I Stormed Out of the Locker Room, Angry as Fuck...
I stormed out of the locker room, angry as fuck! I was ready to throw down with Coach and kick his ass in front of the entire team. Knock him down a few notches. But, I opted to take the high road, bite my lip, and just leave without saying a fuckin’ word, which wasn't easy for me…
I loved all the players on this team and enjoyed being their assistant coach, hitting instructor, and voice of reason. It was a special group. But philosophically, Coach and I were polar opposites. He coached baseball the same way he coached football, and I was a baseball coach. But he was the one getting paid to coach this team, and I was just an unpaid volunteer. It was his team, and he was my boss, something he always made perfectly clear.
After beating Diman for the first time in twenty years and without him, Coach felt threatened. He thought he had lost his team, and he did everything he could to reestablish the ranking order. Discrediting me was high on his list. That marked the beginning of the end for me…
My first reaction to Coach's onfield antics after the 11-1 loss to Holbrook was to resign my position, but I didn’t want to make an emotional, knee-jerk decision that would negatively impact the team. I knew once I cooled down, I’d make a more rational decision.
When I got home, I immediately told Dylan and my wife what happened. After getting their input, I knew exactly what I had to do before heading back to school in the morning…
I sat at my computer into the wee hours and wrote two letters. One to the players and one to Coach. They were quite different. I made sure each kid got a copy of the letter that morning. I put Coach’s letter in his mailbox. In both, I cited philosophical differences in coaching and wished them good luck going forward. I ended the players’ letter with, "What a unique pleasure it was working with each and every one of you." In Coach's, I wasn't as kind. I wasn't rude, but I didn't hold back any feelings either.
They had five games left and needed only two wins to make the tournament.
It was the end of May, a time when the school regularly put pink slips in the mailboxes of new teachers they were choosing not to rehire. I was unsure of my status, especially after the baseball debacle.
I became very friendly with the two guys running the supply warehouse located in the basement of the plumbing shop. I was there every day, ordering, picking up, and signing for all the materials I needed for the work I did around campus with my students.
A day after I resigned from baseball, I signed in at the main office and checked my mailbox like I always did. There was a lone envelope in my mailbox with a clear window and a letter inside on pink stationery. My heart pounded. Had I been pink-slipped? I waited to open it until I was in the plumbing shop…
Once I opened it, it read, “Just kidding! - The Warehouse Guys”. They got me really good. Touché!
Later that morning, the Principal called the plumbing shop and said he wanted to see me in his office immediately. “Oh shit!” I thought. "This is real, I’m a fucking goner…"
To be continued…
Well, I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mindI left my body lying somewhere in the sands of timeBut I watched the world float to the dark side of the moonI feel there's nothing I can do, yeah