He Missed the Point About These Hard-Working ‘Stiffs’

Two weeks ago, I attempted to tweak Esperanza and Los Alamitos by exposing their nonleague scheduling. And, boy did I ever err in doing so.

Maybe the records are to blame. Too often sportswriters, fans, and even players and coaches look only at the numbers, then try to classify the results with words.

One of the words I used to describe Esperanza’s opponents was “stiffs.” Based on the final results on the scoreboard maybe that was the correct word. But the 39 players and the coaching staff at Santa Ana Valley don’t think so, and after reading their letter of Oct. 15, I don’t either.

Alvin Alaman, Mark Douglas, Brent Melbon, Richard Oberreuter, Leon Smith and Kevin Stipp, the Falcons’ varsity assistants, make three very good points, which have nothing to do with football. And yet they have everything to do with football.

They write:

“We are in an economically disadvantaged area of Orange County and approximately 60% of our players hold down part-time and full-time jobs. Most of these young men are not doing this for the extra spending money, but are actually supplementing their monthly family income in order to live. Still, these ‘stiffs’ find the energy (each week) for 18 hours of practice, 30 hours of school and five hours of (mandatory) study hall.

“One of these ‘stiffs’ is a place kicker who works from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. seven days a week as his family’s main source of income. He averages three hours of sleep daily and maintains a 3.0 grade-point average.

“There is another family member who was previously a real ‘gang-banger.’ He now wants to be a Marine in order to serve his country and comes in for daily tutoring (during lunch, after practice, etc. with one of our devoted coaches) to improve his math skills to a level that will allow him to get into the specialty he wants. Another stiff?”

They also wrote that The Times wouldn’t have the courage to print their comments. In this they were wrong. I missed the big picture at Santa Ana Valley, and it took an eye-opening letter to learn how badly.

So I say thank you and good luck to the Falcon players and coaches.