Day 21- A day to be humble

FREE PRETZEL #21

May 21st- Day 21- I walked into the Soft Pretzel Factory and John behind the counter was actually singing.  I said, "You sound happy today?"  He replied, " I just sold my house and I moving to Florida in 6 weeks."  Good for you John. Good for you.

I nabbed the FREE PRETZEL and headed on down Haddon Ave.  Today was a day to be humble.

Most of you that are reading this probably know me pretty well.  I am extremely competitive, sometimes to the point that it consumes me.  I coach both golf and girls volleyball at Paul VI High School.  This year is my 8th year coaching golf and coming into the season knew we might have a pretty good team.  We play in the Olympic Conference, which is one of the tougher conferences in South Jersey.  Since I took over we have been a pretty average team, with a few seasons over .500 winning percentage and a few under.  High School sports tend to ebb and flow with some exceptions.  Some programs gain notoriety and continue many years of success because of the athletes or in some cases the coach that creates a strong program.  I would love to say that I will coach for a long time and hopefully build a strong golf program that I will be proud of.  So far, things have gone well.

This year, we knew that we would have a tough go in the division because Bishop Eustace returned their entire team from last year, but I still thought we could be competitive and give them a run.  Sometimes you never know with golf.

I already mentioned that we defeated Seneca twice, which for us, was a first. After the second win, we had two division matches left, Cherry Hill West and the Eustace.  A win against West and we would have a least a shot, with a win over Eustace to share the division title.  Unfortunately it was not to be as West picked the wrong day to shoot their team best for the year and beat us by 2.  That clinched the division for Eustace and basically made our match today meaningless.

I guess Eustace didn't know that though, because when I showed up to the course today, I congratulated their coach, Mike Foley, and presented him with today's FREE PRETZEL and he had no idea that we had lost the day before.  He told his team that this was for the division.  And boy did they step up.

It's not a trophy, but it probably tastes better.

Mike has been the coach at Eustace since probably a little bit longer than when I came on to the scene.  When I first started we had a couple of years when we were competitive with them, but recently they have owned us. We hadn't beaten them since 2008 and this year would be no different.  Coming into today's match, Eustace was 17-1 with their only loss being a 1 stroke loss to Washington Twp.  They left this match 18-1.  They beat us 153-167, with scores of 38, 38, 38 and 39 from their Top 4 golfers.  A very impressive day indeed.  I have always been impressed with the way Mike runs his teams and in a way have tried to emulate his style.  Coaching golf can be tricky and is unlike any other sport, because we cannot coach the kids once the match starts. 

Mike has been a good friend for these 8 years, showing me the ropes and we always have a good time playing golf.  We both are competitive and that makes things fun.  Even before they beat us today, he received the FREE PRETZEL for winning the division and being a good guy.   Sometimes its good to be a good sport and give credit when it's due.  He immediately had some bites and even shared some with me and my assistant Joe.  It was a good day for Eustace and maybe even a better day for Mike, since he got a pretzel.  He seemed happy to have a snack and that made me happy.  Next year we are gunning for that title.  There's always a next year.

Happy birthday shout-out to former Stockton colleague and current Bret Harte 5th grade teacher Desiree' Caldwell.  She spent her birthday on a field trip to Philadelphia.  I hope you had fun!

Until tomorrow...