Spiders and Goals

Big news! It has been a while since the last post and a lot has probably past that I should have written about and didn't. Triton has been in soccer for 5 seasons now (they have spring and fall seasons). His first season was a bit boring because the kids are so small and they play on a much shorter field with tiny goals. Triton never "really" technically scored a goal in that first season because the referee didn't see something that he should have. I had coached Triton at home to throw the ball towards the other team's goal when throwing in from an out of bounds position. Well Triton threw the ball in one game and it bounced off an opposing player and went in the goal. The referee didn't see this and so the goal didn't count. The next season and all since have been on a regular school sized soccer field. Triton, being one of if not the shortest on the team, hasn't scored a goal since. He is super good and usually always pays attention to the game but he is just a little too short to keep up with the taller kids. He is a great defender and even though he hasn't scored a goal his play has been admired by coaches and other spectators. This last Saturday, the 4th of October (2014) I had to substitute as our team's coach because the real coach was out of town. We only had 6 kids but we still played and the opposing team only played 6 kids as well when they could have played the normal 7 players. I did a little warm up session with the kids before the game and basically told them two things. Keep the ball with you, which means no kicking the ball and just watching it sail through the air, and don't stop running. If someone gets the ball past you don't just sit there. Anyway, our boys were playing the best I had seen them play. There was really only one kid that was standing in one spot, but he was defense and it was pretty cold outside. We took an early lead 1-0 but then the other team scored to catch up. That is when I saw Triton get passed the defense of the opposing team and was close enough to their goal that he had a chance to score before the bigger kids could catch him. It was one on one with the goalie. Triton and I had practiced many times how he should keep the ball close when driving in and then at the last second kicking it hard into the goal where the goalie would not have enough time to stop the ball. He was a natural driving the ball in pretty quick actually and at the last second kicking the ball past their goalie. Their goalie didn't even have a chance to touch the ball. You might be thinking I was playing favorites and placing Triton in the forward position to give him that opportunity but I really didn't. There were three kids that wanted to play forward and Triton was one of them. We were up 2-1 but then again the other team scored when our goalie didn't use his hands to stop an easy goal. Triton was only in the forward position for the first half. With the score tied I wanted the teams best defender (Triton) to play defense for the rest of the game. It wouldn't have mattered if nobody else would have wanted to play forward except Triton he wasn't going to play forward the rest of the game because he is better at defending. We scored another goal and ended up winning the game. I thought that Triton would have been more excited scoring his first goal, but he celebrated as if anyone on his team would have scored and just went about his business. Even after the game he was not going on and on like I thought he would. Sheri and I went on about it more than he did. We are always proud parents, but more proud in that moment for sure. Spider story is a hilarious one. I was outside a few months ago and Quinn was outside as well catching lady bugs. She was over by the fence when I hear "Daddy there is a spider over there!" I asked her if the spider at her and she said "no." I asked her if she ate the spider and she said "no, spiders are gross!" At this point I decided to keep it going and went on by saying "how do you know spiders are gross Quinn? They might actually taste good." I thought she would just respond by saying the same thing that spiders are gross. I turned away from her and started walking somewhere else and she followed so I knew the conversation wasn't over. This is when I got this response from my 4 year old daughter "well, you would have to cook them!" I started laughing so hard. I must have laughed for like 5 minutes. It was the cutest thing. We have yet to cook any spiders to see if they do actually taste good but who knows, only time will tell. I have been a wannabe golfer for many years now without success. I have won a few tournaments here and there but only in the higher handicap divisions. I had been told that I had a good swing and I felt as if I had a good swing but I knew I was doing something wrong with my hands just before impacting the ball. Well this year has been pretty dang good for me and golf. I have tried a bunch of things here and there that have worked. I might even go so far as to say that I might have caught onto something that is gonna stick. Usually I figure something out that works for a week or two and then it leaves me. So with that said I have always had a goal to shoot par or better once in my life. My uncle Henry, who anyone knows has one of the ugliest swings, had shot a 73 a few years back and I was never able to beat that. My old struggles were off the tee. The driver was not my friend. I fought the duck hook for over ten years. Golf was not a fun game most days. I started to figure something out here and there but the duck hook always seemed to come back. Whatever I have figured out this year has worked. As of right now I am hitting the driver the best I ever have. I haven't duck hooked the ball off the tee with the driver in months. Anyway I met Henry at the golf course one day a few months back and we were forced to play the back 9 first because the front 9 had some 5 groups waiting to tee off. I hate waiting for slow people on the golf course. Not very many people are good at golf, I am one of them, but there is no reason to be slow on top of it. Anyway, I was golfing okay. I started out with a par and then had 4 bogeys and then had 2 birdies to end the back 9 two over par. I didn't know if I wanted to golf the front nine because I wasn't sure if it was going to be way slow. My swing wasn't the best that day so I didn't feel as if I had a chance to break Henry's record. We were going to be up next on the number 1 tee box so I decided to just golf the full 18 holes. I thought it might be a little slow but we flew through the back 9. I hit a really good second shot to just about 4 feet from the hole and made a birdie right off the bat on number one to get me back to one over par on the day with 8 holes to go. It was at the moment that I thought I might have a chance to beat Henry's lowest round ever. I was getting pretty nervous after parring the next 5 holes! I had two par 5s and one par 3 left. I some how birdied number 7 (par 5) and was at even par on the day with two holes left! I told myself if I parred 8 I was for sure going to beat Henry's low round. I parred 8 and was 2 under on the front 9 with one hole left. With one short par 5 left I could beat Henry's low round and maybe achieve a life long goal of shooting par or better! I hit a decent drive and the ball was in play which was half the battle. I had just about 204 yards left for the second shot. This second shot is a daunting one however, there is water left and a huge bunker on the right. There is about ten yards of fairway running up to the green in-between those two hazards. I could have used a 7 iron and laid up like a wuss or I could go for it and chance a double bogey or worse. A smart man would have laid up and tried to get par the hard way. I decided to go for it. I took out my 4 iron and hit a really good shot. I was just barely short of the green and was able to use a putter for my 3rd shot. If I two putt from there I shoot a 69! Forget shooting par or simply beating Henry's low round I now wanted to get a birdie (70). I hit my putt and had a tap in birdie! I was 3 under on the front nine and killed Henry's record by 4 shots! I am so glad that I decided not to lay up and simply beat Henry's record. I went for it and surpassed my own expectations of finishing with a birdie and shooting a 69!