Soccer Moms & Dads

First things first. I lost Sunday to Tx. A@M @ Commerce. A good team in our conference but still never good to lose! I did however win all three of my fantasy league games. Ohio State won on Sat. and the Bengals and Cowboys won on Sunday! I still have hope as a winner.
So I'm watching Evan's soccer game on Saturday and its under 8 soccer. I'm watching the parents on our team, Imagine that - I don't sit next to the other parents. First of all soccer parents (actually any competitive situation you put parents in) are flat out sad and funny. You see, my faithful reader, there are a few rules to parents watching games.

Rule number 1 - "I want to be happy and I want my Child happy!" "This requires playing time." Hence the rule - Coaches must play my child! I have heard a number of times "how can my child get better by sitting on the bench, they need to play as much as possible."

Rule number 2 - "If my child is happy with not playing than he/she is psycho and they need to listen to me to be happy." Some Children just don't understand the concept that achieveing at all costs at a young age is essential! This is a little over blown but I have heard - "Coach we need to be patient they haven't really developed their competitive spirit."

Rule number 3 - "Who cares about winning or playing well, my child better be in that game because" - see rule number 1.

Rule number 4 - "I know my child will make mistakes but I am the only one that needs to point that out." I don't care what parents say, they get a little ruffled when a coach yells at their child.

Rule number 5 - "I reserve the right to act any way possible to protect my child." You have to understand that parents will frame anything that happens negatively to their child to invest their own emotions. "Coach you don't understand that not playing is actually hurting my child." or when I was younger "Coach someday you will understand - when you have kids of your own"

Hey everyone listen - I have actually felt some of these things - never voiced them though. Its hard being a parent and and trying to nurture/protect our kids from harm. We are people with a sin nature. I want to have my children achieve great things! That may be selfish but its true. Maybe it will make me feel better about myself or maybe I actually want them to be happy. I haven't figured that out yet.

Later

Dr. Feelgood

So I go to the Dr. this morning. I was getting a referral for a visectomy - fun times. So the nurse asks "is that all you need - I reply "welll my shoulder hurts and I had a little chest pain the other day after my aweful practice." So she laughs and before I know it I'm getting an EKG and then an x-ray on my shoulder. EKG turns out fine and they determine I may have had a "panic" attack how they determined that I'm not quite sure. Then the Dr. asks "when did you break your clavicle?" Apparently sometime in my life I broke my clavicle but now its healed. So sweet this is turning out great and the source of my shoulder pain may be a torn rotator cuff. It could be that, which requires surgery, or ligaments in my shoulder which they can fix through meds. So I feel great about the rest of the day!

Later

Metal Mania

I just watched "When metal ruled the world" on VH1 Classic. I think I just now stopped crying my tears of joy. I have no regrets for the hair band era!! First it started with Van Halen for me and the 1984 album. Jump, Panama etc. I then looked a little to Motley Crue but not to much at first. I worked my way into Cinderella, White snake, Ratt, Quiet Riot. I loved the sound but with no MTV and not driving yet wasn't really a faithful listener. Oh but wait my little friends with the license to drive came Def Leppard (thats how they spelled it Kel). I still think Hysteria is one of the greatest albums I ever owned. We then had our doses of Poisen, Skid Row, Warrent, Great White, White Lion, Tesla. I liked them but they all started to sound the same. Oh but wait the a group out of L.A. was coming to the rescue, Guns and Roses. Them and Bon Jovi were by farrrr my favs of all the bands in the 80's. Each Bon Jovi album relates to a certain point in my life. Slippery when wet was the young bashful, learning to drive Jeff. New Jersey was the "wow I have some confidence and am more popular" high school and college Jeff. Keep the Faith was the college hanging out in the dorm listening to this album for four hours Jeff. Then so on and so forth. GnR was a whole new level. They brought the heat to Metal. I remember standing in line for two hours at 11:00pm for Use your Illusion 1 and 2 (or Red and Blue). I still think the album Appetite for Destruction (their debut album) was the greatest of all time (my pardons to Metallica's Black album). Ahh but it all ended my little friends. On came the dreaded grunge bands of the 90's. Nirvana's "smells like teen spirit" was the first punch and they kept coming with Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Sound Garden. Hey I admit it - I bought a few flannels and liked to think my life was dark. Yeah the boy at the Private College whos parents loved the stuffins out of him - had it really hard. I guess I'm starting to realize why Dad had my listening to Harry Chapin, Righteous Brothers, Bob Dylan. It really strikes a chord with our memories. Alec, Evan, Owen will never know what they missed!

Later

11/05/1970

I had this sent to me - I know everyone sees these things but I love them!

This is dedicated to Those Born 1930-1979!

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while
they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and
didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby
cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and
When we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks
we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick
up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared
one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually
died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made
with sugar, but we weren't overweight because .

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we
were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.
And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running
into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at
all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no
surround-sound, CD's or Ipods, no cell phones!, no personal computers
, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us
forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . . CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up
as
kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives
for our own good

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't
it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,
severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks,"Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

Having a talk