My high school coaching career began and ended with a \u201cbeat down\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0What is a \u201cbeat down\u201d? \u00a0\u00a0I was a young coach; twenty-five, perhaps too young to be a high school coach in charge of seventy-five young men, some only five years younger than me.\u00a0\u00a0But I didn\u2019t know that.\u00a0\u00a0I just tried to do my job, coach my kids to success, and keep a lid on the craziness that is definitional for adolescent boys.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0And I think I did a pretty good job.\u00a0 \u00a0But then, it was time for my \u201cjob evaluation\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And when I walked into the Athletic Director\u2019s office, it wasn\u2019t just a \u201cman to man\u201d discussion.\u00a0\u00a0There was the AD, and there was the Assistant Principal, and then there was the Principal, all on one side of the AD\u2019s desk, fifty plus years of educational experience. And\u00a0\u00a0there was twenty-five year old me on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the next two hours, even my successes were cited as failures.\u00a0 \u00a0For two hours, whatever I happened to say was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of my three bosses, all talking at once, all disputing my efforts.\u00a0Somewhere in the middle of it all, I thought I should just get up and leave.\u00a0\u00a0But then it dawned on me \u2013 if they were going to fire me, they\u2019d just done that at the beginning.\u00a0\u00a0They just wanted to have their say, their \u201cpound of flesh\u201d, to draw new lines of authority.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They really didn\u2019t want me to change much, they just wanted to be able to say to someone, I don\u2019t know who, that they \u201cPut Marty in his place\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0When it all ended, they handed me a paper evaluation they rated my performance as \u201cgood\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It was crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once\u00a0\u00a0I got over the emotion, punched a wall or two, and stopped packing my bags, I realized that I was still the Head Boys Track Coach at Watkins Memorial High School.\u00a0\u00a0 My \u201cbosses\u201d could report to whoever they needed to that I was \u201csuitably chastised\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And life, teaching, my coaching career all could go on, pretty much like it was before.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was in 1982.\u00a0\u00a0 Thirty-five years later, I retired as the Boys Track Coach at Watkins Memorial.\u00a0\u00a0And a few months after, I was already an \u201cex-coach\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Then the Athletic Director and I had a disagreement about some T-Shirts we were selling at the home Cross Country meet.\u00a0\u00a0In the middle of that issue, we had a meeting.\u00a0\u00a0I knew as soon as I came in her office, that this meeting wasn\u2019t to solve anything \u2013 it was to be another \u201cbeat down\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The AD, who had no problem criticizing the track program \u201cwoman to man\u201d for the past year, now had \u201cbackup\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time it was the AD and the Assistant Principal.\u00a0\u00a0And this time, the AD said almost nothing.\u00a0 \u00a0It was the Assistant who decided she was \u201cthe voice\u201d of the Administration.\u00a0\u00a0And just like that day in June of 1982, there wasn\u2019t any discussion.\u00a0\u00a0There was just a \u201cbeat down\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0No one wanted to hear what I had to say.\u00a0\u00a0They just wanted \u201ctheir view\u201d on the record.\u00a0\u00a0They wanted to tell someone, some boss above them, that \u201cMarty was suitably chastised\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It didn\u2019t last nearly as long as back in \u201982.\u00a0\u00a0There was really nothing on the table.\u00a0\u00a0I was already packed, already gone.\u00a0\u00a0I finished my commitments to Watkins Cross Country, and I was done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I still love Watkins Track and Cross Country, and that AD is long gone.\u00a0\u00a0So I go back, now the old, gray-haired guy, that used to coach here.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s changed a lot.\u00a0\u00a0I officiate, and help out the coaches when I can, and realize that \u201cmy day\u201d at Watkins is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hadn\u2019t thought about all that for years.\u00a0 \u00a0That was, until I heard President Trump and Vice President Vance perform a \u201cbeat down\u201d on national TV.\u00a0\u00a0Their target was the President of a sovereign nation, who, until literally weeks ago, was America\u2019s ally.\u00a0\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the President of Ukraine, a nation that has done nothing but honor itself in a three year war against the massive Russian Army.\u00a0\u00a0Ukrainians have endured unthinkable assaults, from Russian missiles and drones, from Russian tanks and troops, and on Ukrainian civilians and even children.\u00a0\u00a0Russia captured parts of Ukraine, then \u201cexported\u201d the children to Russia, renaming and reprogramming them to be \u201cgood Russian citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States and NATO have been stalwart allies of Ukraine.\u00a0 \u00a0We have enforced draconian sanctions on the Russian economy, and spent billions of dollars on Ukrainian defenses.\u00a0\u00a0It has been Ukrainian blood heroically spilled to stop the Russian invasions, but it has been US and NATO weaponry that helped Ukraine hold against the Russian juggernaut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess that\u2019s not what Donald Trump wants.\u00a0 \u00a0And so he and Ohio\u2019s \u201cfinest\u201d, Vice President JD Vance performed a \u201cbeat down\u201d on Zelenskyy today, live on US television.\u00a0\u00a0Trump shouted down Zelenskyy\u2019s objections, and Vance had the unmitigated gall of claiming that President Zelenskyy was disrespecting the US President by not saying \u201cthank you\u201d enough.\u00a0\u00a0As if rivers of Ukrainian blood aren\u2019t enough of a sacrifice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the end, hopefully, a deal will be reached;\u00a0\u00a0access to Ukrainian mineral wealth traded for support, and the US remains a Ukrainian ally.\u00a0\u00a0But you have to wonder:\u00a0\u00a0who did Trump need to show that \u201cZelenskyy was put in his place\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Who did Vance need to show that Zelenskyy was \u201csuitably chastised\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0To what \u201chigher boss\u201d must Vance and Trump report to?\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not the American people \u2013 so what was the point of a world class \u201cbeat down\u201d on world TV?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who\u2019s really in charge — another Vladimir?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"