[Senator]

I think it will be fine long term. Andrew has a big heart, and Garett seems easily led, and we are showing him the right path.

Practice was a little sluggish last night. I think the guys are really tired of hitting each other, and ready to play someone else. Tomorrow is quite a day. I will help the bantam coaches with weigh in from 7-9:30, and then weigh my guys in, and afterward scrimmage the Hawkeyes. Then we go over to our field to continue, and I am buying the pizza for the day. I am allotting about 300 dollars for pizza and drinks for 35 players and parents. I hope it is enough. Maybe I should add another 100 to be safe.

Things that happen to every coach, that I was hoping might avoid this season, happened.

First, our starting fullback and linebacker, Derek, showed up with a severe sprain on his ankle. He was running around at recess, and hurt himself. So, I am keeping him out of this scrimmage and hoping he will be ready by game day on the 27th.

Wil is the only one who has missed a practice and he needs it most. When he arrives, he has forgotten his mouth piece, pants pads, and yesterday, his jersey. Luckily, I have been doing this long enough, where I have several backups of everything a kid could lose, break, or forget. He is exhausting my supply, though.

My assistant coach, whose son is my QB and CB, and the leader of the team, informed me yesterday he will miss 3 games because he paid 2000 dollars for season LSU tickets and will go to them. I would never have drafted my star player if I knew he would miss games. I also need the coach there, as he handles special teams and linebackers. He and I are going to have a very frank discussion tomorrow.

So, a day of frustration, that I hope works itself out by next week. Tomorrow, though, we will see where we are, as we scrimmage a very poor team, by all accounts.