Quick prearticle reminder: “Racist is a hate word.”

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When I criticized a couple of our heavyweights, one commenter reminded me that new BUGSERS can be turned off by criticism.    This leads to discussion of the whole BUGS approach.

As we all know, membership organizations like the Blacks’ and Dr. Duke’s have to maximize membership and donations.   This is not a fault, it happens to be the imperative they have had to use, have learned to use, and we would not exist without them.

BUGS is entirely new in a number of ways.   It was originally based on my professional experience and it is aimed at producing major league players, which is also where new coaches tend to come from.

Obviously I am going to be a lot harder on you than a membership organization would be.  As long as you sign up and pay your dues, a membership outfit will be careful not to upset you.   But another thing all those years have taught me is that I can easily fool myself into thinking that gives me a license to be an out of control old bastard.

And if I did, nobody would understand it better than our heavy hitters.  They have had a big taste of the frustration and suppression I have lived through all these decades.  They know it’s a wonder that anyone can go through what they have gone through — much less what I have gone through — without walking the streets and biting people’s hands.

But if I have the best excuse, I also have the most to lose.

Just as you are your own best coaches, you are also my best judges.

High school players seldom give their coach any real feedback.

But by the time you are a high school senior or when you are a regular college player, you are supposed to tell the coach when he really gets out of line.

You are your own best coaches and you are my best advisors.