Bad people..

Its soccer time again and last night my son had a game. He had missed a couple with our NY trip and being sick last week with a stomach flu, so this was the first one I got to go to this spring season. So there I am sitting on the sidelines with K and her mom to watch the game. It's all the same kids from the fall season and so we are pretty familiar with how they play.

Game starts and all is well. Our team scores early and I am impressed how well the kids are playing together and really going after things. Last fall when they started playing, most of them were timid and afraid to get in there and get the ball. Now they are attacking and passing and scoring. They had a total of 7 goals in the game which is more than I think they had in the entire fall portion of the season. Pretty incredible.

There is one little girl.. who is tiny for her age.. and a giant sissy. She happens to be the coaches daughter and a waste of space on the soccer field. She is skittish and afraid of the ball and contact with another player. The only time she kicks it is when it rolls near her and no one else is around. I am silently mocking her in my head when I overhear K say something snarky to her mom about this girl. I was happy to realize it wasn't only me who thought this kid was dragging the team down. I know.. its a bad thing to say about a little girl.. but damn.. play or get off the field!

Game is going on.. and she is subbed back in. Now she is playing midfield .. right in front of where we are sitting. The other team is driving down the field right towards her. Every parent on the sideline is yelling for her to get in there and get the ball. The boy coming down the field realizes he has a teammate further up field and decides he is going to kick it hard down to him. The boy's aim was a bit off however and his power kick went right into this girls face. You know that scene in a western where someone gets hit with a shotgun at close range and it blows them back through a window? That's what this reminded me off. Her head snapped back with the impact and she went straigt backwards and landed hard. Maybe she didnt actually get knocked back much.. but as I replay it in my head she certainly does!

I know.. I should have been concerned for this kid.. but the sick demented person in me was trying to supress a smile and a chuckle. Yes, I am a bad person. I should have been concerned for the well being of this poor kid who go clocked in the face. But nay nay.. all I could do is try not to laugh as I replayed it in my mind. It reminded me of dodgeball days in school when you weren't supposed to hit anyone above the shoulders, but sometimes the ball "slips" you know. Right to the kisser! K being a good person unlike me runs out to help the little girl. I guess the mom instinct kicked in. As she was coming back though, she says something under her breath about how at least the girl will be out of the game for a while now and we can put in a good player. AHA! See now I don't feel so guilty.. I am not the only bad person out there.

I have a nickname for another girl on the team. I call her Sasquatch. She is at least 4 inches taller than anyone out on the field, including the boys. She is a big girl too and has no skill or finesse for the game of soccer. She does love to run at the ball and kick it as hard as she can though. Is it out of line to call a 4th or 5th grade girl Sasquatch? Of course it is.. doesn't mean its not funny.. and its certainly fitting. I mean this kids whole tactic is waving her arms and yelling as she runs to kick that ball. She uses her size and noise to scare the other kids away from the ball and really.. its quite effective most of the time. You should see the smaller kids shy away if she is running to the ball.

So as I sit and make rude comments in my head about the kids .. I look over at one of the fathers sitting there and remember seeing him last season too. He definitely has a full on Billy Ray Cyrus mullet in effect. It was even more pronounced than the last time I saw him. I just wonder who he has in his life.. how has no one told him to lose the mullet. Sure I know, "Business up front, Party in the back" sounds good on paper, but in all seriousness, friends don't let friends rock the mullet. Ever.



So yes, I am a bad person. I laugh at little kids getting knocked the hell out by flying soccer balls and I mock random mullet wearers I see during the day. But hey, if you know me, you probably already knew that I was a bad person, so this is not a shock.

As we were getting ready to leave, I was looking around for my older son. Where did he go? Oh, there he is on the other side of the field, hanging out with not one, but 3 cute girls his age that he knows from school. I am scared with that one already. He is definitely moving into that age where girls are no longer just another person to hang with, but rather a member of the "opposite sex". Oh yes.. bring on the teenage years .. middle school.. high school. He is outgoing, fun, sensitive and thoughtful and of course has my devestatingly handsome good looks.. so I am going to have my hands full dealing with that one as he goes into that phase of his life I think. Wish me luck!