You'll be glad to know this

I passed my background check to coach soccer this year.

Mixed Emotions

On the one hand, my kids are ridiculously happy and they love this little beast.

On the other hand, um, I feel like I got a hand-knitted pair of gloves and a muffler when I asked for a ball cap and a big-kid leather glove.

{sigh}

At least she barks at cats and squirrels. She sounds like a squeaky toy, but her heart is in the right place.

Final Soccer Update

We started the first quarter down 2-0, came back in the second quarter to tie it 2-2, they scored one in the third period, and we never were able to get the ball back on their side of the field in a meaningful way. Final: 3-2.

No complaints. I'm mostly glad it's over.

They're only 8, dude ...

I didn't sleep last night. Finals tonight. I hope I don't have to make any serious decisions at work today because I'll prolly just tell them, "look: drive down the side, let the defender over-run, pass to the center and the open man shoots. It's a simple game."

Just a game. It's just a game. Just one game. Season is over, really, and it's just one game. We play one game, and I get my evenings back. Just a game. There's not even money involved -- just a game. Just a game.

Just a game.

just a game.

soccer update: semifinals

Wow. JUST WOW!

We played the Geckos, coached by the evil Dr. Wakefield (comic book rule: all evil scientists are "Doctor", all good intellectuals are "Professor"; the notable exceptions are Professor Moriarity and Dr. Strange), who beat us the last time 4-2, and went through the season 8-1. We took the early lead at half time and were ahead 2-0, but they staged a comeback in the third period, tying it up at 2-2. In the last minute of play, the ball was loose in front of the goal, and after a series of rebounds, our star scorer finally nailed it home to win the game 3-2. Howitzer indeed.

We get a night off tomorrow, and then we play Thursday at 5:30 for the championship. I'd post video of the game, but who knows how someone would misuse it.

Now My Wife is going to take me to the hospital to check to see if I had a heart attack.

Soccer Update

When the score is 12-0 and you win, there's nothing else to say.

Tomorrow is game 2 in the tournament, and we are now the #1 seed.

Stay tuned.

Soccer Update

Wow! After being down 1-0 in the first period, the boys battled back through injury and fatigue to tie it up 1-1 and hold off defeat. My son came out in the 4th quarter with a twisted ankle. We had possession for about 65% of the game and took about 10 shots on goal, but we were taking long shots wide of the net or directly at the goalie.

A real nail-biter. Tournament starts Monday.

Soccer Update

Ridiculously-easy game tonight. Boys played great; lots of passing and movement and position play. I can't believe they're only 8.

My son scored one and took 4 shots on goal; I swapped offense and defense in the 4th quarter to give the other team a chance. 8-1 final score. 6-3 record to date.

Final game of the season is Thursday; playoffs start Monday.

Soccer Update

World-class performance tonight. Dominated time of possession, not intimidated by physical contac, aggressive in spite of 54-degree weather, great field position by all the offense. Final score: 3-0. Season record: 5-3.

Soccer Update

We played the undefeated team in the league last night, and they play a much more physical form of the game than we do -- we're more like '83 Liverpool and they're more like Hamburg '82. My kids, frankly, are little pints-sized boys who are good runners and breakers; the other kids are a little more likely to go head-to-head because they outweigh most of the others kids by 5 kg -- and when that's 20kg up against 25 kg, that's a big difference.

Anyway, we're calling it a moral victory. They didn't score any goals against our first-string goalie, and our second-string goalie (who is functional but autistic) only gave up 2. Final score: 2-1, and for the record we dominated time of possession, none of my boys went home crying because we lost, and no dads were in the net trying to avoid the character-building experience of being outplayed.

I told my son that sometimes you win by losing -- and giving our second team goalie his full 2-quarters was a win even if soccer rules say it's a loss.

Soccer Update

Blow out. We won 9-0. Star player (not my son) scored 6 pretty much at-will. Second-tier kids got an extra quarter of play time. Playing the best team in the league on Thursday, and if we play like this on Thursday it will be close.

Soccer Update

In spite of dominating time of possession and scoring twice in the first quarter, we went down 5-3 due to coaching errors. I experimented with our defense (read: I felt guilty that my son was playing 4 quarters and two of the newest kids were playing only 2) and left our weaker goalie undefended. I never thought I'd have parents of kids on my team saying, "you should play your son more", but I won't make that mistake again.

We're 2-2; we should be 3-1. You know I am taking it hard when I start considering whether or not these 7-yr-old kids can watch vintage 1966 Beckenbauer footage to learn how to manage a sweeper offense ...