April 25 Game Recap - Grass Kickers 4 - Dam United 1

I'm going to have to adjust the graph I'm working on that shows Grass Kicker improvement over these two seasons.  It WAS a very straight line moving upwards in a relatively modest incline.  Lost the first season. This season we barely lost the first game, nearly tied the second, and tied the third.  The forecast for this game called for a tie or a modest win. And then - BAM - last night happened. The line is no longer nice and straight.  It turns out that my Rumble In the Jungle 8th round comparison wasn't hyperbole after all. Last night was the beginning of the 8th round. Maybe it was that we were playing for Jenny who was watching from the sidelines, or perhaps the steroids Ian has been surreptitiously putting in everyone's water bottles started to kick in*, or maybe it was that Nate was accelerating from 0 to 60 in 2.3 seconds (faster than his usual 3.4 seconds).  Or maybe it was all of the above.  Regardless of why, we were on fire. Great game, everyone!

As you'll remember we started out the game with both teams attacking hard, with a lot of back and forth across the pitch.  Towards the middle of the first half a quick attack by the Dam United offense left Keaton alone in the goal and Dam United put us at a one point deficit.  Some teams might have been intimidated, but we clearly saw this for what it was: an invitation to bring it.  So we did. Towards the end of the first half, a shot from the left corner was fumbled by Dam United's goalie as Ian pressured him hard.  The loose ball ended up in front of my foot so I did the decent thing and kicked it into the goal.  Only two minutes later, Ian laid another pass in front of the powerful foot of Sam, who took the opportunity to put a high shot into the net.  So we ended the half ahead by 2 points.  A new experience, and after some consideration I have to say that I like it.  During the second half we returned to the ferocious back and forth of the first half, with neither team scoring until a corner kick late in the period. I was on defense so I didn't see how it went down, but the lack of cheering from our players when the ball went into the net let us know it was an own goal by Dam United.  Nothing to celebrate, but we'll take it.  I think that might have taken the wind from the Dam United sails, as they were never able to mount an effective counterattack. Grass Kickers win 4-1.

So, again, excellent game everyone.  Great work in goal Keaton, Alex and Scott.  Great midfield control and passing from Kenji, Breanne, Rachel and Tyler.  Sold defense from Myeshia, Nancy, Nate. Great attacking from Andrea, Ian, Keaton, Sam and others. And, hey, thanks to Sam and Rachel for subbing for missing and injured ladies!

Also thanks to Tyler and girlfriend Megan for bringing Rice Krispies and Capri Suns!

Next week we have a bye (next game is May 9th against the Pen Fed Pirates).  Do we want to get together next Wednesday to... practice?  Imagine that.   I'm up for it, and it doesn't have to be 8pm either.  The challenge would be to find a field.  Any ideas Nancy (or anyone)?

*Which accounts for the hair growth in odd places we've all been experiencing.

Game Tomorrow

I'm still at work but managed to watch the Champions League semifinal between Chelsea and Barcelona (on my phone which I propped against a pile of CDs). With only a few minutes to go in the second half, with only 10 men on the field and having had the ball only 28% percent of the entire game, Chelsea's Torres breaks away on a counter with the ball, cuts around the Barca goalkeep, and scores to eliminate Barcelona and secure Chelsea's spot in the final. HUGE upset. And! A model for what we are going to do to Dam United tomorrow night.

I don't mean we're going to shoot for 28% possession. I mean that despite the odds and despite the fact that Dam United has been described by soccer experts "a pretty good team, I've heard they have Brandi and Jennifer (from hat draw and our Friday team)," we are going to rope-a-dope our way to victory. Or, if Todd is correct, at least a game that ends in a tie where we will have led for most of the game. We are a team that is about improvement, even if that improvement is slow (I prefer the word "steady").

Our captain, Ian "One-Eye" Steele, who has ably led our team thus far, has gotten us some girl replacements for those who won't be there this Wed. Thanks Ian. You'll remember that part of the reason we're down is that Jenny nearly had her knee taken completely off by a big meathead last game. Those aren't her words, she was much more fair about it. So she'll be there, cheering from the sidelines. Another reason to BRING IT tomorrow night.

See you there!

Recap of April 18 Game

"Maybe I should get into
the business of grilling
tasty hamburgers instead."

We're all too young to have watched it live, but maybe you've seen Rumble in the Jungle, the fight between George Forman and Muhammed Ali held in Zaire in 1974. This was Muhammed Ali's comeback fight against George Forman, who had just beaten the crap out of Joe Frazier to take the heavyweight title. With his incredible strength and power, Forman was the overwhelming favorite to win the fight (and that was WITHOUT the GF Grill!). For the first 8 rounds he pounded the crap out of Ali.  Ali was on the ropes most of the time, trying to minimize the damage of Foreman's powerful punches. But then, in that 8th round, Ali used the energy he saved by not dancing around and came off the ropes to land a combination of punches that put Forman on the mat. 

You can see where I'm going with this - like Ali we've been taking punishment over the last 10 games, but  we've been secretly holding on to a store of energy that we're gonna put to use. Last night was the beginning of our 8th round.  We haven't yet scored a knockout, but we're definitely off the ropes and punching hard, and IT FEELS GOOD. 

So great job Grass Kickers! That was our best game so far. Great offense that took advantage of opportunities - Keaton with a header (off a melee that followed a corner, I think?) in the first half with a "butt assist" from Andrea (way to use that thing!), and Todd with a finishing kick in the second half.  Great defense, that shut down the Nutria's fast-breaking forwards. Scott's skilled keeping in the first and some of the second half, followed by Keaton's, stopped several goal attempts.  An improved passing game, too, as Josh pointed out from the sidelines.

And Jenny! Here is the true Muhammed Ali - taking on a guy twice her size and weight.  We hope your knee is OK!  Please report in so we know how you are.

And hope you are feeling better, Nancy.  Get some sleep.

Looking forward to next Wednesday when we meet Dam United at the S. Eugene High school field!

No Rain

As of 7am this morning (game day), my weather forecast is telling me that chance of precipitation @ 8pm is only 30%.   On the other hand, it's also showing me the "sunny" symbol, so take it for what it's worth.  But i have a feeling we're gonna have a dry pitch on which to hurl our soccer forces at the Nutrias.

Get your muscle massages, eat a big breakfast, read some poetry.  We are going to ROCK 2 NITE.

Game Tomorrow

I have it on good authority that the more soccer video clips you watch on Youtube, the better you become. I'm not sure about the finer points of that statement, like whether you become better at soccer or better at watching more Youtube video clips, but on the chance that it's the former here's a video of Lionel Messi dribbling a lot.  

Tomorrow we face the Nutria, which are a team of very large water-going rodents.  They've won one and lost one, which means we are definitely the hungrier team, am I right?  I sense that tomorrow we will continue our slow rise from our winless first season.  First game was close, last game was closer, so it only follow that tonight we will blossom like some sort of very aggressive flower. Speaking of aggressive flowers - we need to help our darling bad ass soccer girls bloom as goal makers - 2 points a goal is gonna help us win or at least tie games.

Also, David should be coming back to join us after undergoing a regimen of steroids.  Welcome back David! I think the steroids were for an injury he sustained so the other team should have no reason to complain. If you notice a lot of extra muscle mass, just don't say anything.

Looking forward to a great game!  After party at the Wetlands (11th and Garfield?) spearheaded by Nancy!  See you there!

Game Recap (04/11)

Hands!

I want to congratulate everyone, again, for a great game but - more than that - for getting through it without drowning. There were moments last night when I wasn't sure whether we were at a soccer game or a swim meet, and I kept checking to see whether Nate was wearing a speedo or not as a way to keep myself oriented (he wasn't, as far as I could tell).  And hey, welcome back, Nate!

We fought the good fight, against the rain and the Mighty Narwhals.  A scoreless first half (both Scott and Marion shutting down the respective offenses) ended with the heavens opening and someone, identity still unknown, began taking a giant piss from up there somewhere.  That someone should refrain from drinking heavily while watching the game, that's all I have to say. I'm not sure if it was the rain, Ian's devil-eye, or the fact that I'm 5'6", but the Narwhals got one in over my head, shortly after the second half began.  WHERE WERE YOU ALEX?  We returned the favor, shortly thereafter, with Keaton again doing the honors by scoring. Someone closer to the action should put in the comments about how that went down.We ended the game, soggy, technically at 1-2 since lady goals count for 2 points.  In a parallel universe where sexism has been eliminated, we tied 1-1.

They shave them off before
each game (they grow back
quickly)

There has been some speculation that the Narwhals won by depending on their skills as water creatures. I didn't see anyone wielding a tusk so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say the game was fairly won.  We WILL be reviewing game footage, however.

Despite last week's fiasco whereby my Photoshop time-shifting specialists failed to capture the horrible nature of Ian's near recovery, I felt I should give them another chance to show us what the Narwhals look like when in their natural state (see photo).

Lastly, I should report that the excitement didn't end at the field, apparently.  As Nancy and the ladies of the team were getting ready to leave the parking lot they could have sworn they saw two familiar-looking, shirtless, glow-in-the-dark white guys driving by in their car with the heat blasting on full. They called the police.

YAAAAAARRR!!!   That's the rallying cry you must make as you read this.  GrassKickers from all over Eugene will hear your cry and will know, from somewhere deep inside, that we are playing our second game of the season tomorrow night against the Narwhals.  Nancy tells me that we will see some familiar faces, as Paolo, Laura K. and Marion are on their team. This is good because as we know we are about having fun and it's more fun when playing against frie- LETS CRUSH THESE PEOPLE.

The big mystery is whether or not Ian will dare show up to play after the maiming he received last week from Tyler. Ian, I've heard Tyler is going to miss this game so your face should be OK.  Also, I have used advanced Photoshop time-shifting technology to consult with specialists to come up with an approximation of where Ian should be in the healing process.  As you can see, as of 9:33am this morning, he is able to open his eye and make inappropriate advances. Specialists say he's good to go.

In other very relevant news Nancy is gonna host another ambush of Shooters after the game tomorrow.  Which reminds me:  Myeshia's band, The Essentials,  has a gig this Friday the 13th!  She is awesome so lets show up at the Oak Street Speakeasy @ 9:30pm.

Game tomorrow night (11/4) is at North Eugene High School.  See you there!

First Game Recap

Should we start a collection to purchase a face-mask for Ian or a pillow helmet for Tyler?

Great first game, everyone! Final score was 2-3, and we were fairly matched. We were down 2 points at the beginning of the first half due to a strong start by the Baron's offense, but quickly came back with two lovely left footers from Keaton. Alex and Scott would have managed a shutout in the 2nd half if not for a lucky score in a mad scramble in the penalty box off a corner kick. Which reminds me - do we not have a killer pair of goalies this season? Those two guys rock. Also a lot of talent all around the field - I think once we play a bunch of games together our game will start to gel. Oh.. and nobody - and I mean NOBODY - gets through Myeshia.

I can tell, already, that we will crush last season's record. A low bar, I know, but that's good: All we have to do is tie one game, and we've moved up in the world. So the pressure is off - we can all just have a good time. Not that we wouldn't have, anyway. But I, for one, am going to stop hiding a wrench in my shorts to kneecap the other team's strikers if we get down more than three points. No need.

Also - interesting to note that of the teams that played last night, we and the Barons were the only teams to have been evenly matched. Here are the scores:


10-1, 9-1, 9-3. Wow. I guess only time will tell as to where we fit amongst the other teams. We play the Narwhals next week.

Lastly, I want to thank Nancy, organizer extraordinaire, for putting us all together again. You do a great job!

Its here! Spring season is a go!

Okay first game is this Wednesday - I would advise that people bring a tarp or something to throw their stuff under - I will try to bring something but as well all know I can be a bit absent minded.

Lets go over a few things for those who haven't played in a while or has just joined the team.

• You MUST bring photo ID and check in with the ref at the beginning of the game - acceptable forms of identification include drivers license, oregon ID card, school ID, passport
• If you are going to be wearing glasses please show up early so you can fill out one of the eyewear disclaimer forms
• Absolutely no jewelry is permitted! and taping over it is not allowed - this is a biggie, last season a girl's team got fined $200 for her cheek piercing
• Since this league is officiated we are playing with the Off-Sides rules! If you don't remember what that is then please search either the blog or the internet to refresh on the rules
• Shin guards and socks that cover them must be worn
• Absolutely no sliding or slide tackling!

Furthermore here are some just team rules that I would like us all to observe and remember

• We are all here to have fun and be social - we are not hyper competitive. I want to remind everyone that we should all practice good sportsmanship
• If you/us/we have a problem with another player/team/ref please let me know - I will deal with it with the city and the other team's manager
• Please please please use the team cowboy site and RSVP for the games
• If you have a vehicle and can provide rides please check in with the team cowboy site or with your teammates personally to make sure that everyone who needs a ride can get one
• Please try to be cognizant of playing time and substitutions - I generally keep a pretty good eye on player rotations but sometimes I lose track. If someone from the sidelines is asking to sub in or if I ask you to sub out please do so - we want to ensure that everyone has as much playing time as they would like.

This is gonna be a great season - we have amazing players and if nothing else I will put money on the fact that we are the most social/friendly/fun team on ANY league. I can't wait to see everyone soon - GO GRASSKICKERS!

ps. we can re-start our wednesday night post game tradition either this week or next. Since our game is at churchill this week i vote for the Overtime as our post game stop. Thoughts?