He's always bragging about his vertical leap.

I like to post photos of famous footballers to give all you non-game-attendees a sense of excitement that may or may not exist at your typical Castle Grey Skull F.C. match.

Behold, the "Hand of God" goal by Diego Maradona. I cannot leap like that ------>



I can, however, fall down and bruise and bleed like a big sissy. Which is what I did on Sunday. I was knocked down by a stocky bald man two (2) times. I mean, it's cool. I was up in his grill. I skinned both knees and bled a little. First blood in my soccer "career." Wooo!

As you can imagine, I am pretty well dinged up today, and nursing some shin splints (also because I'm a sissy). I've got a nice smattering of leg bruises, which isn't earth-shattering as I sustain brusing on my legs whilst walking into my cube (I run into my chair on a daily basis as if I were blind) or my bedroom (damn you, doorknob!), sleeping (I fight crime at night), or standing very very still (stiff winds are killer). When it happens in a game, it makes me feel hardcore and then when the endorphins wear off, I feel a little like a weakling.

Anyway, the game. Well, yesterday marked the triumphant return of Owen from his extended trip abroad, so he was able to play and be our official Guy Who Terrifies the Goalie.

We had some great moments in effective passing and pushing forward toward their keeper, which had him fairly nervous most of the time. Many on the team got a lot of shots off that went just wide, but Owen made up for that hard luck with some truly brilliant shots that were too low and hard for the keeper to stop. There was good teamwork all around, which shows (I think) that we're developing well as a unit.

The troubling part of the whole affair, though, was the opposing team's rather upsetting and dangerous lack of ball (or indeed, foot, hand, knee, whatever) control. I understand the frustruation. When you're a few back, you lash out. But man. They drew some blood from the Grey Skull. My skinned knees were minor compared to a near-hematoma sustained by Tera after a fierce kick to the leg. Will got a similar injury that included a nice cut along his leg. Basically, you know things are a little ugly when the ball is constantly bouncing off the effing ceiling of the gym. Or, for instance, when a stocky bald man pushes you down then boots the ball mere inches from your face while you're trying to pick yourself up off the effing floor.

But, the good news is, as I mentioned, we played a pretty tight game, did not get into any fisticuffs over the rough play, and Marty was a frickin' WALL. One goal allowed at the start of the second half and that was it. He was everywhere.

Claire had a really solid attempt at a goal that just went wide. Insha (who had never played until this year) and Nora made a habit of charging the keeper, so much to his surprise that they very nearly poked it in goal a couple of times. It should be noted at this point that the keeper had roughly 200 lbs. on Insha (and Nora as well, for that matter), who is both fearless and a very able marker.

The Castle Grey Skull F.C. ended the day triumphant, with a score of 5-1 (I know, Marty's a wall, right?). We've even inched into 3rd place in the standings.

Next week's game, for any of you amateur sports fans are interested, will be pre-Super Bowl (if you're into faux football, I imagine you'll be watching that). You should come out and cheer. Bring your own green scarf and cowbell.




image respectfully borrowed from members.lycos.nl/allstarsteam/maradona21.jpg