Yellow Card

Day 84:

I had the opportunity to go to a former student's high school soccer game this evening as his team played a high school near where I live.

It was a lot of fun watching this 11th grade guy strut his soccer skills.

I grew up playing soccer, but there are things I do not recall noticing from the field when I played as a kid, things that cannot be ignored whilst sitting on the sidelines among the parents.

For example, when an opposing player falls down, the alleged adults in the stands blurt out comments such as, "Oh come on! The girls play rougher than that!". But when the fallen footballer is one of their players, the same parents are quick to demand a penalty.

It was literally comedic watching the opposing parents banter back and forth while their sons, their stars, wage athletic war on the pitch below.

It made me wonder if I'd be such a passionate soccer dad.
Probably.
Which made me wonder if I'd be as pumped up if my kids wound up playing something like baseball - a sport I never played, let alone cared for much.

Tonight I had the privilege of rooting on one of my students from yester-year.
And tonight I learned that when it's actually your kid out there, you're likely to do much more than just cheer.

Looking forward to the day where it's socially acceptable to be an adult that violates all the rules I'm suppose to teach my kids, such as 'play nice with others' and 'be a good sport', while I attend their sporting events...