Happy Birthday Coach

A year ago today, the “Coach Jeff” Blog was born. Happy Birthday Blog!

My goals in starting the blog a year ago were two-fold. First, I wanted to exercise my creative writing skills and, at the same time, I wanted to learn a new technology. I wanted to join the blogosphere.

I chose the name “Coach Jeff” because I wanted to pay tribute to my years of coaching youth baseball. I also seem to find myself in the position to ‘coach’ people in life off the ballfield – as a dad, as a family member, as a volunteer, as a friend.

I’ve tried to stay away from controversial topics (politics, religion, etc.). For the most part, my topics have fallen under a variety of categories. I’ve written a lot about sports (and it probably doesn’t surprise you to know that baseball has been one of my most frequent topics). I’ve also focused on family, community and our wonderful schools. I’ve written some blogs about current events.

Living where we do, we’ve had quite a few encounters with ‘bugs and bunnies.’ And, then, I would say there is one ‘catch-all’ category that would encompass ‘everything else.’ For example, I got a total of 30 notes when I wrote about ‘Jacket Truck’ last year.

And I got a total of 45 notes on the topic of ‘Writing Journals.’

Sports -
Under the category of sports, I’ve talked a lot about my youth baseball experiences with the Concord Choppers and Farragut Baseball, Inc. I have also talked a lot about the Braves and baseball in general.

But, I’ve talked about other sports, too. During the Olympics, a number of Coach Jeff blogs focused on that topic. I’ve also talked about college basketball and the NFL, too. In fact, I got quite a bit of feedback from readers when I talked about March Madness. One of my youth baseball blog got 20 notes (likes, reblogs, comments) from readers.

I also had an interesting exchange with a fan of the Miami Heat when I commented about them being unpopular with the general public. We kept it positive and we had a nice exchange.

Family -
Under the topic of ‘family,’ I’ve written a lot about the activities going on in a busy suburban household. I’ve blogged about our family vacations, about holidays (I received 38 notes about ‘Friday the 13th’). I’ve also talked about old friends, health issues (such as my recent tooth issues), tv shows (like Holly’s interest in “Doctor Who” or the death of Andy Griffith over the summer). I even blogged about my favorite candy (Starburst).

Under this category, I would also mention church. I’ve tried to keep the topics, light, though. I’m not trying to be preachy in these pages. I also got a significant amount of feedback when I wrote about the acquisition of our pool table over the summer!

Family life is fun and I think we can all relate. Maybe that is why this category has been fairly popular. Folks seemed to commiserate when I went car shopping (7 notes) in January after our beloved ‘Big Blue’ threw in the towel.

In any case, suburban family life has been fun to write about - especially when you have a fun and interesting cat to feature from time to time.

Schools -
This might be a ‘subcategory’ under family. You decide. In any case, I have written a lot about our wonderful high school – Farragut High School. As a grad and a parent, I guess I have a unique perspective. It has occurred to me, too, that I will ‘graduate’ a second time when Paul ‘walks’ next spring. That will be very emotional.

I’ve had the opportunity to promote our fantastic theatre program, too.

I’ve written about “Cyrano,” “My Fair Lady,” “Willy Wonka,” the Improv team and, now, about this fall’s production, “Jekyll/Hyde.”These teens are very talented. They have two great directors and a very solid framework of parent support. It’s a wonderful program and we’re very blessed that both of our high schoolers have had the opportunity to participate in APAC.

Critters -
I blogged quite a bit about our bat visitors a great deal back in the spring and summer. I wrote last weekend about the large spider on our back porch this fall. We’ve had visits from woodpeckers and raccoons and foxes. The subject of ‘wildlife’ is provides an endless stream of content!

Misc. -
The blog I wrote about Kalle Anke last Christmas garnered 25 notes. Timing had a lot to do with it. And, I suspect there are quite a few Swedes blogging on tumblr. Anyway, we had a lot of fun around our house with the topic of Kalle last winter.

I also had a nice exchange with a genealogy buff after I posted about my family history pursuits. I was bitten by the family history bug after the release of the 1940 Census last spring and I’ve written a bunch of the things I’ve discovered along the way. I’m at a nice stopping point now but I’m sure I’ll pick back up when time and opportunity present themselves.

In short, it’s been a great year. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading as much as I’ve enjoyed writing. Year Two should be as interesting as Year One. I’ll keep looking for interesting topics to write about but, you know what? The topics usually look for me first!

If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like for me to address or ways I can improve “Coach Jeff,” please drop me a line. In the meantime, keep on reading! I don’t plan on ending this venture anytime soon.

JG  

(Source: jeffdgary)

Originally posted 9/20/2012