by Jason Strunk
Lubbock High School Head Football Coach
Follow @WestTXCoach
What a week.
Crazy weather, wacky injuries, surgeries and of course the unexpected. The craziness is becoming the norm, I suppose.
The weather this week was absolutely crazy. It rained and rained. Rained some more. Then it rained until it flooded a good portion of Lubbock. A major highway closed due to the flash flooding, causing some people to abandon their cars. There was a rescue of a motorist too. I have never seen it rain like that here.
I found myself at Chapman late last night hoping the rain would seize. Our indoor facility flooded in areas. Our trainer’s office and freshmen locker room had about an inch of water in it. It was close to midnight as I watched the water come up to the top step of our main building at Chapman. I could have swam from the top step all the way across the park to the other side of the road. It was crazy.
Flooding at the Lubbock facilities has been the norm this week.
Luckily we didn’t flood and the rain came to an end and I could focus on football again.
Let’s hope the rain stays away and we can have a home game with no rain for the first time all season! That would be nice. We need some luck, as we have had none of it so far this year.
ESTACADO
The Mats are athletic and a perennial playoff team. Coach Servance does a great job with those kids over there. I am looking forward to it tomorrow night. Should be an exciting game for the people of Lubbock to watch. This is our first meeting since 1997. LHS has never beaten Estacado.
Should be a fun game. Good week of practice for us! Let’s hope we can change our fortune tomorrow night. I cannot wait for kickoff.
THE CAPTAIN
This is a football blog, obviously. But how can I not talk about Derek Jeter?
I grew up watching this guy. He is two years older than me so I spent the last twenty years growing up with him, in a sense. Everyone knows about my Yankee loyalty. Live and die with the Yanks. I was a fan when Dave Righetti was the closer and Don Mattingly was an MVP. I was there when Kevin Maas and Mel Hall were their power hitters. The franchise was in rough shape. Until #2 arrived.
I have never seen a player help transform an entire franchise and fan base the way Jeter did with the Bombers. It was immediate. Five rings and countless trips the postseason. He was the ring leader. You needed a big hit? He delivered. It was incredible to see this man rise to the occasion on every big stage he was on.
It was no surprise he had the game-winner tonight in his final at bat in Yankee Stadium. How else did you think it would go?
His farewell comes at the right time. He is the symbol of what young athletes should strive to be. The news pro athletes have been making lately is sickening. If you are a young athlete, push yourself to go the Jeter route: Integrity, selflessness and effort. How can you beat that?
An era has ended and I am sad. I grew up watching greatness. Let’s hope someone else rises up and becomes the new face of professional athletes and what they should all be about.
RANDOMNESS (JETER’S BEST)
5. The Flip Play
4. 3,000th hit is a HR.
3. Diving into the stands against the Red Sox.
2. Jeffery Maier HR game.
1. HR in November 2001 to win WS game. It was incredible in the wake of 9/11.
Let’s hope LHS gives a Jeter-like effort tomorrow! Let’s get one!
