Saturday, April 23, 2011

Game 5 Preview: at least we know the team will still be in LA next season

I grew up playing AYSO, club, and high school soccer and had many coaches over the years with personalities all over the spectrum.  I had coaches that blew off the handle at any little mistake, another coach that routinely screamed "YOU'RE KILLING ME!!" to 12-year old girls, and another coach who went so ape-shit during a game that parents on the other side of the field were scared for us.*  I truly appreciate coaches who can calmly navigate a team through highs and lows, bad refereeing, mistakes, etc. and still bring out the best in his players, especially when they're playing from behind and are able to finish on top.  But even the calmest coaches can lose it.  And sometimes it's these rarest of moments, when the coach who has kept his cool for so long finally lays into his team, that can be so meaningful and have the most impact on his players.  

So tonight, if the Kings look like shit again and Terry Murray reluctantly calls a timeout, then I sincerely hope he turns into Bruce Boudreau and goes absolutely crazy at his team and finishes his 30 second tirade with a line as awesome as "GET OUR ASSES OUTTA OUR HEADS!"  Sometimes it takes a real stern talking to in order to get the point across, especially if coddling them isn't working in the playoffs.

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)
happy?  sad? angry? concerned? constipated? who knows.

And in case you haven't heard, LA Kings Insider reported that Scott Parse, who's been broken almost the entire season, will be back in the lineup, Dustin Penner and Jarret Stoll will be dropped to the 4th line, Alexei Ponikarovsky will be sitting on the sidelines (because obviously he was the problem this whole time), and Oscar Moller is still scratched so Kevin Westgarth can pretend to be a useful NHL player.

Well, it was a good run.  At least we know the team will still be LA next season.

*after I read that sentence several times I realized that all those years the parents were ok with having these crazed men scream at their little girls.  And this is girls soccer we're talking about.  It's not like we actually have a chance of making it big as a professional girl's soccer player.  This is only makes me realize how insane youth sports can be for boys, especially junior hockey, where parents will probably let anything go as long as it means their son has a shot at the NHL.  I think it made me mentally tougher as a kid, but I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about this when I have kids who play youth sports....or maybe I'll be thankful someone else can yell at my kids the way I wish I could.

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