A letter to Our Aztec Players

[Deleted]

There are certain facts of life that(some of you) you need to know, first one is that coaches are not your father's or your grandfather's or anyone who is going to put your feelings in the way of winning and keeping their job.
Now that does not mean that they are not decent human beings. They may or may not physical well-being in front of winning depending upon the coach. Whenever you get in a situation where an ex-coach can manipulate you for his benefit he will.
Do you remember, I'm sure you do, when you lost to BYU last year, Hoke spent a good 2 min. hug to Bronco Mendenhall. I was so angry I could spit nails.
You see relationships between the coaches are stronger than relationships with players in the long run. When you get fired it is the other coaches who will help you get a job or hire you. Now Bradys MO is to come on like he cares so much about you, your his family and it works. He used that residual emotion to mess with your head's and then some of you go over to him for a big hug. He is not part of your Ohana he is not your Ainga he is not your Bro your Dad. I'm sure he would not physically hurt any of you but stomping on your pride an dignity hell yes he will do that to win any time.
Brady did all this talking about what a great team you are and at the same time was telling his defense that Ryan would crack under pressure. I think when Rocky said that Brady will win a national championship was giving him the business like he gave you.
Why do I say that ,because I doubted hell he will ever win a national championship at Michigan. Not because he's not a good coach he is and he is ruthless. Et tu Brute, The SEC has better players and the competition is so much tougher that it makes the teams better .

You have an excellent chance to have a better year than last year there's no one on your schedule that you can't beat if you don't beat yourself. Nevada beat Boise last year there's only about three players on that team that would start for San Diego State. ASU just beat USC by 20 points so what? Stuff happens. Do you really think USC is 20 points worse than ASU?
Don't let the press or anybody else getting your head from this point forward.. The great World War II fighter pilot Adolf Galland shot gown over 400 planes, he once said "victory lies in the heart of the fighter not in the plane". The greatest Samurai Miayamoto Musashi said "master your technique then strike from the Void as if you were already dead." This means to throw your entire being into every moment as if it were your last, without fear or concern of gain or loss.

I once played with the a guy junior-college from Iceland and our coach had these mandatory prayers now my buddy was not religious at all and neither was I. The time came to lead the prayers and Coach picked Thorston. There he stood with his long blonde hair looking like he just got off of Viking long ship. The Viking raises his hands in the air and screams something loud in Icelandic (which is Old Norse). I recognized a couple words mainly Odin and blut(blood). So I asked him afterwards what the hell did you say, he said "Hail Odin give me the blood of my enemies."

Give Thugs Not Hugs,

Go you mighy Aztecs rip out the heart of the Horny Toads and feed it to the gods of War

[Deleted]

Sounds great to me. Save me a piece of that heart though would you please?

[Fishn'Aztec]

Give Thugs Not Hugs,

Is Dennis Erickson in the house? Paging coach Erickson! ;D

[sandiegoeric]

Hell yeah.

[fantaztec]

Good thing our coaches and players have more of a life than you do.

Good gracious if any Aztec football player reads this letter I implore you don't take advice from a guy who may or may not have once played JC football and has no idea of what it's like to be a division 1 athlete with all the complexities and parts of your life to balance and manage. Go hug your old coach. Keep it all in perspective that these fans have nothing else to talk about than sdsu football. Don't take wisdom from a toolbox.

[kozy]

Ready to eat crow?

Stevem played for Kush at ASU. Furthermore he bought some iron back from Vietnam that he still carries around inside him.

I would keep typing but those crow feathers are tough to type through.

[fantaztec]

It sure doesn't show from that post.

I'd expect a former division 1 athlete and a war veteran to say something like:

Aztec men, I know your heart was ripped out by the loss. For you to go shake hoke's hand, even tho your heart was hurting was gutty and full of class. It is never wrong to honor relationships. Hoke instilled something in this program and gave your team something to believe in and build on. To awknowledge that in the midst of pain is what we want Aztec athletics to be about.

Football is a game, not war. Let's learn from the heartache of Saturday and move forward with purpose and discipline. No one died Saturday. I'm glad you boys have more perspective than we fans have at times.

The reason no coaches exchange blows after a game or a player has never gone over and decked his former coach is because you all are in the trenches together. You understand that the scoreboard doesn't sum up your identity. If hatred is your fuel then you will burn out quick. I know rocky preached to you all year to not make Brady your motivation. Just because the fans make it personal and can't see things clearly, I'm proud of how you handled it.

Don't let Michigan beat us again. Use that game to get better.

Something like that would be more appropriate and dead on.

[zurac315]

Adolph Galland might have thought differently had he had to fly a Brewster Buffalo!

[zurac315]

Sept 26, 2011 18:54:42 GMT -8 fantaztec said:

Good thing our coaches and players have more of a life than you do.

Good gracious if any Aztec football player reads this letter I implore you don't take advice from a guy who may or may not have once played JC football and has no idea of what it's like to be a division 1 athlete with all the complexities and parts of your life to balance and manage. Go hug your old coach. Keep it all in perspective that these fans have nothing else to talk about than sdsu football. Don't take wisdom from a toolbox.

I love this post!

[jasweaver]

fantaztec, you got called out onto the carpet and seem reticent in admitting your faux pas.

Be that as it may, I judge your apology in defense of yourself to receive a grade of D+. ;D

My notes and interlineations on your speech are as follows:

1. "Aztec men, I know your heart was ripped out by the loss. For you to go shake hoke's hand, even tho your heart was hurting was gutty and full of class."

If the player's heart was ripped out by the loss, I would expect that heart to be beyond "hurting," and I think you should have said "even though your heart was on the heel of Brady's shoe, softening his sole [soul] during his long walk to Michigan with his carpet bag in tow, you showed ME a lot of class by shaking his left hand."[His right hand being drenched in blood from the knife he was pulling out of your back.]

2. "To awknowledge [sic] that in the midst of pain is what we want Aztec athletics to be about."

fantaztec, help me out on this one, as you befuddle me with this word and i wonder that the "awknowledge" might have been intentional and not freudian?

One hopefully gains knowledge through pain, so maybe you were connecting the word 'awwww' with the word 'knowledge' to make this point? Rather Shakespearean of you, and this is why I gave you the "D+." If this was not your intent, then I lower your grade to "D."

3. "To honor relationships" is a very high priority for a person of integrity.

I like your thought on the honoring of relationships, but there is a proper time and a proper place. And that time and place is not after a "heart-ripping" loss to some carpet bagger who failed to honor his relationship with you AT THE TIME he left your program for his dream job. A man who could have easily reached out to you during the nine or so months since he left.

Mind you, I do not begrudge Brady leaving San Diego and I support his Dream. I am quite content that he neither feeds at Carino's in La Jolla nor shakes the sands of La Jolla Shores with his trundling. Everyone should follow their dream and he made his dream abundantly clear to Dr. Weber when he came here to catch his breath and turn the program toward respectability. I appreciate the job he did here and wish him well in Michigan [not that i will follow his further adventures].

But the proper time and place to explore the "relationship" would have been the Sunday after the game where Brady should have invited the Aztec team, and Michigan, in all their abundance, could have paid for the costs of lodging, food, delayed flight to San Diego, etc.

4. "you all are in the trenches together"

I believe this is a false statement, unless you are referring to the fact that the Michigan lines, OL and DL, seemed to be in our trenches all day. Feel free to help me out on this, fantaztec, but you sound like the trucker at the King riots, "Why can't we all just get along?"--which was said after his head was bashed in with a heavy object and he was on the verge of death.
You are probably one of those noble fellows, that after his wife left him for the rich man on the hill, that you became the best man at their wedding. I salute you for that, and respect the diversity of human nature, BUT don't recommend that behavior for a man.

5. "You understand that the scoreboard doesn't sum up your identity"

This is too trite, too hackneyed a thought to be spoken to university scholars who are playing football. This is better suited for a little league coach speaking to his teary-eyed players, but is condescending to a university athlete, and so I red line this from your speech. This helps with your remarks, as shorter speeches are more digestible and easier to regurgitate. And to shorten my remarks, I close with:

And that's all I have to say about that.

[Deleted]

Sept 26, 2011 18:54:42 GMT -8 fantaztec said:

Good thing our coaches and players have more of a life than you do.

Good gracious if any Aztec football player reads this letter I implore you don't take advice from a guy who may or may not have once played JC football and has no idea of what it's like to be a division 1 athlete with all the complexities and parts of your life to balance and manage. Go hug your old coach. Keep it all in perspective that these fans have nothing else to talk about than sdsu football. Don't take wisdom from a toolbox.

I do did not say I played I was on the team as I was in freshman football at ASU. IN both cases they were short of players and looking for guys who could at least be on the scout team
I played rugby and ran track, those were my sports.
The only reason I mentioned that was because I always thought the story was hilarious.

I am all for giving your old coach a hug, but not after his team beat you and he obviously denigrate you behind your back while talking you up in the media. As for Galland he was fighting Spitfires with ME 109 which were inferior.
Every post is an opinion your entitled to yours me to mine. I like Rocky because he is completely no BS. Coach Hoke is alright but when he went into all that BS at a press conference about his reason for coaching being his love of the players. Then he took of like a rocket. If he had not said all that crap no problem,business is business.
The statement they were inconsolable showed me clearly this was more than a game to them and that was used to their disadvantage.You do not get anywhere in life by feeling sorry for yourself. If you think I am being hard on the coaching profession your wrong it is the nature of the beast in DI. I do know and are close friends with several former and current D1 coaches. My son played College football and played against both Draheim and Ryan in high school. His knees were so bad they were draining them when he was 13.
It is also true that boosters and some players parents can make the worst Coach look ,like Mahatma Gandhi.I was raised by hard tough people and I raised my son to be as tough mentally and physically as he could be.There is a time to kind and loving and a time to be hard and tough.
He is stronger than hell and graduated magna cum laude with a 1460 GRE. So maybe I do know a ,little something about kids and football.
There is Old Zen saying If You wish to know the truth then cease to cherish your own opinion." It is just an opinion.

[campanile]

Sept 26, 2011 17:09:49 GMT -8 steveem said:

There are certain facts of life that(some of you) you need to know, first one is that coaches are not your father's or your grandfather's or anyone who is going to put your feelings in the way of winning and keeping their job.
Now that does not mean that they are not decent human beings. They may or may not physical well-being in front of winning depending upon the coach. Whenever you get in a situation where an ex-coach can manipulate you for his benefit he will.
Do you remember, I'm sure you do, when you lost to BYU last year, Hoke spent a good 2 min. hug to Bronco Mendenhall. I was so angry I could spit nails.
You see relationships between the coaches are stronger than relationships with players in the long run. When you get fired it is the other coaches who will help you get a job or hire you. Now Bradys MO is to come on like he cares so much about you, your his family and it works. He used that residual emotion to mess with your head's and then some of you go over to him for a big hug. He is not part of your Ohana he is not your Ainga he is not your Bro your Dad. I'm sure he would not physically hurt any of you but stomping on your pride an dignity hell yes he will do that to win any time.
Brady did all this talking about what a great team you are and at the same time was telling his defense that Ryan would crack under pressure. I think when Rocky said that Brady will win a national championship was giving him the business like he gave you.
Why do I say that ,because I doubted hell he will ever win a national championship at Michigan. Not because he's not a good coach he is and he is ruthless. Et tu Brute, The SEC has better players and the competition is so much tougher that it makes the teams better .

You have an excellent chance to have a better year than last year there's no one on your schedule that you can't beat if you don't beat yourself. Nevada beat Boise last year there's only about three players on that team that would start for San Diego State. ASU just beat USC by 20 points so what? Stuff happens. Do you really think USC is 20 points worse than ASU?
Don't let the press or anybody else getting your head from this point forward.. The great World War II fighter pilot Adolf Galland shot gown over 400 planes, he once said "victory lies in the heart of the fighter not in the plane". The greatest Samurai Miayamoto Musashi said "master your technique then strike from the Void as if you were already dead." This means to throw your entire being into every moment as if it were your last, without fear or concern of gain or loss.

I once played with the a guy junior-college from Iceland and our coach had these mandatory prayers now my buddy was not religious at all and neither was I. The time came to lead the prayers and Coach picked Thorston. There he stood with his long blonde hair looking like he just got off of Viking long ship. The Viking raises his hands in the air and screams something loud in Icelandic (which is Old Norse). I recognized a couple words mainly Odin and blut(blood). So I asked him afterwards what the hell did you say, he said "Hail Odin give me the blood of my enemies."

Give Thugs Not Hugs,

Go you mighy Aztecs rip out the heart of the Horny Toads and feed it to the gods of War

After reading about how low the players felt after the game I had a similar realization. For some of these young guys, it must have felt like getting their ass brutally kicked in public by their father figure; compounding the loss. It makes sense that some unusual psychology was working there, and I think Steveem broke it down. Once again, Steveem offers wisdom and good sense.

[Deleted]

Sept 26, 2011 19:42:29 GMT -8 fantaztec said:

It sure doesn't show from that post.

I'd expect a former division 1 athlete and a war veteran to say something like:

Aztec men, I know your heart was ripped out by the loss. For you to go shake hoke's hand, even tho your heart was hurting was gutty and full of class. It is never wrong to honor relationships. Hoke instilled something in this program and gave your team something to believe in and build on. To awknowledge that in the midst of pain is what we want Aztec athletics to be about.

Football is a game, not war. Let's learn from the heartache of Saturday and move forward with purpose and discipline. No one died Saturday. I'm glad you boys have more perspective than we fans have at times.

The reason no coaches exchange blows after a game or a player has never gone over and decked his former coach is because you all are in the trenches together. You understand that the scoreboard doesn't sum up your identity. If hatred is your fuel then you will burn out quick. I know rocky preached to you all year to not make Brady your motivation. Just because the fans make it personal and can't see things clearly, I'm proud of how you handled it.

Don't let Michigan beat us again. Use that game to get better.

Something like that would be more appropriate and dead on.

.

The reason no coaches exchange blows after a game or a player has never gone over and decked his former coach is because you all are in the trenches together.

Actually that has happened more than once Joe Don Looney comes to mind. I said nothing about shaking hands ,hugging is different. Ferocity does not equal hate. Hate is fear in reverse, being fierce is determination and courage,in my opinion You know what Hyperoble is your not stupid. Seeing comrades or freinds or loved ones die a violent deaths that is loss. "Football is not a war " Woody Hayes is going to haunt you if your not carefull . :Football like Boxing,Hockey Rugby are warlike.
I know only too well it is not a war and would never claim it was, that would be a disservice to a lot of Marines,Sailors Airmen and Soldiers who paid the ultimate price.

[firemedic619]

Unless any of the posters on this forum are current players on the 2011 SDSU Aztecs Football team, then it doesn't make any sense to assume and direct what and how they should feel toward their ex-Head Coach, and how they should have reacted on the football field after their loss.

Each player had their own unique relationship to Hoke and their position coaches. If they felt that needed to shake his hand AND hug him, then so be it. Who are we to judge? More than half the team didn't do that.

But I agree on your last remark. Let's rip the Horned Frogs hearts out!

[longtimebooster]

I had a problem with the post-game hugfest.

However, the biggest problem I had with Long was his statement that Hoke would someday soon win a national championship at Michigan.

WTF? It's OK to give your former boss a quiet handshake or to say a few words in private, but to publicly crown him as the next Bo S. or Knute Rockne? Gimme a break. If you're thinking that stuff, keep it to yourself. Coryell would've never let a thought like that actually cross his lips.

[Deleted]

Sept 27, 2011 7:10:59 GMT -8 longtimebooster said:

I had a problem with the post-game hugfest.

However, the biggest problem I had with Long was his statement that Hoke would someday soon win a national championship at Michigan.

WTF? It's OK to give your former boss a quiet handshake or to say a few words in private, but to publicly crown him as the next Bo S. or Knute Rockne? Gimme a break. If you're thinking that stuff, keep it to yourself. Coryell would've never let a thought like that actually cross his lips.

I was hoping he was being sarcastic. However like I said Coaches try to keep on good terms with each other,sometimes to the detriment of the players. That quote the unconsolable,the cards honoring theri ex coaches the hugs afterwords,that is all a prescription for defeat in my mind.
mIxed emotions in any contest is a disaster.

It is right up there with Floyd Pattersons false beard he had in his locker fot ther Liston fight.

[k5james]

Jesus H. Christ. The game is over. Get over it.

Who cares if the players hugged the guys that recruited them to SDSU or the head coach gave props to the guy that brought him to SDSU?

Talk about making a mountain out of a mole hill...

[longtimebooster]

Sept 27, 2011 7:35:15 GMT -8 steveem said:

I was hoping he was being sarcastic.

True. The other thought I had was that I could never, ever see Steve Fisher saying something like that. In fact, Fish has been the guy running around saying that he would one day win a national championship at SDSU. In fact, he shook my hand, looked me square in the eye and said his goal was to win a national championship here on Montezuma Mesa. Not only that, he said it to me on at least 6 or 7 different occasions. The first time was at a reception at Karl Strauss Brewery about a month after he first signed. I almost burst out laughing, except the guy was a serious as a heart attack. The second time was after his team won about 4 games in its opening campaign. But he never backed down. He said it again at a reception just prior to the opening of last season. This time, I wasn't even thinking about laughing. The final time was just prior to the team's NCAA trip. At 32-2, it not only seemed plausible, but likely.

So, yeah, it p*sses me off that Long said that about Hoke.

[k5james]

Sept 27, 2011 8:10:29 GMT -8 longtimebooster said:

True. The other thought I had was that I could never, ever see Steve Fisher saying something like that. In fact, Fish has been the guy running around saying that he would one day win a national championship at SDSU. In fact, he shook my hand, looked me square in the eye and said his goal was to win a national championship here on Montezuma Mesa. Not only that, he said it to me on at least 6 or 7 different occasions. The first time was at a reception at Karl Strauss Brewery about a month after he first signed. I almost burst out laughing, except the guy was a serious as a heart attack. The second time was after his team won about 4 games in its opening campaign. But he never backed down. He said it again at a reception just prior to the opening of last season. This time, I wasn't even thinking about laughing. The final time was just prior to the team's NCAA trip. At 32-2, it not only seemed plausible, but likely.

So, yeah, it p*sses me off that Long said that about Hoke.

Completely different situations. We could go undefeated and not even sniff the NC game in football. Brady could have his team in the NC game THIS year if they go undefeated. (I don't think they will)

Rocky was just doing what he always does, speaking the truth as he sees it.

[longtimebooster]

Sept 27, 2011 8:13:16 GMT -8 k5james said:

Completely different situations. We could go undefeated and not even sniff the NC game in football. Brady could have his team in the NC game THIS year if they go undefeated. (I don't think they will)

Not completely different. I don't think you'll ever hear the Boise St. coach saying that someone other than his blue-turf monstrosity should with the NC. Nor will you hear the Purple Toads say otherwise.

Additionally, the MGC is really in the same boat in bball. When was the last time a MGC team even made it to the Final Four. Exactly. Never.

The cards are stacked against us in bball, too. But that doesn't stop Fish from setting the bar high.