“Winning isn't everything, but the will to win is everything.”

This week quote is from Vince Lombardi, the famous American football coach of Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins. The Super Bowl trophy was renamed after him after his death from cancer in 1970, and he was inducted into the football hall of fame the following year. He is also well known for introducing the idea of zone blocking, the famous 'Lombardi Sweep' play, and for coaching the Packers during the Ice Bowl (otherwise known as the NFL Championship Game of 1967).

As a highly competitive individual, I love this quote. I never realized until recently how deep my competitive spirit runs, but it's pretty deep. When I tell my students that I will not accept anything less than the best and winning, I know that there's a good chance it won't come through to victory. The best part is giving them that desire and watching them try so hard to make it happen and to know that I played a small bit in that.





The past week has been a huge combination of good and bad, pride and sorrow, ups and downs.

My best friend came to visit me over the weekend. If I ever needed a dose of her friendship, now was the time. I laughed until I cried, ate so much sushi I thought I might explode, and got to go Walmarting with her – an event that I miss more than I’ll probably admit to most people.

Students in my building came together to create some great school spirit in an attempt to win a contest – and they did :) I cannot describe the feeling associated with finally seeing students unite together for a cause other than going out and drinking underage. What’s more, the win has boosted our budget and we can now do many more fun things!

Our football team has reached new levels of bad. I don’t even know if ‘bad’ even describes them at this point. It’s heartbreaking for the students – both the athletes and the fans – and it’s so hard to sell the idea that they should continue to go and support them when they know (or assume) that the team will probably lose in some catastrophic way. I'm starting to wonder if I should stage a coup and take over one of their practices in an attempt to give them the pep talk that I give my students :)

We had another write-up in my building this weekend, and it amazes me what students will get pissed about. Nevermind the fact that they broke policy and had alcohol in the building, the more important fact (to them, of course) is the fact that the RAs had “no reason” to knock on their door and follow up with them from their noise violation earlier in the evening. These students thought that 3am was a PERFECT time to try and talk with me about the situation. While they didn’t knock on my apartment door, they did stop me outside on the sidewalk as I was walking outside with my friend after my RA called me about the situation. And then (because of course, it gets better) they didn’t understand that I don’t actually work ALL THE TIME and were insistent on trying to find me the next day to talk more about it when it would be convenient for them. This in turn created the first time that I’ve actually had to get snippy back with students because of their attitudes towards me. And then they don’t understand why. I remain amazed by this entire ordeal.

The good thing about everything that’s going on right now is that every passing day puts me closer to more unstructured time in my office and the sweet release of Thanksgiving break. I will shop, play Rock Band/Guitar Hero, sleep in, and enjoy that I have no one else to be concerned about but myself. Then I’ll just have 3 more weeks to get through before I have a lovely 2 week break for the holidays.

I can see how people burn out on residence life. I’m not to that point yet, not at all, but I think next year I will do a better job of structuring my time and not waiting until October to finally leave campus and get away. Even next semester – while I know I will be busy with various things (including teaching!) – if I don’t find time to get away and escape I will probably lose my mind. I have already started thinking about spring break and what sorts of things would be fun to do. And then there’s May which means the end of my contract for the year, a fantastic vacation, and then possibly back to work for a month before I get a whole other month off and the chance to roam around the country visiting family and friends. Despite what the calendar tells me, it doesn’t seem that far away at all :)