From the Sports Desk – Indoor Week 2

 

No photos here; no Cpher either…the whole team will be here for each game

As I’ve said, we are playing 2 years up at U14.  And this weekend made clear the reasons we do that and how it can be an issue.

Saturday:  Lost, 9-1, to Whiteout.  5 of the boys on Whiteout play with Matthew; the other four are U14s from the Chill A team.  And it showed; those four were good and they took it to us.

The goalie stood on his head too; I think the score could have been closer, maybe 9-4 or 9-5…we had our chances.  We get the goalie completely out of position one time and the defender dives back and heads the ball out of danger.  Sometimes it is not your day.

But we didn’t play well…and we quit near the end and they racked up easy goals because we quit.  Oh well.

Sunday;  Won, 10-0, against Freeze.  These guys are U13 from the Chill B team…and we ran all over them once we got untracked.  Wish we would have played like this on Saturday!

One of the goofy things about the new format at Soccerzone is that if you are down by 5 goals you can add a player; if you are down by 7 you can another.  I was offered this chance on Saturday and decline; turned to the guy who is helping me coach (there isn’t much coaching really) and said “We’ll lose with what we have”…

The Freeze took this option…and it did not help, in fact, I think it made things worse!  We scored two goals when we were coming in 3 on 5!

The highlight of the game for me was after the Freeze had dumped these two extra guys on the field….it didn’t seem like our kids on the field at that time noticed.  They ended up getting a turnover and breaking in on our goal for a shot and Matthew is running back to play defense there….we make the save and Matthew stops, sticks up his hand and starts counting the kids on the field!  They’ve had seven field players for at least five minutes, Matthew is the first to figure it out (he wasn’t real timely on this revelation, but, it was pretty funny when you could see him figuring it out on the field!)

Whew!

 

Maybe the most disappointing thing to occur in the last 12 months is Kevin missing All-State last year.  A good lesson(?) for him; you can’t just waltz in and think you are going to make it.

So, this year, he did approach it a lot more seriously.  And after the audition he comes home and reports, unhappily, that it didn’t go as well as he had hoped.  While his director said he really nailed the sight reading, but Kevin wasn’t happy with his mistakes on the scales.

When the email came out last night that the audition results were posted, I found my heart thumping a bit as I hit the link and started to review the results….

Whew!  Not sure what they are performing yet; looking forward to it though.  Wonder if either of the two basses will ever audition (Cpher?  5% chance.  Matthew?  a little more optimistic that he’ll at least try out).

From The Sports Desk – Basketball Week One

 

Cpher was placed on the ‘B’ team after two weeks of practice.  He is ok/happy with this, or, maybe better said, is not disappointed that he didn’t make the ‘A’ team.  I wonder at the ‘A’ team selection since they only took one big guy and have a feeling that will come back to bite them later on.  They can move kids back and forth at any time, so, we’ll see what happens. 

I’m a little disappointed he didn’t make the ‘A’ team….but I think it is as simple as he doesn’t really care so he gets what he gets.  It does make me wonder if he will ever care about trying harder at this, or, for that matter, any of his sports.  Guess it’s healthier the way he is approaching it…..

Anyway, my early prediction is the A team will do about like the A teams Cpher has been on before…about .500.  The B team will win a lot….and most games won’t even be close.

Monday-Mason:  Assigned #55; both 7th grade teams use jerseys from Kinawa; purchased brand new the year before the big school realignment.  I missed this game (and the next game) but Matthew and Mom went and Matthew taped for me, so, pictures below are from that.

Won 47-17.

Matthew videotaped the game and I need to have a few words with the boy about excessive zooming!  He did catch Cpher’s one basket (yeah, one basket in 47 points isn’t a great outing).

(click above for the video….nice passing to start the 2nd quarter leads to a wide open Cpher)

Wednesday-Williamston: Won 52-7.  This game started right as I was landing at the airport; I figured I’d make the second half but the game was a running clock pretty early so I just ended up going straight home.

Asked Suzanne to take some pictures for blogging purposes…

Taking…and winning…the jump.  Wston has all of their height on the A team (one kid is 6-2, the other is 6-0) so not much of a problem here.

Almost immediately jumps out and makes a steal too….you can see the guards turning around as Cpher dribbles up court.  He made the smart pass for an easy basket.

On defense….his arms should be up!

Nice entry pass to Cpher on the low post…..he’s not able to take the ball and go straight up and in the time it takes him to double-take the guy there comes around for the double-team to stop him.

Finished with three points and a whole bunch of rebounds.  Told me today his goal was to score a basket in each game; told him today that MY goal was for him to score at least ten in one game!

Kevin Extracurriculars

 

Plays;  He auditioned for the fall and winter play about a month back; I figured as a senior things might go better than expected and they didn’t go that way at all.  For better or worse (and I’m convinced now it’s worse) both of these plays are directed by the same guy who does the musical……..I’ve been pessimistic that Kevin would ever have much of a role in a musical and now firmly believe that Kevin won’t have much of a part there either.

The fall play is “It’s a Wonderful Life”….Kevin is Sam, a small part who memorably(?) gets to say “Hee Haw” all of the time…..

The winter play is “All I needed in life I learned in kindergarten” or something like that.  This play, like Almost Maine, is much smaller and only has five parts, 3 male, 2 female.  Kevin is none of those.  In one of the more frustrating (for me at least) items, the main male leads in Life are the same male leads in Kindergarten.  What’s the point in that?  I’m sure they will be the same leads in the musical as well.

Quiz Bowl:  The fall league season ended last week….it’s been an interesting season.  Kevin has pointed out that for some reason the format in Quizbusters is better for the team than Quiz Bowl…..the matches in Quiz Bowl, by and large, are much closer.

They ended up as regular season champs, but, had to pull it out on the last day.  Eastern has one very good girl, and she carried the rest of her team to a win over the team when Kevin and Abhijit were absent early in September.  The rematch was last Wednesday and they were, I think, down by 10 going into the lightning round at the end of the match but won.

The fall league tournament was the very next day; they beat Everett 170-95 in the first round, faced Eastern again in the semi-finals and were again down, this time by 25, going into the lightning round but rallied to win by 5.  And they beat…well, I’m not sure who they beat, Kevin didn’t text the team, but only texted that they won 265-145 in the final.

Quizbusters taping #2 is tonight…[Update from the front:  They crushed Howell 650-160]

From The Sports Desk – ”The Return” Edition

 

As I know I’ve mentioned, the lack of basketball over the next six weeks prompted me to pull together an indoor soccer team.  Decided to recycle the orange tops from the soccer-in-the-sand tournament so went with the name “Orange Crush”.  A mix of players that Matthew has played with over the years….three kids from the teams I used to coach, 5 kids from ( T ), 3 kids from ( C )…some overlap, so, a total of 9 kids total.  Everyone, no matter who they play for, has white shorts and white socks, so, that's the uniforms we rolled with.

Ask everyone if they will be there for Saturday’s game…..only one person says no, that they’ll be late.  So Thursday one kid says “sorry, going to the football game, I will miss”.  Friday I get another email like that.  And today, I get an email saying that another kid will be late….I realize I won’t have enough kids to start the game……

We registered the team all the way up in U14…..I do have one U13 on the team but the rest are all U12…playing up here in Lansing indoors we’ve learned we need to play up an age (or two!) to have competitive games.  After asking one person to sub (they couldn’t); I finally realize that the answer is staring me in the face…

(yeah, that’s right, returning to competitive soccer after a 2 1/2 year break!)

I get my two ‘late’ players back right as the game starts but Cpher starts the game on defense.  We go on to cruise to the 5-0 win.  Not sure how old the team was that we played against….I think they had some 8th graders but I’m going to guess about half were 7th graders.

Cpher alternated from fearful to excited before the game started today.  Mom and Dad ended up looking forward to the events…it’s been a while since we’ve seen the boys playing soccer together….

He acquitted himself well…..played solid defense, had a handful of chances in front of the goal, but, looked like a defensive lineman playing soccer on any number of occasions

Had a header!  Really really wanted to score a goal as the game went on and asked me throw him in up at forward.  I did, and he had a few chances, but, couldn’t convert.

This boy had an eventful day…..missed a goal from literally two feet away from the net because instead of just passing it into the goal he decided to nail it as hard as he could….and hit it almost straight up in the air instead of forward.  Played solid in the field whether he was the forward, at mid, or on defense.  Had one or two sequences where he made some exquisite passes that led to some great opportunities.

Played some goalie…ended up getting hurt when one of the kids got into him a bit when he went down to make a save and had to come off the field with a bloody lip…

The only picture of the two boys in action….Matthew very deliberately trying to pass the ball across to Cpher to give him a chance to score.  Cpher completely whiffs on the shot.

It is easy to forget sometimes how unselfish Matthew is sometimes….as the game is ending we get a two-on-one.  Matthew is breaking in on the left with the ball, Nick T is coming in on the right.  Nick T has two goals at this point…nobody would have blamed Matthew at all for keeping the ball and taking the shot.  Matthew keeps coming, keeps coming, sucks the goaltender in and makes the nice sweet slow pass across for the easy tip-in by Nick.   

Hey, I look a little taller than Cpher today!

Glad Suzanne took these photos!

From The Sports Desk – Futbol Game Eight Edition

 

This soccer game is in direct conflict with Cpher’s last football game; gave Suzanne first choice and she chose soccer.  Turns out it was kind of a crappy day for both of us; Cpher’s team got hammered and Matthew’s team ended up in a 0-0 tie against a team I think we should have beaten.

Since I wasn’t there, I have no ‘direct’ comments that I can add here.  But….

• This was not Matthew’s best game; to the point that some people have referred to him having a ‘bad’ game.  Which is a lot different than playing ‘badly’……Suzanne has been steadfast that she doesn’t think he played ‘badly’
• Matthew started off at attacking center-mid and I think missed or mis-hit a few passes early, and that got him called to the sidelines for a little chat with Coach Stu that ended up with him crying a little on the bench.  I don’t think Stu was mean…I think Matthew took things a little too personally.
• Went back in as center-back and did ok…but did get called for a foul where he was grabbing a jersey and then called for an inadvertent hand ball that gave the other team two pretty decent free kick opportunities.
• Had a one-on-one chat with Stu right after halftime as the game started.  This mostly consisted of coach trying to build Matthew confidence back up as I understand it.
• Played a lot better in second half…started at center-back and then back up at attacking center-mid.  Seemed to create more offense his second stint up front.

No more outdoor soccer until March….

(can’t deny it.  I thought this would be a whole lot better than it is)

(Fall 2013 – Final)

Coach Stu Says:

1ST HALF SUMMARY

Boys started off playing some very good soccer. They played some excellent attacking soccer and put the opposition on the back foot for the most part. We tried to pass the ball out of the back and were looking pretty sharp on the ball. A few times in the middle of the field we tried to do things a little too quickly and this led to a few transitional moments where we were put under pressure. However for the most part of the opening 20 minutes we looked sharp and opened up the opposition well. We looked the most dangerous in the wide areas and this freed us up to create good goal scoring chances in the middle of the field. Then in the last 7 or 8 minutes we took our foot off of the gas and started to play a little too direct and against the wind we lost control of the game and conceded a few good chances. We must remain calm even after we make a mistake and try to continue to build out of the back and keep the ball to draw the opposition out of position. We must also remain a little calmer as a back line when a player turns us; we can’t dive in or drag the opposition down. They had two excellent opportunities from free kicks that were given away from silly fouls that we just need to stand the player up. At the end of the half their goalkeeper turns the ball onto the post with a brilliant save to deny us.

2ND HALF SUMMARY

A much more complete second half. We got back to knocking the ball around with ease and showed our quality to create chances in the final third with some great combo and long range efforts. One of the best moves in this half was the driven switch from right back to left mid followed by a drive into the box and then a lay off to the left back. Although we missed the chance it was an outstanding play! We created some excellent chances and had multiple shots from our outside mid’s and fullbacks. We had good chances from set pieces that we didn’t take advantage. The best chance of the game fell to my forward who rounded the GK and was dragged down by his trailing foot in what was a clear goal scoring chance. We unfortunately missed the penalty due to their coach screaming during the kick which was an injustice in what should have been a red card to their GK (foul last man) and the coach (for putting off a player)

OVERALL

Some excellent soccer today but lacked the clinical finishing we require to show our dominance (aside from a 7 minute spell). Very happy with the performance and something we can build on in the Winter to get us to where we want to be in the Spring!

Goalkeeper: Good game overall. The few times he was called into he made some great stops and distribution was fairly good aside from a few into the wind that were a little high so didn’t carry well.

Defenders: For the most part on the same page and worked well at nullifying the threat of their speedy wingers and strikers. However we got caught moving up the field a little too quickly and getting the wrong side of our marker when we didn’t have the ball a few times.

Midfielders: At times we looked unbelievable and created some outstanding chances. However there was a few times were we tried to do a little too much. They made it difficult to take too many touches today and we must make slightly quicker decisions.

Forwards: Held the ball up well and brought others into the game. Some great strikes from here today but their keeper was in top form. Great run to win the penalty and we were unlucky not to get us the goal we deserved.

Iphone Photo Dump – Seriously Random Edition

 

Been a while since I’ve done this type of post, so, there are a lot of random photos out there to talk about.  Pictures not presented in chronological order.

Arriving home from school.  Matthew has grown tired of the bus (I think the bus driver is overly controlling and Matthew has opted out of that…and also walks with his friends home) but I think this one is after a bus day.  The picture is notable for a few things…the dog welcoming Matthew home…the couple on the sidewalk including the creepy older dude who always walks without his shirt on and the two chihuahua dogs that absolutely drive Holly nuts (those two midget dogs have keenly figured out just how far Wiley and Holly can go with the invisible fence….and set up about 6 inches outside of that)

After football practice one day….everyone else is gone, the sun is almost gone, and the boy is practicing his kicking.

This cat loves to spend all night outisde…and the early morning with this boy.

Took this picture of the first soccer game of the year…don’t know if I ever posted it.  The complex up in Midland.

I know these two photos are the most recent of the bunch….the boys getting their pumpkin-ing done right after I left for Indianapolis. 

And, for the second year in a row, the boys are making another attempt to plant all of these seeds somewhere in our lawn and get pumpkins next fall.  I think they looked up the instructions on the internet on the best way to clean and plant the seeds so, that’s what is going on here.  Suzanne told me over the phone that it is amazing how nicely these two can work together sometimes (and more often than not over the last few months they have been like oil and water over EVERY LITTLE THING NO MATTER WHAT).  I think they might be acting that way just to annoy Mom and Dad (it’s working!).

Mums in Chicago along the Magnificent Mile.  These pictures are from our trip downtown during the soccer tournament.

We were going to go up Willis Tower but, it was cloudy and overcast and what is the point of that if you can’t see forever.

Had dinner at Giordano’s….and then walked around some more and did some shopping.  Suzanne mentioned that we’re lucky that we don’t have girls with the opportunity to spend a small fortune at American Girl.  But…..

there is more than enough opportunity for small boys to find ways to spend a small fortune.  This time, it is Cpher who found more than a few things at the big Nike store that he thought might fit him well (he has been wearing the jacket a lot…here, obviously worn as soon as he bought it, and you can see it in he pumpkin photos above)

I drew the short straw and slept with Cpher on this trip (one could say that he drew the short straw and ended up with me!).  He’s out in this photo, snoring up a storm.  I had to almost completely wake him up to get him to roll over, give me a little more room, and stop the noise!

The senior float from this year’s homecoming parade.  Kevin only really helped out with the float his freshmen year.

Cpher, with the 7th grade team.  He saved some of his candy to throw now….you can see it flying towards us (and the kids surrounding us)

Matthew, with his team.

          

Two pictures from our journey to scout out senior picture locations….I’ll save more description on this for when the pictures show up.

Another photo that will have more discussion later when we get the official photo from the school…the family photo from the national merit reception

The UPS guy.  He always brings treats for the dogs and, well, treats for the family too (we don’t pay for the dog treats though).  This delivery was for the Xbox - Batman: Arkham Origins….with this and the upcoming Call of Duty release on 11/5 the boys will be kind of scarce in the upper levels of the house.

From The Sports Desk – Cpher Football Season Closeout

 

Two games to talk about to end the season.  And the whole season can be summarized in those two games.

Holt:  Won(!).  I don’t know if I even remember the final….21-6 maybe?  And I can be honest about it….they were winless too….and they played that way.  Seemed like they wanted to throw on every play…not a recipe for success.

After the last game (where Cpher was yelled at quite a bit…and part of the yelling was that his stance was horrible) I talked with the big guy and found out that he wasn’t quite sure how to fix it.  So, we went and talked to the coach, and Cpher got a nice pep talk which was along the same lines of what I was sure of what was going on…hey, you’re doing ok, but, with you size and your speed you should be doing a lot more.  The stance he was in was robbing all of his power…he had no choice but to stand up as his first movement instead of moving forward.  A simple correction.

So, Cpher had that to think about as this game started.  And there was one thing that became apparent pretty quickly; if Holt was going to block Cpher with one guy, Cpher was going to be in their backfield all day.

You can click on either of the two photos for the video highlights of Cpher’s day….

The first play of the game…the quarterback there is recovering his fumble as Cpher rolls over the top of him

This is two or three plays later….the guy in pink socks has tried to block Cpher…Cpher ran by him and through him to get to this reverse right as the exchange takes place. 

About immediately thereafter Cpher saw double teams on running plays for the rest of the game (they didn’t double him on passing plays…which is weird, because he was always in the backfield hurrying the throw).  He did OK on the double teams too….I think sometimes he was just content to take the block and stay at the line of scrimmage and look for the ball but there were a few times he just drove both guys off the line and made a play.

East Lansing:  And the season ended with a thud; we were down 25-0 before rallying to make it 31-12.  Thought Cpher played poorly as well; kind of slid into the butt-down stance as time went on and didn’t hold his blocks on offense at all (which led to a fumble recovered by them and a pretty big loss on a running play).

To be fair, EL lined up a very fast guy way outside of Cpher on the line…..and we did nothing to help Cpher out (no running back or TE help) and Cpher had very little chance of getting out that far that fast off of the line to do anything. 

I’m sure we’ll be back here next year…8th grade football is sure to have only one team so that alone will make us a heck of a lot more competitive.  

Indianapolis

 

This is my third visit to Indianapolis in the last four months; I’ll be back one more time in two weeks.  I took some pictures as I was walking around during the last visit so I figured I’d throw them out here.

Downtown is definitely set up for walking…..there are a lot of sights and restaurants within a 2 mile radius.  This is looking northwest along the White River (talk about your slow moving rivers…I don’t think I’ve seen any current anytime I have walked along it).  That’s IUPUI over there on the right….

Nice paths on both sides of the river…the zoo is on the other side of this big wall.

Looking back at downtown Indy.

Starting at about my hotel and running through most of downtown is the canal walk.  The headquarters of the NCAA is right near my hotel as well…you can see one of their buildings on the left here.

They put in a lot of murals for the Super Bowl…this picture came out better than I thought since there wasn’t a lot of light under the underpass)

Looking back towards downtown from the end of the canal walk to the north.  There were a couple places to rent paddleboats and kayaks during the summer.

A waterfall at the north end….saw more than a few kids getting their senior pictures done at various spots along the walk.

The USS Indianapolis memorial(?)…..

I guess you wouldn’t talk about it on a memorial like this, but, the ship sinking is really only half the story of the ship sinking.  The Navy didn’t know of the sinking for four days and the deaths from sharks/exposure/drowning made this the worst loss of life at sea in the history of the US Navy.

The Capitol

What is with every state and city in the Midwest trying to claim any portion of Abraham Lincoln’s heritage that they can?   I guess a teen-aged AL spent some time in Indiana….