I left here a while back due to a new job with serious time constraints, a hectic high school hockey season, and disinterest in all of the complaining and haggling going on at this sight. Well I still have that job but am on spring break this week. The hectic hockey season ended with a valiant late season run that came up short for our Seniors but was quite a significant learning experience to our underclassmen. Excitement abounds for next season. And I have dropped in a few times to keep up on some of my favorite people here and have not really paid attention to the complaining or haggling. But this return will be brief. School starts again on Monday and I'll be busy through June. So those of you that stopped in before...I hope you do again. Those of you that have never heard of me and don't care...whatever. And for those of you that stop and decide you don't care for my little post...it is what it is.

A brief return and some lessons learned...and shared.

I am in Oklahoma this week on spring break because my dad lives there. Honestly, I preferred to be in somewhere really warm and hot to work on my tan. The only thing hot here is the wildfires burning houses down because of 40 to 60 mile an hour wind gusts. Well...that was last night. Lesson one....when the wind is blowing like that and there ain't any rain coming down...firemen can't keep up...at least in Oklahoma City.

 I coach high school hockey in MN and my dad is a big hockey fan. So I ended up at an Oklahoma City Blazers CHL playoff hockey game on Monday night. The things you do for your dad! Lesson two...don't go to a hockey game in Oklahoma City if you played it and coach it in MN...or anywhere else for that matter. I consider myself a pretty patient and understanding man. I understand the context of my surroundings and am generally able to get through things calmly. Half way through the third period I wanted to take the two women in front of me and slash, elbow, crosscheck, hook, throw offsides, and ice them...so they would finally know what the hell they were talking about. One of them thought the other team was offsides on every rush. When I tried to explain to her in the second period that a player can have one foot over the blue line before the puck is she looked at me like I had attempted to eat one of her young. In the third period one of the Blazer players blocked a shot...with his throat...and stayed down on the ice for a while. The referee blows the whistle and stands over the fallen player while the trainer comes out and does his job. One of these imbeciles takes this opportunity to chastize the referee for everything that was ever done wrong to the player down on the ice. Not just in this game...but...in his life. When I commented to my dad that she was embarrassing herself she again looked at me as if I had eaten one of her young. When we left with a couple of minutes left in the game she made a comment about people not speaking unless they know what they are talking about. That young one that I referred to...well...I didn't eat it but it may have a better chance if I had. Just sayin...!

Any comment concerning Texas football and OU football is likely to become the talk of the day...anywhere down here. It has been reported that the University of Texas placed a trophy or picture of the team on their locker room wall or somewhere in Austin claiming that Texas was the actual Big 12 Football Champion last year and added their own asterisk to it. Lesson three...asterisks are generally not considered a good thing...unless...apparently...it is associated with Texas football. I mean...ask Barry Bonds what he thinks of asterisks and he will probably tell you...in his own special way. Fortunately there is a man of sound mind and body in Austin, TX...we assume. Mack Brown ordered the thing taken down. But not before probably 2/3 of the population in Oklahoma rambled on about it all day. But...you know...down here...it is what it is...and thats what was!

My nephew is a huge Phil Mickelson fan and I...like many...enjoy the exploits of Tiger Woods. But we watched something the other day that was just plain...painful! Lesson four...show the same type of patience during a Tiger Woods press conference that you would at...say...a...hockey game in Oklahoma City. I was embarrassed by the questions that were asked of Woods. People think he is arrogant and cocky and carries an attitude about him. Maybe...and I'm just spitballing here...but...maybe...he is being kind when he anwers these asinine questions with short and quick answers. These people should be lucky he answers them at all. "What would you tell the first time Masters player who is 39 and will be teeing off  for the first time at Augusta?" Woods said he would tell him to hit it straight and make your putts. After a bit of a laugh the questions just got so...tedious! "How do you feel when you come here for the 15th year in a row?" Like they expect him to tell them it ain't no big deal. Just another course and another tournament. "How important was it to you to win at Bayhill before the Masters?" C'mon! How important do you think it was? If not to win at least to be in the hunt. This guy missed 8 months with reconstructive knee surgery. He is Tiger Woods but even he needs to know if all of the juices will flow again and if he is physically up to it. "Can Padraig Harrington win the Grand Slam and win all 4 majors in a year?" What was Tiger supposed to say to that? No! Of course not! He gave the perfect answer. Sure he can, he's done it! But it takes an awful lot to play that well in those settings four times in a row. But the topper was the guy who asked him after the first round 70 what it was about Wood's not being able to break 70 on the first day here. Tiger's response, "So, I've won it 4 times." I don't care what other people think about Woods...I kind of like the way he deals with the press. Short and sweet and in their face.

Enjoy your achievments while you can. Lesson five...you may not have a long time to do that. There is a certain young pitcher for the California Angels who pitched 6 scoreless innings the other night against the Oakland Athletics and was killed in a car accident later that night. A man who was intoxicated and over the leagl limit ran a minivan through a stoplight and killed the young pitcher and 2 others. There are so many lessons here that it wouldn't be fair to even try and list them. But the greatetst lesson of all would be...IF PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY LEARN ANYTHING FROM TRAGEDIES LIKE THIS! Sadly, this will continue to happen because people don't learn the lesson.

And finally, I visit the cemetarys where my grandparents and where my mom are buried when I get home...at least as often as I can. I'm 50 this year and for the first time I thought of things like the lessons they taught me when I was young and they were still with us. I thought of the moments of youth when I didn't listen to their advice and the lessons I learned from those outcomes. I remember the times when they told me my actions were inappropriate or unacceptable and that if the behavior continued I wouldn't be doing the things I really enjoyed doing until I changed them. Didn't take long for the behaviors to change because I understood and I respected those around me who had been there...and done that...and only wanted things to be better for me.

Lesson six...those people and those lessons are the ones that really matter. Not the bone-head who knows nothing about a game that shouldn't be played in a state that can't support it (1,000 people at a playoff game for a team that won 39 regular season games this year.) Not a bunch of people who have the time to waste on celebrating something that isn't theirs, and not reporters who ask insanely stupid questions because they can't think of asking anything that really matters to ask. The lessons from my youth and from my elders have helped to shape who I am today. I don't thank them often enough. But...I should. Thanks to all of those who taught me well. I hope I'm able to repay that in some way.

And that's the bottom line...

BOOMER SOONER!!!