Greetings Gabbers. Well, the school year is quickly waning here and there are no more sub jobs, but my stint as a football coach is about to kick off soon. I’m pretty excited in getting a chance to work as an o-line coach for the same school I’ll be student teaching. I’m hoping it gives me more of an authentic experience, a better way to get to know some of the kids, and another chance to see whether coaching is something I’ll want to continue once I find a job. I’m pretty sure I will, but it’ll be nice to get a third year and experience with a varsity squad.
 

Speaking of young football players, our country’s two biggest organizations concerning youth’s sports made some big announcements today.
 

First, the AAU announced that it will have all adult volunteers and coaches undergo increasingly intense background screening starting in September. The organization has also banned all one on one child and adult interactions following allegations of abuse. The move came following a six month review by a task force and was announced in the shadows of the opening witnesses in the Jerry Sandusky trial. While I am not familiar with what the old protocols were, I would imagine they required some screening, a background check or maybe finger printing. In visiting the website, I found that the AAU offers informational sessions and courses for coaches, but the system must have had some serious flaws to create this sort of alarm. Most news stories mention that the organization will institute new coaching instruction with stricter rules on player-coach interactions.
 

Secondly, the Pop Warner Youth Football organization has announced it will take more precautions to keep children with concussion or concussion-like symptoms off the field. Already held in some regard for their “If in doubt, sit it out” method of safety regulation, the organization announced it’s created a concussion awareness initiative. The group has ruled to limit contact based drills to one-third of the teams’ practice time and to focus on eliminating head to head hits. It is not clear how helmet to helmet hits would be regulated. Tackling would also have to be initiated within a three foot zone. While this could change how generations learn the game, time will only tell if it indeed limits childhood concussions. With children being especially vulnerable to brain damage from such hits, I think a lot of parents will be a little more at ease with these sorts of restrictions.
 

In the NFL, camps continue for teams. MJD was a notable, though not surprising, no show for Jags camp. People won’t shut up about Tebow in Jets camp and Manning is looking good at Broncos camp. Possibly the oddest camp story so far is of Denver linebacker D.J. Williams.

While Williams was trying to show Twitter followers the new high tech Denver playbooks (the team hands out Ipads with everything loaded on them), Williams took a photo of his tablet on a desk with some pencils and a sharpener while noting that he preferred using flashcards to learn his position.  Unfortunately, the device was on and showed a variety of defensive alignments and looks that any opponent or fan alike could now see in front of them. Williams was quick to fix the problem and has been forgiven by the Broncos. Fan reaction was mixed; some people saw it as an honest mistake while others blasted Williams’ carelessness and called for him to be cut.
 

I myself would worry about using such a method for handling a playbook. Information on electronic devices is a lot easier to obtain. I’m not saying other teams would employ hackers to get into opponents playbooks or anything like that, but I could see crazed fans trying to do so. I could even see bored hackers attempting it. Flashcards seem a lot safer when you look at some of the types of sites and systems that get hacked in today’s world.
 

While BOB was quick to point out (to everyone’s astonishment, I’m sure) that ESPN missed a golden chance to subject folks to another subway series to show the Reds-Tigers game, controversy was still to be had.

During Jose Valverde’s appearance in a 7-6 win, the camera caught him in an odd shot. Footage that was cleaned up by a Reds fan shows Valverde wetting his lips and bringing his mouth to his glove. Many believe it shows Valverde throwing a spit ball. Valverde has denied this. MLB has not acted. Knowing I’m a bit biased, I still can’t be sure he spit. He puffed his cheeks some, but his hand went right down to his uniform after that. He could have spit right on the ball, but I didn’t see any firm facial evidence of it. I think it’s a bit overblown and Selig must agree if nothing’s been said.

Well, that's all I've got for the week. It looks like temps will stay decently cool for the week but are looking to spike on Father's Day. That said, I hope all the proud papa's here at the Gab have a great sunday and extend special wishes to my brother IHM and my dad. Still, I think my dad got all he wanted last week by being able to see his Indians and his Reds beat the Tigers. Hats off to the LA Kings who become the 9th NHL team in as many years to win the cup. There's some parity for you. Thanks for reading this week and for any thoughts you may share. I leave you as always with your word of the week.

handshake rape, verb

when someone asserts their dominance over you in a handshake by grabbing your fingers before you have a chance to get a proper grip
 

Jonah: So man, how did that job interview go?

Heath: Well I felt pretty good going into it, but then I got handshake raped by the interviewer and it all went downhill from there.

BONUS:

Here's a group some of you may have heard of-Here Come the Mummies. My Uncle Joe clued me into these guys and they have some pretty entertaining songs. Trust me, you just have to watch. I'd also recommend Attack of the Weiner Man.