Since You Asked... and Here's My Player of the Month **UPDATED**

Last weekend was the first competition for Pasadena since May 12th, 2007 and along with the weather and lack of an abundance of Waffle Houses and racists BBQ joints, there were many stand outs. First and foremost the Warlords showed a tendentious amount of promise, more so than last year which is shocking given that the Warlords would have probably placed 2nd behind Pasadena had the entered D3. Keeping in mind that this is mid November and many are new to the sport, there is a clear level of root skill and athletic ability. I have nothing to gain in blowing smoke up anyone ass, but trust an old guy when I say I was impressed. I am sure many new guys may have felt a palpable amount of confusion and frustration but that is not uncommon at this stage. That stated, there is much to work on.

The Pasadena side played with confidence but I am going to come right out and say it: no fucking shit. We kicked the crap out of the same guys we kicked the crap out of last year. Shocking. I am really not looking to our competition to measure our level of play but there were some things that were clear regardless of the opposition. The positive:

1) Support in the forwards was decent. In the N. County game we made some on-the-fly adjustments to meet their pick-and-go offensive. This was nice to see given we have not come across this sort of offense and the critical thought and communication amongst the pack was nice to see.
2) Set pieces were pretty solid and even with adjustments at the front row (relatively new front row getting tossed in) we did not experience much of problems we experienced in the previous Thursdays practice. I credit this to each players own accountability and communication.
3) Backs had some stand out plays, specifically from Suan and James. Great forward running and aggression
4) New players at key positions are showing promise. Specifically where we have had attrition over last years starting IV at 9, 10 and 15.
5) All players played as a unit, talking to each other but never to the ref and never to the other side. The benefits of this style of play can be seen in the cohesion we enjoyed and the total delight in watching the opposition turn on each other like a pack of starving jackals.

Now what we need to work on

1) Forwards were not delivering clean ball at the breakdowns.
2) Ball was slow in getting delivered to the backs
3) Ball held up or mishandled in the centers and there seemed to be some lapses in the support
4) I have some strategic questions regarding zone responsibility but not having adequate time to discuss this with coaching, I’ll just say that our field position was less than desirable in that N. County game.
5) We struggled for possession way too much.
6) Fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness, fitness and… fitness

*** 7) Hitting the brekdown's way too high****

The good news is that there isn't any thing close to a critical failure any negative is VERY fixable. Huge props go to the coaching staff and the dedication of the plaers to come to practice ready to work. Nothing here can’t be fixed in a relatively short amount of time. The bad news is that although on one side of the coin we are only at mid November, accounting for the holidays we only have 14 more practice sessions to work on and it is going to take A LOT more than that to build the fitness level we need to be at. Also the only real chance we have against opposition prior to the season is ut 15's tournament.

For guys who weren’t there or may have been occupied playing with one side or another there were some stand outs. You have by now herd about the latest exploits of James “Hollywood” McIntosh not only for his aggressive running and strength, but also for the harem of underage women in his entourage. You may have also heard about the thundering runs by John-John and Pasadena’s latest monkey to fall over the try line Matt Hettermann (who may have scored 3 for the day?). Both played well as did many in the pack. As I stated above, Greg, Scott and Joe all showed great promise and Suan in the centers? A year ago I would have said you are high. He probably was and GD did he have some impressive runs. Also Ian slotted into 2nd row on both the Warlords and Pasadena like he’d been doing it longer than Joe Wilson’s been confusing rookies. But there are 2 guys you should find at Tuesday’s practice and pat on the back. The first is Justin who saved a N. County try by chasing down a kicked ball into the try zone and giving us a 22. That would have been the only team to have scored a try on us that day and Justin saved us from that humiliation. (As an aside I spoke with him in the bar where he revealed that he’s not a big drinker. BINGO, we have our first puker on the bus from SLO and I called it.). The second guy however has become a special player in my heart. After being told I was not allowed to run him off, I was forced to figure out what I liked about him. Well suffice to say it isn’t his humility and bubbling personality. Sloan my good man, you are my Player of the Month. Not only are you the fastest fucker out there, you sir bear an impeccable resemblance to many, many, many notable personalities. So to commemorate Sloan’s induction to the 2nd Row’s Player of the Month, I give you…

The Week of Sloan Celebrity-look-alkies.

Day 1





Sloan








Nosferatu







Maybe those claws will help him hold onto the ball. Good running Sloan. Speed like that guarantees you will never wear the number 1-3.