On Deck, with Marcus Espinoza

On deck this week: A spring preview of the 2009 Toledo Rockets football team.

“Everything is going to be a competition”.

Those were one of the first words that came out of first year head coach, Tim Beckman. In his first spring media day earlier last month coach Beckman was preaching competition and he was preaching it as if we were there for a sermon and not an interview. Either way, he’s made me a believer. He said that everything was going to be a competition, from the drills they do in practice to the classes they take in school. If you do well you get rewarded, you know kind of like when you tell a dog to sit he gets a treat? Same concept, bigger treat. And for some the reward will be in being able to keep your stating position because there are no sacred cows with Coach Beckman. He has a system in place where he has divided up the entire roster into eight different “teams” and each team will compete with various events on and off the field and awards will be given at the end of April for all places from first to eighth. First place for example would get a nice new attire of clothing while the losers would get some shoe strings.

The Rockets need competition like Plaxico Burress needs a good lawyer. Without competition players tend to get lackadaisical and careless about things. If you’re trying to train a dog to sit don’t give him a treat while he’s standing. If you plan on getting playing time on this football team you’re going to have to perform and perform well.

I once bumped into coach Beckman in a hallway and introduced myself, shook his hand and immediately knew that the rockets were going to be in good shape. His hand shake was firm like a well tightened bolt. My dad once told me that you can tell a lot about a man from his hand shake and has always preached to me about the importance of this and what it can tell about a person. A well placed hand shake will indicate three things to me: One, that the person has confidence in himself. Two, he has respect for the people he meets even if its a random introduction in a hallway to a first year student at the University. And three, that when you turn around and begin to take your first steps in the opposite direction an impression has been left with you and thoughts of how well that man carried himself will linger. Coach Beckman has left me with an everlasting impression that has been set in concrete, placed in a bullet proof case and set behind infrared lasers.

So what can you expect when the 2009 football season begins for these Rockets? You can expect yourself to begin investing in concrete, bullet proof cases, and infrared lasers because coach Tim Beckman will leave you with an impression you won’t be able to shake.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
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