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The Diner’s Rookie Diary
by Sam Monson
28/5/2008
As promised loyal Diner faithful, this instalment begins with the tale of a tooth related injury. Now, when I say injury, I mean my wisdom tooth had gone manky, and I had finally been given an appointment (more than a month after being told it needed to be pulled out) to get it removed.
So away I went to the dental surgeon (who does extractions, along with dental hygienists, who do the cleaning… what the hell do ordinary ‘dentists’ do these days??) to have it sorted. Local anaesthetic, just a quick injection (well, 7 in my case, my tongue refused point blank to go numb he had to go back for 2 extra canisters of stuff!!), and then we’ll have the blighter removed, sew you back up…job’s a good-un.
 So why, you might ask would this keep a person from training… Apparently, exercise isn’t allowed for a week after they pull the tooth, because, *Squeamish people look away now!* when you exercise you raise your pulse, and blood pressure, which increases the chance you’ll blow the blood clot that’s healing the hole where your tooth used to be…if that goes, you’ve nothing but bare jaw bone there…lovely. Whilst I’m not normally one to listen to medical advice, this did seem like it was might be worth taking notice of.
So I was back to my role of offensive coordinator, or receivers coach this week, in the shorts and t-shirt getup this time, with the sun beating down on a glorious Sunday morning.
Now you’d think that after a bit of a kicking, and with 3 weeks until the rematch with the Rebels, you could expect a real boost in effort from people, a spike in attendance at training, right?…right? Well apparently not. After players and coaches alike talking about commitment to the team, we had one of our worst turnouts of the season. Instead of getting all of the wide receivers on the same page running routes, I ended up helping a running back, a tight end/running back, a defensive back, and our slot receiver/punter/kicker/mascot with route running. Let’s be honest, this was unlikely to result in a glorious victory.
A week later, this time back in pads, the turnout was little better. In fact, it was worse. The lone highlight of the week was the play that has now become known as the ‘Catch of the Gods’ (as of right now, anyway). This catch was made by the defensive back that had been stepping in running some routes, Scott Misfud. Sent deep on a go route, Scott hauls the ball in at full pace, then somehow drops it whilst tucking it away in such a manner that it lands on his heel. The booted ball then flies looping back over his head, all whilst still at full pace, where he then makes a spectacular fingertip grab. Had this been caught on video it would make every highlight package for the next 50 years!
Game day approached, and after another excellent turnout on Friday training (enough to form a game of tag rugby and little else), we took the field against the Dublin Rebels, hoping to avenge defeat just three weeks before. Shockingly, after those weeks of such dedicated training, that didn’t quite happen. In a 39-0 defeat (or ass-whooping as I think better describes it), the highlight of the performance on offense might have been the opening kickoff from Shane Maguire resulting in a touchback. We did not look good, failing to achieve pretty much anything we set out to do. On the rare occasion we did get a drive going, we found a way of fixing it quickly and turning the ball back to the Rebels.
The performance of your humble Diner reporter? Not exactly Pro-Bowl worthy. The ball was sent in my direction twice. The first time on a slant route, the ball was high and the fierce wind took it behind me right into the waiting arms of the training cornerback. The second time was on a crossing pattern; the ball was perfectly thrown, and might have seen me break through the secondary into open field…had I caught it. Unfortunately, well, I didn’t.
For those of you keeping count, that’s a season tally of:
Thrown at: 4 times
Catches: 1
TDs: 1
Drops: 1
This defeat has left us in a hole in terms of playoff chances, and realistically we’re fighting more to prove our worth in the league than we are to contend to win it. At this stage we’re just trying to prove our talent, and fight for a bit of pride.
Tomorrow’s a new day and all that. This week’s training needs a better turnout than the last few (HINT HINT!), and our next game will give us the chance to right the ship.
Until the next instalment!
Archive Rookie Diary:
Rookie Diary May 10th
Rookie Diary April 29th
Rookie Diary April 17th
Rookie Diary April 5th
Rookie Diary April 2nd
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