HEMI Friday 11/3/17
Q’s: Kleenex
PAX: PaulaDeen,Babyface,Friar,Bandcamp
Temp: 50 degrees
GET SMARTER
“Blood is red because of the hemoglobin inside our red blood cells. Hemoglobin is a complex protein found in red blood cells that contains an iron molecule. Each hemoglobin protein is made up subunits called hemes, which are what give blood its red color. The main function of hemoglobin is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the body tissues, and to exchange the oxygen for carbon dioxide, and then carry the carbon dioxide back to the lungs and where it is exchanged for oxygen.”
Brain drop. Now, we not only got Stronger, we got Smarter! And at the COT, we will get Wiser! Today, we are going to Build some Hemogloblin, by exercising our Bodies!
Disclaimer/warm up (12x IC)
SSH
Chinook (overhead arm circles)
Shoulder Circles
Alt Toe Touches
Ray Finkle Swings (hips)
Abe Vigodas
Imperials
Hillbillies
GET STRONGER
Mosey to Road:
ONE PARTNER
-Aiken Legs (20Squats/20Jumps/20Lunges/20StarJacks)
WHILE PARTNER
-Plank Position Shoulder Tap 10x/ea.side
-Nolan Ryan’s 10x/ea.side
-Travoltas 10x/ea.side
Elbow Plank upon completion
*RINSE & REPEAT
Mosey back to Benchs:
ONE PARTNER
-Incline Bench Press 1min AMRAP
-Lat rows 1min AMRAP
-Overhead press 1min AMRAP
WHILE PARTNER
-Copperhead Squats (3ct down, on 4 explode up w/good form; hands on back of heads w/elbows held high: wt on heels; keep back Straight)
*RINSE & REPEAT
Mosey to Square:
ONE SET OF PARTNER
is lapping The Square
WHILE OTHER SET AMRAP
-ABCs (on your six)
-Crunchy Frogs
-Boxcutters
-Bay City Scissors
-Protractor (angles:45/10/90/20/80/50)
-Rosalitas
-Hundreds
GET WISER
COT: “Don’t Widen the Plate”
Twenty years ago, in Nashville , Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA’s convention.
While I waited in line to register with the hotel staff, I heard other more veteran coaches rumbling about the lineup of speakers scheduled to present during the weekend. One name, in particular, kept resurfacing, always with the same sentiment — “John Scolinos is here? Oh, man, worth every penny of my airfare.” Who is John Scolinos, I wondered. No matter; I was just happy to be there.
In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching career that began in 1948. He shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation, wearing dark polyester pants, a light blue shirt, and a string around his neck from which home plate hung — a full-sized, stark-white home plate. Seriously, I wondered, who is this guy?
After speaking for 25 minutes, not once mentioning the prop hanging around his neck, Coach Scolinos appeared to notice the snickering among some of the coaches. Even those who knew Coach Scolinos had to wonder exactly where he was going with this, or if he had simply forgotten about home plate since he’d gotten on stage. Then, finally …
“You’re probably all wondering why I’m wearing home plate around my neck,” he said, his voice growing irascible. I laughed along with the others, acknowledging the possibility. “I may be old, but I’m not crazy. The reason I stand before you today is to share with you baseball people what I’ve learned in my life, what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.”
Several hands went up when Scolinos asked how many Little League coaches were in the room. “Do you know how wide home plate is in Little League?” After a pause, someone offered, “17 inches?”, more of a question than answer.
“That’s right,” he said. “How about in Babe Ruth’s day? Any Babe Ruth coaches in the house?” Another long pause. “17 inches?” a guess from another reluctant coach.
“That’s right,” said Scolinos. “Now, how many high school coaches do we have in the room?” Hundreds of hands shot up, as the pattern began to appear. “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?” “17 inches,” they said, sounding more confident.
“You’re right!” Scolinos barked. “And you college coaches, how wide is home plate in college?””17 inches!” we said, in unison.
“Any Minor League coaches here? How wide is home plate in pro ball?”…….”17 inches!”
“RIGHT! And in the Major Leagues, how wide home plate is in the Major Leagues? “17 inches!”
“SEV-EN-TEEN INCHES!” he confirmed, his voice bellowing off the walls. “And what do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over 17 inches?” Pause. “They send him to Pocatello !” he hollered, drawing raucous laughter. “What they don’t do is this: they don’t say, ‘Ah, that’s okay, Jimmy. If you can’t hit a 17-inch target? We’ll make it 18 inches or 19 inches. We’ll make it 20 inches so you have a better chance of hitting it. If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say 25 inches.’”
Pause. “Coaches… what do we do when your best player shows up late to practice? ..or when our team rules forbid facial hair and a guy shows up unshaven? What if he gets caught drinking? Do we hold him accountable? Or do we change the rules to fit him? Do we widen home plate? ”
The chuckles gradually faded as four thousand coaches grew quiet, the fog lifting as the old coach’s message began to unfold. He turned the plate toward himself and, using a Sharpie, began to draw something. When he turned it toward the crowd, point up, a house was revealed, complete with a freshly drawn door and two windows. “This is the problem in our homes today. With our marriages, with the way we parent our kids. With our discipline. We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards. We just widen the plate!”
Pause. Then, to the point at the top of the house he added a small American flag. “This is the problem in our schools today. The quality of our education is going downhill fast and teachers have been stripped of the tools they need to be successful, and to educate and discipline our young people. We are allowing
others to widen home plate! Where is that getting us?”
Silence. He replaced the flag with a Cross. “And this is the problem in the Church, where powerful people in positions of authority have taken advantage of young children, only to have such an atrocity swept under the rug for years. Our church leaders are widening home plate for themselves! And we allow it.”
“And the same is true with our government. Our so called representatives make rules for us that don’t apply to themselves. They take bribes from lobbyists and foreign countries. They no longer serve us. And we allow them to widen home plate! We see our country falling into a dark abyss while we just watch.”
At a baseball convention where I expected to learn something about curve balls and bunting and how to run better practices, I had learned something far more valuable. From an old man with home plate strung around his neck, I had learned something about life, about myself, about my own weaknesses and about my responsibilities as a leader. I had to hold myself and others accountable to that which I knew to be right, lest our families, our faith, and our society continue down an undesirable path.
“If I am lucky,” Coach Scolinos concluded, “you will remember one thing from this old coach today, It is this: “If we fail to hold ourselves to a higher standard, a standard of what we know to be right; if we fail to hold our spouses and our children to the same standards, if we are unwilling or unable to provide a consequence when they do not meet the standard; and if our schools & churches & our government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to …”. He held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark black backside, “…We have dark days ahead!.”
Note: Coach Scolinos died in 2009 at the age of 91, but not before touching the lives of hundreds of players and coaches. His message was clear: “Coaches, keep your players—no matter how good they are—your own children, your churches, your government, and most of all, keep yourself at 17 inches!”
“Don’t widen the plate.”
Prayers: Carl Lowman; The Rector’s; The Beams; PAX:Short-Circuit; all PAX not present; many unmentioned
Glad to be here. Honored to Lead.
#Kleenex
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