I must admit that this Thursday Rundown feels a little different. It will be the first time in eight weeks that I don’t include a Sean Carty update. Thank goodness though! The district spoke, Coach Carty was reinstated, and parents were silenced. As Mead High School moves on, so will I. Here we go with the rundown!
End of a (Journal) Chapter – Last night I filled out the last page in my latest journal. Many of you are aware that I am an obsessive journaler with an in-depth recorded entry of every day I have lived since the seventh grade. As a typical journal usually takes me about a year and a half to two years to completely fill out, closing one up is always bittersweet. I take the task of choosing my succeeding journal very seriously. This time around, I have an attractive option. Sidney gave me a custom made leather bound journal with my life motto on it. If I choose to go with it for my daily purposes I will have a very well-branded spot for my personal reflections.
The new journal that Sid gave to me. Don’t Blink.
Happy National Burger Day – Even though I dislike gimmick dates, National Burger Day is just too hard to pass up. I want to recognize the best burger places in the cities I have lived. For Myrtle Beach it is not even a contest, River City Café is amazing! Besides the peanut butter burger they serve, I have tried other selections as well and the quality and taste is unmatched. For Missoula I would go with the Burger Shack, a hole-in-the-wall place that unfortunately didn’t last long. Because it is out of business, I will give my current nod to the very popular “Mo Burger” at the Missoula Club. When it comes to Spokane, I got to go with a casual dining restaurant called Prospector’s in North Spokane. Of course, nothing beats a burger off my dad’s grill!
Me enjoying a burger at Burger Shack in 2012.
Go Home, Electronic Cigarettes – What is a Thursday Rundown without a rant? I just want to put on record how much I despise electronic cigarettes. Why aren’t these things banned just like all other smoking products? While I know users blow out “vapor” instead of “smoke” please give me a break. I don’t care if it is vapor or smoke, I don’t want it blown by me while I am in a restaurant, at the pool, or waiting in line somewhere. Folks casually pull them out in public as if it was their iPhone. I could definitely do without.
NBA Finals – It took me all but two seconds to have an opinion on how I want the 2015 NBA Finals to go down. Simply, I hope Golden State demolishes Cleveland. I am crossing my fingers for a 4-0 sweep. I don’t even want to bring up Lebron, I just want the Warriors to do some damage. The sooner Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry are hoisting the trophy, the better.
End of May – When I reflected on April I explained that allergies bothered me for most of the month. I mentioned how nice it would be that right when May hit, my system would automatically clear up. You know what?? It did! I felt like a million bucks the whole month and besides just feeling great the month went great as well. But to be honest, I can’t wait for June. Traditionally, June is right up there with March for me when it comes to the 30 day blocks on the calendar that always seem to produce plenty of fun and big moments for me. I have a good feeling that June 2015 is going to be special.
Enjoying some boating time on the Intracoastal Waterway with Sid during Memorial Day weekend was a highlight of May for me.
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Enjoy a big juicy hamburger tonight, okay? Thanks again for your readership and enjoy the weekend. Don’t Blink.
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Off Topic Brent, and sorry to hijack the thread a little. Were you aware that Coach Carty called a parent meeting for briefing the parents on Summer Football programs, which were delayed because of the issues surrounding his job, and resigned in front of the parents on June 8? Just curious, because he did this after going on the record for saying he was looking forward to the football season to come, and would be working to bring the team closer together.
While I agree it seems there was some issues with the way the parents went about this, and that the district was wrong in terminating him in the first place, as a former MHS football player, I am a little unhappy about the way this was done on Coach Carty’s part. His (Coach Carty’s) actions are nothing short of getting back at a group of parents by doing this. Unfortunately, the parents that caused this, which he seems to be gatting back at, have already started laying the groundwork for pulling their kids out of Mead, and over to other schools in the area. The only people that this is truly hurting are the players who were not involved in this situation, and who now will have to deal with the mess left behind, particularly the incoming Seniors.
He should have made this announcement right after he was reinstated, not over 2 weeks later, when kids are signed up for summer camp, and weight training, and now have ABSOLUTELY no idea of what is going on. They do not know what kind of offensive and defensive schemes to work on, and no chance to work on familiarizing the incoming freshmen and new students with the calls, alignments, and such. And no way to work on calls among themselves to get better, because those calls will, most likely be different next year. And with Football camp not scheduled until the end of July, the Panther Football program will be entering fall practices at least a month to two months behind the rest of the league. I would like to hear your comments on this.
Hello-
No need to apologize for hijacking this thread, I mentioned Carty in it so it is definitely fair game.
First off, I was a little late on hearing about his resignation. However, I have since caught up a little and talked to Carty. You know, your thoughts are totally reasonable and understandable. I get where you are coming from.
Once I talked to Carty I understood though. It wasn’t until the scrutiny and pressure was off that he actually had a chance to breathe. When he finally had this opportunity, he realized it was time to step away for a little bit. By all means he was battling to retain his job but for the most part he was fighting to stick up for all the other coaches who were scared and sickened by the precedent set by his dismissal. It needed to be established that parents carrying on these smear campaigns would not be rewarded. Carty fought the good fight and got the decision overturned, thus putting the district coaches back at ease.
I understand about the student-athletes being at a disadvantage. I too feel bad for them. But with the stand Carty took, it will protect against coaching turnover in the long run because fewer coaches will leave or get fired because of delusional parents.
Thanks again for commenting. I e-mailed you so feel free to respond back to this thread or to me personally.