Random Thoughts by EB, Coach Thurston, and no resolutions here!
By Eric Berry
We’ve lost some great ones!
My father used to say ‘it’s better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all’. I used to wrestle with this one. What did he mean? Is it great that I fell “in love” with my high school girlfriend(or also a plural version of this word could be used -haha) and got dumped and felt like crap after? Boy that was just fantastic, dad! Or was he referring to someone dying and knowing them, having a great relationship with them in life, and being able to carry that on with you? Maybe both.
Over the last month and a half the Vermont community has lost some incredible coaches – first Bob Prenevost, then Dan Gandin, and this past week Dan Thurston. Combined they won over 1,400 games on the hardwood. Tom Haley from the Rutland Herald wrote an article about coaches Prenevost and Gandin and it was great, you should check it out. I coached against Bob and Dan G. a number of times and while my teams were able to rack a couple of hundred wins I don’t believe I ever beat either of them. Their teams were always so well prepared.
I never knew Coach Thurston until he came to me in the fall of 2011 and asked if he could help me with the first girl’s team I coached at LI. I knew of his impeccable resume, and I knew he was fiery like me and wasn’t sure it would work. He said how he watched some of my college teams and liked the way my teams ran and worked hard and wanted to get back in the game. He had also been part of the game as a PA announcer but had been replaced and he needed a place to quench his hoops thirst. My gut told me to bring him on board. Thank God my gut was a lot smarter than it is now – or at least the guy feeding it.
We took the 2011-2012 team that had one returning starter, albeit a great one in Riley Blankenship, and some very good returning players as well to the Barre Auditorium that year! He was simply awesome. He had good timing knowing when to offer his sage advice during games or in practice. Hannah Cornell said he fixed her jump shot! Right from the start the girls loved his direct manner and his grandfatherly love as well. And, he loved the way I made the girls run! I think he got the most enjoyment out of seeing our girls run “Tarheels”! Although we lost 3 times before finally winning the big game at the ‘Aud’ you could tell he just wanted one more title! When we got it as they normally do they took a picture of us all in our glory. There was Dan with that confident, patented smile. He was so happy – you can see it in his eyes. I look at that picture and I think of how Barry Sanders used to flip the ball to the officials after he scored a touchdown. You know, act like you’ve done it before. Of course Dan had done it before, several times a winner in Barre.
That day, March 18th, 2017 we went into the locker room prior to playing Mill River with a calm over us after already beating a very good Fair Haven team in the semi’s. It was an absolute war. And no offense to Mill River, I felt our chances were very good once advanced past that bracket to win it all. I usually was a sis-boom-bah(if you can imagine) pregame speech type of guy. But on that day I just walked in and said to the girls that if we play up to our ability that Mill River didn’t have a chance. We just needed to play great defense and everything would fall into place. Not loudly, just matter of fact. The girls walked out and Jeff Mosher and Ashley Whitehill looked at me in disbelief, ‘what no raucous speech’? But Dan looked at me with that smile. He knew we were going to win – he had already started smiling like a guy holding a royal flush – same smile as in the picture. Flip the ball to the ref, it’s over(we won 43 to 15, no team in the entire United States boys or girls had held their opponent to less than 15 points in any division anywhere)! I’m so thankful to have had Dan in my life who went from an unknown, to a colleague, to a friend, and hoops to life confidant. What a great man. Rest in Peach Coach T – and please fix God’s jump shot, if not make Jesus run some Tarheels, if anyone could do it, you could!
The NBA and the NFL
The NBA to me is almost unwatchable. It is a little neat to watch Oklahoma City and San Antonio play, and the Celtics showing some guile with Jayson Tatum being out but the constant 3 pointers and the traveling have me turning the channel to watch MASH reruns, or Andy Griffith, faster than you can blink an eye.
I like watching the NFL, even though it’s clearly now in the entertainment industry. Call this, don’t call that. Then call it, wait, don’t call it. Wait, replay. Wait, there’s another whistle. For the love of God play football!
I think I predicted either a Bills/Vikings final or a Ravens/Vikings final. I can’t remember that blog way back in the summer. I might get one of the teams in there.
My Vikings continue to be as dysfunctional as a Somali daycare. At least we got kids though. Had to. We have a Super Bowl defense and a toilet bowl offense.
Random Thoughts
Speaking of toilet bowls. Have you ever walked into the bathroom in the middle of the night and forgot you left the seat up, or someone else in your household did and you sat down? It’s like throwing a cat into a bathtub full of water. The grossness, the awkward uncoordinated attempt to remove yourself from that situation is really priceless. You really can’t go to bed without taking a shower after that. You can hear the cat’s snarl can’t you.
Why is it that people drive 60-70 mph in the passing lane? Why is it that people pull out when they see you/me coming up at 75mph in the passing lane and slow the flow of traffic/me down? Why is it they pull out to pass a tractor trailer and then stay beside said tractor trailer for 2 miles? Get the hell out of the way! They even do it on snowy days when the tractor trailer is kicking up more snow than a Sugarbush snowmaking gun! Get by it you’re stressing me and everyone else out. And the driver must be thinking ‘what the hell is wrong with this person’?
Back to the Vikings: The Vikings are the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox. Cursed. Fans feel the same way Sox fans did from 2003 back to 19, don’t say it Eric, 18! 1918 is like this new found ridiculousness 6, 7. Both of those sets of numbers drive me crazy.
Last week I railed about five out offenses and lack of movement in high school offenses. Maybe I was a little too harsh, maybe I wasn’t but I offer this advice. I used to tell my kids that it was fine to be savages on defense as long as they were surgeons on offense. The simple line of thinking you have to get across is that they wouldn’t want a savage randomly, savagely cutting them open to take their appendix out or fix their knee. They’d want them to deftly handle the scalpel, while also sharply using their minds. It’s the same thing in hoops – use the ball as your scalpel, use your mind to figure out how to attack the weaknesses and score! You don’t always have to do that at 75mph like me driving on the interstate(or Route 2). Measured and controlled!
Happy New Year everyone!
The opinions expressed by EB are solely his and do not reflect those of NSN. If you’d like to reach out to EB, please contact him at eberry@nsnsports.net. You can read all of Eric’s blogs at www.nsnsports.net.