Turn the knob to 11


Monday, June 22

Herding Kittens

Anyone who has seen a bunch of 5 year olds attempt to play football (and not that ponzi American-style football) knows what the term "herding kittens" means. I feel like that at times. Work, attempting to train, family, racing and other stuff all begin to scurry about and I can't seem to line things up. 

Tonight I was told what I needed to do. 

A couple of weeks ago I had contacted a former football (antpA-sf) teammate, Pietro, to see if there were any vacancies on one of the teams he plays for or sponsors. He told me to meet him tonight and he'd take me to meet a team and possibly play. It's an Over-30 league but 3/4's of the guys are over 40. When we arrived I recognized a few of the guys from indoor open play and one of the opposing team was a former co-worker and roadie from my Haack's days, Tom Boehnen. More on him in a few days. So here's 18 guys lined up ready to play football (antpA-sf) in 93 degree heat. While we had declared various positions: forward, center-mid, left or right-mid, etc..., there was no coherency or sense of teamwork and at the end of the 1st half the score reflected it as we were behind 2-0. I must admit I was involved in the problem. I took the field as right-midfield. But the next minute I'm center forward, then I'm right back. We were all running about covering gaps that shouldn't exist. At half-time a few of the guys were yelling at everyone, in a restrained manner, that we needed to get it together. It didn't take long before we grouped ourselves for the various position and we pledged we'd stick to that plan. The second half started and we did exactly that and in 5 minutes we were had evened the score at 2-2. We were passing, and moving the ball patiently and all the while having fun. There was a span of 20 minutes where there was no stoppage of play and the guys on the field were starting to run short of breath. Finally a missed shot on goal allowed both sides to substitute. We then went on a 3 goal run with several missed shots on goal including an assist from me via a header. In the end we won 5-2. 

For 45 minutes I had total clarity... because I played my position.

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