On Agassi and The Pewee League

I've been engrossed for 2 days reading the Andre Agassi autobiography. I wrote about it a few weeks ago after reading an exerpt about his crystal- meth use. I was disgusted at the time because I thought, here we go again...another athlete/celebrity that feels the need to reveal that they used drugs. But once again, the real lesson learned here is to withhold judgement until you get the real story. Doesn't that seem to be the case more and more as you get older? It's so easy to jump to quick conclusions about people or situations, but the real truth is never that easy.


A friend e-mailed me the other day and said that she had literally not been able to put it down for a week. She warned me not to start it if I had a busy week...but I was intrigued, so I ignored her warning and picked it up. Well, she was right. From page one, it is very "intense". The guy you thought you knew as this brash, showy tennis player has led a very interesting, though sometimes troubled life. The drug use reference is one brief chapter, though the consequences last for several chapters. Without giving anything away, his life has been nothing like any pre-concieved notions that you might have had about it. I'm not sure that there are any lessons to be learned from it, but it is very compelling. And so that is the book review for the week...

Little One has basketball practice tonight. The Husband is the coach and I am the assistant coach. Though the titles were reversed last year, the results were pretty much the same. The Husband's role is much like it is at home...lead and order. My role is much the same as it is at home too....support and explain. Drafting the team took place a few weeks ago. The Husband took on this job with total seriousness. He researched players, made notes and watched try-outs. In the end, he drafted what he felt like was a pretty good team. So....you can imagine the reaction when the league informed him that he was "losing a player and gaining another due to un-foreseen circumstances." The Husband was suspicious right off the bat. He doesn't really believe in "unforeseen circumstances." Now evidently, one of the girls on the team had a sister, and their mom wanted them to play on the same team. As a mom, I totally understand this from a logistics standpoint. But The Husband wasn't having any of it. He immediately wanted to know the differences between the girl that he was giving up, and the girl that he was gaining. Unfortunately, he was losing height and age...This did not go over well with The Husband. Thus began a series of contentious e-mails between he and the rec league...."discussing" the fairness of the whole situation. The Husband insisted that he had been given a "crappy trade"...and the league insisted that...well, basically, this is rec ball, and you take what you get. After a couple of days and a practice, The Husband calmed down and decided that he would just have to do the best he could with what he had.......until he got another call telling him that another girl had been added to the roster. Then it started all over again.

So tonight, as we head to practice, I will be wearing dark glasses and a wig as we sail into practice past the rec staff. The Husband insists that they know his remarks are "all in good humor". I am not so sure...

Agassi's book is entitled "Open"...I highly recommend it. Meanwhile, I'm thinking of writing one about The Husband entitled "Screwed By The Pee Wee League...A Coach's Story"...

Until tomorrow...