Football and just how great it was?

I loved football at dear old Shidler High.  Of course you have heard me talk about how great the coaches were in helping me becoming a better person.  But there were moments which are truly integral to the development of myself and others in who we are today.

Football allowed me to learn about myself physically, mentally and emotionally as well as a team player.  I learned that any running back had to have great linemen else they got squashed like a bug on your windshield.  It did not matter how fast or quick you are if you did not have good people blocking and opening a hole for the running back.  Frank Ball was probably the best lineman we had in that he was big and quick and liked to hit people.  I am confident he was the strongest person on the team but he saw himself as a person who made things happen even when it was not his name that got announced over the microphone.  You see offensive linemen don't get recognized for knocking the defensive person on their rear end but the running back and quarter back get credited for throwing a pass or running for more yards.  That is character in my opinion, Frank Ball.  Now I will have to say that Frank knocked some of those folks backwards just because he was so ugly he scared them, just kidding. 

I was never the best speaker or motivator but I was easily motivated to do my part and that allowed me to give everything I could muster to win.  Every game I would get what they call butterflies.  That is when your stomach is tied up in knots because you are so very anxious to get going.  When it came time to run out on the field and bust through those banners the girls made each week I just could not help but be pumped up.  Then all the cars parked around the field would start honking their horns and the band would selflessly play for the crowds and us.  The stands would explode with applause and shouting and sometimes you could hear your name shouted out.  And those cheer leaders amazed me as they worked hard every day and during the games just to make the atmosphere better and to make the players want to do their best.  How could you not be proud of the fans and other students who did so much just to make the game more fun and more exciting. 

Football made me realize I could do more with my body than I thought possible.  Running laps around the field and sprints until there was no oxygen left in the air seemed impossible but we all endured through it.  What most of us did not know at the time was the coaches were doing this for us so we could be better.  At the time I thought they had lost their minds.  I would add one thing that was good for me and that was almost everyone on the team was faster than me except for about 1 to 2 weeks a year.  At the first of every season we would have summer practice in the hot hot Oklahoma sun but I hauled hay every summer with Don and Kenny Kelsey so when practice started I was already use to the heat and in good shape.  It was the only time I ever outran AJ and Dave Jacques, Steve Chrisco, Rick Hill, Jon Tanny Olsen, Hugh Allen Jones and Jimmy Heath and how about Pat Nelson and Johnny Payne and all of the others.  That week or two were my favorite each year because I hated being slow.  Character, I had to learn it even though I hated the lessons.

Well we never won all of our games and for the most part won about half of our games.  One year we lost a game 2 - 0 and it was not a soccer game.  We lost 7 to 6 and just about every game was no more than 14 point for either team.  To say the least we were excellent on defense and that might have something to do with Coach Cotham who was one of my favorite coaches. 

Today, what did football do for me?  My knee is killing me!!!

So what do you learn in the OSAGE?

• The best in football and the best in business are those who have the best people like Frank
• It is a lot more fun going on a journey with other people than going alone, Thanks to my Valentine, Shouna, I have 41 years together as a team plus a few children added to the team along the way.  Kind of like having Icing on the CAke
• Don't think too highly of your self because there is always someone coming along getting better just to be faster than you. 
• Stay the course and build a good solid team

Thanks for your time and the memories,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Maybe we should call it an Osage hoe and not a dutch hoe?

I had a good laugh at Julian Codding's remarks about a hoe and what it taught him and his cousins, Harold and CH.  Basically I identified with his analysis.  If you did not see it, go to Facebook and look it up.  Here is what I learned from a hoe not to be confused with a person but it is an instrument used in the garden.

In fact I should tell you about my wife's experience with a hoe.  We still garden a lot and we use a device we call a Dutch Hoe.  Basically it looks like a stirrup from a saddle on the end of a stick but made with metal and sharp on both sides.  We had about worn out our Dutch Hoe and Shouna decided to look on the Internet to find who carried this tool.  Yes sirree, she typed in Dutch Hoe and boy was she surprised.  We had to do some computer cleanup after that one.  I assume you have been on the Internet enough to know you never, never, ever type in Dutch Hoe and hit enter.

Like Julian if we ever seemed un-busy or not doing something Mom thought was productive she would bring out the hoe and send us to the garden.  I swore for years I would never come back to farming or gardening or even come back to Grainola for fear I would have to work in that garden with the hoe.  Actually there were two other things I hated worse:  chopping ice during the winter and pulling calves.  I always told mom and dad that I would not come back home until they got the old road paved so it would not be gravel.  I lied.

In fact I fondly remember the fresh vegetables and the rhubarb and potatoes in the spring with green beans and bacon cooked together.  Gosh, that was good eaten!  I also knew that it took work to get those veggies to grow and produce and of course it took a hoe plus some back labor.  Still to this day it amazes me how you plant beans and they grow in a straight row but weeds come up everywhere and you don't plant them.  I also longed to own a farm and something to grow after leaving the Osage.

In about 1994 I bought a farm in west Edmond, OK and started growing pumpkins(40 acres) and tomatoes (2 to 3 acres) and okra (4 acres of okra - it was a great idea but a little much), strawberries (2 aces), peppers (1 acre), blackberries (1/2 acre) and then I planted 4000 trees and had all kinds of animals and YES we had a gravel road that I built.  After about 7 years of that we developed our farm into a housing addition as Edmond was growing all around us.  We named the addition Clifford Farms after Dad and we named one of the streets Opal Lane after Mom and remember Mom's maiden name was Lane.  Finally after about 12 years we sold the small acreage we had left and built a house in the middle of a 2.25 acre garden.  There is no gravel road and no vegetables but hundreds and hundreds of flowers and plants and trees and yes we have multiple hoes including two Dutch hoes.

A little piece of trivia.  I named my investment business Lane Financial Strategies and my insurance company Lane Financial and Insurance Strategies all named after the Lane side of my family.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Be careful on what you call a hoe
• Never say never because God will bring you right back to where you started
• Learn to love your past regardless of the challenges you go through

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com

Filtered or unfiltered

How many times in my life have I wished I was a little more filtered in the mouth?  Have you ever wondered, "why did I say that!"?  I wear a size 13 shoe and many times it has fit into my mouth and I have swallowed it.  I wish I could recover those words.

Sticks and Stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you

The biggest lie I have ever heard. 

I have recovered many a time from broken bones, like the time I had the motorcycle wreck and had multiple surgeries.  That sucks.  Or the time I was playing basketball in the old gym at grand old Shidler High School.  Actually it was the only gym at the time but I was hustling for a ball thrown my way and caught that cement wall rather than the ball.  CRACK.  Again I recovered.  Or the time I took a bad fall from a small jump on the ski slopes and tore up my collarbone.  Made it except for a little ware and tare on the body over the years.

Words are the most powerful force in the world.  Greater than water and hydraulics, for you farm boys and engineers who understand the power of both.  Words can be the most uplifting or the biggest downer.  I remember Helen Head (100 years old and one of the greatest teachers ever) who simply complimented me on how I was dressed and it made my day.  Then there was Aunt Gladys (Mrs. Snyder of Shidler High fame) who kept telling me when I was in grade school how good I was at math as she gave me high school problems and then graded them to show I could do high school work in grade school.  I was never the smartest contrary to what Julian Codding says about me.  Now there is SMART with a capital S or J.  Julian was and is off the charts when it comes to smart.  How about Coach Gilstrap who told me as a kid he wanted me to play football for him long before I was old enough.  Words can make or brake a person. 

Now here is where we are going to get in some controversy.  I absolutely do not believe that talking about everything that bothers you or hurts you helps.  How can constantly bringing up the bad help?   For example, if I told you to not think about cold sliced tomatoes with fried bacon and mayonnaise on a hot summer or spring day, you could not do it and in fact you would want one for the rest of the day.  So my point is, if you tell everyone about how hurt you were by someone's words or actions I believe it does not help most of the time.  In fact it puts a damper on your/my day and makes you/me think about it more. 

I know that I have hurt people over the years and for the most part un-intentionally and I sincerely hope that if you are one of those you would forgive me.  There is a very strong chance I do not even know what you think you heard and hopefully you heard it from me not a third person.  I or someone you know who hurt you may not have any idea you offended or hurt them.  Also NEVER take someone else's interpretation of what I say as fact unless you talk to me and get my cut on what I said.  That goes for words from anyone told third person. 

I think for some being a friend is easy but I am not so sure.  I do believe diarrhea of the mouth is a big problem and a little or a lot of filtering is appropriate.  I need to get my filter working a little bit better.  Or?  Could we say, "the filter was crappy?".  Get over it if that word bothers you.

Well, what do you learn in the Osage?

• Friends are loyal and forgiving
• The mouth is the most powerful instrument in the world, good and bad
• Be careful, sometimes few words are more

Thanks for listening,

gary@thepioneerman.com