November 10/15
So yesterday was a bit strange in that it started off bad and ended kind of good.
The bad happened fairly early on and left me wondering where some people get off thinking that I could actually give a flying fuck whatsoever about their opinions.
I dropped my son off at school and since I had time to kill before work decided to swing by McDonald's and have a breakfast sandwich since I'd gotten up a bit late and in the rush to get the son going as well as shaving, showering, and making sure Moki had water, food, and a treat didn't get a chance to eat any breakfast, poor planning and timing on my part.
Drive thru was backed up so I parked, grabbed my iPad, and headed inside to order a meal and do a little reading before another day in the salt mines :)
So I'm standing behind a lady waiting for my turn to order when she finishes and steps to the side as the cashier takes my order. I tell her "One sausage & egg combo please with iced tea versus juice or coffee" she takes my order and as I'm telling her my name for the order slip the lady waiting for her order looks over at me and makes a loud comment about having an iced tea at 8 in the morning. I was actually dumbstruck for a moment as I couldn't believe the boldness being directed my way without any justification.
Now old me would have laughed it off out of embarrassment but new me was having none of it so I turned to her and asked what her issue was with my choice of drinks. She commented that it was too much caffeine and sugar to have after just getting up. I looked at the cashier who looked like someone had just slapped her silly as she couldn't understand the anger in this woman's voice.
I replied that for all she knew I could easily have been coming off of working an overnight shift and this could be the equivalent of my dinner. She stared at me like I was a talking dog who had dared to doubt her mighty wisdom. At the that moment the order runner brought her a coffee with 2 cream and 2 sugar upon which seeing I pointed out that she was consuming the same things she found so easy to criticize me for, and to make this even easier for her to understand just how I felt about the whole thing I told her that when I wanted her opinion I would come knock on the rock from which she had slithered out from under but since I knew pigs would fly before that day ever arrived she should just shut her mouth and leave me the hell alone.
As she just continued to stare at me in shock I took my order and went to find a seat. As I was unwrapping my sandwich the manager came over and apologized for what happened saying he hadn't witnessed it but his assistant manager had and loved my response.
When did it become acceptable to publicly rebuke someone for their food or beverage order?
It's one thing to think something to yourself but I've never had someone actually be so bold as to voice that opinion out loud for the world to hear.
Now the good was really good and reminded me why I love to coach soccer.
My daughter is playing her first winter indoor season on a team not coached by her dad and from the sounds of it things aren't going as well as hoped lol
Now I know the woman who has put a team back into the league and asked my daughter and several of the other players from our team to join her team as B played as a sub for us on several occasions and made comments more than once that playing for us was fun as our team actually had a coach to run the lines, put players into positions, and decide on a formation whereas her old team kind of winged it.
I got to the game just as the kickoff happened and sat on the bench next to one of the players boyfriend and we got to chatting about golf and how we had both been to the Golf Town demo sale on Saturday as we watched the game. It took me a few moments to realize that the opposing team was one I'd always disliked playing against and really enjoyed beating multiple times each season as they played dirty and complained about anything and everything.
My daughter usually plays center mid but has agreed to be the goalie for this team, and she is excellent in nets but even better out on the field so it was surprising to watch her control the pace of play from nets. There was quite a bit of shoving and on at least two occasions the other team tried to run her over but she stood her ground and actually managed to knock one of them down when she got too aggressive in front of her on a corner kick, that of course set off the other goalie who was screaming at the ref to call a penalty and kick her out of the game, which made me laugh and that caused her to look my way and ask what was so funny, to which I replied I found it hilarious that not only did she just get done complaining about a player being in her "area" and pushed her away on a similar play but here she was now saying the other goalie didn't have the same rights of protection and that I was really impressed with her eye sight since she could see down the length of the pitch and pick out things whereas the ref who was a good 30 yards closer couldn't see a thing.
This caused the ref to look back and smile at me while shrugging his shoulders telling me it was going to be one of those nights with them.
Now they managed to slip one past my daughter and the game reached the half with the good guys down 1-0 but not out of it. At this point my ex came and sat down next to me to see how our son had been doing this week with school, his cold, and if his jaw was still sore from the wisdom teeth removal. I updated her and as the ladies were getting ready to go back on the field she asked me if I was going to say anything to them about how to get back into the game. I smiled and said nope, my role there was strictly as a soccer dad and I was enjoying it. She looked at me sort of puzzled as I've always been a very competitive person and if I'd been coaching this game she knew I'd have been pacing and really upset with how they were playing.
As the second half progressed more than one player from my old team came to ask me what she was doing wrong and how to correct it in order to get the equalizing goal. I just kept smiling and said they needed to talk to B as she was the player coach and it was her team. This caused some serious frustrations and several comments about wanting me to come back and coach a team in the spring league that will start up in January but I just reaffirmed I won't be coaching till the summer at the earliest as I needed the break to recharge my mental batteries.
Now with fifteen minutes to play the pace was getting faster and the fouls coming hard and often. My ex kept glancing my way to see what I was going to do as she knows the game pretty well and understood things weren't going to end well as our daughter was getting really frustrated as she hates to lose almost as much as I do and has a real hate on for this particular team as they always seem to kick her ankles trying to trip and injure her. I ignored the glances and just yelled my encouragement as a soccer dad should without being abrasive about it, though I did want to get under the opposing teams skin as several kept looking over to see if I was going to get involved.
Why did everyone think I was there to coach? Was there a memo sent out that I didn't get?
At the ten minute mark B called a time out and gathered the girls around to try and sort things out and I could hear several saying to ask me what to do as there was no way they were losing to these, and I quote here, "bitches".........no love lost between the teams I'd say lol
B walked over and asked me if I had any thoughts to help them and as she did so the entire team followed her over, my ex sat back with a grin on her face, and the opposing goalie started to bitch to the ref that I wasn't a coach and couldn't talk to them, the other captain complained as well as she knew better what was coming. The ref walked over and asked me my role with the team and I asked what he was basing his question on as there was nothing in the rules that said I couldn't address a team if asked as long as I didn't enter the field of play or talk directly to him or the other team. The other captain said that was bullshit whereupon I pulled out my cell and asked him if he would like to clarify the rules with either the league convener or head ref as both were in my list of favourite contacts.
He pulled me down the line away from everyone and asked what was going on and I explained some of the history between the two teams, that I was the former coach of about 7 of the 12 players on B's team, that the other team had never beaten one I'd coached, and that as a father at the game I was more than entitled to shout words of encouragement to my own daughter and offer her advice. He asked the team name of my old squad and when I told him he laughed and said he'd been told all about me and he didn't have any issues with me talking to the team. He went to advise the other captain and as he did so I looked over at the other goalie and told her "prepare to lose" and walked over to B and her team.
I told them that it didn't really matter if they lost 1-0 or 5-0 as a loss is a loss so stop playing passive and leave the striker on the other half of the pitch and make them defend her, shift out from the worthless 3-3 formation to an attacking 2-3-1, shift who was playing the mids to more aggressive players, and told my daughter to start placing her goalie kicks long and down the wings so the other defence would have to come out and not crowd the middle.
It was like someone through a switch on suddenly as they came out of the time out and just pounded the ball, totally controlling possession, and started peppering them with shots. With 5 minutes to go one of my former players sliced a shot just over the raised fingers of the goalie and underneath the cross bar to knot things up at 1!
I smiled as they mobbed one another and B came over to high five me. As they took positions for the kick off I shouted out to stop goofing off and finish them off with a win as a tie wasn't good enough.
The other team packed their end with all 6 players defending hoping to hold onto the tie. I looked around and yelled for my daughter to come out of nets and play the center back slot, the rest of them to crash the other half as even if the other team got possession they couldn't kick it hard or accurate enough to get a shot past my daughter. man did that piss them off as right away the goalie made a save and tried to hammer the ball down the field to score over my daughters head but totally mishit it and left it short whereupon my daughter took control and from mid field hit the hardest shot of her life that left everyone flatfooted as is curved around the left defender and past the goalie for the winning goal!!!!!
B came over with a smile and asked if I was coming to next weeks game and would consider coaching them......I smiled and said this was a one time thing as I didn't like how my daughter was being treated in the game. My daughter ran over and jumped into me thanking me for being there for them and her mother walked up and said to me "admit it, you loved getting them that win" and I did as I love seeing my players succeed but I also know it left me drained and more than a little anxious.
As I walked towards the door I had to go right past the other team as they were sitting on the sidelines and half expected some snide comments but I was pleasantly surprised when the other captain got up to shake my hand saying they thought they had that one won until they saw me show up. The goalie, who was new from last season, and still pissed off looked at us and asked what the big deal was and one of her teammates laughed and said that my teams had won the league every single season but one that we'd been in the league and several teams saw my decision to step away from coaching as their best chance to play for something other than 2nd place. She said she still didn't get it and another spoke up to tell her to think about......they were beaten in the final minutes of a game they had well in had when I made some subtle chances and to imagine the results if I'd been able to change things up at the start of the game.......she frowned and said no coach made that much difference.......and her captain smiled at me and said "you'd think so wouldn't you" and shook her head and turned back to try and explain how difficult things just got if I was coaching B's team..........
So in the course of one day I had one complete stranger criticize me and another compliment me.
I guess there are worse ways to end a day than helping your daughters team win and reminding people that I might not be coaching but I'm still a coach :)
M
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