Sunday, September 21, 2008

Super Soccer Saturday

I picked Solstice up from her friend's house & we went straight to her game yestermorn. Of course, as we got to the field, I got a call from Stephanie that went like this:
"Do you know where my keys are?"
"Shit! They're in my pocket."
20 minutes later we were back @ the field & Solstice's team was warming up. They played really well & notched up a W for the Panthers U9. The game ended 7-3 but for some poor refereeing decisions it could have been 8 or 9. Watching her start to enjoy the game is great. Her 1st couple seasons were a bit rough, but she always claimed to like it. This time she was really having fun. A few of the other kids on the team have been w/ us since she was in 2nd grade & their improvement has been fun to watch too. This year is their 1st w/ goalies & throw-ins, & it must be said that 1 of the kids is a top-class keeper in the making. He's kinda nuts... diving @ people's feet and throwing himself in front of the ball. At this level, I can't keep him in goal all the time, but soon enough he'll be our #1.

An hour after the match it was Aiden's turn to play. While they lost, they put in a great showing of themselves. I'm afraid he might be a bit frustrated this season because he's now the oldest on his team & by far the most experienced. He set up a few goals w/ great through-balls, but the rest of the team wasn't able to do the same for him yet. At practice this week, we'll have to work on getting the kids to pay attention. I think we'll play some sort of socceresque version Simon Says. On the positive side, none of them were afraid of the 2 HUGE kids the other team had, 1 of which was on Aiden's team when he was in kindergarten. He was a brute then, but now... he's enormous. All in all, the Jaguars U8 were a joy to watch too, & certainly by the end of the season they'll be on course to win a few too.

As a side-note, during the game we got word that a cop had shot a man @ the playground near the fields. The kids who'd been there were crying (obviously totally freaked out). Apparently, what happened was a man showed up to take his kids from their game (& away from his ex-wife) against the court ruling. They got into a huge fight, a cop was called, & he overreacted... shooting the guy w/ a tranquilizer in front of a playground full of kids who all thought he was dead. I understand the need to subdue people, but that was poor judgement. He was carted off in an ambulance & she was arrested. And people claim soccer is boring.

Aiden's match started @ 11:45 & the Arsenal v Bolton match started @ 12:30 so I set the old DVR & after the game my dad & I raced home to watch it. After going down 1-0 due to a poor no-call when Almunia was hammered, the Gunners came back & it was 2-1 Arsenal by half-time courtesy of Eboue's 1st goal for Arsenal & then a nice finish by Bendtner. Bolton recovered well after the break, but Almunia & the Arsenal defense played well keeping things under control before Denilson slotted in a nice goal after a great run by Walcott & a fantastic cross from Adebayor. This 3-1 win sends Arsenal to the top of the table... @ least until the Chelsea Man U match in a 1/2 hour. If Chelsea doesn't win, Arsenal will remain a point clear of Liverpool... of course if Chelsea do win, Arsenal will only be a point out of 1st & some 8 points & 13 place ahead of Man U. Either way, it's a win-win for the Gunners.
Afterwards, we set up tents in the yard & had a little camp out... more to come on that later when I have the pictures.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

just fyi, not police overreaction on the whole domestic drama at the game. the cop (a woman not that that makes any difference) most definitely needed to use the stun gun on the guy as he was *pushing* her and then when she had the gun on him giving him a chance to get the picture, he still didn't comply. not something that was fun to watch up close and personal with my children, but a teaching moment for sure (as in when the police tell you to back off, back off).

Anonymous said...

Yeah man, why are you always rushing to judgment and blaming authority figures?

I saw some cool soccer stuff yesterday. Have you seen the official 2006 World Cup film? It's been playing on some random cable channel here. I'm not sure if you'd have the same channel or not. It's some HD channel that shows all kinds of random things. I also saw a big old Arsenal book at Borders. I was wondering if you had it. It was the complete book of Arsenal or something like that.

Anonymous said...

Yeah Andre! Only a real asshole would judge a police action when they weren't even there!

I pepper spray people all the time in my job. You should try it sometime.

Dawn said...

Do they play on Sat morning at Ford Heritage park? Zander just started on the preschool team (Purple team). We are on field E at 10:30-11:15 - come by and say hi if you are there or let us know where to find you and we will come check it out!