I’m not sure where the age line is except to say I am well over the line where cash means something to me.  I’m not just saying that money means something to me but actual paper currency has a distinct value to me.

I say this because I have lately been struck by certain demographic group’s inability to handle cash. 

Here are a few examples:

We are at a school play and I make a cash purchase.  I hand you $10 for $7.38 of items.  (Why you didn’t consider sales tax when you set prices I’ll never know.)  You stop and use a calculator to determine the change rather than count up to $10: 2 pennies to $7.40, a dime to $7.50, 2 quarters to $8 and 2 dollar bills to round it up to $10.  And, I got my change first (see my next rant).  Seriously, a calculator to make change for a ten – you’re kidding me, right?

I pull up in my rolling dining room to a fast food coffee place.  My order comes to $2.53 and I hand you $5.  You hand me my coffee and snack then two dollar bills with $.47 in change on top.  Whose idea was it that putting change on top of currency?  GIVE ME MY CHANGE FIRST!!!!!  They all do it because that is how the cash register presents the information to the cashier.  It’s only partially their fault because they have never been taught how to handle money.  On the rare occasion I am handed my change first at my favorite coffee place it is usually by a person who is at least 35 years old.

I receive cash deposits from co-workers every day.  I can open and count an envelope without looking at the depositor and know if the person is over 35.  Currency is in order, all facing the top and occasionally the heads even in the same direction.  Under 35?  There is no apparent order to the stack.  Some bills are folded and they are often out of order.  $50’s and $5’s mess them up because they count by $100 rather in order from the highest to the lowest.  For example, an envelope with $658 may cash grouped in $100’s with no regard to order with bills folded and in every direction.  They must not have any idea how a cash drawer works…no clue!

For years we have talked about how credit cards, debit accounts and online banking are making cash obsolete.  Our children use cash so much less than we do.  Swipe cards are their cash.  Think about it…they use cards for meals in the dining facility, swipe their card to get gas, tap it to buy snacks, use it to get copies in the library and even scan it to buy subway fare.

I’m not sure I will ever see a completely cashless society but I have no doubt it is coming.  How sad that even piggy banks will be virtual some day.

Life is good!

Jude

Twitter: MidMajorMom

Twitter: JudeCaserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

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It’s creepy to friend request someone a generation younger than you.  I mean, really really creepy.  Don’t do it.  Then you are a creep.

I learned this early in my social media life.  Years ago, when Facebook became an athletic department nemesis, our Director of Athletics gathered the entire department in a large classroom and explained that each coach needed to get on Facebook and see the pictures their student athletes posted and tagged.  14 of our 16 sports had pictures tagged which, if not an NCAA violation, were a violation of our code of behavior. 

They were given one week to clean things up and staff was asked to set up an account and poke around, as well.  I set my account up then forgot about it.  About a month before my son was graduating from high school I got my first friend request.  It was from his best friend.  I only knew because I got an e-mail about his request and that he wrote on my wall.  My wall?

I accepted and took a peek at my account but still had no idea how it really worked.  Within a week at least 20 of his friends requested me and I accepted them all.  My son thought it was the strangest thing and did not want to have any part of me being on Facebook.  I totally respected his feelings and never EVER asked him to include me.  This was his world and I did not want to interfere.

The kids included me in conversation and when they went away to school they kept in touch with a quick post or tag.  Sometime first semester my son requested me and I enjoy being a part of this world. 

Here are my rules:

            I never request anyone a generation younger than me.  That includes my cousin’s kids, my son’s friends and kids in the neighborhood.  If they want me in their timeline they request me.  I am pleased to say I have developed wonderful relationships with many of the “cousins” and respect their invitations by not stalking their wall.

            Unless they are close personal friends, I do not request any co-workers.  I think it is important to recognize that relationships at work are not the same as relationships outside of work. 

            If I do not recognize a name (especially a female who chooses not to use her maiden name) and we have no friends in common, I ignore.  Linkedin and Twitter are the professional me.  Facebook is a peek inside my living room.  I don’t open my door to strangers.  

That little icon pops up and gives me a burst of excitement every time.  Who will it be?  Is it someone I haven’t heard from in years?  High school?  College?  I can hardly wait to click the little red icon and see who it is…

Life is good!

Jude

Twitter: MidMajorMom

Twitter: JudeCaserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

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While I know that today is the busiest travel day of the year and TSA rules are causing a political and practical stir, you cannot underestimate the power of one…one flight segment.

When we had the “college talk” years ago we instituted very few rules about schools.  The one I was very firm about was the “one flight segment” rule.  This was the one where we wanted him to select a school no further than one airport you can get to without a plane change.  From Buffalo that did not limit him very much.  It only took California off of the radar. 

He can get to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Baltimore/DC in one easy flight.  Ironically, Fairfield (50 miles from NYC) takes almost as long to drive as it does to fly when you consider getting to the airport, parking and pat down.

When our son was a freshman we made his Thanksgiving flight before school even started.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but we ended up giving up his return flight because he needed to get back for swim practice.  Still, I do not regret that because it was far less expensive in August than it would have been in the fall.

When his roommate from Sacramento, CA became ill several years ago it brought the distance issue much closer.  His mother needed to make arrangements to fly to Connecticut and could not get there for almost 24 hours.  They think we’re crazy until something like that happens.

Here’s to those freshman parents who are welcoming their children home for the first time since their college adventure began…and to the rest of us who are happy to have a full house, even if it is only for a few days!

Until next time!

Jude Russo Caserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

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It’s true.  We are THOSE parents and darn proud of it!

I have always been fascinated by the parents of student athletes and now that I am one of them I understand so much more.  Many of the coaches I work with tell me about the wonderful things their parents do for the program and believe me, most of them are not sexy…just a great way for them to save money and to save time.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a Canisius College Women’s Soccer game on the campus of Fairfield University.  We arrived on campus Friday evening to attend his swim meet at the University of Connecticut the next day.   This was the first time a Canisius event occurred on campus while I was there for a swim meet since my son started there in 2008.

Decked out in my Canisius College Athletics jacket, I found the visitors section by listening for the cheers from their hale hearty fans.  I would venture a guess that the entirety of the visitors section had some sort of DNA match with someone on the field. 

I introduced myself as a member of the Canisius athletic staff and enjoyed meeting nice folks who share the student athlete parent bond.  We talked about the competition in the conference and the frequency of the games.  We compared notes on distance traveled and they commended me for traveling so far each week for our son’s meets.

My favorite conversation was with a mom who wanted to let me know how much easier it was to be the parent of a swimmer rather than one of an outdoor sport.  She supposed it was much easier to sit in a natatorium than to battle the elements.  She thought it more comfortable to be indoors and while she is mostly correct she does not understand how oppressive the heat can be in a pool.  When you are cold you can add layers but when you are in the pool and sweating from the high heat and humidity you cannot take off your skin.

My answer was simple.  I gave her the weather issue and agreed we have it easier to be indoors.  But I left her with a thought.  If their child was a starter or even a top layer substitute they watched them play for 1-1 ½ hours in a game that lasts about 2 hours total start to finish.  But with swimming you could attend a meet which lasts 3-4 hours (including diving but that’s another blog) and your child could potentially compete less than a minute if they are a sprinter.  Whoosh, they are done!

If this seems like complaining, I’m not.  Actually I’m honored to be able to attend so many meets and grateful for the time and means to do it.

This week it will be at least 20 hours…but he may swim a longer event so maybe it will be 4 ½ minutes!

Until next time!

Jude

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Tang.

I absolutely love Tang.  Come on!  The astronauts drank it so how bad could it be?  Unless zero gravity did something to magically transform this incredible powder nothing you can say to me can deter me from being passionately in love with Tang. 

I also cannot remember the last time I had it.  Seriously, I guess they still make it but I have not had it in years…yet…as I type this I can taste it right now.  And, I feel happy, awash in the memories I have so genuinely attached to the sweet and tangy tangerine drink.

As I enter the “way back” machine it is Thursday evening in 1969 and my mother is in the bathroom spraying Aquanet hairspray on her already perfectly quaffed beehive hairdo.  It’s bowling night and she is getting ready to go bowling with her sisters and her mother.  My sister is little, lying on her stomach in the middle of the family room watching television and waiting for Bewitched to come on at 8:30pm.  My brother is around, probably doing homework or listening to his stereo in his original man cave (he didn’t have to share a room…) complete with a Kenwood receiver and Yamaha speakers.

 My father’s car dealership closed at 9:00pm on Thursdays and he stayed until the last prospect either signed or left.  My brother was in charge!  He was instructed to let my sister stay up and watch Bewitched but knew she had to go to bed immediately following her favorite show.  Dad would probably not get home until at least 9:30pm and that gave us about 20 minutes for T.A.N.G!!! 

Now, we never used a measuring spoon/scoop/cup to make our sugary elixir, no sir!  We just poured it into the bottom of the glass and added water.  There were times when we had so much powder in the bottom of the glass that no amount of stirring would blend it together.  If he added ice cubes the sugar would plaster to the cube like glue making the ice almost slimy.  All the better!  We would sip away acting like kids who stole the bottle of rum, trying to finish our syrupy drink before dad got home.  It was our Thursday tradition.  I remember when he went away to Notre Dame missing the Tang buddy almost as much as I missed him driving me around everywhere.

I have so many memories of my brother but this one brings our bond into clear view for me.  Joe – do they have Tang in heaven?  I’ll bet they do!

Until next time! 

Jude Russo CasertaAthleticBudgetCoach.com

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I know of no one better to highlight the evolution of college athletics more than Dan Starr, PhD.  Doc, as most of us called him, was sort of an accidental athletics director.  He is a history professor and ended up AD at Canisius College for nearly 26 years, during the time when conferences were forming and the split between Bowl Game schools and the rest of Division I.

As the story goes, the college paid $600 in repairs to future NBA thug Larry Fogle’s car…so the AD gets fired and they ask squeaky clean Dan to come in and take care of things.  His first order of business was cleaning up the mess with the NCAA.  Timing, as they say, is everything and during this major infraction era conferences were born.  That train passed our probation station but Doc made the best of it.

He got us into a conference that fits not only the philosophical mission of our institution but is also financially aligned with it.  He elevated women’s sports to varsity and can even boast the first NCAA Woman of the Year, Mary Beth Riley.  But that is his press pack…I know SO much more…

I know that if you wanted a good laugh, watch him clean his office.  When I say clean, I really mean look through the many piles of papers and books stacked up on every surface.  When he announced his retirement he started to organize and pack…I think it took him two years and I think at the end he just put the rest of the stuff in boxes and brought it to his new office on the other side of campus where the history professors are located.

…and to this day I still get a random newspaper clip or book in my work mail, sometimes with a note of a funny memory and other times with no note at all.  Other of my colleagues get the same thing…Doc must be cleaning again!  I have kept most of them because he is so observant and his timing impeccable.

I have so many travel memories of Doc…the time he and I were at Disney having port wine with Father Cooke (president of the college at the time) and Father Dugan (longtime chaplain of the athletic department) in their hotel room with the door propped open for propriety…traveling to the NCAA Men’s Basketball 1^st round in 1996…driving back from Albany the night we won the MAAC in a mother of a snow storm when we stopped at every rest stop for coffee and to clean the windshield.

The best one was at the end of his AD career when our softball team made another trip to the NCAA tournament, this time in Los Angeles at UCLA.  I was senior women’s administrator at the time and it was clear the new AD, whose name will never be mentioned in any of my writings, was not going to keep me in that role.  Dan got to the airport before I did and arranged for us to travel first class (particularly helpful for a trip across the country in less than 48 hours).  After our game on Thursday we went to the JP Getty Museum then on to Marina Del Rey for some great Mexican food and cocktails.  Anyone who knows Doc knows that a good cocktail is always a good idea!  I’ll never forget the toast.  “You know Jude, it’s been a great run.  I’ve had a lot of fun.  Thanks for whatever you did and for putting up with me all these years.”

Cheers to you, Doc, forever enshrined in the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame!

Until next time!

Jude Russo Caserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog

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I think about 14 NCAA schools athletic programs had excess of revenues over expenditures last year.  In the world of profit accounting, their athletic department made a profit. So, let’s see…if about 1,000 schools belong to the NCAA and 14 schools made a profit then…98.6% of schools had to rely on at least some institutional support last year to survive.

Without ever studying the numbers (but relying on my 20 years in college athletics experience) I will venture a guess that most schools provide at least 90% plus of the funds an athletic department needs to function.  Those of us with small arenas (arena is a funny haha word – more like gymnasiums) have a limited ticket revenue stream.  And then there is that silly thing called winning which contributes to the equation.  Let’s face it, those of us who have to budget need to assume the team will have a losing season without much walk-up game-day business.  When there is success then the “extra” revenue can be used for “extra” things rather than for the business of running the department.

Have you noticed that no expense is going down?  Funny thing!  While we experience flat line budgets things like transportation, equipment and the biggest money sucker of all, officials, are going up like a skier on a tow rope.  I call officiating an unfunded mandate.  While it’s tempting not to pay them…well…you know…

Here is another thing about institutional support.  The ability (and willingness) to fundraise can change the amount and percentage of institutional support.  This was something I worked hard to educate folks about during our current self-study.  For our example our fictional school has a general student ratio of 45% men and 55% women.  Let’s say the Men’s Table Tennis team has a coach who is a prolific fundraiser.  He is a world champion and has an international following.  He receives donations which he uses for team travel and recruiting and the players are decked out in the newest clothing and have state of the art equipment.  The Women’s Table Tennis team has the exact budget as the men at the beginning of the year, $250,000.  The men spend $300,000 and women spend $275,000 but the men’s deficit is covered by their booster money.  In spending dollars the men outspent their female counterparts by $25,000 bringing the balance to 52% male and 48% female. OH NO!  But wait, there’s more!  In reality the actual institutional support is $250,000 for the men and $275,000 for the women now showing the actual balance at 48% male and 52% female.  Ahhh…much better…

Here is another question: should the men’s program be limited to how much they can spend even though they work hard to raise it?  Is that really what we mean when we say “gender equity?”

As we embark on a complete organizational review at our school, part of the new initiative begun by our new president, I have to remind the committee that if they are looking at athletics as a profit making venture they are going to have to move to one of those rare 14 schools that flipped their program last year.

Until next time!

Jude Russo Caserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com/blog

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E-mail: judi_caserta@athleticbudgetcoach.com

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1                    Some people like ketchup on eggs

2                    If you imagine a golf hole the size of a garbage can you have a great chance to two putt

3                    Don’t spend it ‘till you got it

4                    The Red Sox rule

5                    A man can watch TV with his eyes closed

6                    Rum and tonic needs a lemon wedge

7                    Look inside for validation, now outside

8                    The grill really IS his domain

9                    In times of crisis it’s good to go to church…just in case

10                Plan for tomorrow and live for today

11                Even when you don’t like each other you will always love each other

12                It’s ok to marry the first person you meet at freshmen orientation

13                Giving to others is most meaningful when they don’t know you’re doing it

14                Even after the worst winter the grass always grows back

15                Surviving the bad times make the good times oh so sweet

16                Being a good father is easy when you are willing to make the hard decisions

17                Time is way more valuable than money

18                Be a Weeble – learn how to wobble but not fall down

19                Ignore the steaks for 10 minutes and they will be perfect

20                Be a Buffalo fan, even when it hurts

21                Take satisfaction in a job well done, even if no one else knows you did it

22                Not all family is connected to you by blood

23                Never interrupt

24                Don’t scream when the goalie comes out of the crease – it’s only a delayed penalty

25                Sunday dinner is important, even if it’s just the two of us

26                Even the most mundane tasks, done without prompting, scream I love you

27                Even after they driest summer the grass always grows back

28                Apologizing after an argument is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength

29                A round of golf didn’t happen unless you can remember every shot

30                When he said he would love me and honor me all the days of my life, he meant it.

Here’s to you, Tommy on 30 absolutely incredible years!  Happy anniversary.

Life is good!

Jude

Twitter: MidMajorMom

Twitter: JudeCaserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

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My baby is 20 years old today.  We made it!  The teen years are now in the rearview mirror…where did they go?

It was just 2003 when he was in 8^th grade at St. Peter’s School in Lewiston.  They were fundraising for their class trip to Splash Mountain in Erie, PA.  There were only 16 kids in his class at that point and they seemed to have passed that petty junior high nonsense. 

Age 14, as a freshman at Canisius High School, he endured one of the biggest disappointments of his life: getting cut from the swim team.  It was a hugely humbling experience which he ultimately turned around by working out, eating better and swimming more with his club.  By senior year he was voted a captain and contributed to another championship.

Age 15 was frustrating for him because his high school friends were largely located 45 minutes from home with the reliance of parents to get them together.  This was the year where all he did was wish away time…I wish I could drive…I wish I could just go out with my friends without it being a huge production…I wish I were older…I wish…I wish…I wish…

Age 16 – oh, how I remember this day!  Anthony, being Anthony, had done all the research and knew what pieces of ID we needed to get his learners permit.  He probably lined them all up in a folder, clearly marked.  I had the folder with me when I dropped him off at school with the understanding I would pick him up immediately following school and bring him to the DMV.  I picked him up but realized when were nearly on the Grand Island bridge that I forgot the neat folder of ID in my office.  We had to go back, delaying us about 35 minutes.  We got to the DMV at 3:55pm and the woman at the window would not process the paperwork and let him take the test.  You see, there was a clearly marked sign explaining that right next to the window…in four languages so it would be understood by all parents and guardians from all walks of life and continents.  Needless to say, he was not a happy camper.  Bad mother.  I did bring him to the Power Vista parking lot near Niagara University and let him drive around there.  If I was busted, I didn’t care.  Arrest me for letting my “undocumented minor” drive around a parking lot!

Age 17 – college applications were nearly done and waiting for guidance to complete the process.  Little did I know, that was when the true teen angst (his and mine) would begin.  My angst: him driving at night.  His angst: where to go to college.

Age 18 and 19 – freshman and sophomore year at Fairfield University, accounting major and swim team…

We had dinner with him on Friday, saw him swim at UConn Saturday and took him to breakfast this morning.  Zoom zoom…he’s 20!

The older I get, the faster time goes!

Life is good!

Jude

Twitter: MidMajorMom

Twitter: JudeCaserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

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So here you are, on that coveted committee in your beloved institution of higher learning.  Congratulations!  Or is it a good thing?  Maybe not so much!

You have to time decisions with a calendar, not a clock in higher education.  We have committees for just about everything.  There is probably a committee to study whether there are too many committees on campus.  In any organization, culture shift is a slow process but higher ed brings it to a whole new level.  I graduated from college 30 years ago and there are still several committees on campus studying the same issues we studied in the 1970’s.  Seriously, I am not making that up.  When I was in school, core curriculum was a hot topic and as it turns out, they have been studying it with great fervor for nearly this entire new millennium. 

Committee work is a curious process on a college campus.  We are “highly educated” and tend to look at 72 sides of each issue.  We make sub-committees of our committees and then spend weeks coming up with convenient times to meet.  The sub-committees need to report to the committees and tend to exhaust the angles. Nowhere in the world is form over substance more revered than on a college campus. 

So, the next time you want to be on a committee, keep your hand down…even if it is only to order pizza!

Until next time!

Jude Russo Caserta

AthleticBudgetCoach.com

Twitter: JudeCaserta

www.MidMajorMom.WordPress.com

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