DJ’s played his secod soccer game last Saturday, March 21. The kids are getting better, and at least 6 goals were scored but they don’t actually keep score. At this age we just want the kids to learn the basics and have a good time, they can get into the hard core competition part of it later.

After the game DJ ran up to me and said “the coach told us to be dirty”.   I expect he was not asking them to kick, punch, or tackle the opposing players. I think he was encouraging DJ after he fell and got covered with dirt.

This video is a short mix of the game, played at double speed for my own entertainment.

I also put together a 10 minute video with clips from the entire game.  It is long but parents and grandparents may enjoy it.  Click a link below to view the movie.  You can save this movie to your computer by right clicking on the link and choosing “save link as” or “save target as”.

High Quality 640×480, 222mb
Low Quality 320×240, 85mb

Click here to download a higher quality version of this video. 55mb

DJ started soccer in February, his first foray into organized sports. I wanted to start him off with something a little more intense like rugby or roller derby, but there are not leagues for either in Boerne, Texas, so we settle for soccer.

5 year old kids playing soccer is kind of like that football game we had when we were kids with the vibrating metal board and the little guys that just went randomly everywhere and occasionally the ball would make it in the goal. It was fun to watch and the kids got a lot of practice kicking the ball out of bounds.

The coach is very patient with the kids, he stays on the field helping them notice where the ball is and telling them when it is their turn for a kick-in.

On one of the kick-ins the coach lined up his players and told them “as soon as they kick the ball, get it!” The kids obeyed and promptly ran to the ball and grabbed for it with their hands. One of them triumphantly hoisted it into the air after he succeeded with his interpretation of the coaches instructions.

Sweetness is this Nishiki FS3 mountain bike I bought back in 1993.  I was in college at BYU and spent a lot of time on my bike.  I was spoiled as a mountain biker to live 15 minutes from some of the best single track trails in the United States.  My favorite trail was the Alpine Loop which ran across the Wasatch Mountains between Provo and American Fork Canyons.   

When we moved to Texas I gave up mountain biking.  I was very busy as a new young father and husband, plus I was in Texas, no mountains…  I saw lots of road bikers here but figured the mb scene was non-existent.

Sweetness and I got together some in 1997.  I lived just 1.5 miles from my work at USAA and would sometimes ride there.  That brief reunion ended with a nasty wreck involving my chest and a concrete curb.

With my current efforts to lose some weight and improve my general health I started walking.  Walking is slow and boring, and I don't run unless being chased.  I decided to bring Sweetness back into my life.  It had been sitting in our garage only occassionaly even glanced at for the past 11 years. 

This morning I gave it a good tune up and took it to McAllister Park in San Antonio.  The park is about 2 miles from my work, and has over 20 miles of dirt trails.  I rode a 6 mile loop around the park that included some fast level trails, some rocky technical single track, and some minor up and down hill riding.  For my first real ride in 13 years it was exhausting but excellent.  No crashes, they say you never forget how to ride a bike, that seemed to be true.  But hauling around my big fat backside is a little harder then the riding I did in college, all the more reason to lose the weight.  

The riding ended when I blew out the sidewall on the back tire while bouncing over some rocks.  The 15 year old tire could not take the pressure.  I was sitting on the ground looking at the tire and contemplating the trip to the bike shop for a replacement.  I was a little bummed cause I really like the tire set I have and I was worried I would not know what new tire to get.   I went into the shop and found the exact same tire I had!  I was shocked they still made it.  The dude at the shop seemed a little bewildered at my excitement over finding that tire. 

Sweetness rides again. 

I have. Not so much now as when I was a kid. Maybe it was from playing too much Super Mario 3. I would dream I could run fast, spread my arms, and just take off. I got quite good at it and would have flying dreams quite frequently.   I never crashed in my dreams so tothis day I am pretty sure flying is safe.  Since then a have this constant urge to jump out of a plane or off a big cliff.  My survival instinct along with threats from my wife have kept me off the edge so far.  Heather has said I could jump after the kids are grown up, something about how they need a father who is not paraplegic or dead.

Anyways, I found this video of people flying with a wing suit that looks like the designers spent a lot of time watching flying squirrels at the Moscow Zoo. I think I will get one of these and go jumping… just as soon as DJ finishes college. Of course by then maybe I can be genetically modified to grow my own wings and maybe a racoon tail to go with them

College football is by far my favorite sport.  Many of the athletes are playing for the love of the game and to get an education, there is more team unity and pride then found in pro football, and the talent level is high but not SO high that the games become predictable.

My team is BYU.  It is my school of course, prick my finger and I will bleed blue.  After last weekends upsets of USC, Florida, and Georgia we got a bump in the Coaches Poll to number 7.  If they make it through the year they may even have an outside shot at the BCS title game. 

Echos of 1984 are spinning through my brain.  They have 3 tough games to play on the road; TCU, Air Force, and Utah.  But I am totally psyched at the remote possibility of a repeat of '84 undefeated season.  I need to chill so I won't have a traumatic break down if they do (and it is a strong possibility that they could) lose a game.  After all, it is ridiculously difficult to go undeated.  The 2001 Cougars won 12 straight games then lost the last game to Hawaii after loosing the starting running back, Luke Staley, to a broken leg.  

  Read this article on wikipedia for more details on the BYU Cougars

Last night I went to a middle school football game, Boerne South 7th grade.  My oldest daughter was there with her friends, I was her ride and beside I love me some football.   As I sat in the stands I realized the last time I saw a middle school football game was sometime in 1983.  It was the 8th grade team at Ed White Middle School in San Antonio, Texas.  I sat there feeling kind of old, last time I watched a middle school football game… Reagan was president, Return of the Jedi was the hot new movie, Michael Jackson was really cool, gas cost about $1.00 a gallon, there was a Soviet Union and a Berlin Wall, there was only 1 phone company, there was no such thing as a Mac but there was a Lisa, and my hair was feathered.