I'm on a team again

I got an e-mail the other day asking if I wanted to join the High Velocity house team for the Over 30 4th Division. I don't think the divisions have anything to do w/ skill level, but based on how our 1st game went Friday night, you'd swear there must be some correlation. I've been meaning to get a new pair of indoor shoes because I've always hated the pair I got a few years ago in a pinch when my previous ones broke in the middle of a game. That's gonna have to wait for a while, but I did manage to cut the excessive tongue-flap off which really seemed to make a difference. There's one guy on the team who has some skills, but he is in worse shape than me. In fact, I was the best player on the field last night... for either team which says a lot because I haven't played since October. I played defense for most of the night, but 1 of the few times I got forward I scored a sweet, sweet goal. We lost 11-8, but for a bunch of dudes who'd never met each other before, we did alright. A couple of the guys are total pants though. I have no idea where the term "pants" to mean "lack of skill" comes from, but I'm lovin' it. Furthermore, I'm not sure that that is how it's spelled; it could be "pans" or "pantz." "Pants" seems to imply either trousers or heaving breathing & I suppose they both fit... they shouldn't bother putting the shorts on & they are always out of breath... which also makes me "pants." Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's short for "pansy, in which case I don't dig it quite as much. After the game, after I'd changed out of my stuff & was ready to go, someone asked if I wanted to play another game because this other team was shorthanded. While I was in no way physically ready for a 2nd match, I figured "what the Hell? I could play a couple shifts anyway." As it turned out, I was again the best person on the field. I know this sounds arrogant, but really, that's just how bad these people were. In fact, they were so out of shape that I played almost the entire game. I'm still not sure why they were so tired. Maybe they'd already played too. Again we lost, but it was fun. And I got a great work out for the 1st time in ages. In hind sight, I have a few reflections on the occurrences the other night:
* I miss playing w/ my regular team
* I made it through 2 full games w/o yelling @ the ref or fouling anyone (Jean, Liz, Dan... be proud of me)
* Even though I didn't yell, the refs @ High Velocity still suckIn other soccer news, Arsenal beat AC Milan 2-0 on Wednesday @ the San Siro in Milan to go through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. A 30 yard shot from Fabregas in the 84th minute was followed by a nice tap-in from Adebayor after Theo Walcott worked hard on the right to get off a great cross in stppage time. For a kid who's just 18, he's starting to show some amazing skills. While they progressed in Europe, Man U & Chelsea joined them on the sidelines of the FA Cup yesterday as they both lost, Man U to Portsmouth 1-0 @ Old Trafford & Chelsea to Championship side Barnsley 1-0 @ whatever the Hell the Barnsley stadium is called. Watching Chelsea lose to a Championship team was fantastic. Barnsely also beat Liverpool in the previous round; for a team that's not very good, they're pretty good.