Wisdom from Coach Moore

Listen to this article

Recently I was having fun with my pal Rod on Facebook. We were needling each other over this being the start of his 23^rd year of teaching. I remember his first year and place it as one of the most enjoyable years of my 30-year career, despite the fact he and I worked at a first year school that was notorious for being smack in the middle of “The Hood” in Hemet, California.

He was fresh off the bus from Nebraska where his middle American values were about to be punched in the face. I laughed when I heard him butcher the names of Hispanic students out at roll call on the PE numbers. I asked him once about whether or not he had sampled any local Mexican food. When he said he recently tried some steak fajitas, well, he pronounced the dish as if it were a part of the female anatomy.

I enjoyed having a first year teacher who went out of his way to post inspirational quotes from the likes of George Allen, Vince Lombardi, John Wooden, and even Yogi Berra. He was a calm and steadying influence on a bunch of middle school students who are probably better known today for what landed them in prison than what led them to college.

We enjoyed a lot of laughs over our seven years together and I would go back to teaching middle school PE in a heartbeat if I could work with him again.

Anyway, over the course of our giving each other grief, he asked me to share some of the inspirational quotes he posted to a third party who replied to his post. Thanks to shell shock and retirement, I couldn’t remember one so I took it upon myself to come up with a dozen bits of inspiration befitting of anyone who has been through the grind of teaching middle school PE. After all, why should I let all the other greats get the glory because as Rod would describe me, I am a legend in my own mind.

1. Listen with your heart and your toes will follow.
2. This ain’t my first dance but with any luck it will be my last.
3. 100 pushups a day is better than 99.
4. While you are trying I am left doing what you should be doing.
5. Never under estimate the power of a fanny pack on how you are perceived.
6. Trial and error doesn’t work in a court room.
7. Seven Dwarfs or Four Horsemen: You choose, buttercup.
8. The cream of the crop always rises until you add talent.
9. A mile run is more than one walked.
10. You will never be sweet 16 as long as you are a sour puss.
11. Change is never easy unless that is your hooker name.
12. If what you do is 90 percent mental then you are a head case.

James Moore

Jim is a life long resident of California and retired school teacher with 30 years in public education. Jim earned his BA in History from CSU Chico in 1981 and his MA in Education from Azusa Pacific University in 1994. He is also the author of Teaching The Teacher: Lessons Learned From Teaching. Jim considers himself an equal opportunity pain in the ass to any political party, group, or individual who looks to profit off of hypocrisy. When he is not pointing out the conflicting words and actions of our leaders, the NFL commissioner, or humans in general, he can be found riding his bike for hours on end while pondering his next article. Jim recently moved to Camarillo, CA after being convinced to join the witness protection program.