{"id":51832,"date":"2016-02-11T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T18:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=51832"},"modified":"2016-02-11T12:39:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-11T19:39:30","slug":"fanview-february-11-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=51832","title":{"rendered":"Fanview: February 11, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joe<\/a>

Joe T.<\/p><\/div>\n

By Joe Torosian<\/p>\n

\u201cFriends all tried to warn me<\/strong>
\nBut I held my head up high<\/strong>
\nAll the time they warned me<\/strong>
\nBut I only passed them by<\/strong>
\nThey all tried to tell me<\/strong>
\nBut I guess, I didn’t care<\/strong>
\nI turned my back and<\/strong>
\nLeft them standing there\u201d<\/strong>
\n\u2014Mike Curb Congregation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kick it!<\/p>\n

Right off the Top:<\/strong> I\u2019m a Christian, I\u2019m a Pastor, and I do my best to be the best I can be. So I say this to you\u2026pray for your coaches. If prayer is not your thing\u2026have good thoughts for your coaches\u2026I say this because they are vanishing like the Jedi.<\/p>\n

I had this column half-written and then news of Joel Sanchez\u2019s departure from El Monte’s sidelines came and I decided to ground it for a while.<\/p>\n

This column is not about Joel Sanchez and his particular situation, but it is about all the \u201cJoel Sanchez\u2019s\u201d<\/em> out there and all the situations they face.<\/p>\n

When I linked our \u201cSanchez Resigns\u201d<\/em> story on Facebook, a comment underneath it asked; \u201cwhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

I gave the standard answer\u2026the same answer 95% of the coaches give to us when they step down\u2026 \u201cIt\u2019s time\u201d\u2026 \u201cMy kids are growing up\u201d \u2026 \u201cI want to spend more time with my family\u201d<\/em> \u2026 etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.<\/p>\n

Very infrequently (and never \u201con the record\u201d) has a coach come to us and said: \u201cI quit because of the f-bombing administration\u201d<\/em> or \u201cThe f-bombing parents drove me f-bombing crazy!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m hundred percent certain no coach, I\u2019ve known over the last 18 years, has ever quit because he (focusing on football here) was sick of the kids or of football itself.<\/p>\n

In their off the record words it was always because of the f-bombing administration and\/or the f-bombing parents, boosters, and intrusive alumni.<\/p>\n

We always fantasize in the office about going kamikaze down the smoke stack and sharing everything we know (Because I\u2019ve pulled back the last year and a half, I can promise you Peterson knows more dirt than I do). Our analytics would spike but talk about burning bridges.<\/p>\n

Maybe you don\u2019t believe this, maybe you do, but I\u2019m not close enough to any coach to just show up at their house and open up the fridge. I can do this at Peterson\u2019s, Barker\u2019s, Villanueva\u2019s, and I would do it to Gonzo just to drive him crazy.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t have that kind of a relationship with the football coaches.<\/p>\n

So I say this honestly\u2026I admire these guys. Even when Mooney big timed me in an interview because a cable cameraman was there, when Singiser considered punching me because he misinterpreted a column I wrote, or when Ahhing, I was told, was angry with me because he confused me with another writer. (I don\u2019t even feel comfortable being around Ahhing when he\u2019s in a good mood.)<\/p>\n

The stuff a coach goes through (and I\u2019m sure other coaches do it for other sports\u2014I\u2019m just familiar with football) is stuff you never know about. Some of this off the record stuff is not just them being angry at the administration or frustrated with parents, or furious at another program for poaching a player.<\/p>\n

A lot of the off the record stuff, the stuff they don\u2019t brag about, the stuff the message boards don\u2019t sing about, is the money they raise for the kids that don\u2019t have anything.<\/p>\n

The spirit packs, the meals, equipment, and the groceries they provide to families in need. The things they do in the off-season with their own time to better the lives of their players. The things that have nothing to do with money, but the opening of their hearts to those in need of a solid male role model.<\/p>\n

Other stuff being the times their butts are hung out to dry by a dishonest booster. When a parent scheduled to work in a fireworks stand\/fundraiser doesn’t show and they have to cover it by changing their family schedule.<\/p>\n

Folks, I\u2019m not even talking about Xs & Os\u2026I\u2019m not talking about winning or losing\u2026I\u2019m just talking about the stuff they do that nobody knows about.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve likened others in sports to this before but these football coaches are truly secular pastors to their communities. They guide a flock and will go hunting to help save the one who has strayed away…Even when we all think they are crazy for doing so.<\/p>\n

Yeah, there are bad coaches just like there are pastors who suck<\/p>\n

And like Churchianity is driving pastors away, entitlement, message boards, anger, self-promotion, and CYA are driving some of the best people around away from the job that they are best built for.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t blame them for moving on, who wants to put up with a daily heaping of garbage that has nothing to do with what happens on the field.<\/p>\n

What happens on the field is fair game\u2026argue if they should punt instead of going for it\u2026ask why San Dimas went for two in the 2011 semifinals against San Gabriel\u2026but to question character and motivation of these coaches without clear cause is asking for disaster.<\/p>\n

And be careful what you ask for\u2026because you are about to get it.<\/p>\n

I say pray for these guys because you don’t know how much you really need them. Pray for them because your kids and your kids, kids are going to need men like them.<\/p>\n

…And they are slowly going away.<\/p>\n

Yeah, I’m not close to them in a “come to my pad, open the fridge, and watch the game with me”<\/em> kind of way…But I am close enough to have my heart break for them.<\/p>\n

It truly does.<\/p>\n

In regards to Sanchez\u2026yeah, his win and loss record might resemble something that looks like Romeo Crennel\u2019s\u2026but five playoff appearances in the last eight seasons ranks him in the top five of football coaches in EMHS history.<\/p>\n

More than that, Sanchez was instrumental in getting his team\u2019s games on campus. Through the work he did, and inspired, that miserable collection of grandstands at EMHS became the place to be. Homecoming became an event, there was energy and life in a program that had seen little life before his arrival.<\/p>\n

It’s probably fair to say he (and his team of leaders) resurrected a football culture at El Monte…But it’s more accurate to say he helped birth a football culture at El Monte.<\/p>\n

Joel Sanchez didn\u2019t tell me why he quit, but his \u201coff-the-record\u201d<\/em> reasons are the same as 95% of all the coaches that quit: lack of support, undermining, CYA, and entitlement.<\/p>\n

The Dude abides\u2026<\/p>\n

613<\/p>\n

Psalms 106:34-39<\/p>\n

Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com<\/p>\n

Author of \u201cTangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel\u201d available through Amazon.com<\/p>\n

Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe T.\u2019s Scoreboard\u201d is found at www.midvalleynews.com every Wednesday & in the hard copy of the Mid Valley News, published every Wednesday<\/p>\n

\""Joe<\/a>

“Joe has captured the essence of the high school football experience. You don’t have to have played or coached to be instantly engaged in the story and identify with the characters. A great read!…Lots of laughs and memories from what high school football is like on the inside.\u201d—Mike Mooney<\/strong>
\u201cA very accurate account of high school football.\u201d—Jon Dimalante<\/strong>
\u201cF-bombing Papa Joe, has written something truly great here…He\u2019s done a great job capturing the moments in the life of a high school football player both big and small from a unique angle.\u201d—Josh Ouellette<\/strong>
\u201cTANGENT DREAMS: A High School Football Novel” by Joe Torosian is NOW available through Amazon.com<\/strong>
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joe Torosian \u201cFriends all tried to warn me But I held my head up high All the time they warned me But I only passed them by They all tried to tell me But I guess, I didn’t care I turned my back and Left them standing there\u201d \u2014Mike Curb Congregation Kick it! Right […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fanview"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51832"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51837,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51832\/revisions\/51837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}