Last time on Two-A-Days, our young group of highly talented and finely coiffed Hoover Bucs had just had their asses handed to them by a team from Tuscaloosa. The last time I was in Alabama, somebody tried to explain to me why everybody from Alabama hates people from Tuscaloosa, but I wasn't paying attention because I was still trying to figure out why the hell sweet tea was so popular. Whatever the case, the Hoover loss to Tuscaloosa Prep was nothing short of an embarrassment, and coach Pabst let them know it. While the kids might have felt like shit after such a bad loss, the most awful part about the loss was knowing that their coach was going to use that week of practice to make them feel even worse.
Around the locker room, you could sense that the players knew they didn't play well and everybody expected the next week of practice to be tough. I am sure that they were all expecting coach Propst to light into him, but all things considered, I think he handled things pretty well. I am sure he was going to work them as hard as they have ever worked, but for the most part it looked like he was not going to resort some of the things he promised to do after their last loss, like refusing to talk to any college recruiters, making it more difficult for any of them to be able to play in college. Alex mentioned that the next week was going to be a reality check for most of them to see how well they could handle the stress mentally and physically.
Would there be anybody to step up as a leader for Hoover? That's what Coach Pabst wants to know as he pulls the team in for a meeting. He asks them to think about how they played, and if they thought they played with desire and passion to raise their hands. The first one to raise his hand was Cornelius, and coach Pabst agreed. The second one to say that he played hard was Bryan Morgan, the big offensive tackle that is just as happy belting out show tunes as he is knocking over linebackers. OK, so that's two and, well, if you are playing a game that requires at least 11 people on the field at once, shouldn't you have more than two people who played hard? Well, I guess now we know why Hoover was having so many problems. Propst worked the kids pretty hard, but a lot of what he needed to see from his players was not going to come out of his mouth.
The biggest problem with Hoover's team, at least according to Pabst, is leadership. Many of the kids on the team had never experienced a loss, so they literally didn't know what to do after a game like this. As for the ones who might remember a loss, they were able to lean on older players last time. Now they are those older players, and some of the kids are looking up to them. The coaches wonder where the leadership is going to come from, and some of the players wonder as well. Alex is playing cards with Goose and another player we haven't met yet named Cory. Alex said that the players are better this year, but last year everybody seemed to be doing all of the right things.
To me, this sounded like good news. Alex, a senior, was going to take some responsibility, right? Well, sort of. When he started talking about leadership, he mentioned Max. Max is a good player, but he thinks that sometimes he puts his head down and quits when things get tough, although he does concede that he is under a lot of pressure. Now, if Alex is smart enough to realize there is a problem, he should be smart enough to fix it. If you see a teammate is down, you try and pick them up. Slap on the helmet, pat him on the ass, have sex with his girlfriend. You know, do whatever it takes to fire him up a little bit. Instead, Alex is kind of passing the buck off to Max, which isn't really how most leaders do things.
One of the problems with getting kids to focus on football is that a lot of them don't like to sacrifice other parts of their life. You want to get them to focus, but not everybody is ready to make football the only thing in their lives. And once the kids start to feel like that, they will stop having fun, and when you stop having fun, the pressure of everything else can affect your performance.
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Comments (13)
Tuscaloosa isn't THAT bad of a place :( How can you go wrong in a town with $3 pitchers?? You must've visited Cowtown, coughAuburncough.
1 of 13 | Posted by lemony
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Posted on September 18, 2006 3:09 PM
It's spelling nazi, not grammar nazi.... and yeah, I'm an accuracy one.
2 of 13 | Posted by jeff
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Posted on September 18, 2006 3:35 PM
Were the alternating names of Coach Pabst/Propst deliberate? There was also a Coach Pruitt in there. Same person as Pabst/Propst or someone else? As you can tell, I haven't watched this show, but the recap was entertaining, if a little confusing.
3 of 13 | Posted by unwise
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Posted on September 18, 2006 4:03 PM
I can't believe you glossed over the big difference between Repete and his girlfriend. Psst: She plays for the other team. That team being Shades Valley.
We'll tolerate a lot of things in the South, but not mixing couples from different high schools. It just ain't right.
4 of 13 | Posted by Wade
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Posted on September 18, 2006 6:41 PM
I bet the spelling nazi is the the guy that likes to sing phantom of the opera in his car. was his name bryan?
5 of 13 | Posted by superb
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Posted on September 19, 2006 6:00 AM
I've been wondering if Repete's dad is named Pete.
To unwise: Pruitt must be an assistant coach of some sort. Pruitt and Max's dad looked like they were on a nice date. Couldn't they have gone to Hooter's or something? And Pabst is Propst's nickname because he looks like a classic Pabst guy according to J-Unit.
6 of 13 | Posted by suebee
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Posted on September 19, 2006 6:05 AM
Let me count the number of times the cheerleaders at my high school sat around the courtyard talking shit about the lack of leaderhsip on the football team.....uh, none. Get a life bitches!
Wasn't Repete complaining last week about not being able to find a girlfriend? Now he's got one that he loves...the only thing he loves are the smokers Megan's giving after practice.
Love the Nick Lachey diamond (cubic zirconia) earrings that Alex is sporting, how 98degrees of him.
Fleming's is actually a nice chain steak house owned by Peter Fleming, who also owns PF Chang's, hence the PF.
7 of 13 | Posted by fulfill_the_dream_78
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Posted on September 19, 2006 8:48 AM
I just want to comment on when the coach and stepdad went out to eat..
I just loved when they guy was pouring the cheese sauce on his asparagus, making US Alabamians look like we had some class. Then the coach just messed it up with the whole "WHAT IS THAT?"
p.s. Im a military brat, lived everywhere, and moved to Huntsville Al about 7 years ago.
8 of 13 | Posted by Tiffany
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Posted on September 19, 2006 10:12 AM
Tiffany I agree that asparagus thing was funny. That Pruitt guy acted like it was some kind of exoctic veggie.
I bet there is going to be a QB Controversy comin soon. I think the back up QB may be better. But he may play another position better so that is why he isn't QB. Makes me wonder if Ross is only the QB because of who his brother was.
I don't think there are any leaders on this team. I think they are all followers.
9 of 13 | Posted by PattiJo
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Posted on September 20, 2006 6:48 AM
http://ilovecamping.blogspot.com/2006/09/starved-for-something-on-two-days.html
10 of 13 | Posted by simper1
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Posted on September 20, 2006 1:00 PM
Yeah....Coach PASBT? Was that intentional? If not, it's still funny because that's what I think when I hear his name, too!
I read a recent Sports Illustrated (not sure of the date, but it has the Detroit Tigers on the cover---side note:YAYYY!!---) and S.I. lists the top 20 high school football teams in the Nation....Hoover's in there, there is a big article written about them, Ross the quarterback (he is a senior now, and i do agree, it seemed like the backup did a much better job in this ep than Ross did in the previous games...but apparantly S.I. doesn't think so) and yadda yadda yadda.
It was a good article. It also talked about last season's results.
I don't wanna give anything away so if anyone is interested they might want to see it online, or buy a copy somewhere.
11 of 13 | Posted by anniedawg25
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Posted on September 20, 2006 2:54 PM
I live in Hoover and here in Bama girls do talk about the upcoming football games, especially at a school like Hoover where everything revolves around football. Their amenities for the football team are comparable to a college. Also, Ross is an awesome QB. he is better than his brother (starter for Alabama) but too short to go to the next level. MTV doesn't show alot of the game actually being played. Like the first game Hoover beat Neese 59 to 20 and they made it seem close. The games are never as close as MTV plays off and the Tuscaloosa loss wasn't that bad either... they only lost by one touchdown. Otherwise think MTV is doing a good job portraying my old hogh school!
12 of 13 | Posted by BamaBelle
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Posted on September 21, 2006 11:51 AM
Homecoming episode recap:
http://ilovecamping.blogspot.com/2006/09/hoorah-for-hoover-high-homecoming-on.html
13 of 13 | Posted by simper1
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Posted on September 25, 2006 9:39 PM