise, it wasn't much different than Session Lager. If fact, it was really just as good at two-thirds the price.



So here's my advice: reconsider the swill that you have abandoned. You may be surprised by American lagers that are perhaps more respected around the world than they are in America.

Hot Stove League 1933-34 Part 2

In the midst of our "Great Recession", we should be glad that things, so far, aren't as bad as during the Great Depression of the 1930s. For comparison, we could note that professional sports today are not nearly as bad off as the most popular sport of the Great Depression, big league baseball. However one thing today is much worse: the economic ignorance of the public.

For illustration of this ignorance, I point to the "vulgar Keynesian" notion that consumer spending drives the economy expressed in the absolutely absurd blog post of Washington Redskin Chris Cooley entitled, "Albert Stimulates" which renowned hot air dispenser Jim Rome gushed about . Cooley wrote a tour de force of banality with gems like: "NFL players and new NFL contracts are an fantastic way to stimulate the economy." and "Oh, and lets not forget our friendly car and home taxes - over [$]30,000 a year for me, fun times." Cooley actually celebrates the fact that half of his earnings are eaten by taxes!

Here are the wonders Cooley tells us the big salaries of professional athletes are doing for the economy: "Cars, houses, clothes, food, women, jewelry and all of it at a rapid pace." Lost on Cooley is that the money spent "lavishly" by athletes does nothing special for the economy. "Let's also consider what the market needs for any type of a bottom, or a rebound. Well I guess I can't consider myself enough of an expert to start to explain that but, I'm thinking if we could get someone to stop selling off all their shit and start buying back in I think we would have a start." Again, apparently lost on our oracle of the gridiron is that if someone is selling, someone else must be buying, "So if I was receiving a enormous contract this year I may figure it would be a great time to buy some 50 -75 percent off stock." For him to buy, someone must be selling off.

Cooley sums up his assault on clear thinking, "Huge contracts for athletes mean one thing. Shit tons of money will be poured back into our country. You think these guys are slow play investors who will sit on their money like a goose. Absolutely not, their money is being spent, no questions asked."

A far cry from economic ignorance illustrated by the pompous Chris Cooley, was the good sense displayed by sportswriters, team owners, and baseball players of the 1930s. While the New Deal administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt had largely bought into the fallacious idea that consumer spending drives the economy (this in spite of the fact that FDR actually campaigned against the outrageous spending of the Hoover administration which had also bought into the spending driven economy), many Americans, including baseball players and owners, understood that cutting costs, making sacrifices, and providing a better goods and services were the only way to survive the hard times.

Baseball actually faced financial difficulties, "A man can't go to a baseball game when he hasn't any money." said Commissioner Kennesaw M. Landis in 1933. Fortunately, while much of the rest of the economy was being regimented under the NRA's Blue Eagle (ala Mussolini's fascist program in Italy) to regulate wages (keep them artificially high) and production, baseball teams could be thankful that they remained free to cut costs and run their business without the interference of NRA bureaucrats.

With regard to salaries the great John J. McGraw said, "Salaries must come down...owners are losing too much money." Come down they did. Sid Keener of the St. Louis Times Dispatch reported that average salaries were down to about $7500 (about a 25% drop), still only a little lower than the peak salary for a great of an earlier time, Christy Mathewson, who made only $10,000. Salary cuts also caused something that may surprise today's sports fan. There was actual concern as to whether playing baseball was a better deal than some other line of work. But Cardinal GM Branch Rickey said that even at a salary like $6500, a player should be able to save $5000 a year. So after only a handful of seasons a player could have a nice nest egg set aside; Rickey said that the Cards had more men than they could use willing to play baseball. Superstar Dizzy Dean's wife told how she refused a wedding ring until after they had a house paid for "free and clear". In contrast, apparently following the Chris Cooley school of profligate spending, 60% of NBA players are broke in five years making salaries that dwarf those of 1930s baseball players.

Also to save money, rosters were cut from 25 players to 23; the eventual champions of 1934, the "Gashouse Gang" St. Louis Cardinals only carried 21 players for most of the season. Also to save salary cash, the 1930s saw many player-managers, who had little help running the club: Frankie Frisch of the Cardinals, Bill Terry of the 1933 champion New York Giants, Charley Grimm of the Cubs, Jimmy Wilson of the Phillies and Pie Traynor of the Pirates among others. Contrast to FDR and his "Brain Trust". Babe Ruth actually made more money in 1934 doing radio broadcasts sponsored by Quaker Oats than from his baseball salary. The Boston Red Sox for 1934 became the first team to offer profit-sharing with players to inspire them to win and thus draw more paid attendance. Most players understood the need to cut salaries. "Pepper" Martin of the Cardinals said, "Shucks, no one's interested in what they're paying me...fans want to know what kind-a year I'm going to give 'em...Pep'll be hustling, giving his best and trying all the time." I wonder if Chris Cooley and the spoiled brats of modern sports could say the same after taking a pay cut.

Owners also debated the merits of radio broadcasting. Some, like the Cubs and Pirates, allowed the broadcast of their games by radio while others did not, thinking radio broadcasts lost more business than they brought in. Owners hoped that the resumption of alcohol sales with the repeal of prohibition in 1933 would also boost business. Night baseball was considered (and vetoed) between 1933 and 1934 to allow more people to make it to the ballpark without interference with work hours. Another change, perhaps to enliven fan excitement, was the National League's adoption of the American League's livelier baseball.

The 1934 season was still a tight situation for baseball despite the cost cutting. In the Pittsburgh Press, Chester L. Smith made a series of suggestions to stem the tide of red ink: replace the male concession vendors with pretty girls, replace the megaphone announcer in many parks (like Sportman's Park in St. Louis) with a public address system, put all games on the radio, and sell beer at the ball park.

The major leagues survived the Great Depression without any direct help from the New Deal by attempting to run their businesses more frugally and offer a more entertaining product. Fortunately, owners were not hampered in their efforts by the kind blithe ignorance that had infected the government at that time and that now infects practically our whole populace.

Hot Stove League 1933-34 Part 1

Tuesday night's All-Star game featured zero home runs and a brisk pace by modern standards, ending in two and a half hours. The winning tally in a 4-3 contest was manufactured by a hustling triple and an opposite field sacrifice fly. Here is the round tripper-free scoring summary:

Top 1st: American

- M. Teixeira reached on fielder's choice, D. Jeter scored, J. Mauer to second on first baseman A. Pujols' fielding error

- J. Hamilton grounded into fielder's choice, J. Mauer scored, M. Teixeira to third, J. Bay out at second

Bot 2nd: National

- Y. Molina singled to center, D. Wright scored, S. Victorino to third, S. Victorino scored, Y. Molina to second on center fielder J. Hamilton's throwing error

- P. Fielder ground rule double to left, Y. Molina scored

Top 5th: American

- J. Mauer doubled to left, D. Jeter scored

Top 8th: American

- A. Jones hit sacrifice fly to deep right, C. Granderson scored

With the top active home run clouters mostly absent from the all-star showcase, perhaps a new era of baseball is emerging, harkening back, if not to the Dead Ball era, at least to the relatively less lively ball of the National League 1920-1933.

Baseball history has the neat dividing line between the pre-1920 Dead Ball era and the Live Ball era which has prevailed ever since. Few are aware, however, that the ball of the National League from 1920 to 1933 was by no means a dead ball, but was merely a "livelier" ball.

The Great Depression perhaps influenced the National League in 1934 to adopt a new onion "stabilized" to the vivacious sphere used in the American League. The reasoning was reminiscent of that used to market sports to non-fans in modern sports. Scoring, scoring, scoring and more scoring was thought to bring in ladies and children. De-emphasized would be the subtleties that true fans loved: the stolen base, the hit and run, the double stretched into a triple. Why bother trying to squeeze out extra bases risking an out when the mighty swoop of a home run will score a runner from first as well as from third?

John E. Wray of the St. Louis Post Dispatch used the terminology of the time to deride the new ball's effect on the game:

"The new deal baseball would act like the New Deal dollar is supposed to---it would stimulate business...It is the prevailing belief that the public worships at the shrine of the Big Wallop...As regards the Knot Hole Gang [kids in St. Louis who watched the game through knot holes in the wall around Sportsman's Park] and the free ladies' day patronage, this is true. With many of these the climax of the game is...a knock over the wall. Whether the lively ball or the batter's prowess accomplishes this doesn't concern them. But the old "die hard" boys who like to see a run EARNED will never be reconciled to seeing a tally gained by intelligence and planning offset by a rubber-cored wallop over the roofs."

Damon Runyon wrote this in the New York American after two games in the 1934 season: "At the rate of 13 or so a day, there may be 2,000 homers hit by the end of the season, making the game more and more a matter of slug and run home."

"The introduction of the lively ball to the National League has meant a decided new deal for batters. A check of 45 regular players shows they made at total net gain of 1,227 points in their batting averages over their 1933 rate at a corresponding date. That's not recovery, it's pure inflation." wrote Caswell Adams in the New York Herald Tribune on June 20, 1934. By July 24, Sid Keener declared in the St. Louis Star Times, "Mr. Lively Baseball is all the pitchers complain about. The National League has increased its batting average from .266 in 1933 to .282 in 1934."

Like the New Deal, the new lively ball did not revive the fortunes of baseball or the general economy. "There's red ink on many baseball ledgers where red ink never went before. More money's in circulation than in the past two years. Why aren't baseball clubs getting their share of it?" opined Chester L. Smith of the Pittsburgh Press.

Whether it was due to juiced players, a juiced ball or deflated pitching, the late era from the mid-nineties to mid-aughts has been just what Damon Runyon described as a matter of "slug and run home". As a lover of the older game of speed and strategy, I was turned off by this era of home run "inflation". This was also an era of Fed credit-induced bubbles, first in tech stocks then in real estate. As increased frugality in our personal economies becomes more prevalent in this era of popped bubbles, hopefully the new crop of All-Stars will signal a new modesty in power hitting. We all scrap for a living and sacrifice some luxuries; hopefully ball players will scrap for extra bases and make more sacrifice flies for winning runs as in last night's game.

Terraplane Rock

Here's a song I made up a while ago that I've wanted to record in some form. This is done very primitively.

The song is loosely based on Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues". In Johnson's song, nothing goes right so it's blues. In mine everything is going fine so it's rock. It's a basic I-IV-V type song that has been done a thousand times. My favorite song that uses this basic structure is "Rev It Up & Go" by the Stray Cats. Since the guitar is too loud, here are the lyrics:

The ride is so good can't you hear the engine moan;
Yeah, the ride is so good can't you hear the engine moan;
I been ridin' that Terraplane since I been home.

Flip my switch and your horn it starts to blow;
Yeah, flip my switch and your horn it starts to blow;
We're making a connection somewhere down below.

Pop your hood and baby I'll check the oil;
Yeah, pop your hood and baby I'll check the oil;
Then we'll ride that Terraplane until it boils.

Cause it's rock, rock, Terraplane rock;
Rock, rock, Terraplane rock;
Yeah, rock, rock, Terraplane rock;
Cause it's rock rock rock, Terraplane rock;
I been been rockin' that Terraplane since I been home.

For those who care, the amp is my little Crate GX-15R with the Gain on 10, Reverb on 7, and volume about 2. My homemade guitar is pine with a particle board top and a Danelectro Lipstick pickup wired direct to the jack.

I hope you enjoy it.