Make up your mind Brett

For the last couple of years, we’ve been treated to Brett Favre’s annual will he or won’t he retire show.  Then last month, he cried as he announced he was actually ready to call it a career.  It’s a no brainer to sahy that Brett Favre was one of the greatest quarterbacks in the NFL.  But now he’s starting to act like my mom’s 11 month old Australian Shepherd.  She’ll stand by the back door and whine like she wants out, then when you let her out, she’ll be right back on the other side of the door waiting to get back indoors. 

I know Brett Favre doesn’t need advice from me…he’s probably got some highly paid advisors for that…but kick back and enjoy your retirement.  Get a hobby, watch your kids play in their games or perform in their school plays.  Take a family vacation this summer when you would have normally been at training camp.  You’ve earned millions of dollars throwing a ball around while dodging 350 pound men.  That’s gotta hurt, at your age, why would you want to do that again?  Let the next generation take care of things and we can sit back and talk about how much better the quarterbacks of the 90’s are than today’s.  Just like guys in the past did when they talked about Fran Tarkenton, Roger Staubach, Sammy Baugh et al.

Dave

Let’s think about high school football…

I know we just finished up the high school basketball season, the FInal Four is barely over and the girls softball season is just getting underway with American Legion baseball soon to follow, but I’ve started thinking a little bit about high school football.

The Sidney Eagles surprised a few folks last fall when instead of finishing at the bottom of the Eastern A as expected, they turned in a solid performance, made the playoffs and beat Belgrade in the first round before running up against the Libby Loggers. I was talking to Coach Mike Gear earlier this week and he’s already making sure his upcoming team is getting ready. All the players planning to suit up for the Eagles next fall met with the coaching staff this week and it was communicated to them what was expected of them if they weren’t out for a spring sport. He told me they’ll be getting together one more time before school is released to set some summer goals. I know Eagles fans are anticipating another great season on the gridiron this fall.

Now Sidney doesn’t have a monopoly on good football programs in the area. The Class C programs in the region are also pretty darn good…both the 8 man and 6 man variety. And for fans of small school football I found a very interesting blog online written by a fan in Wyoming. There’s a link in my links section or just click here (a new window will open for you). Even though the author is based in Wyoming, he covers Montana football as well since there are some Wyoming schools playing six-man ball up north.

Hope you enjoy and if you have any good links, photos, videos or information to share, contact me at Eagle 93 in Sidney.

Dave

Irony at the library

Today (Sat. 4-5), I was relaxing a bit and took a trip to the library.  I picked up a copy of a magazine called “Montana Quarterly”.  It’s a slick publication out of Bozeman…lots of color photos and well written stories.  In the Spring 2008 issue on the stands now is a feature article on former University of Montana Grizzly basketball player Mike Chavez.

His story is one that is inspiring.  Growing up in a very dysfunctional family on a couple of Montana’s poorest reservations, he was able to maintain a B average in high school, lead Heart Butte and then Browning to state titles and earn tournament MVP honors in both the Class C and Class A ranks.  He didn’t drink until just before starting his freshman year in college, despite what his peers and family was doing.  But once he took his first drink, it wasn’t long before he had spiraled out of control, eventually getting booted from the Grizzly team and losing his scholarship.

But after spending six months in a rehab program in Washington State, Chavez came back to UM and regained a spot on the team, although he didn’t receive any scholarship money from either the school or the tribes.  He’s now got his life back on track.

A story for the big screen?  Or maybe at least a Lifetime movie of the week?  I don’t know, but it is heartening to read of successes in athletics after hearing stories of all the prima donnas out there.

The ironic twist I hinted at in the title of this blog posting comes now.  As I finished reading the story on Mike Chavez, I turned the page and what do I find?  A feature story about “Moose Drool” beer.  I kid you not.  The editor of the Montana Quarterly must have laid out the magazine after coming back to the office following the Super Bowl Party.

It’s not the end of the world, but I did have to shake my head a bit.  I just had finished reading a story about one man’s triumph over alcohol in his life and the next article is about a local brewery’s triumph at the taps.

I’d link you to the story, but apparently Montana Quarterly doesn’t post any of their content online.  There’s just a basic website where you can subscribe or write a letter to the editor.

If you would like to read a little more about Mike Chavez, check out this article by Jody Rave of the Lee Newspapers.  She had a nice piece on Mike that appeared in the Missoulian.