Category Archives: Soccer

Take A Walk On The Wild Side

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soccer ball in grass field

A man trying to dribble a soccer ball from Seattle to Brazil died this week after being struck by a car. Gooooooooool!

A man less than two weeks into a planned journey to dribble a soccer ball from his home city of Seattle to Brazil, the host nation for the 2014 World Cup, died on Tuesday after being struck by a car in Oregon, police and the man’s supporters said.

Richard Swanson, 42, was struck as he walked on the shoulder of a road on the outskirts of Lincoln City just east of the Oregon coast, said Lincoln City Police Sergeant Randy Weaver. Swanson’s soccer ball was found nearby, Weaver said.

The car was given a red card and suspended from the next two vehicular homicides.

Shoot For The (All) Stars

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Erik Sabres All Stars

Erik’s soccer season officially ended this morning with the Philadelphia Department of Recreation All-Star Game. It was nice to see him recognized for his efforts all year, even though his team didn’t fare too well during the regular season. Erik (on the right with his teammates Michael and Ryan) played well during the game, capping it off with an unbelievable top corner goal in the first half.

As much as he loves soccer – it’s his favorite sport – it’s nice to have a break. Now he can play lacrosse for a few more weeks, then rest up during the summer for Fall soccer.

Bomb Sunday

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Academy SabresKyle’s soccer team, Academy Sabres (United) began the indoor soccer season with a record of 1-3. They then went on a four-game win streak, finishing second in the league, and earning a first-round BYE in the playoffs. You know about Kyle’s wrist, but his teammate Jake also broke a toe on his kicking foot, and his other teammate Frankie suffered a severe asthma attack a few days before the city semifinals. Those were Friday night, and since I was home on death’s door, the missus took Kyle.

And she let him play the game.

Kyle talked her into wrapping the cast in bubble wrap and letting him play forward. Since the boy thinks he’s going to live forever, he figured playoffs were more important than his growth plate.

Not only did Kyle’s team win, but he also played out of his mind.

The city finals were played yesterday, and Kyle’s team was the favorite. Four kids on the team (including Kyle) were trying for their third indoor title in a row. Sadly, a three-peat was not in the cards…

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Cast In The Leading Role

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Kyles Signed Cast

After an awkward Wednesday, Kyle is finally getting used to the soft cast. As you can see, he already found a way to play Call of Duty, Black Ops with one hand. If nothing else, the kid can multitask. His school friends made things a little easier for him by signing his cast today.

(Yeah, they basically signed an Ace bandage, but what are you gonna do?)

You can’t see it as plainly in this photo, but the girls all signed their names with a heart. Most notably, his friend Hailey signed his palm in the John Hancock fashion (you can see it better by clicking the pic).

Kyle is a fairly popular kid, and his classmates are a tight-knit group – both boys and girls. They know about him missing the playoffs, and know he’s having a hard time dealing with it. It’s nice to see they took the time to make him feel a little bit better today.

Kicked In The Grass

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Kyle Sprained WristKyle’s indoor soccer team had their final game of the regular season last night. You can probably guess the result by looking at the photo.

Early in the first half, Kyle (who plays goaltender) took a rocket shot from an opposing player. He saved it, but then immediately fell to the ground, holding his wrist. He said the shot bent his wrist back, and he couldn’t move it at all. Kyle’s coach took him out of the game, and put in the emergency goalie – who also happens to be our leading scorer. We lost the game, 4-2, breaking our four-game win streak. We finished the regular season with a 5-4 record, and the playoffs start as soon as next week.

Kyle won’t be there.

Mrs. Earp took Kyle to Urgent Care, and the x-rays showed that he damaged the cartilage in his growth plate and sprained his wrist. He was given a soft cast and can’t play sports for at least two weeks. It couldn’t come at a worse possible time. Indoor playoffs are starting, and his lacrosse team just started practicing. Missing soccer really hurts, though, because the team has been playing out of their minds. We’re also defending indoor champions – we won the last two titles – and the kids really want to earn a three-peat.

They can still win the title; of that I have no doubt – but it would be easier if Kyle were playing.

Naturally, he’s devastated. He already blames himself for tonight’s loss, and will blame himself if his team doesn’t win during the playoffs.

It’s going to be a very long two weeks.

Earp Ranch News

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Erik FishtownMy mom came home today: three days after double bypass surgery. Because, really, why wouldn’t you perform life-threatening surgery on a 67-year old, then shove her out the door?

Any hoo, my sister and I spent the better part of the morning and afternoon getting mom – and her house – ready for her homecoming. It’s difficult because she hadn’t been climbing steps, and her house – a three-story row – has bathrooms in the basement and on the third floor. To get to the third floor bathroom, she needs to climb thirteen steps. We made do with what we had to make mom as comfortable as possible, but it’ll be a worrisome couple of weeks from here on out.

When I finally walked through my door at 5pm, Mrs. Earp said, “Tell dad your big news.”

Erik made the all-star team!

It’s his first all-star selection, and it comes during his first year with Academy Sabres. While he hasn’t scored any goals yet, he has a few assists, and it the one player on his team that goes full bore from beginning to end. It’s nice to see him be recognized for it.

Oh: And because nothing good comes without a little bad, Erik fell and hit his head on his dresser this evening, causing a small laceration. Mrs. Earp spent about an hour – not bad, considering – with him at the local urgent care facility. No stitches, but they made sure he didn’t have a concussion.

Swimmin’ With The Fishtowns

Kyle’s soccer team, the Academy Sabres United, won yesterday’s playoff game by a score of 4-1. The win put them in the Philadelphia Department of Recreation Outdoor Championship – their first one – this afternoon. They were playing Fishtown, who finished the season with a perfect 8-0 record. Kyle’s team finished the season in second place, with a 5-2 record. The kids knew it would be tough to beat the powerhouse. They were right.

After scoring the first goal, the United gave up five, and our guys lost by a score of 5-1. Kyle played terrific in goal, and Fishtown’s second goal was the only one he should have saved. There were a lot of tears afterward – mostly from Kyle (in orange), who believes every loss is his fault, and his fault alone.

We tried to impart on them that it was their first-ever outdoor championship game – they repeated as indoor champs in 2011 and 2012 – and that they had their best regular season ever, but they didn’t want to hear that. Not today.

So, they’ll lick their wounds, take a few weeks off, and come back for the indoor season in January. And they’ll be looking for some payback.

‘O Solo Mio

Full disclosure: I love Hope Solo. Love. Her.

The U.S. soccer team member is one of the best goaltenders in the world, and is easily one of the hottest Olympians out there.

You know what else is hot? Her urine sample.

U.S. national team goalkeeper Hope Solo received a warning Monday from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after she tested positive for a banned substance in a urine test. Solo has accepted the warning and will still play for the United States in the Olympic tournament. The 30-year-old Solo tested positive for Canrenone in a test on June 15.

“I took a medication prescribed by my personal doctor for pre-menstrual purposes that I did not know contained a diuretic,” Solo said in a statement. “Once informed of this fact, I immediately cooperated with USADA and shared with them everything they needed to properly conclude that I made an honest mistake, and that the medication did not enhance my performance in any way.”

Canrenone is classified as a specified substance, so its presence in an athlete’s sample can result in a reduced sanction.

So apparently, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency did not see fit to put Solo into the carbon freezing chamber. Good for them.

Speaking Of Soccer…

A hot Ukrainian hippie grabbed the Euro 2012 soccer trophy to protest the “sex tourism” the tournament promotes. Wait, sex tourism is a bad thing now?

A Ukrainian women’s rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro-2012 soccer trophy while it was on public display in Kiev on Saturday in a protest against the forthcoming month-long championship.

The young woman, 23-year-old Yulia Kovpachik, is a member of the Kiev-based Femen women’s rights group which believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine will encourage sex tourism.

Kovpachik strode up to the silver trophy, which was on display as a tourist attraction in an open air exhibition in central Kiev, ostensibly to be photographed alongside it like hundreds of other sightseers.

But she then pulled down her red T-shirt to reveal the words “F*ck Euro 2012″ scrawled on her torso. As she grabbed hold of the cup with both hands, she was seized by security guards.

If you ask me, they should have beaten her over the head with the damn thing.

Jakarta Has Some Fiery Soccer Fans

It’s no secret that soccer is much more popular overseas than it is in America. Soccer fans in other countries are like Eagles fans: ignorant and violent.

So naturally, the lack of tickets to a Southeast Asian tournament would angry up the blood. To wit:

Success-starved Indonesia soccer fans, desperate to watch the final of a regional tournament against rivals Malaysia, set a ticket booth on fire at the national stadium in Jakarta ahead of the game Monday.

Police doused the flames and fired warning shots in the air, scattering a crowd of thousands of supporters who were unable to get into the Bung Karno stadium, with a capacity of 88,000, after tickets quickly sold out.

Bung Karno? I’ll bet that stadium smells like ass.