One Day...Three Possible Championships...Lots Of Potential Tears

 I was watching a YouTube video (do yourself a favor and type Foo Fighters Kiss Guy into YouTube *some bad language for those faint of heart).  A guy gets pulled out of the audience and gets to play guitar with the band.  Suffice it to say, he does not disappoint.  It got me thinking.  How do you perform when your number is called?  Do you rise to the occasion or crumble under the pressure?

Personally, I’ve done both.  I remember playing baseball and pitching on short notice with the knowledge that if we won, we would go to the state tournament.  I would pitch very well, and if my memories haven’t been corrupted by time, had a couple of important hits as well.  I also remember playing in a softball tournament years later that had I got a clutch hit with two outs in the bottom of the last inning, we would have taken home the trophy.  The lazy fly ball I hit insured the trophy would go to the bad guys. 

I suppose, in life, we all have these moments.

This weekend, any or all of my daughters may see such a moment.  The girls, and their spring soccer teams have combined for a record of 19-0-2 going into the last weekend of the season.  You would think, by the grace of God, that at least one of them would have already secured their league championship.  No such luck.  All three girls need to win their remaining game(s) to insure they win their respective divisions.  This is not really something we have needed concern ourselves with in the past.  Why is it we have to have these pressures for all three kids?  Maybe karma? Maybe lingering 2020 vibes?  Who knows.  Whatever the reason, this weekend could be a nail biter.  There could be high fives to give and cheeks to dry. 

I’m sure some would question my parenting when I say “I hope its all celebrations or all tear wiping”.  I dread two league championships and one second place finish, regardless of which kid finishes second.  I’ll brace for the hate mail.

Full disclosure, I don’t put a ton of stock in winning and losing.  I am definitely a “how you play the game” fella.  I think you push hard and let the chips fall where they may.  Leave it all on the field and you’ll sleep well regardless of the outcome. 

I truly believe that.

I am also in the minority.

All of the involved parties really want their respective first place finishes.  It looks like they will have to run the table for all of them to be happy.  Fingers crossed.

The lesson here, little girls?  Pretty straight forward.  There is some chance your number will get called this weekend.  That there may be a moment that you’ll remember for years to come that you either look back on fondly like my pitching to go to state or that you will bemoan like my failures on the softball field.  There is a certainty that your teams will need each of you to do your best to succeed.

You’ve all put in the work.  You’ve all practiced, listened and learned.  There is a philosophy to “let the training take over”. I suppose that’s fine, but I subscribe to a different train of thought. I believe you should live in the moment.  Enjoy it.  If you win, enjoy your trophy.  If you lose, lick your wounds and take your lesson.  Embrace the competition and let it move your cleats.

Regardless of how you approach the game, remember one thing, for your daddy’s sake, you all need to win or you all need to lose.  Thanks in advance.

 

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.