Once a Soccer Mom . . . .

We've been having some mighty hot temperatures for this time of the year. For the past several days, our temperatures have been up around 90 degrees, and I've had to turn the air conditioning on for the first time this year. When I learned the other day that my 26-year-old son was playing in a men's league championship game today, I was a little hesitant to go sit out in the sun for a couple hours, but not having seen him play for the last few years, I decided that it would be a nice outing, even if we broiled in the sun.

Well, apparently the weather sprites were smiling today, because our temperatures dropped to around 80 with a light breeze. The bleachers were in the shade, and the weather was just lovely!

I wish I could say the same about the game! First of all, I think my son's probably the only one on the team who doesn't speak Spanish. It was kind of funny listening to the two coaches giving their pep talks in Spanish. I don't know if any of the other players interpreted for my son or how he handles that, but I did see the head coach talking with him--in English--near the end.

Coming into the championship game, my son's team was ranked fourth (out of, I think, ten teams) and the other team was ranked third--these two teams had already prevailed against the first and second place teams in the semi-final last weekend. By the half, my son's team had scored two goals to the other team's zero. By the end of the game, though, the other team came back and scored two goals to tie the game and take it into overtime.

If you know soccer, you know they play two 45 minute halves. OT means two more periods of play that we think are 15 or 20 minutes each. Can you imagine running up and down a field for over two hours? The main referee had to come out with leg cramps and be assisted off the field. The players on both teams were looking awfully ragged, and my son, who had played most of the game and OT, also came off the field near the end with leg cramps. The OT period ended with no additional goals having been scored, and that took them into a shootout, where five players from each team took turns shooting at the opposing goalie, one on one. FINALLY my son's team won! I think the score on the shootout was 2 to 3. That's my kid right here--

We hoped to take my son and his girlfriend out for garlic steak sandwiches and fries after the game--there's an excellent grill down the street from the park, but we found it was closed on Sunday, so we left my son and his girlfriend to celebrate with the team and headed home. On the way, we decided to stop at Mimi's for a light dinner. What a nice way to end the weekend!