Lesean Crooks wakes up on a regular, dry, sunny California day. He finishes his workout and gets a notification about his high school. They are all over the news after they clinched a playoff spot after a tumultuous season in which their long time, once revered coach retired in the middle of the final regular season game. Mired in scandals where his players were seen frequenting bars, strip clubs(with some of the teachers), joyriding in police cars, and other shenanigans, apparently the players revolted against the coach after repeatedly abusing his players, forcing them to take steroids, painkillers, and HGH to overcome injuries that developed into serious setbacks which included his top two QB's, his star OG, and his workhorse RB.
The players refused to play for anyone affiliated with his staff and the school reached out to Crooks to keep the school eligible for the playoffs and hopefully play for another state championship. When the players arrive Monday morning with the dense fog in the air and sun still yawning itself, they realize Crooks has been around since last night, working, thinking, building, taking in the atmosphere. They gather around to introduce themselves but before they can talk Crooks commands the floor with this speech:
"You find out life's this game of inches, like football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half step too late or too early and you don't hit your mark. One half second slow or fast and you don't catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying!"
The players roar in jubilation and after a solid week of practice, they head out for their first playoff game where they start off slow, falling down 10 in the 1st quarter to a team with a .500 record, but pull together and win by 3 possessions. Crooks bid farewell after the game before being stopped by the AD and District Superintendent to formally take over, at least for the playoffs. Crooks firmly held his ground against it until some of the PTA moms delivered some fresh homemade pie. No one can turn down the fresh PTA pie.
The players refused to play for anyone affiliated with his staff and the school reached out to Crooks to keep the school eligible for the playoffs and hopefully play for another state championship. When the players arrive Monday morning with the dense fog in the air and sun still yawning itself, they realize Crooks has been around since last night, working, thinking, building, taking in the atmosphere. They gather around to introduce themselves but before they can talk Crooks commands the floor with this speech:
"You find out life's this game of inches, like football. Because in either game - life or football - the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half step too late or too early and you don't hit your mark. One half second slow or fast and you don't catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that's gonna make the difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying!"
The players roar in jubilation and after a solid week of practice, they head out for their first playoff game where they start off slow, falling down 10 in the 1st quarter to a team with a .500 record, but pull together and win by 3 possessions. Crooks bid farewell after the game before being stopped by the AD and District Superintendent to formally take over, at least for the playoffs. Crooks firmly held his ground against it until some of the PTA moms delivered some fresh homemade pie. No one can turn down the fresh PTA pie.
