It Was A Good Day For Sports
By Wyatt Earp | April 6, 2009
NASCAR
If anyone heard a very loud and obnoxious, “YEAH, BABY!” this afternoon, that was me. After a 47-race winless streak, my favorite NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon, totally dominated the field at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon’s victory was the 82nd of his career, placing him 5th all-time. Damn.
It was good to see my boy in Victory Lane, even though I didn’t pick him in our fantasy league. Frak.
ICE HOCKEY
Well, here’s the pickle about that. You see, my in-laws don’t do anything on Easter, because my brother-in-law (Fish) goes out to his in-laws in Pittsburgh every year. Thus, my in-laws have Easter dinner on Palm Sunday. It never fails that I have an ice hockey game on Palm Sunday, because no games are scheduled on Easter. My mother-in-law is great about it. Well, she at least accepts it as a certainty – I don’t know if she likes it.
This year, Palm Sunday dinner was special, because her cousin Barbara and her husband Grant – two quality individuals, by the way – were up from Florida. We haven’t seen them since Julia was born, so it was a big day.
And I had a game.
Look, I wasn’t all too pleased about it, either, but I have a responsibility to the team. I was able to make dinner. I stayed for about four hours, spent some quality time with the family, then exited, stage left. I look at it this way: I try to teach the kids about responsibility, and that sometimes they have to do what is expected of them, even if it is inconvenient. I was able to make the dinner, so I had a responsibility to the team to make the game. For me, it’s that simple.
Luckily, the in-laws are cool with it. Turns out, I was damned glad I went to the game. Either it was the Palm Sunday dinner, or the new route to the rink, but I played rather well last night. (And I am usually my harshest critic.) Although I felt pretty tired to start, I came out and scored three points on the first three goals. The first goal was off a rebound in front of the goaltender. He tried to clamp donw on the puck with his glove, but I beat him to it – pushing it past him and into the net.
The second goal came a few minutes later. There was a scrum in front of the goal, and the tender was out of position. The puck came to me as a defenseman threw himself in front of the net for the block. I lifted the puck over his outstretched hand for goal number two,
“Holy crap,” I thought. I have two goals in 8 minutes!
In the second period, I skated the puck into the offensive zone, stopped suddenly, and put a wrist shot on net. My center, Chris, tipped the shot past the goaltender. We’re up, 3-0. I was in hockey heaven. My teammates said, “You almost have the hat trick.” And that was the Kiss O’ Death. I had never scored three goals in a game before, but to be honest, I thought it was coming tonight.
I was wrong. I had some chances in the later periods, but I never scored again. No biggie, we won the game by a score of 6-2, and we finished the regular season with a record of 15-8-5. The playoffs start in a week or two.
Two goals, one assist, and a +4 on the night. I chalk it up to dumb luck.
SOCCER
Saving the best for last, my 8-year old son Kyle, had a Hell of a day today. Hell, Palm Sunday, get it? Any hoo, this was his first outdoor soccer game of the season after a terrific indoor season. A few minutes into the game, it was obvious that the team improved.
Kyle was playing forward, and on the first rush, he went straight for the goal. His linemate Jake passed him the ball, and Kyle kicked it about five feet in the air, past the goaltender and into the net. He raised his arms and ran the length of the field in celebration. It was his first outdoor goal in two seasons.
It got better. A few minutes later, Kyle again crashed the net. Jake once again saw him, and made a beautiful pass. Kyle fired it home for his second goal of the game. Kyle 2, Parkwood 0. The next goal went in off a Parkwood player, and Kyle was the last to touch it. In hockey, he would get credit for another goal, but not in soccer. No matter: His team won the game by a score of 10-0, and the boy was a happy camper.
Although, there was a not-so-bright side of this story. In the second half, Kyle’s coach made a personnel move. You can see it under the fold.
Apparently, his coach was tired of seeing him score. Heh.
Topics: All About Wyatt, Ice Hockey, Racing, The Boys | 9 Comments »
April 6th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Kyle looks so lonely all by himself.
Well, I’m guessing he didn’t get many visitors. Heh.
It’s nice that you both had a great day! Even better is that you got to see him have a great day.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:15 am
RT – Thanks. He saw one shot in the entire second half. Obviously, he saved it.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Congrats to both of you!
We actually seem to have soccer fans in the US of A. What’s Kyle’s summer team sport? Cricket I hope …
April 6th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Y’all done good
Now KEEP IT UP!!!
April 6th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Congratulations
April 6th, 2009 at 9:06 am
Very nice Palm Sunday, Kyle and his father are doing very well. Nice thing about going to play hockey, the in-laws can talk about you while you are gone and it won’t go to your head. As long as they remember your name when you come back. Nice day, thanks!
April 6th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Y’all each got two; that’s a quality day.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Alan B – He plays soccer year ’round. Lacrosse in the Spring, and street hockey in the Summer.
Old NFO – Thank you, sir!
Rick – Thanks. It was a good day.
Earl – Thanks. Yeah, the in-laws are great, but I’m sure they joked at my expense after I left.
Doghouse – When Kyle went in goal, he lent his jersey to the previous goaltender. That kid scored two goals in the second half. Kyle said that his jersey actually was in on four goals.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
No cricket??
I’m gutted. How can you neglect his education this way?