Freedom High made it all the way to the championship play-offs - go Patriots! The game was intense, our boys were (dare I say?) out-played in the 1st half, and it appeared that the refs were a little biased. In the second half our boys ROCKED. Especially Ian. I'm not a bit partial. There was one goal made, lots of really good defense happening, but not enough to make up for the first half struggles.
Ian was adorable. (I know 18 year old "men" are not adorable, more bad-ass in a fun-loving sort of way, but adorable, in my book). He was totally working the crowd. Freedom would make a great play, the crowd would cheer, if the cheering started to lag before the ball went back into play, Ian would signal us to keep it up. Plus - he plays some kickin' hard defense. I wouldn't want to run into him at top speed. The girl took her camera - most of the pictures are, of course, of Ian. I'll try to post on Facebook later today.
I have not been to very many soccer games, they usually conflict with gymnastics. Last night we should have left early, because 10:30pm is too late for the girl with an early gym meet this morning. But we stayed, and I have to say, I'm glad its over, 'cause I'm not sure how many obnoxious parents at soccer games I want to deal with in my life. It was bad to the point of laughable bizarre. I had no idea I was taking my child to an "R" rated event.
The fans for PHU (Palm Harbour University) were obnoxious, but I couldn't decipher most of what they were saying. Some of the Freedom parents were totally over the top. The guy behind me kept screaming at the Refs to put on a skirt. I thought the word "Pansy" was out-dated, but it got a revival last night. "Pussy" is still popular. "Girl" is apparently the worst possible thing to call a soccer boy. And, when a player gets injured, and the coach comes onto the field to assess his injury, he probably does not need public encouragement to give the kid a "BJ" while he's there. The standard obscenities were used.
We watched part of the game ahead of us, and there was one security guy watching the game. Our security guy watched the crowd, and after the 1/2, we had two, carefully watching the crowd. There were no post game issues, but from the size and unruliness of the other fans, a different result in the game may have made a messier outcome.
I am now less critical of gym moms. During moments of frustration, there is a lot of muttering, usually directed at the child that is not performing as well as the mom expects. Sometimes I pounce on the offending parent, but it is relatively harmless, unless they forget that the video camera is running, with full sound. Seriously, even the worst gym mom that I know is not as hard on her child as the girl is on herself. And the parents do keep it at a low mutter, and for the most part we all trust our coaches and let them do their job - which includes disputing scores, so we are not screaming obscenities at the judges.
I'm wondering what the effect would be to bring the soccer culture to a gym meet. "Hey judge - what was THAT? why don't you put some pants on?" "You little pansy - you flip like a BOY." "Hey strap on a penis and go play football, you Wimp." Somehow, I think I'd probably get thrown out. My daughter would never speak to me, and her friends would no longer be allowed to visit.
Wish us luck today. Off to prepare for the gym meet.
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