The adventures of Ted

Picked up a shoulder bone bruise this week. Blocking with one arm and coach called out some d lineman that a one armed player is making you look like a punk assed pussy.

Ted liked that.

Arizona Western Matadors travels to Eastern Arizona Monsters 7pm Pacific Time....10pm Eastern.

Ted has not hit anyone in live action since his all star game in January 2016. He called me last night and said he is so ready to just plow someone. He told me to look for a run between left guard and left tackle to start off the game. He and his left tackle guaranteed coach a hole big enough for a truck to drive through.

If anyone is interested here is the link to his game.

Lets go Matadors !!

http://www.eac.edu/Campus_Life/Athletics/fbSchedule.asp

The first play of the game Ted blocked and fell on his man 15 yards down the field. He told me later that night his adrenaline was pumping.

They looked poor the first half. They didn't move the ball and E. Arizona just methodically moved down the field and scored 2 touchdowns leading 14-0 at halftime. Coach laid into them at halftime. Ted said the coaches are more screamers than coaches.

Whatever the coaches did at halftime made a big difference. Western Arizona scored 3 touchdowns and the defense stood up and stopped Eastern. They won 21-14.

Ted with a very strong second half graded out and ended with 4 pancake blocks. He said he was sore and at 3 am took a hour ice bath when he returned to campus. Team meeting on Monday and coach was still pissed at his offense for only scoring 21 points. The last 3 years they have been averaging over 40 a game. Wind sprints are in their near future.

Saturday they travel again to Pima Aztecs in Tucsan Arizona. Ted is into this game, he knows 4 players on this team and 2 are former rivals on the defensive line. Both he dominated in high school.

Here is a replay of last weeks game if interested.

https://livestream.com/eacmonsters/events/7688529

2 linemen quit today.

1 for getting yelled at the other for not playing in the game. Ted said they were pussies anyways.

Now down to 7

Ted called me last night and told me he lost his starting posission. He was short on time and will call me after the game tonight.

Lets go Matadores.

They held Ted out the first quarter of the game and put him in the start of the 2nd and he remained there the rest of the game.

There was no video for this game due to technical difficulties but they did have an am radio feed. They mentioned Ted by name 3 times during the broadcast. The 3rd time the announcer called Ted "unstoppable" and "holes big enough for a circus to come into town"

For a radio announcer to mention an offensive lineman name much less multiple times is huge.

He called me and said he was in a zone and was very pissed off fo being demoted.

Coach put him back as a starter this week and a few big schools came and saw him ths week. He is back in his happy place. He said he is separating himself from the others and will never be demoted again. He was embarrassed by dropping down to 2nd string.

They did win 39-19. They are still ranked as the #1 team in the country and have this week off.

Lesson learned.

They played Eastern Arizona again this week. This time it was a district game. They came to play.

Western Arizona dropped to #2 in the country, not because of a loss but because their scoring slowed a little and they were idle on week 3. Ted said coach was furious about this and wanted to make a statement.

They won 55-22 and racked up a solid 600+ yards in the game. The running game was fantastic. The one running back had 200 for the game. the offensive line was very good and Ted was off his rocker. He had 5 pancake blocks and blew open a hole at the end of the first quarter so the running back scampered for a 58 yard TD.

Ted is playing left guard. He pulled to right guard and chip blocked the middle linebacker that fell and continued to wipe-out the safety. The running back went 58 yards untouched. The TV announcer said "That running back should buy Hessing a dinner for that hole........If he could afford feeding him)

Ted played for 3 quarters and substituted most of the players with 2nd and 3rd string guys.

There were a lot of scouts from big D-1 schools there from Texas to Oregon. The Oregon coach talked to Ted for a long time and is following on twitter and wants to see all his Huddle film. That would be ironic if Ted went even farther than Arizona for college.

This week is another week off. Then they travel outside Salt Lake City Utah to take on a long time foe and divisional rival Snow.

I will post the link for Oct. 7th game next week.

Lets go Matadors!!

Here is a highlight film the coach put together and sent out to colleges for Ted.

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9617748/59caf1373df5b737f42e5490?utm_expid=...

Arizona Western had a second and last week off for the season. In that time they dropped from #2 in the country to #5. The traveld to Utah to take on #6 Snow Collage.

On the bus ride out there they drove through Las Vegas where they pulled over and everyone gave a moment of silence and then they stopped for lunch at Hoover Dam. It's cool that when they do go on a road trip the coaches stop at different locations to see other parts of our country.

These are long tome foes and in the same division. The winner of this should be put in the #2 or #3 position.

Ted did not start. The put him in a few plays in the game and on x points and on field goals. Ted is in a frenzy over this but what can you do. After last games stellar performance I did not even think he would not be the starter. Last game they ran for 264 yards. This week the running game struggled. the offensive line was not a team and only a few plays there were no fuck ups by the line. This is not just a Dad being bitter but as a coach you can see the line was very sloppy.

They did squeak out a win with 2 seconds left on the clock with a field goal to make it 29-27. Thw Matadors are 4-0 and 2-0 in the district. I know it is still early with only 4 games under their belt but Snow was easily the toughest team on their schedule so far this year and it won't get any easier.

Team meeting today and the coaches blasted the o-line stopping the film and calling out all the faults of the big guys. A bunch of the players were bitchin and moanin that this and that was not their fault. Coach threw shit around the film room and told them to leave their lame ass fuckin excuses at the fuckin door!!  Coach told the team the o-line is getting a shake up. We will see what happens. Ted has always played tackle and they have him at the guard position and he has been very well there so we will wait for any developments.

5 of the next 6 games keep them at home. Next week they take on 4-0 Phoenix also a district game.

Coach better get shit together and real soon.

They sure like fuckin with Ted.

Moved him to starting guard again.

Arizona Western #3 in the country.

http://www.njcaa.org/sports/fball/polls

Ted practiced at left guard all week and now they are starting him at right guard. They don't always seem to have much rime or reason to the possisions.

It's OK, Ted can play all 5 spots if needed.

They are at home taking on Phoenix.  Here is the link again if interested. 7PM west coast....10PM east. Ted is #70

http://vp.telvue.com/preview?id=T04549&video=229025

#1 East Mississippi lost this week leaving the #1 and 2 spots open for the taking.

Arizona Western was very sloppy in the first half with 3 fumbles. The boys were holding the football like a loaf of bread. The kicker fucked up his right leg and the kicking game was a joke. He was trying to kick left foot and it was a mess. You would think with 80 kids on the roster there would be at least a back up somewere. They went into the locker room down 13-12.

Coach went ballistic on the team throwing a fit and a few chairs and 1 table.

The second half the ball was held onto like it was gold and the boys marched up and down the field scoring and only allowed 47 yards to Phoenix. The final was 46-12.

Ted graded out and had 5 more pancakes on the season. The O-line looked respectable this week. Hopefully the coaching staff sees this and Ted practices hard like he did last week. I did talk to the coach on the phone last week and the benching of ted on the 2 games was from some "grab assing" in practice. Fuck around and you don't start. they don't care how good you are. Lesson learned.

I have a new all time favorate football comentator. Sam Hovan. He is a instant classic.

New JC rankings come out tomorrow.

#2 in the country

http://www.njcaa.org/sports/fball/polls

Woke up this morning not feeling well at all.....aches and a headache from hell.They pulled a non conference win out last night. A very ugly win. WAU pulled out a tight one even with 6 turnovers in their favor.28-25They are 6-0 on the year and the rest of the games are all conference games. We will be flying out in 3 weeks against Scottsdale.

Yes he has had a couple of schools talk and contact him. I won't name any schools to avoid a jinx but he is scheduled to fly home at the end of the season and talk to a school that the fans extend their arms out in front and slap them together like a chomping motion.........

Still #2.........even with the weak win.

Next 3 are all conference games with some very solid competition.............stay focused boys

Mid season highlights

They are on a Business Trip today and MUST win to stay in the race.

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9617748/59f3b8c164debe1a487e40ba

They brought it last night to Glendale. They won 26-0. The offensive line looked solid. The D stepped up for a solid shutout. Ted had a 6 pack of pancakes. I called him IHOP last night, he liked that.

Stay focused 2 more games. Both at home.

#1 won also last night.

Arizona Western hosted Mesa on Saturday afternoon, it was their first daytime game of the year. Mesa was not their strongest opponent of the year but they play them twice and they are inter division team.

Western coach wanted to make a statement to the computer rankings and played a solid all around game on this beautiful 82 degree afternoon. they beat Mesa 64-23. Coach in his after game speech told the kids they are getting better but have a lot more work to do.

Ted picked up his first penalty of the season with a facemask, it didn't cost the team but 15 yards and they scored 2 plays later. He did get a forced fumble on a blocked extra point and had 7 pancake blocks. His total on the season is 44 pancakes and graded out on 7 of 9 games. Not too bad.

Next week is Scottsdale and they are ranked #18 and is also a long time nemesis. Arizona Western win should put them in the National JC Championship game.

We are flying out next week to see this game and to take Ted and his roommate to dinner.  Looking forward to seeing the boy eat again. It's like rubbernecking at a car accident.

waiting for Tuesday rankings.......Still #2 or did they move to #1 ????

Final rankings for Junior College football.

#1 takes on #2 for National championship in Mississippi Bowl.

The boy is pumped.

OOPS

http://www.njcaa.org/sports/fball/polls

The game is this Sunday 2pm Central 3 pm Eastern

Ted is #70 on Arizona Western

He said he is having trouble sleeping at night. He said he WILL bring home the hardware. He is also going to give me his game jersey.

We are heading out Friday am and going to slip up to west Alabama to root on The Big Tasty #74 with Western Florida Argonauts. They are in the elite 8 for division II. He's another big guy we coached and Ted played with. 6-7 330lbs.

From now to New Years is some fun football.

Here's a link to the Nattie on Sunday. It says you have to pay but we never had to just hook laptop to your tv and enjoy.

http://www.njcaatv.com/landing/index#

We rolled into Biloxi about the same time as Teds team arrived. They had a chartered plane directly from Yuma to Biloxi, from there they had 3 busses waiting for them and a double police escort everywhere they went to on the weekend.

The hotel was an converted condo on the beach. The smallest room was about 450 square feet and I had with my wife and mother in law a 2 bedroom and it was about 1400 square feet. It wa right on the gulf and it was very nice.

All the players received a bowl watch, a full sweat suit, t-shirts, game jersey, tote bags, sweat shirts and bunch of other goodies. They were fed 3 meals a day with one each day off premises and they were nice places they went to. On Saturday night was the banquet with both teams. The speaker for Arizona Western went first and the Matadors went crazy clapping and hooting and E. Mississippi players booed and grumbled. When the Lions finished their speech Arizona team had some sort of chant about suckin their dicks and broke it out chanting, clapping and stomping out of the room to their busses skipping desert and the closing comments. The kids all seam to get a kick out of this and the coaches didn't mind either.

The hotel was a buzz with this, one of the Polynesian kids hooked up with an ounce and the party was under way but it all was shut down for the 11 pm curfew.

The game was on Sunday at 2 pm and the weather was delightful. 68 degrees and sunny. The humidity was up in the 80% range and some of the Arizona kids cramped a bit. not bad but you can tell it was slowly taking it's toll on the desert team.

East Mississippi Lions jumped up on Arizona Western Matadors quickly with a TD and a pick 6.   The first quarter or so the nerves were all over our team. There were 6 or 7 dropped passes and a handful of tackles that were sure fire through out the year. After their nerves calmed down they were in for a battle. The Lions were one step ahead all game long.

The final score was:

East Mississippi Lions 31

Arizona Western Matadors 28

Ted took the loss in stride, others on his team not so well. Ted did have a monster game, His assignment for most of the game was BIG #94 and ted moved him around like a Lego. After the game Ted talked to 4 recruiters and again this made him happy.

The final rankings on the season and they finished #3.

Ted has exams this week and he will be back home for 6 weeks on the 13th. Lock the cupboards and the fridge. He is coming.

Here are a few photos.

Spring ball was the 3 weeks after the big D1 schools finished theirs. The recruiters come to the Junior Colleges before they hit the high schools.

He is eligible to leave and move to a big school but Coach does not want him to move on until after next season. He will graduate with his AA in December. Other kids who are not eligible to leave have picked up offers. It is unsaid but I don't think his coach wanted any schools to offer until July so Ted will have to play in Arizona Western.

Not exaggerating but Ted has talked to 51 schools. All of the recruiters told him they will see him this summer/fall.

Coach wants him to loose 25 pounds and get to 315. He had his exit meeting yesterday and things are looking solid tor Ted.

He lands at 5:30 am on Friday in Orlando and his boys are picking him up at 9am to go to Miami for the 3 day Rolling Loud festival.

He reports back To Yuma Arizona on July 6.

We have 3 trainers lined up for the 7 weeks he is home for summer break. He will be working out one on one 4 days a week and lifting the other 3 with friends.

He is focused.

Reports tomorrow July 6th.

Stopped by the Grand Canyon on the way out.

47 days till kick off.

They start 2 a days today.

5am to 7am

8pm to 10pm

116 degrees on Saturday....to hot to practice in the daytime.

He got to 320

I fed him too well

121 degrees yesterday

expecting 122 today

Practice in the swimming pool

smart coach

YUMA, Ariz. – For the 10th straight season, the Arizona Western College football team grabbed a spot in the preseason NJCAA poll. This year, the Mats are third [1], which is the same place they finished in the final poll of 2017. East Mississippi is first, and Iowa Western is second.

AWC is coming off of a second straight trip to the NJCAA Football Championship. The Mats lost a heartbreaker to East Mississippi at the Mississippi Bowl last December that came down to inches [2]. After the game, the Mats had five players named NJCAA All-Americans [3], and more than 20 signed with four-year schools during the spring and summer.

The team hasn’t lost a regular season game and are 20-0 in the regular season over the last two years while going to the two national championships. This fall, the Mats have an incredibly tough 11 game slate [4] that includes non-conference matchups with New Mexico Military and a true road game at 15th-ranked Georgia Military College.

AWC is one of three ranked teams from the Western States Football League. Snow College sits in fourth, and Eastern Arizona is 20th. The Mats are also third in the JCGridiron Dirty 30 poll [5] that includes teams from both the NJCAA and California.

The Mats take on New Mexico Military on Friday, August 24th to open the season, and the game will be played at Yuma Catholic. Tickets are only $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and military members. Children 12 and under and AWC students and staff get in for FREE!

Arizona Western College is one of the top community colleges in Arizona. The college boasts partnerships with all three state universities that include face-to-face classes in Yuma.

--MATADORS--

The season starts on friday night. 7 PM west coast at Yuma Catholic field.

They voted Ted team captain for the year.

I smell a Natty...............

Friday the 24th (tomorrow) Western Arizona kicks off it's 2018 football season against New Mexico Military, 10pm east coast 7pm for westies. This a renewed rivalry from years past. It won't be a cake walk either.

Teds roommate from last year plays for NMM on defense. He texted me yesterday that he is going to keep one eye on Ted all game so he doesn't get run over. His name is Tristan Simmons and he is a line backer. Keep an eye on the second tier blocking for this one on one match up.

Here is the link to the game if anyone is interested.

College football is back baby!!!

Stream the game here: https://livestream.com/accounts/14694240/events/8321184 Watching is free, all you need is an email address to sign up.

Lets get a win boys.....or shall I say men.

Will that link be same for all season? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

No each week it is different. Go to Arizona Western football and go to schedule. The link is with the game of the week.

Well that game did not go as planned. This is an old rivalry that has gone back and forth with an average of 3.3 point win with 37 meetings over the years.

The offensive line struggled. Only 2 starters from last year are starting this year. A load of freshman. They also used 4 different quarterbacks. All of this equals problems. They moved Ted from right guard to right tackle and the second half to center. The center caused 6 false starts. He literally broke down in tears and they sent him back to the locker room. The offense was on and off all night. They did have 2 very good drives for touchdowns but the settled for too many field goals.

The defense was not very good. Only 3 starters from last year. They did manage an interception. New Mexico Military quarterback ended up with almost 200 yards of rushing, the triple option was killing Western.

The kick return coverage was a huge issue too, they ran every kick off back to the 37 for an average and punts were an average of 21 net yards.

The Matadors lost 30-32.

Ted had a very solid game with 6 pancakes but he was called for one offsides penalty. He is not a big fan as a center but it looks like that is going to be his new home. Ted will bitch to me about the change but he will never complain to the coaches. he will just put his head down and keep on grinding. It just adds to his stock that he can play anywhere on the line.

After the game coach came in the locker room and told his players all but a handful are bunch of crybaby pussies and to pull out their tampons and act like men. Nice.

Ted did get to see his old roommate Tristan and his Dad Victor flew out to see them. Brothers from different mothers as they say. Vick took Ted to dinner after the game and was amazed that Ted ate 12 tacos from the Killer Taco Truck.

Next week (Saturday Sept. 1) Arizona travels to #13 Georgia Military, They lost their season opener too on Thursday night by 2 points also. Games aren't going to get any easier. It's an 8 hour road trip for us so my wife and Mother-in-law will be ridding up for this one.

Lest's Go Matadors!!  They need it.

I need to make a note here. The starting center broke down in tears not Ted.

To the centers defense, Ted did say #92 who was the nose guard was the toughest defender he ever had to block in his whole life.

But he wasn't good enough to make Teddy cry and run away.

They have him listed at 6-6 but he is closer to 6-8

Damn tall for a center but as we all know......low man wins

He has been playing football since he was 4. Coach snuck him in a year early due to his size and he was always at every practice drooling to playing. It was flag ball till he was 6.

He missed 8th grade due to too big for Pop Warner. Fuck the days of loosing 30-40 pounds for season kick off was a bitch. His last year he would have had to loose 62 pounds and that was just too much.

So needless to say he turns 21 in October and he has played 16 years of fall football and 4 more of spring ball (not spring practice)  so he actually has 20 seasons under his belt. Needless to say he knows the game.

With an opening game loss last week, this game on the road to #13 ranked Georgia Military, is a must win to keep any chances of repeating for a shot at a National championship game again.

They bus out of campus at midnight to Phoenix and fly into Atlanta about 6am.......Business Trip.

We will drive out about 7am and is a 7 hour ride for us. We will bring our lucky noisemakers with us.

The game this week is 7pm eastern and 4pm west coast. here is the link if anyone cares.

Nothing better than a cold beverage and college football on a Saturday evening.

Let's Go Matadors!!!

https://www.jockjive.com/gmcsports.html

Ted told me it was the most dominate game with the lowest winning margin he has ever played in. He is their starting center. He did a stellar job and the offensive line looked much better this week. ted did get 3 pancakes. We call that a short stack.

The west side of the field was this cool castle looking building with a big clock in it. A big storm cloud with the sun setting behind it gave it a bright silver lining with pink and red skies. It was so cool the coach took a time out for the boys to take a moment to look at it. Coach just went up a few notches in my book. Too bad I left my camera/phone in my truck.

It was great to see my son and all his teammates. Milling around the lobby we felt very small.

Georgia Military set all the arrangements for the visitors and they lacked a lot of things to keep the visitors down but Arizona Western prevailed 10-7.

Next weeks opponent forfeited the game so they are 2-1 now.

Next up is division rival Eastern Arizona on the 15th.

Saturday night the Arizona Western Matadors get back into the action after a forfeit of last Saturdays game by Arizona Christians team. The coach told the team he likes to think they had a vision of getting the crap beat out em and even praying would not help. He's a trip.

They are taking on Eastern Arizona Gila Monsters. They play each other 2 times each year. They are a conference team but the first meeting does not count as a conference game. The rankings now have Western at #9 and Eastern as #8 in the country. Should be a good home game. Ted knows 2 kids on Easterns team and matched up with them over the years. He is looking forward to this game.

They still have him at center and it is starting to grow on him a bit and he does less bitching on the phone about it. He said the O-line is practicing better and they all have been hanging out together all the time now. This all started 2 weeks ago when they were returning from the Georgia game the O-line all got their mitts on some brownies and split them among themselves. They had a swinging good time I understand. Slept like logs on the flight. They enjoy going to dinner as a group. I think it has to be funny when 9- 280 pound plus men go a walking into the BBQ spot in Yuma on all you can eat ribs on Thursday nights.

The link is not up yet and I should post it tomorrow.

Lets go Matadors!!

It wasn't a pretty win but they won 16-13 last night.

The first drive by Western was a thing of beauty. 3 runs for 15 yards then a 71 yard air strike.

Eastern only completed one pass all night, first off they are a triple option run team and the wind was a solid 15MPH with gusts swirling up to 30. Both teams missed x-points and field goals.

Ted had a monster game only one fair to poor hike in shotgun but otherwise flawless with 8 pancakes and he enticed a Eastern player into punching him for a crucial 15 yard unsportsmanlike  penalty that virtually gave them the win last night.

3-1

Next week they start conference play against #24 Mesa who is a very high scoring team at 2-1. Game is at Western.

Let's go Matadors.

Turmoil in camp.

Not good if ya wanna win.

When there is trouble in the hen house you will not win. 35-32 loss. That is what happened on Saturday night. It is the first time they have lost to Mesa in 11 years.

Sloppy play with poor player decisions and poor coaching. two offensive lineman got injured and the replacements did not know their assignments. When you are a back up player you MUST know your assignment and the playbook, otherwise shit will turn south real fast.

Ted graded out and had 4 pancakes, but when there is a loss involved non of that really matters.

This loss dropped them to #19 and any chance of a repeat of a national championship is out the window. They are now playing for pride and a possible bowl game, but they are few and far between.

They are a 2-2 team.

Next week is Glendale Gauchos at Glendale.

Lets hope the head coach is back on the sidelines this week after tending to personal issues and even this ship up.

Let's go Matadors.

This weeks game was not streamed and the new radio broadcast was out of wack too.

We had to monitor through facebook, twitter and snap chat.

They had a good solid game and won with the head coach flying in just before kick off.

All the squabbling and jerkin off came to a abrupt end.

They got the win 32-24.

The entire conference they are in is jumbled. They all play each other for the next 5 weeks to see who is who. The coaches told Ted had a monster game, he graded out and added 5 more pancakes to his season total. I think it is 21 to date.

It only goes uphill from here.

Ted turned 21 today. My baby boy is now a man. Age wise they say so.

Time to grind.

http://njcaa.org/sports/fball/2018-19/fball-standings/standings-all

They are in the Western States Football League

Western moved up to #15

Scottsdale dropped to #10

They mash up on Saturday at 7pm west coast 10pm east.

Business trip for the Matadors.

We fly out next week for a home game against Phoenix on 10/13.

saturday nights game lnk through facebook

https://www.facebook.com/MCTV115/

Saturday nights game did not disappoint.

Opening kick off and Arizona Western returned it for a touchdown and Scottsdale drove the field in a minute and a half. Score tied 7-7 less than 2 minutes in.

Arizona stayed 1 step ahead of The Fighting Artichokes all night and pulled out a 37-19 win. Teds roommate Jadon Hayes was named WSFL offensive player of the week 2 weeks in a row now. He blew the A and B gaps all night long. Ted owned #90 the nose guard all night too. When they needed yards Jadon ran it up Teds hole. (that sounds a lil perverted). Ted finished the game with 5 pancakes. His stack of 'cakes for the year is 26.

With this win The Matadors climbed up to #11 in the poles. 3 of the next 4 games are teams that are ranked above them. Road is getting a little rough ahead but they seems to be ballin well and the O line is looking very, very solid. The D line is not too shabby of late either. Solid lines = wins.

My wife and mother in law and I are flying out tomorrow to see Saturdays game against Phoenix. The boy is excited to sponge a couple of meals off of Dad. The weather seemed to have broken too of late. 88 degrees seems much better than the 110 they had a few weeks back.

Lets stay injury free and rough up The Bears.

Coming from flat Florida it is always cool to see mountains much less while sitting in a football stadium.

Ted asked if we brought noisemakers with us. I did not know why he asked this at the time but after the game I knew why. There was approx 1000 fans on the home sideline and I have never seen so many selfies and talking during a game. it was a huge Saturday night social. When Western scores about 20 people gave a half assed applause. They probably thought we were freaks making a ruckus.

Flew out with my wife and mother in law. She is now 81 years old and father time is catching up with her. She is still a very active woman but a much slower pace and we need to take a lot more rests along the way. She also has been very opinionated but is taking it to a new level. Drives my wife up the wall but I usually jest brush it off, she was hardcore on this LONG weekend. We need to make Ted do this or that. Ted is 21 I can't make him do shit. I can guide and answer questions or even tell him about my rights and wrongs but I can't make him do anything. 

We brought the weather with us. Yuma is "the sunniest place on earth" is its motto. It rained .15 Inches on Thursday night and Fridays practice was canceled. The humidity hovered around 70% the highs in the low 80's and the lows in the low 60's all weekend. Perfect if you ask me.

Saturday a tornado was hovering over the same mountain for a hour. The weatherman said Yuma has never had a recorded tornado before.

52 seconds left in the first half and it was announced that there was a lightning delay. No one knew what to do. The officials and coaches were looking up on their phones of protocol. A bunch of players knew what to do so after 5 minutes they announced everyone needs to leave the stands and players go to the locker room.

They came out a half hour later and resumed the 52 seconds and then took a 2 minute half time.

The rest of the game went off without a hitch. It was great to go to a game and see the stadium and field that we watch week in and week out.

We took Ted to eat at least 2 times each day from Thursday to Monday. He told us it was the best eats he has had since arriving to Yuma. That makes me very happy too because I am also an eater. Black Bear Diners are all around the south west. Big ole gnarly breakfasts!

Everyone knew Ted's parents and Grandma were on campus. All the players and coaches came over and introduced themselves. The coaches were praising Ted and his abilities and as a role model and a captain.

This still did not satisfy my mother in law.

The whole weekend my MIL kept asking does he floss? Why did a girl walk into the dorms? Is it co-ed? (no). Is that a beer bottle on the ground? Was that boy talking about fake ID's?  Why is everyone going to Mexico? Is there a curfew? Why not?

After our final breakfast we dropped ted off at his dorms we were pulling out and a Yuma police officer pulled us over. FUCK. He introduced himself as a 27 year veteran and has seen many players come and go. He is an offensive line guy. Played ball in high school and in college.

He knew we were Ted's parents and wanted us to know that we did a very good job of raising a fine respectable young man and one hell of a good football player. WOW

He buys the offensive linemen 2 dozen doughnuts if they do not allow a sack and rush for over 250 yards per game. In the 2 years that Ted has been on the team he only misses 2 weeks of this treat. He rattled off stats and figures that even I did not even know about my own son! He knows his Wester Arizona football.

As we drove to the airport my MIL said "after talking to the officer I don't think I need to worry about Tedito so much"

Thank God

They have a cheerleader and a dance team squad. The band is small (18) and they rocked. I found out this weekend that the cheerleaders, dancers and the band all get scholarships too. They take their sports seriously there.

The game itself.

Western entered the game #11 in the country, they needed to take care of business because the next 3 games are all ranked conference games.

Phoenix got the ball first and went nowhere. They punted and Western muffed the ball and they recovered the ball in the endzone. They were up 7-0.

From that point on it was all Matadors.

Their #1 running back and Ted's roommate Jaydon was out for the game because his father passed away. They divided the running game between 2 backs. They rushed for 360 yards!!!

The O-line allowed zero sacks and Westerns defense sacked Phoenix QB 8 times. WOW

FIRE

Ted and the whole O-line were fantastic, playing as a team and moving players around like empty cans of beer. Ted had 12 pancakes in 3 quarters of play. 12 fuckin pancakes!!!  That is his personal best in all of ball paying. After each one he would stand up and wave to us in the stands. He was pushing the 6-3 325 lb nose guard around all night. In the end of the 3rd quarter that fat fuck was so frustrated with being shoved around and landed on that he had enough of Ted and kicked him in the head.

Ted played the first play of the 4th quarter (86 yard TD run up the middle) that Ted left the game and sat on the trainers table. He got a concussion. The first major injury ever playing ball and it came from a cocksucker who purposely kicked him in the temple. Fucker.

He went through the protocol and was rated a 9 out of 127 on severeness. He had a headache on Saturday night but woke up on Sunday feeling fine. He went to the trainer daily and he will be released and back to practice on Thursday and they have a bye week this weekend too.

The game ended 48-7. It was a dominate game and by the end of the game they were on third string players including the QB.

They moved up to #10 in the country with #4 Snow at home on October 27th.

Here is a picture no parent ever wants to see.

I didn't think anyone was reading the updates.

They played the only afternoon game of the season at 2pm. It was 95 degrees but low humidity, I was sure the team from the mountains of Utah would be dragging but I was wrong on that. They looked fine from start to finish.

They beat Arizona Western 31-10.

We ran over 250 yards at 5.6 yards per carry but a very poor coaches call in the third and a very very shitty refs call in the fourth cost them the game. I'm not one to bitch about bad calls but that one was incredibly messed up.

AWC dropped to #17 in the polls.

Ted was called for 2 moving the ball offsides. He also had a poor snap, nothing that cost anything but a poor snap. He finished his game with 6 more pancakes bringing his yearly total to 44 on the year. Last year total was 48, with 2 more games left I feel he should eclipse that total.

They take on #11 Eastern Arizona on the road this week. They had already beat them earlier in the season but as the year goes on teams develop and become anew. It was a super close game at 13-16 last time.

Ted is down this week on the phone to us, first the loss but that usually doesn't bum him out too much but he has not received any BIG offers to play football for the next 2 years. He wants a big power 5 school. He has received a handful of offers, including one school offered him to play ANY position on the offensive line including tight end, but that school is in West Texas with not much around it.

When Ted was 3-8 years old we spent many hours a day playing catch with the football. 10, 15, 20 yard routes and cut. As soon as he would turn the ball was there and he caught it. He has fantastic hands. He would make an incredible tight end at his size.

I told him to relax and just wait. Most of the big school action happens in December anyways.  There is still about 10 offers on the table from all corners of the country who want you but you know what it's like to talk to a 21 year old "man".

Don't dwell but look ahead.

Saturday IS a business trip. Lets go Matadors.

Loss #4. A shut out. In coaches 12 years at Arizona Western this is only his 3rd shut out and the first since 2012.

The offensive line looked like shit.

2 starters were out and they never blocked as a line. There was always one or two that were out of sync and when your O line is not working the team is not winning. They did manage 320 rushing yards and that is solid for any game but it all were between the 20's.

6 hour bus ride home sucked.

The final score was 21-0. The score does not seem so bad, but believe me it was an ugly game. There was 8 penalty on the O line. They used 3 different quarterbacks. 1 was a runner, one was a thrower and the third, fuck I don't even know what to say about that.

Sundays review meeting was a furniture throwing out of control cluster fuck. Coaches yelling over coaches, game film thrown around the room and players worried they were actually going to be physically hit. Ted said it was a real mess and has never seen anything like it before.

Yesterday the head coach called Ted into his office. Ted was walking over wondering if he was going to get a special one on one thrashing when the coach replayed a handful of plays on film and told Ted it was one of his best games he has ever played.?!? Ted did have 4 pancakes this week. 47 for the year.

I think a complement should have been during the cluster fuck meeting. What do I know?

Ted got a couple of more offers this week from division 2 schools. I think he has a total of 10 now.

They have one more game this Saturday, it was an evening game they moved to the afternoon at 2 pm/ 4 pm east coast. (no daylights savings time in Arizona)

They play #14 Pima and will try to improve on their 5-4 record and not walk away this year at 500. For probably the last time for the year and the last time for Teds Arizona Western JC career.......Let's go Matadors.

Well on Saturday they played a very tough Pima team.

Western was behind most of the game, they got their offense all on the same page just in time and put together a very impressive final drive with less than 2 minuets left on the clock to score a touchdown and win the game with 20 seconds left.

Final was 24-20

They finish the regular season with a 6-4 record. They will be in the El Toro bowl December 1st at home in Yuma.

That was the "good" part of Saturday............as Paul Harvey would say........now the rest of the story.

In the 4th quarter Western was trailing and the game was wearing on and I am sure the tension on the sideline was high. After a penalty on defense and the D finally made a stop they came off the field.  The camera caught a skirmish on the Western Arizona's sideline. A coach was pulling a player off and away from the crowd and a few players were pulling each other and even a coach looked like he was being restrained. Not a good sight to see, especially when trailing by 3.

It turns out a player, we will call him screwdriver, was being yelled at by the coach and he said something back at the coach. One of the 9  Polynesian players, a Poly, came over to screwdriver and smacked him upside the head and told him to respect the coaches. A ruckus ensued and it all seemed to calm down.

In the locker room some words were exchanged and threats bounced around the walls and again it seemed to all calm itself. Everyone departed.

Out side the dorm rooms screwdriver was waiting for the Poly with a screwdriver in his hand to stab him. Now you know why I called him screwdriver.

Every year there are at least 6 to 14 Polys on the team. The Polys are from the islands and are generally laid back BIG guys. Ted gets along with them well and they all seem to have each others back no matter what. If you tangle with one your taking on all the Pacific islanders.

Well screw driver jumps out of his hiding spot and confronts Poly #1.....well Poly #2-6 step in and disarm screwdriver and proceed to beat the shit out of him and left him in the parking lot to......rot.

It was the last game of the season and it was Homecoming and a lot of parents were there for this game.

Screwdrivers mom shows up in the parking lot and sees her son laying on the ground bleeding and gets enough info that the Polys did this to him, Mamma screwdriver gets pissed and pulls out her taser to teach 6 - 300+ pound polys a zapping good lesson. WELL......4 of the Polys moms show up and see Mrs. screwdriver running all around the parking lot with a taser zapping mostly in the air but she did connect on 2 of the big boys. 1 went down and a second was shaking off his discomfort. Polys moms got their hands on Mama driver and disarmed her and proceeded to kick the shit out of her and discarded her next to her beat up son.

At this point security rolled up and took control of this outlandish situation.

Ted watched all of this from his room window and said it was "intense".

WTF

Just another sunny afternoon with Juco football.

Ted graduates in December with his associates degree. He is eligible for 2 more years of football. We will be stopping by 3 schools on the way home in mid-December. He needs to decide where he wants to go and he will start there in January and do spring practice for next years season.

He does have some very interesting offers at this time.

Arizona is a very big state for Junior College football.

Arizona Western has been balling since 1964.....54 years.

Saturday will be the last Arizona Western Matador football game. Sad but true.

Phoenix and its county commissioners shut down its JC football programs. There were 5 teams in their county and made up 5 of the 7 teams in Arizona. AWC could not make a viable schedule and cannot afford traveling for games all regular season long.

Coach Minnick has been hired by Garden City CC and everyone will be moving on.

My wife and I are sneaking out this weekend to see the last game and to surprise Ted.

So for the last time for Ted, last time for the season and the last time forever......Let's go Matadors. 

Ted and my wife are flying around the country to 5 schools in 10 days

Arkansas > Kansas > Pennsylvania > Illinois > Massachusets 

Already has been to Texas

Will know more in a few weeks

Ted ended up with 62 offers. They went from D1- NAIA. He narrowed it down to about 12. He talked and phone interviewed them and he ended up visiting 6 schools.

After visiting them he cut it in half to Arkansas, Kansas and Texas. He thought out all the offers and he chose Fort Hays State University in Hays Kansas a division 2 school.  As a crow flies he is within 60 miles of the dead center of the United States (he plans on visiting there and along the way is the worlds largest ball of twine).

He has a full ride schooling with all books etc. He has a nice apartment with his own room, bath and shower. Full cafeteria privileges where he can eat as many times a day and can take food out 7 days a week. They have a part time job set for him. They will pay for summer sessions and when he graduates with his bachelors he may stay and coach and they will continue to pay for his Masters Degree. He also receives other things too.

They had him at the #1 spot for recruitment and were beyond pumped when he faxed (yes faxed) his LOI to the school. They want him at left tackle. They met him and my wife at the airport and 9 coaches fed and showed him everything. The food was awesome he said.

Ted only 2 months ago only wanted a division 1 offers. He had a few but they are like back burner offers, not drooling from the mouth type. I used tha analogy that if you had a girl you liked and wanted but you had to ask her out 16 times to finally agree to go out and at the end of the date she gives you a peck on the cheek OR would you like the girl who asked you 60 time out and when YOU say yes she is groping at you in the car as you are backing out of the driveway. He understood this and decided to go to a school that was falling all over themselves for you. One school actually gave him custom cookies with his name on them. tempting....very tempting he said.

He left today in his packed Buick for his 24 hour 2000 mile drive by himself. His mother and her family are beyond themselves that lil 21 year old Teddy was solo. My family is like fuck by 21 didn't you already tour the country like 4 times???

He has 3 restaurants plugged into his phone that he plans on eating at and he has 2 friends he will stay with too,

Mojo Cafe in Ocala > Mothers in New Orleans > Louie Mueller BBQ Taylor Texas.

I guess we all have our priorities.

Good luck Ted..........Go learn somethin  

The Tigers

Well he will arrive today (Monday) a day late.

He is blaming the weather

Im blaming his constant stopping for food and the need to sleep 12 hours a day.

He will arrive filled and rested.

From the day he arrived till now there has been snow on the ground.

He is hatting this cold shit, spring break next week and he is very much looking forward to some fun in the sun.

2 a days are on, the boy is starting right tackle, slimmed down to 329# and looking fuckin good.

He is looking forward to hitting something.

Going out to see a home game Sept. 28th and a away game in Oklahoma Oct 5th.

His birthday is in the middle, we will feed the boy. A guy from Tulsa will meet us there too.

Fall 2020 the Corona year Fort Hays organized a pick up game for no meaning, Teds running back was knock and he stumbled and hit Teds left knee and blew out his ACL, LCL and Medicus.

He had successful surgery (K C Chiefs surgeon) rehabbed his ass off and was cleared to play 10 months later.

They extended his scholarship so he can play for year #6 and he could get credits to his Masters degree.

He just didn't get back to his 100% self. Slower coming off the snap, loss of domination on the line and slow on the pursuit of the play.

Before the injury he had 20 NFL teams sniffing and 12 invites to the combine.3/4 way through the season those invites dried up to zero.

The season did not go as the way the coach wanted it to go and he sat all his seniors for the final 4 games. Players could get playing time if they wrote a letter on why they should play and then beg for your spot back with the coach face to face. Most of the kids did but not Ted. He said " I'm not sucking coaches dick"  Good for him.

He left with a Bachelors degree in communications and took about 4 months and got a great job at a local college being a student recruiter.

After 21 years of playing football he said he had a blast, has life long friendships but glad it is over.

We signed up to coach Pop Warner football this year, I coached for 9 years but gave it up when Ted went to college.

Ted is head coach and im 1 of his 3 assistance coaches. 8-10 year olds.

Gonna teach em how to block