Soccer Game October 28, 2006

Dear Bro,

Another seven days has passed and time again for the weekly soccer update. This week we traveled to the Evendale recreation center to play. I had visited Pops to watch the Tottenham - Watford game right before hand so I had to change there before tootling off to battle against the evil forces of Evendale. Since I had never played at that location, I took the liberty of looking up the address before leaving home. It was located on Reading Rd just north of Glendale Milford Rd, so armed with that knowledge I went to the location I believed was where our game was to be played.

I was wrong...

I parked at the location I thought was where this contest was to take place, an indoor facility on Reading Rd. a little north of Glendale Milford Rd. As it was an indoor facility and we were suppose to be playing at a rec center, imagine my surprise when I confidently strutted into the large building donning my soccer gear complete with water bottle and kit bag only to be staring at a sea of hockey player and their parents, who are returning my stare like I am a Marxist at a John Birch Society convention. Sheepishly, I retreat.

Now we are back in the car. I remember from the directions on the internet that the Rec Center was north of Glendale Milford, so I slowly creep in my trusty Hyundai in that direction seeking anything that remotely looks like either a building large enough to hold a soccer pitch or an actual field in the open complete with crossbars and lines. As I approach the crossroads, I see what looks like a park on the lefthand side of the road, but alas no soccer fields. I pull into a shopping center to call try to call Melody for either 1)our team manager's cell phone # or 2) directions to the field. Of course, as I pull in the shopping center there is someone stopped right in front of where I want to turn into the main parking area oblivious to the fact that a line of cars are coming toward them. After a minute or two of waiting in line the lady who left her brain at home realizes she is blocking traffic and finally moves her car, at which point a manage to find a nice isolated spot to make the call.

Melody happens to be home and does get me our team manager's (Greg) number. I call him.... answering service... I leave a frantic message and call Melody back to see if she can guide me there. While talking to Melody, Greg calls me back. I explain where I am and my lack of knowledge as to the whereabouts of one "Evendale Rec Center". Greg tells me to go across the street into the park and the field is just off the road below eye level. Slightly embarrassed, I drive the 100 yards across the road and clearly see the field in front of me.

The good news with Saturday's game was that the rain that had invaded Cincinnati for the last several days had passed. The bad news was the reason it had moved out was that it was pushed along by a 25-30 mph wind that was blowing from one goal to the other across the soccer field. Add to that the 40ish degree temperature and it definitely was not the most ideal conditions to play a game.

As I walked to our side of the field I looked at our opponents. They used to play on a field in Greenhills, about 4 miles west of where we were currently standing, and I knew from playing them many times before that it would be a difficult game, as they had an English guy who always wears a Nottingham Forest jersey and has abilities that broadcast that he has played for money in a previous life, a goalie named O.J. who when he wasn't puffing on a cigarette was actively scooping up or saving any balls that came near the goal, and a lightning fast goal scorer in a knee brace who has burned me so many times over the years that I should have him arrested for arson.

That was the bad news. The good news was that they only had nine players show up and none of them were the scoring machine with the knee brace. We only had one sub and he was under the weather and barely played, but eleven against nine will usually give you an advantage.

It did...

We dominated from the first moment of the game, however we were unable to score in the first half, part of which was due to the fact our best opportunities to score were left at the feet of yours truly, who with all the skill I could muster managed to terrorize the tree line behind the end line but never came near the goal itself. End the first half 0-0. They pressed forward on occasion but never really threatened due to their lack of numbers in attack. This did not bode well for the second half as we had that 30mph wind at our backs the whole first half.

Fortunately, in the second half, they just plum started running out of gas. Even though we were facing a strong headwind our 2 person advantage proved to be too much for them to overcome, and with me playing safely at fullback in the second half rather than halfback we put seven in the net over the course of forty minutes. Final score 7-0.