We return this morning to a theme we initially explored in 2018. Not a coward, but I've never been tested. Like to think that if I was I would pass. That, obviously, is a lyric from the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' hit, 'The Impression That I Get'. Setting aside for a moment former Bosstones' lead singer Dicky Barrett's Aaron Rodgers-esque "free thinking", that song slaps. And the message has always made me wonder about my own capacity, about what I might be capable of (or not) in a decisive moment.
Olha Bihar, like tens of thousands of her countrymen and women, has been tested. And tested. And tested. The former lawyer, PhD candidate, and mother of a seven year-old son would be an impressive person if she was practicing in Seattle. As is stands, she's leading a mortar battalion, a veteran of 15 months of combat, including the Battle of Bakhmut.
She and her then 18-year old brother joined the Ukrainian military in February 2023, as missiles rained down on Kiev. They both had other options. They were tested. They passed. I can't even imagine.
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Wow. Just ... wow.
Donna, sorry to hear about your frozen shoulder. My wife had that recently and it eventually resolved after 3-4 months of PT. She had to do some goofy-looking home exercises where she stood with her belly against the wall and had to walk her up up and around on the wall. I, predictably, had jokes like "Oh! Whuddayoo, fuggin Blair Witch Project oveh heyeh?"
I'm sure those jokes went over well with zwife. I have only secondhand experience with shoulder issues through my son (knocking wood now). Getting him connected with a PT who specialized in shoulder rehab made a huge difference, and we avoided surgery.
Extremely late response to OBX Dave's question on the quality of football in my area. The easy response is that football is everything in Florida. Nothing rivals the three S. Florida counties (Dade, Broward, Palm Beach) but there are plenty of other areas that produce tons of talent (Tampa, Jacksonville and Orlando chief among them).
As I've mentioned before, my area is much smaller but still very much football crazy - especially on the mainland across from the barrier island that I live on. This goes back to when Brevard first exploded due to NASA/Kennedy Space Center and the first stars from Brevard (Wilber Marshall and Cris Collinsworth of Astronaut High, Titusville, FL).
I think one of the biggest reasons this relatively small area has produced so many outstanding players is that youth football is everywhere around here. Plenty of kids start playing tackle as soon as they begin elementary school (though that's been reduced with the advent of flag football leagues).
Cocoa and it's sister city Rockledge in particular have a monster of a league with multiple teams playing at all age groups. These kids grow up playing their whole lives and watching the older kids on Friday nights.
Cocoa isn't the only power around here but they are the best currently and historically. And while a lot of their past success is due to the factors I mentioned, there's a new, very significant factor that elevated Cocoa to national power status - recruiting.
When I was growing up you couldn't play sports for a school out of your assigned district unless you had a reason (often bullshit - pick an academic program that the school you want offers that yours doesn't and make that case) and even then that was frequently denied. Some years back, maybe 6 to 9 , they killed that rule around here. So now Cocoa can grab the best kids from all over the place. The majority of their team is still local but it doesn't hurt when you can come down to the beach and grab a 6'4" QB who's going to be a 5 star and is committed to Michigan at the beginning of his junior year. Which Cocoa did.
I know I went long but I figured Dave wouldn't mind.
Long and strong and down to get the friction on.
Marls starting the weekend early?
marls is 24 hour party people
I’m at an Excel spreadsheet party right now. It’s a rager.
Mark, thanks much for the explainer. I know football is huge in Fla., and figured that youth leagues and coaching and priorities are paramount in prospect pipeline.
Also trying to figure out why there's such an inordinate amount of speed and athleticism in various large and small pockets all over the state. Guessing that latitudes and temperate climate play at least some role in training, but the wheels and quick-twitch muscles have to come from someplace.
You're welcome, Dave. Coaching, at least on the high school level, is actually becoming an issue. Florida doesn't pay much extra for coaches in public schools and they have to be teachers. Georgia no longer requires this and they pay good money (not as big as Texas but well over six figures in many cases) and they are regularly poaching big time high school coaches. Last year, for example, Daytona Mainland won a state title and sent a 5 star DE to Florida and a near 5 star safety to Alabama. That coach left for a job in Georgia. Tough to blame him. Way more money and all you have to do is coach football all the time.
As for the speed and athleticism, the heat and ability to train all year round don't hurt but genetics and ancestry certainly play a role, as does the fact that the state has been growing and adding people from all over the country and world for a very long time now.
Had dinner tonight with a client who was in town from Colorado because his son lives here. I highly recommend a wife who runs an amazing Italian restaurant who is also extremely personable and cool.
You heard Mark. One of us has to steal his wife.
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