Monday, September 13, 2021

Sports Stuff

I know I said I was going to write about D&D stuff, and I am, but there's just so much to write about that I'm not sure where I want to start...and I don't want to just barf a bunch of randomness all over a single blog post.

So to buy myself some time (to formulate my thoughts) and to get a little bit of a handle on the blogging, I'm going to write about some sporty stuff (mostly personal and/or Seattle-based). It will be fairly short, I think. Or not. Maybe.

First: the Mariners. I am not watching Mariners baseball right now, even though they're only 2 or 3 games out of a wild card spot and playing some fairly clutch ball (well, they were until they dropped 2 of 3 to a historically bad Diamondbacks team). I'm keeping track, but I just don't have time to sit down for three hours a game with very real probability of having my heart broken by a team that has disappointed for twenty years. Twenty years! You'd think they would have lucked into a playoff game in that time...you have to really try to be that poor/mediocre. I have been wearing my M's cap (to cover my bald head) because they are still over .500. But I have been in "show me" mode for the last few years, and that hasn't changed. Yes, I am a literal "fair weather fan:" I enjoy going to the park when the weather is sunny and beautiful (and when there isn't a pandemic). But I am not going to live and die by the ball club who's given so little as far as results are concerned. Not when there's so much else to watch.

[and, yes, I am all-but-convinced that the new ballpark was built on top of some ancient Salish burial ground and the team is cursed. Cursed! I say!]

What other things? Well how about the NFL? Hey, folks: there are D&D nerds...and there are football nerds. I, of course, am both. Fantasy football is just as nerdy and ridiculous as any tabletop gaming...(as my sporty buddies will freely admit)...it's just been better monetized. The last few years, I haven't played it, but this year I decided it was time to introduce my FAMILY to fantasy football. So we started a four-team league for just us: wife, kids, and me. They (the rest of my family) have never played fantasy football, so we've spent the last few days (I just started it up Thursday afternoon...on a whim) totally geeking out with drafts and trades and waiver wire pick-ups and roster moves. My 7-year old daughter has soccer practice tonight, but she's on the edge of her seat to see if Lamar Jackson (her QB) can get her 50+ points to pull out a win (good luck with that).

The Seahawks looked great, by the way. But then, their defense played against a woefully depleted Colts offense. And Chris Carson will be lucky to last the whole season with his running style (91 yards on the ground, 72 yards after contact!). Besides, they still need to win the west and ALL the NFC West teams looked good (49ers, Rams, and Cards dominated every game). Fortunately, we weren't bitten by many injuries. Cautiously optimistic for the season.

The Seattle Kraken drop the puck September 26th. NHL hockey, y'all. Still need to research what the hell "icing" is. It's been a few years since I last attended a T-birds game (like, since, the 20th century) and it was mostly about chanting for the fights.

And then there's soccer...glorious soccer.

The USMNT finally got a win in World Cup qualifiers, only after Berhalter deigned to replace the high profile European stars with MLS stand-outs. Funny how players who play IN their own country seem to have more fire, energy, and passion when it comes to playing FOR their country. Whatever. *sigh* 

[I will not rant I will not rant I will not rant I will not...]

Sounders got another win. That's great. Over projected-Most-Awesome-Minnesota-super-star team (again). Even better. And did it without the guys who've been playing on their international squads. Helped to have our #1 goalie back (finally) from his injury. Steph looked great. Should be a nice run-up to the season's finish. 

And then, of course, there were my own kids' games: the team I coached (boy's school team) was thoroughly overmatched and dominated on Saturday. The final score was 6-1, only because the other team stopped trying to score on us in the second half. The coach (me) turned out to be the guy with the most "rust;" I did not put my players in a position to succeed. And to be fair, half our "5th grade team" is made up of fourth graders (7 out of 16) and most of the team doesn't even know A) positions or B) their teammates' names. "You're going in for Lucas!" "Who's that?" "The guy playing midfield!" "What's a midfielder?" Ai-yi-yi. It was a rough outing; Diego ripped off his jersey in disgust at the end. 

We have a LOT of work to do this coming week.  

[D then proceeded to get beat 3-0 his premier game, though that was more bad luck (and some poor play from normally reliable players) than any kind of "domination"]

Finally, my daughter Sofia played her first club soccer game on Sunday, and I got to be amazed at just how much she's grown in skill over the last few weeks. Wow. They only had 6 players show up for a 7v7 game, and decided to play a man (*ahem* lady) down rather than forfeit against a team that brought 12. My daughter is one of two 7-year olds on a team that ranges up to age 9, and she tracked the entire field with, quite frankly, astonishing effort, energy, and determination. I completely underestimated the reserves of strength she has within her. They lost 4-0, but their goalie saved about 20, and Sofia's track back ability from a forward position (she often beat her own defenders) aided a lot of those saves.

I don't mention my daughter as much as my boy on this blog, for a couple reasons. One is the blog's main subject matter (gaming) which my son is far more invested in than my daughter. The second is so much of our (family's) time has been taken by my son's activities (he's older, so he does more). But while both my children have great depths to them, Sofia has (I think) far deeper, more mysterious depths. Her imagination, creativity, inventiveness, and humor are profound, and different from Diego's intellectual precision. Both children take after both their parents but Diego takes all the "surface stuff:" the fiery emotions, the competitiveness, the sharp mind and grasp of concepts. Sofia has all the hidden stuff: the fears, the darkness, the inner resolve, the secretiveness, the independence. Diego cares so much about his identity in the world and how others view him. Sofia cares about what she cares about...those things that matter to her, the rest of the world be damned!

[Hmm, I suppose they pretty much match their astrological signs...or I am viewing them through my "astrologer's lens" which is something I haven't done in a while. Interesting]

But, okay, that's enough of that...I am straying far afield from my topic of sports. It's just a lot on the mind these days: each of my kids play on two teams. One has practice five days per week (with games on the weekend); the other has practice three days per week (with games on the weekend). Even without the distraction of...well, everything...it's a lot to continually process and coordinate, mentally and physically. 

My dog is snoring on the couch next to me. Tough morning, huh, Chewb?

All right, things to do. Next post will be about gaming. I'll try to start writing it this afternoon.

5 comments:

  1. I've iced enough pucks to make a rink-sized cake. But I'll leave your icing education to wikipedia.

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  2. Kraken is a pretty dope name. Icing is when on defense the team whacks the puck all the way down to the other end without anyone touching it. Considered dirty pool. Basically slows the game down so the puck is brought back into their zone and a face off.

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  3. I'm sure you've looked it up by now, but icing is when a player shoots the puck and it crosses both the centerline and the opponents' goal line without being touched. It's designed to make sure that teams which are ahead toward the end of the game don't just waste time randomly shooting the puck at the opponents' side.

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  4. I don't remember now if I noted that if the puck goes in the opponents' goal, then it isn't icing. The goal line is at the back of the goal cage.

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  5. Thank you to everyone who took my comment about icing seriously.
    : )

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