be strong

BE STRONG
warning this is about football
well texas football
but
well its about life too

for those readers from arkansas and elsewhere
charlie strong is the new coach this year at
texas
for awhile i thought his ethics were going to get
him ran out of town
but now hes winning so i guess hell stay


if you live in arkansas and know a lot of about football
you know who sporty carpenter is
my historian brother knows him well

well so the assistant coach said as my bro made this
defensive play that sacked the quarterback
in practice
so sporty didnt know my historian brother
as we had recently moved to this small town in arkansas
called magnolia
so sporty says where did you come from
meaning
what position did you play on defensive

my historian brother thinking he meant what school
did you move from
said
smackover
so all the way through high school thats what he was
called
smackover
even at his reunions 50 years later he is still called
smackover

sporty a well respected high school coach
and
later
the coach at henderson state college in arkansas
was sitting in the office talking with his defensive
ccoordinator
when the phone rang

when he hung up he said charlie you want to go to
florida to be the defensive coordinator there
so off he went the first time out of arkansas
eventually coaching the defense on the florida
national championship teams-tim tebo era


this man from arkansas
who played and lettered 4 years at batesville high school
who played football at central arkansas
best known for producing scotty pippin
was helped by his mentor
sporty carpenter

eventually the search committee from texas came acalling
we want you to come in and fix our program
this arkansas guy ending up in texas
sorry but in arkansas thats a bad thing to do
go to texas
i know i did it myself
even when i go back they look at me with a cautious eye
maybe like a traitor


but charlie came to texas
real strong he did
he cleaned house he did
follow my principles
all five + of them
or
hit the road jack

so many of them did
and
sorry
but
some of the players were good ones
some were seniors
even one was a former patient
break the rules and you are gone

so he depleted his team of 20+ players
several who were starters
hit the road jack

the other players im sure were not real sure about this
strong guy and his strong principles

there were lot of rumblings going on
hey were gettin our butts kicked
principles now can only go so far

he stuck to his principles
now
he has started to win
a bowl game is in the future
hopefully against am

so he now has a team full of players
who

go to class and sit at the front of the class
yes he spot checks them himself

cant smoke dope or use drugs
he has increased drug testing
get a positive test you get 3 chances but have to do counseling and
miss games
after number 4
hit the road jack

cant abuse their wives their girlfriends or degrade women
you have to respect them

no earrings

no guns no hes not talking about hunting so calm down
you hunters and nra folks

no stealing

well heck we want all our kids to do that
im sure all the coaches want their players to do this
but
the difference is

he enforces it!!

so
be strong
charlie strong

we need more of you in sports and in society
maybe even in politics

a true arkansan and texan
and american

huh would you run for president

the organicgreen doctor