ceebeegee | Entries tagged with athletics

*I'm drinking a "Wicked" hot chocolate from Jacques Torres right now OMG SO GOOD. It's got chipotle and some other kind of hot spice in it. I like my chocolate with a little bit of sass to it.

*The results of my MRI came in and I talked about it with my (hottt, BTW) orthopedist. Apparently it IS an ACL tear--not a bad one but still. This is a little worrying because apparently ACLs do not heal on their own--if it's bad you have them reconstructed through surgery. I don't know that you do for tears that aren't as bad but I'm seeing the (hottt) doctor next week so we shall see.

At any rate I have been playing more and more since our season ended, with the Meetup pick-up leagues. I've mostly been playing with one in particular, run by a guy named Dale, who does the 6-on-6, 3 30-minute game format. My condition is getting better and better--I'm not nearly so exhausted by the end of the games. Last Wednesday was kick-ass--for the first time since I've started playing soccer again, I SCORED A GOAL. Yes, you heard me right:

I scored a goal!

And not only did I score one, I assisted on an even better one, a much trickier goal. The ball was passed to me and I did this kind of backwards, sideways chipped pass into the center scrum and another forward was there who sent it in, easy as you like. This makes me VERY VERY HAPPY. I have been worried sick I wouldn't be able to play at a good level again, that I'd lost my skills, with all the injuries. But no! I am coming back! My wind and my speed are improving and my ball-handling skills are also getting better. The best thing was, after the goal and the assist, the guys started passsing it all the time to me, like "okay, she's cool." Saturday was also lots of fun--in another Meetup gathering, I played in my first FULL-field game since college. FULL field, not 3/4 of half-field like most of thes games--full field. And we didn't even have two full contingent of teams--we had only ten players each so no subs. AND we didn't even take a halftime--WE JUST PLAYED FOR 90 MINUTES STRAIGHT. How much fun was this?! You don't even know. I floated home, I was so blissful. It was even better because all the guys were showering praise on me (I was the only female), about how well I played wing and kept pulling the defense out of formation.

Wing. That's who I am. I started at halfback and that's fun, but what I am is a wing--I played left wing for the vast majority of my soccer career and that's where I feel the most comfortable. That tricky little left wing, floating out there on the outside, ready to swoop in and harsh your buzz and flip the ball into the goal.

The one drawback is that it's not easy playing on the artificial turf--every now and then my cleat will catch on the turf, causing me literal AGONY, and then I have to limp off the field for 5 minutes or so. One player on Saturday pointed out that I should get turf shows, that they'll be easier on my knee, so off I go to Modell's!

Current Mood: happy

So I've been playing in this winter soccer league. Our record was good enough to get us into the playoffs--there are eight teams in this league and we were tied for third place. We played our quarterfinal last week and won! We were supposed to play the semi-final immediately following that game but they had made a mistake somehow and our semi-final was rescheduled for yesterday.

We'd had practice on Saturday which went very well--we had a pickup game against a really good team who was coached by this older guy, in his late 50s at least. The guy was AMAZING. We want him to coach us! He was not only an incredible player who embarrassed the hell out of all of us younger players on the field, he also offered great commentary. I actually played a decent amount in the scrimmage and took a couple of head balls--I landed badly on one (the knee is still a little shaky) and went down and popped up immediately. He was praising me to the other players, saying "that was textbook perfect." The knee was a little weird--if I twisted it at all, it would hurt like hell, but eventually the pain would go away. I had (FINALLY) the MRI later that day, so hopefully that will shed light on the problem. Anyway the game came down to penalty kicks--I took one and got it in! The thing with penalty shots on goal is that if executed properly, you have an excellent chance of getting it in. For the goalie to have any shot of blocking it, s/he has to commit him/herself beforehand (they can't see where the ball is going and then react--there's not enough time). So they just have to decide to which side they're going to dive beforehand and hope the shooter goes to that side. So you have a 50/50 chance of getting it in if you shoot for the side (proper technique). And if you shoot for the top corner they have even less chance of blocking it. Penalty shots are as close to a sure thing as you can get--they're like foul shots in basketball.

So, back to yesterday morning's game, the semi-final. The winner of that game would go on to play the finals later in the afternoon. We played the red team whom we'd played in the regular season. Now there are some teams we don't like--primarily the red and green teams. Red has a couple of players who are way too aggressive. They're pretty rough for what is supposed to be a social team (I mean, really rough--one guy took out several of our players, I'm kind of surprised he didn't get a yellow card), and most irritatingly they try to call the games. (This is a tactic wherein as soon as something happens--say, the ball is kicked out, a handball, etc.--they will "call" it (i.e., for them) which is, hello, the referee's job!). They do it to try to influence the ref. One of my teammates on my select team in HS used to do this. Since I didn't play that much (the knee is still a little shaky), I saw a LOT of this and I was openly calling them out for it. "Hey, we already have a ref, why don't you just play and stop trying to call it?" They also argue with the ref a lot which REALLY should be yellow carded, it's annoying as hell. Anyway, we beat their aggressive asses 3-1, haha! So now we're in the finals. I played a little bit and not only did the knee NOT hurt, but I was actually showing skills I'd never shown before. In HS I was not this fancy-shmnacy dribbler. I scored a lot because I was very fast, and had very quick reflexes. I could get past the defenders, but I didn't do cool things like fakes and misdirects, and passing through their legs. I just ran! (And kicked.) Well, some of the players in this league are pretty incredible, including several on our teams--they can dribble the hell out of the ball. One way of improving yourself (in almost anything physical, including dance) is to watch those who are better. I've been doing a lot of this, studying the better players, and something must have rubbed off because honest to God, I was doing some of that yesterday. I actually got past several players dribbling the ball, and heard the surprised voice of one of my teammates (Pete, a Totally Hot British Dude, oh my God, he is completely hotttt) saying "there you go!" And this makes me VERY HAPPY because I've been worried, especially after hurting my knee, that I have lost my skills. I played very good soccer for ten years and I want that back, dammit! Peter (THBD) complimented me after the games, saying "you had an excellent run there."

Anyway, after our first game (before the final), there was another game, for third place. Red was now in that game, and the green team were their opponents. The green team is another disliked team--until two weeks ago they were undefeated, and then they lost their last game. They were given a bye into the semis--and they lost. Very surprising. We never played them in the regular season but we've run into them at the bar--they never socialized with the rest of us (any of the teams). The team captain was quoted as saying he didn't want them to socialize because he felt it would inhibit their competitive drive. Guess that didn't work out too well for you! He also tries to recruit players from other teams and apparently they've been together as a team for awhile. In general they had this huge "we're the best team" attitude that turned off everyone. Dudes, it's a social league. Get the stick out of your ass. Anyway they played their game--green won (so they were the third place winners) --and then it was time for the finals. Us vs. the yellow team. We'd played the yellow in our very first game, in the snow, and they'd beaten us handily, 6-3.

They seemed nice enough before the game, chatting with us, but apparently they were THE hated team, which I didn't know, I didn't figure this out until I saw both the red AND green teams--and other teams--standing next to us, cheering for us! WTF?! They were actually quite nice to us, so uh, okay, thanks for the support! At halftime we were down by one goal. We huddled together and everyone said something--I said "we are not out of this yet. Keep your heads in the game. Look for opportunities and play smart. Never let up, keep the pressure on." As a smaller athlete, one of my guiding principles is that a smart player is the best kind of player. You can overcome all sorts of disadvantages if you're playing smart--if you are constantly looking and hungry and alert to opportunities. This is especially important when you're down, because momentum is a HUGE thing in sports. That's why so many Super Bowls turn into blow outs--the team that starts winning, ends up winning. Not today!

We scored a goal fairly quickly into the second half, so now we're tied. Then we scored FOUR MORE. One was kind of a fluke--the goal had the ball and decided to go WAY out of the goal area, dribbling the ball. Well, he got caught behind enemy lines and one of our players took a well-aimed shot from the half which went in. I felt bad for him but dude, you're the goalie. You can't leave your post.

They never scored again--and so we ended up league champions! We got medals and everything. It was awesome! We also got a $100 bar tab. (I begged our captain to buy at least one pitcher of Guinness, as opposed to disgusting watery Bud Light, but she said they didn't have Guinness on tap. A horrified me responded "that's outrageous! What kind of an Irish bar doesn't serve Guinness?!") At the bar the green team came over to (somewhat creepily) kiss the hands of our captain and ask for her number so he could set up a "friendly" game between us. He also drunkenly confessed to all of us "deep down we consider ourselves to be the best team." (Uh, no. By definition in a league that has playoffs, the best team is the team that wins when it counts. The tournament is not a coronation.) We ALSO found out that he'd bought trophies for his team--these had to have been bought before yesterday so what was the point if he didn't know in which place they would end up? And seriously--trophies for your third place team? You got the third place medal, why would you buy trophies when even the champions (US!!! :) didn't get them? It just seemed pathetic, like one of those participation trophies. Those are fine for kids, whom you're trying to teach good sportsmanship values, but for a die-hard competitive team such as them, it just seems as though they're trying to insinuate that, as he said, they were the REAL winners. Dude, you came in third! Accept it. I will say, he admitted "no one could stop you guys today."

Anyway, so so so happy! I draped my medal over the trophy I won last fall for the softball tournament, next to my trophy for Least Embarrassing Player. And I'm so proud of our team. We won not because we were the most talented (although we have some fierce players) but because 1) we have incredible team spirit (we also won the Spirit Award) and 2) we WORK. We practice every week. Hard work is almost always the deciding factor in who wins. As a team we have signed up for the spring league, where we'll be playing on Sunday evenings. This will conflict a bit with softball but I'll find a way to make it work. And at least the bar will be better! We'll be at Slainte, which is where we hung out many times after various Planet Connections shows. THEY have Guinness on tap!

Last weekend I had my regular 1 pm Saturday game of softball, and then another at 6, way uptown (by 102nd Street). These are two different teams, both part of the alumni league, but there is some overlap. I started playing for the second team, affiliated with the Michigan School of Business, at the behest of someone on the first team, Cecil, who also went to the University of Chicago. (I personally went to neither Chicago NOR Michigan!) I started playing with the Chicago team last year, and they know me pretty well by now, but there is someone new on the team (at least he wasn't there last year) who is getting on my nerves. Despite having seen me in action, he treats me as though I don't know how to play, or am completely unathletic--in other words, he's either a male chauvinist or doing a good imitation of one. I will say, he is part of a cultural/ethnic group that has a reputation for being extremely chauvinistic. Two weeks ago he was playing at shortstop--every time there was a runner on first, he would explain to me how, if the ball was hit to him, he was going to throw it to me. After about the third iteration of this, I snapped at him "yes--I know how to play softball. I get it." Last week he did even worse--he was playing shortfield and came running in to field a looper. He got it and was about 20 feet away from me--instead of just throwing it, he gave me this exaggerated "baby" throw, very arched, as though I couldn't handle a real throw. Not only was this insulting, he arched it so high, it nearly went over my head! I leaped up to catch it, was barely able to do so but did, and made the catch (and the out). This being the third out, as we jogged off the field I said to him, my voice kind of shaking--I was caught between anger that he'd done such a stupid, insulting thing, and gladness that I made the out anyway--"Dude, just THROW it. I can handle it. You arched that way too high, I'm not that tall."

So this has definitely been getting on my nerves. After this game, I took a walk through the park on my way to the new Sprinkles which has just opened on the Upper East Side by Bloomingdale's. I had an adorable encounter on my way there--at the southeast corner of the park, I stopped at a hotdog stand that featured all organic meats. I ordered a turkey hotdog and the guy, who from his accent was from another country, asked me what condiments I'd like. He listed all of them and my eyes lit up when he said raw onions--I said raw onions, brown mustard and mayonnaise. He said "are you from New York City?" I said originally I'm from Virginia. He said "it is unusual for Americans to have mayonnaise on their hotdogs, very unusual." I said well, Southerners love their mayonnaise--we put it on everything. Fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, everything. (Side note--my mother puts it on SALAD. And cottage cheese. Mmm. I grew up eating cottage cheese for lunch with a dab of mayo on top.) I asked him where he was from, he said Egypt, and I said I was dying to visit there sometime. (Gotta see the only still-extant Seven Wonders of the World.) Then I mentioned that I'd spent time in Spain, including the place where mayonnaise was invented--the town of Mahon, on the island of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands. He was fascinated, and asked me exactly where so I sketched out a little map of the Iberian archipelago with my hands for him. He said he'd have to remember, so he could tell his customers. It was just such a charming New York City moment.

After THAT I went to Sprinkles (mmm, dark chocolate cupcakes...), then to church. I am pretty much incapable of getting up for the morning service, not to mention I'd have to dress up a lot more. The weekend early evening services are much better for me, and lower key--no one seems to mind that I'm in softball gear! They have a 5:20 mass on Saturdays, and an Evensong service at 5:00 on Sundays--I prefer the Saturday because Evensong is a longer, bigger deal. Also, I sang in my church choir for like thirty years, starting from the age of seven, and to me the term "Evensong" means "another precious weekend day spent all day at church!" (We had Evensong one Sunday every month, and on those days we had an 11 am service and then one later on at 5, so I spent all day in a dress. I hated this.) This week the service was in the St. Joseph Chapel, which I love--it's one of St. Mary's little side chapels, and it's so pretty and small and personal. St. Mary's really has THE most gorgeous physical facility of any non-cathedral I've ever seen.

After church I went back uptown for Game 2. When I got there, as it turned out there weren't too many Michigan players there--we were playing against Fordham, who had plenty of players, so some of them played for us. My Chicago team also plays against Fordham and they remembered me (I typically do pushups when my team is at bat--mainly to keep my blood moving and my energy up, but also to psych 'em out ;) So we get out there, and the shortstop on my team is very good--and I can just *tell* from the way he's playing, he just assumes I'm not that good. (Example--instead of throwing the ball to me, he's running the ball over to make the play himself.) I don't take this too personally--he doesn't know me, hasn't seen me play--but it gets to me nonetheless. I'm brooding over this a bit when an awesome, once-in-a-season play happens.

We're in the field, and there are runners at first and third. The ball is hit to the third baseman, who checks the runner at third, then throws it to me at second. I make the out, see the runner at third going for home, and NAIL the ball to the catcher. Like, that ball was on a CLOTHESLINE. The catcher makes the tag. Not only is this a double-play but we saved a run! Our team goes bananas--EVERYONE, my team and theirs, was congratulating me, "oh my God, did you see that?!" Hullaballoo ad infinitum. It. Was. Awesome. The reaction went on quite a while, and of course I knew part of the reason people were so impressed was because I'm a girl. No guy who made a double-play would've gotten such a reaction--certainly the catcher and the third-baseman, who were part of it, weren't patted on the back liike this. You know what? That's the flip side of the crap I get most of the time, one small reward. Right now, I'll take the adulation, thanks ;)

*Basking*

The only thing that could've improved it if it had happened in front of the obnoxious guy on the Chicago team.

Serena. WOW. I'm very surprised but--not really. I can appreciate her tennis but I am not a fan of hers because of this sort of nonsense. She has a reputation for being a sore loser--in post-match conferences after she's been defeated, she never gives credit to her opponent, it's always "I had a bad day" or whatever. When I was at the Open listening to the commentary on their special closed-circuit radio thing, they mentioned this tendency several times, saying that Serena herself has admitted because she's the youngest in her family, she has an entitlement thing going on, but that "being aware of the problem and doing something about it are two different things." Indeed. Venus used to be a little petulant but has gotten much better since she, well, grew up. It's about time Serena did the same. Watching her behavior the other night toward that lineswoman--you just cringe. Dropping the F-bomb? Screaming that you're going to "take this [expletive deleted] ball and shove it down your [expletive deleted] court?" Serena, this is TENNIS. The gentleman's sport. You simply DO NOT act that way. Don't give me that garbage about McEnroe being your hero--when people think of McEnroe, they don't think of his amazing ability or his titles, they remember the tantrums, the obnoxiousness. A pathetic legacy for such a good athlete. Is that how you want to be remembered? I can't even imagine how uncomfortable Kim must've felt. Serena was losing anyway, what a way to divert the attention from the victor and of course now she can say "I only lost because of a technicality."

Ugh. Very glad the US Open gave her notice. $10,000 fine, plus $500 for the earlier racquet nonsense, plus they might strip her of everything she's won at the Open this year. I agree with the first two penalties--not sure how I feel about the latter, and I do not think she should be banned from future tournaments. But I do hope this serves as a wake up call--NOT. COOL.