Pirate Galaxy » dont coach for the kids, you s

Growing up as a cricket-obsessed kid in Colombo, my childhood hero was Allan Border. When he toured Sri Lanka in the early 1980s, I recall feeling so privileged to have been sitting nearby as he walked down the steps at the P Sara Stadium, barely touching distance away. Dream come true. Could it get any better?Many years later, in Sri Lanka and India on a cricket tour that doubled up as a trade mission for the Queensland Government, I captained a team that included AB. The team also included James Hopes. We played against a young Upul Tharanga, Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan. By then, despite having played alongside AB in club cricket for many years, it was still surreal to cheekily banish my childhood idol to third man while I assumed captaincy privileges at first slip!In the Australian film The Castle, the larrikin lead character kept saying Thats going straight to the pool room when referring to something special. The team photo from that tour of India and Sri Lanka sits proudly in my pool room to this day, a reminder of the time when a complete nuffie like myself strode alongside his boyhood hero. My sons gaze upon that picture in awe, and I pretend to be nonchalant as I point to the photo that sits alongside.It captures me at the top of my bowling action, bowling to a batsman whose unmistakable stance, posterior sticking out at a jaunty angle, can only be one person - Sir Vivian Richards.Oxford University v Glamorgan at The Parks. The faster I bowled, the further it went. The wicketkeeper even stood up to the stumps to stop Viv from walking at me, but it mattered not. They kept disappearing.Imagine my excitement then when I overheard Richards confiding to his batting partner, Matthew Maynard (who, by the way, savaged me even more brutally than Sir Viv did) that perhaps one of the other batsmen needed some match practice - it being an early-season outing for Glamorgan - and that perhaps he should walk past one.I distinctly recall him saying, This Jeh boy - he trying hard, man. He deserve a wicket. My heart leapt. Imagine telling this story to my (yet unborn) sons. The day their old man cleaned up Viv Richards with that unplayable ball (no mention, of course, of the mid-pitch conversation about throwing it away).And then Maynard, that damn impertinent Welshman, the man who might as well have killed Bambi, told Richards that the next batsman actually had a headache and didnt really fancy batting today. Just like that, with Okay man, I just keep batting then, possibly the biggest moment of my unremarkable career disappeared before me.Barely an hour later, weeping over a solitary beer at the Kings Arms pub in Oxford (as a student, a solitary beer was about all I could afford), I heard a deep voice behind me. What you drinking, Jeh man? Let me buy the beers tonight. No one should have figures of 0 for 150 on their birthday, man. April 21, 1993. My most memorable birthday: Viv Richards buying me beers all night. Id rather he missed the straight one, though. I can drink beer any day!At the other end of the spectrum, checking into a hotel for an MCC match with one of my best mates, Dirk Viljoen of Zimbabwe, I got my own back on these damn Test cricketers. Who do they think they are anyway, playing international cricket while duffers like me tried just as hard and got nowhere?So, having checked in, we raced each other up the stairs to try and secure the double bed. Id started in pole position, so Viljoen was never in the hunt. As I plonked my bag on the double bed, I pointed somewhat ungraciously to the tiny single alongside.Viljoen, cheeky, impertinent little sod that he was (and still is), never respectful of his elders, tried to pull rank. A shameless act really from a young pup. Senior player always gets the double bed, mate, he proclaimed. How many Tests have you played?At that point he had played one solitary Test, so he outranked me. Even with one Test, that was always going to be 100% more than I could ever dream of. But little did he know that I was not one to surrender my creature comforts that easily.Okay Dirk, youve got me there. I will give the double bed to anyone in this room who has scored more Test runs than me. Oh sorry, I forgot… you got a pair, didnt you?I slept like a baby that night in my big double bed. Kenley Jansen Jersey . 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MIAMI -- Butch Davis kept the message simple when he met with his new FIU football team for the first time Tuesday.He rattled off a list of schools who arent in major conferences and still found a way to get into major bowls in recent years, the likes of Boise State and Northern Illinois and Central Florida and Houston.If they can get into Jan. 1 bowl games, why not us? Davis said. Why not us?And with that, Davis next rebuilding project began.Davis five-year contract -- one thats worth about $1 million annually -- was finalized Tuesday, his first day on the job as FIUs newest football coach. He hasnt seen the team play yet and is leaning against going to either of the Panthers final two games this season, choosing for now to spend the majority of his time getting a staff together and preparing to start culling South Floridas super-fertile recruiting ground once again.I love this opportunity, said Davis, who has been an ESPN analyst for the last three years and sought the Miami job -- his old job -- that went to Mark Richt last December. I am grateful to be here and to be the head football coach at FIU. And I look at this challenge as one that has no limits for the ceiling.Davis was introduced to the FIU community at the schools stadium, one that hasnt had much to cheer about in the last few years.This will be the fifth consecutive season that the Panthers miss a bowl game, and now Davis will be the one charged with making sure that streak doesnt last much longer.This is a day today thats a gamechanger, said Pete Garcia, FIUs executive director of sports and entertainment -- and someone who worked side-by-side with Davis at Miami and with the Cleveland Browns. Not just for FIU football, but for FIU athletics.Davis went 51-20 at Miami from 1995 to 2000, taking over a program decimated by sanctions and scholarshipp losses and turning it into one that would dominate its way to the 2001 national title.dddddddddddd Davis was with the Browns when that title was won, taking them to the playoffs in 2002 -- the last appearance in the postseason for that franchise.He coached North Carolina from 2007 through 2010, then got fired in 2011 as part of the fallout of an NCAA investigation. Davis was never implicated in that scandal.Getting let go by the Tar Heels left a bad taste in Davis mouth, though he said he had a bigger reason for wanting to resume his career on the sideline.The motivation to take this job had to do with kids, Davis said. I love kids. I love coaching. I love the competition. I love the recruiting aspect. I love being in the locker room and the weight room. ... Thats why you coach. If you dont coach for the kids, you shouldnt coach at all.Not long before Davis first FIU event, Richt said he wished the newest coach in town well. Miami and FIU are scheduled to resume their series in 2018 and 2019.I think Butch is a great coach, period, Richt said. I think hes a great person. I think it already is a home run for FIU. I know hes going to be excited about the challenge and the opportunity there. Well have to get ready when the time comes. I dont know him well, but Ive known him for a while, and I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and a person.FIU President Dr. Mark Rosenberg said he thinks Tuesdays move will be one that resonates at the school for a long time.Butch Davis has fire in the belly for excellence, Rosenberg said. He has fire in the belly for student-athletes. And he has fire in the belly for American college football.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '