Berlin Day 1 and 2

Well Ive been here for a couple of days now , This might be kinda long but we go into Camp here in 2 days so it may be a few days till i send another one so here ya go!
I arrived here on Tuesday night about 6:45 , Im sure you can get it caught in Customs but i made it through customs in both England and Germany in a combined 20 minutes. One of the guys picked me up at the aiport , and we took a cab to where im staying , Mercedes's ,BMW'S, Volkswagon's are a dime a dozen here , we ended up taking a normal cab , but I have never seen a Benz or BMW Cab and i bet i saw 50 coming out of the airport. The City of Berlin is cool , its just really different , it really looks nothing like any city ive ever seen not being , out of the states other than to mexico before. All the cars are the same , there some kind of sedan of a car made over here.
My hotel is a holiday inn , its pretty nice but the room is TINY!! Ive got a couple of pics of it , I mean it is a bathroom , a bed and a desk and thats about it!!! The bed is weird its a queen or full size bed but its made out of two twin mattresses , It aint very comfortable. Either getting used to the time or the bed , I have woke up at 4 and 5 am both days , right now its 10 till 6am. Hopefully here in the next day or two i will be able to at least sleep till 7 or 8 am .
Went to Dinner here with some YoungLife people and that was interesting , Most People here speak a little bit of english , so you can communicate and they have a menu printed in english. We went to a restaurant and i ordered a grilled chicken breast , IT WAS TINY!!!! and served with French Fries , but almost everything on the Menu was served with Fries. Having water with your meal is like anything else here so most people order drinks with there out , because they charge you for water and they serve you carbonated water , which is just weird.
Yesterday i went and walked around some , i stayed fairly close to my hotel , just kinda so i was sure where i was! Its a really different feeling to be in a place where you cant read most things on the store fronts , or the street signs , I had two random people come out and get in my face speaking German , all i could so was look confused and say sorry.
Last night I experimented with the Subway system , which Ive never been in a city where ive had to do that before either. They gave me pretty strait forward directions so it was easy to follow , i just had to be able to read what i wrote down. The subway system is interesting , I payed 3.50 cents and rode like 5 different trains probably an hour's worth and thats all you pay. You have to get a certain kind of ticket or they fine you like 50 dollars if your caught on the train with the wrong ticket.
We went and watched the Semifinal World Cup Game that Germany was playing in last night at the apartment of some of the volunteer YL leaders here , watching Soccer with people that really love it , Im a soccer fan but they treat Soccer like we treat Football at home , theyre yelling at the TV they all know the game. It was weird sitting in a room and not knowing what anyone was saying , its kind of an unnerving experience. A couple of spoke english and i talked some to them , it turned out that a couple of more them spoke english and they speak dang near perfect english , two of em ended up driving me back to my hotel about a 20 minute drive and we talked the whole way , there really nice people. We ate i guess what would be the equivalent of Microwave Pizza over there that wasnt bad , it was pretty much like it was at home , there was one noticeable difference though , A pepperoni Pizza has one big peice of Pepperoni on each peice instead of little ones all over the peice.
I have kinda felt dehydrated the last few days , and it kinda started to click last night , i think its because at home were so used to Gigantic size drinks and free refills and over here everything is way smaller , last night everyone was drinking out of cups that would be considered childrens cups there. The other thing is i think you might have to ask for Ice , i drank Sprite with no ice at room temperature last night , wasnt my favorite but 15 other people were doing it so i did it to.
You walk every where here , which will be good for me , but its a little tough to get used to , last night i walked probably a mile to the subway and then getting off the subway probably a mile to there apartment.
Its really weird Im in a place where Ive met a couple of people , but I really KNOW no one , i dont know the language , it feels really weird to think how far i am away from home , but its ok , I know what im over here for and if i gotta feel a little like a fish out of water , Im ok with that . We go to camp soon

To leave or not to Leave

The Coaching Industry is a funny one , Its definately a industry or Job in which most of the guys motto is Look out for no. 1. You take a guy like Lane Kiffin , now no doubt he upgraded jobs, going from Tennessee to USC definate upgrade. The fact remains though pretty much one year ago exactly we were watching Lane accept the Volunteers Job. He made some improvements but how does 7-6 in the SEC land you the one of I'd say top 5 jobs in the Nation. Well he was there during the Heyday and it doesnt help that his Dad Monte is one of the best defensive minds to maybe ever coach football!.
I personally like Lane he reminds me alot of a young Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer when he was coming up a few years ago. I know he hasnt proved much as a Head Coach but the guy has to have some talent or inginuity as a coach. Maybe he is just a guy who obviously knows how to sell himself to people because at the age of 34 he has been an Offensvie Coordinator for USC and now the head coach of the Oakland Raiders , Tennessee Volunteeers , and USC Trojans now. The guy has to have something pretty special. The fact still remains you can make an argument he has no loyalty he is just out for the paycheck.I think his heart has always been at USC or he wouldnt have gone back to a school facing NCAA sanctions , when he already had a great job at the Univeristy of Tennessee.
There is alot to be said for a guy like Gary Patterson who is a fantastic coach and seems to be content where he is , granted TCU is a good job , but its a mid major a small private school . But Gary has turned them into a legitimate Top 10 program year in year out. Gary has had the opportunity to interview for jobs such as Kansas St , Notre Dame , Tennessee but turns them all down to stay at TCU. Now apparently Gary has a pretty sweet situation for himself in Fort Worth. But i mean really can u really stay at TCU when one of the big dogs come calling? Apparently Gary values loyalty more than others.
There are guys out there lIke Will Muschamp who has a contract in hand to make 1 million dollars to be the defensive coordinator and head coach in waiting for the University of Texas. Now im biast because Im a UT Fan but i love the fact that he wants to stay cause i think he will make a fantatstic head coach one day. Here is a guy smart enough to realize that he may be in line to take 1 of the top 3 jobs in the country in 5 years where he will be the head coach in his early 40's . He turned down a chance to interview for Notre Dame and turned down a 3 million dollar a year offer from the Volunteers. He may do it out of loyalty but is smart enough to know that he is in position to have a fantastic job.
That brings me finally to Mike Riley , he is the head coach at Oregon St a good job- not a great job but they love him and he apparently loves it there. USC came calling and he signed an extension for 9 more years through 2019! I guess the man knows where he is and loves it and is happy to stay. I applaud him for that , i dont know that i could personally do that but hey i think that is really cool of riley.
The Coaching buisness is something i felt like i woudl be a part of for a long time and still have a want to possibly do it sometime , but its a buisness where you definately have to be willing to do a few things 1. look out for yourself. 2. be prepared to pick up and move at a moments notice. 3.Watch youre back if youre not winning games left and right be prepared to be looking for work. Because of those things , it has turned into an extremely lucrative buisness, Mack Brown makes 5 mil a year , Lane Kiffin who has not even been successful as a head coach yet makes 3.5 , Pete Carroll who has been successful at the college level makes 7 mil a year now as a pro head coach. I guess when it all comes down to it what means more to you being loyal and turning a job into youre dream job, or looking out for yourself getting that next big paycheck and hoping for success! There are guys that do it both ways and are successful in both. Which one would you be?

Tiger Tiger Tiger

Tiger Woods is not perfect! This sucks on a number of different levels. One Tiger was one of the few athletes left that put out that image of near perfection , outside of being overly competetive and cussing when he hit shots on Tv you never saw or heard of Tiger doing anything remotely wrong. Lets be real Tiger is a human and he made a mistake , it sounds like he might have made a few. I am by no means trying to trivialize cheating on youre wife , but it is amazing that "speculation" of it leads CNN and other reputable news outlets. Nothing as even been confirmed at this point.
This sucks on many different levels.... Unless Tiger comes out and lays it out for everyone this speculation and rumors are gonna follow him forever and take away from someone who will go down as the greatest professional golfer of all time and possibly one of the greatest athletes of all time. Then there is the fact he is married and who knows if this leads to divorce or not , if it does sure his wife will get a boatload of cash and be fine for the rest of her life , but still at point or another they did agree to spend there lives together and its sad that now could possibly be over. Then there is the fact that Tiger is a dad and if he doesnt do something to help make this go away then this is gonna follow his children. As a child of the same thing (obviously not at the celebrity level) its not a fun thing to live with.
i really hope Tiger proves to be the standup guy he seems to be , just that he is a guy who screwed up , I hope he comes out admits to this stuff and deals with it. I think he will find that the people that have done that have found out , that us as fans are pretty forgiving if youre just honest with us. Dont go the path of Clemens , bonds, Palmeiro , Mcgwire (weird all baseball players) and act like you didnt do anything , all that does is make the situation worse. Did my opinion of Tiger Woods the man change maybe ,if he comes clean than no. I will still root for him like i always have. I just feel sorry he has this to deal with now. But then again it sounds like it maybe nobodys fault but his own.

A Legend Retires

A coaching legened retired today Bobby Bowden called it quits. The Coaching game is a funny one , You have Guys like Bowden and Joe Paterno who basically have to be forced out , or they will Die on the sidelines if you let em. Then there are guys like Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy who walk away from the game in there coaching prime ater reaching the pinnacle. This is a career path i sought for a while and still have some desire to. For me it is the closest thing you can do to if you are either not physically able or talented enough to continue to compete in sports. I love the thought of trying to out strategize and out call the guy across the sideline from you. I never had any desires to coach in the NFL , to be a top College Coach like Bowden would have been enough for me. I have alot of respect for a guy like Bowden he took a school that was horrbile in FSU and turned them into a national power.
Bowden spent 34 seasons at FSU and had one losing season! It was his first in 1976 , so he went 33 straight season finishing 500. or better. He finished in the top 5 of the AP Poll for 14 consecutive seasons. On top of that he won numerous conference titles and Two National Championships. Bobby also was a molder of men. He sent numerous kids into the NFL for very successful careers. You could make a case that Bobby should have retired a few years ago and you know what , you may be right. But when youre Bobby bowden a College Football and a Coaching Icon you should get to retire when you want to retire. I just hope that is what this is , and he wasnt told retire or were gonna fire you. So long Bobby , College football will go on but you definately made youre mark in it.