Avery, Assists and Avoiding the Spotlight

 If 2020 taught us anything, its that sometimes wins can be few and far between.  Personally, I haven’t been running as much as I should, I now have a four-foot commute to work and my skin smells like gravy.  I’ve had worries about each of my children as well.

But this isn’t that kind of post.

The last couple of weeks has had a few “wins” hanging around in them.  The Jacobson girls are 5-0-1 on the soccer field and they have looked good in doing so.  This post is about my eldest daughter, Avery, whose team has won their first two games and she has been a solid part of both victories.

It should be said, that realistically, I don’t care all that much if my kid’s teams win weekend to weekend so long as they try hard and have fun.  While that is true, they seem to have a little more fun when they win. 

Avery has played on a split aged squad for the last three or four seasons and until this year she was the younger half of the team.  This fall was the first time she was among the older group of players. 

Those who know Avery know she is nothing if not shy.  Being the older kid in the fall didn’t have much of an affect on her game.  Despite her being as big as the other kids for the first time in years, she shrugged off any leadership role that was put on her shoulders.

This spring has been a little different.  This is not to say that she is the best player on the team or that she has suddenly become irreplaceable.  What she has done is become a “go to” player on her team.  Its little things like hearing the coach yell to “find Avery” and get her the ball or having Avery put against an opponent’s better players. 

The first game of the spring, her Rapids team won 4 – 0.  Avery scored two goals, the first of which she outran the defense and scored on the far side of the net.  She looked fast and shot accurately.  The second game, her team won 4 – 1.  She had three assists.  Not bad for a young lady who doesn’t give herself credit for any of it.

The spotlight is an uncomfortable place for Avery, but maybe she needs a little. 

So here it is, ladies, the point of this post.  It’s okay to have the eyes on you occasionally, especially if you’ve earned it.  Its not being boastful or too proud to acknowledge when you’ve done well.  Its okay to give yourself a pat on the back.  I’m not saying go full Brandi Chastain after each goal, but yourself a little credit is just fine.  That’s not just for soccer either.  Avery, your grades have really shined, and your artwork has taken leaps.

That goes for all of you.  Take pride in what you do and then take pride when you are successful at it. Hell, take pride if you’ve worked hard and it didn’t go your way.  Take that from your marathon running, hole-in-one hitting ol man.  (Jeremy, I know you can add a 300 game to that list of accomplishments, but that’s for you to tell your kid about).

Its Uggs or the Chefs. A Raider Fan's View of a Not So Super Sunday

 

Sometimes these posts get a little light and sometimes I aim to make people smile.  This is not one of those posts.  You see, last Sunday both the Kansas City Chiefs and Tom Brady were able to make it to next week’s Super Bowl. 

Sure, to some of you this is a fairly innocuous situation.  Those who aren’t particularly bothered by this aren’t fans of the Las Vegas Raiders. 

You see, as a Raiders fan, there is no good option for the Super Bowl.  First of all, there are the hated Chefs making their second consecutive appearance in the big game.  In the Raiders division, there are probably no bigger rivals.  Unfortunately, for the last, two decades-ish, The Raiders have been less than equal competition.  Last season, watching the Chefs raise the Lombardi trophy, was akin to watching your kid sitting the bench while the opponent hits a game winning home run.  It was stomach turning. 

Kansas City not only broke a decades long drought of Super Bowl squalor, they also look primed to do the same thing over and over again.  They have the best quarterback in the league, perhaps the best tight end and a ton of playmakers on offense.  It’s terrible.

Their opponent is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  I am able to ignore the fact that the last time the Raiders were in the Super Bowl it was against them and I can dismiss the throttling the Raiders took. 

The bigger issue is the quarterback of the Bucs.  In the off season the Buccaneers added Michigan alum and all-around dung heap Tom Brady.  Speaking on a personal level, years ago Tom Brady replaced The New York Yankees and intestinal flu as things that turn my gut.   

You see, January 19^th, 2002 Tom Brady was the quarterback of the New England Patriots.  He was nothing remarkable at the time.  The legend of Tom Brady should have started a season later as the Raiders seemed to have knocked Tommy Uggs out of the playoffs.  Late in that game at Foxboro Field Charles Woodson stripped Brady of the ball assuring the Raiders of a win.  But as the celebrating started, something awful happened.  Something so terrible that it was clear that the football gods had conspired against the Silver and Black.  The officials got together searching for a way to take the game from the Raiders.  They uncovered a little-known statute called the “Tuck Rule”.  The rule basically states that any time the Raiders come close to any modicum of success the officials are required to yell “Tuck You, Raiders” then take a win away from them. Tom Brady went on to win the Super Bowl, the Raiders went on to a few decades of obscurity.

Of note, I had tickets to that Super Bowl assuming the Raiders went.

The lesson here girls?  Probably not a great one.  Let’s try, if you aren’t cheatin’ you aren’t tryin’?  Nah, probably a bad lesson.  How about this.  “Sometimes you’re going to lose no matter what you do.”  I can live with that one.  Be it on the soccer field or on your bike or in the classroom, despite your best efforts things are bound to go against you sometimes.  You may fall on your bike or play a team you just can’t beat.  You will be in a no-win situation here and there.  I guess that’ll have to be the lesson.

Yeah, the Chiefs will win, or Tom Brady will win, and the world will keep on spinning, I guess. In the meantime, we can hope that there is a problem with the stadium’s plumbing and the game has to be cancelled.  A boy can dream.

Nice Ceiling You've Got There. Be a Shame if Something Happened to It

 We kept our daughters out of school today.  My wife and I value education, but today is a rare day where there is nothing to be taught in the classroom that would outweigh what they could learn at home. 

This morning, my wife put on a shirt bearing the Kamala Harris quote “I’m Speaking” and gathered her daughters on the couch.  She had intermittent tears as Amy Klobuchar spoke about the grit of the country and as Lady Gaga sang the national anthem. 

This is not to be political, but I need to rewind four years to get the impact of what she is feeling.  Four years ago, my wife had been sure that a glass ceiling was going to be smashed and the first woman would hold the office of President of the United States.  When Hillary Clinton lost, Adrienne was devastated. 

Sure, she was upset about who had won.  But more specifically, she was upset about what the loss said about our country.  She was crushed that a woman, regardless of how qualified she may be, could not get the support to hold the country’s highest office.  She thought less of her country because she felt she was worth less in it.  It was a sentiment shared by my sister, my mother and I’m sure millions of women around the country.

Fast forward to today.  My wife, sitting in her “I’m Speaking” shirt, hugging her little girls and a little champagne celebrating something long overdue.  She watched as Kamala Harris took her oath of office and was sworn in as the Vice President of the United States.  A woman who represents a shattering of a ceiling for my wife and kids, but that isn’t the only ceiling she left broken.  Women of color, Asian American people have reason to sit with their children and their champagne. 

Twelve years ago, a ceiling was broken, and a large swath of people got to feel like they finally had a seat at the big table, but half of our country had never had that feeling.  Today marks a day where we can be more honest with our daughters and say, “you can be anything you want to be” without the asterix that we used to have to apply to it. 

In our house, today is the best day we’ve had in a while.  Of course, there have been great days.  The girls got a trampoline for Christmas for God’s sake, but today speaks to more about front flips.  Today is the first day in this country’s two-hundred-year history that the fairer sex officially has a seat at the table.

So, the lesson here my young ladies, is a big one.  You can do anything you want to in life.  Full stop.  There are cracks in each of your ceilings that weren’t there yesterday.  It warms me to know that my mother, my sister, my aunt, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and my niece got to see this.  It warms me that my wife and daughters can walk a little taller today.  It warms me to see that my country was able to give these things to my family. 

Enjoy your time on the couch today, girls, and pamper your Mommy a little.  But tomorrow is a new day.  You have no excuse for not being president in a few years.  You have a lot of work to do.