Ezra's First Football Game
So, many of you know I am no real fan of football. It isn’t a secret, I just don’t get the fascination of watching a bunch of overpaid brutes act out some barbaric dance ritual that makes enemies of friends. As fate would have it, though, I am pair-bonded with a fanatic. He has called in sick to watch an Ohio State games, he and friends colonize the living room and take over the house, he has thrown parties, moved the TV outdoors for 2 SuperBowl gatherings and made plans around Sunday football schedules… Sheesh.
Of course, there are boys attached to this man and he has instilled in them a love of football. We have spent plenty of weekends at high school football games cheering on the older boys. Heck, we even drove to Arizona for the ASU Homecoming game last year! All for football. I guess it should come as no surprise that Ezra would be drawn to the game. He loves watching football and is a very physical player, so it just makes sense that he’d be interested in putting on some shoulder pads and running around on the gridiron. Much to Buddy’s chagrin.
Now our days are a blur between work, school and football practice. The poor kid gets home from school at 4, they pick me up at 5 and then dad and Ezra run off to practice while Buddy and Zaire make dinner. It is crazy, Ezra isn’t eating dinner until 8pm and then jumping, exhausted, into bed at 9. Five days a week. We all look forward to the start of the regular school year, the coach promises that he’ll cut the practices down to 3 days a week at that point, Ezra is suffering because he is in a year round school which started the week before football practice began.
Last week the coach announced the first game and I was totally bummed. I had planned a trip to Angel Island, gathered some friends who wanted to go, set plans in motion; then the announcement: first game of the season, Saturday, August 14th. My heart sank, I had really wanted to take the boys to Angel Island, take a ferry ride, go for a hike, and enjoy the Sun! Instead, I was woken by the alarm at 6am, rousing the house by 6:20 and headed off to bagels and football in San Jose by 7:15am. I had some very sleepy boys in the car with me. Ezra started getting excited when he saw the field and all the other boys all dressed in their gear. He scurried to get dressed and out on the field; we packed all the requisite spectator gear onto the B.O.B. and headed over to the wet field.
Once there was a critical mass of Lancers the coach called roll and had the boys start warming up, doing to drills and getting them ready for their first scrimmage. All the living bobble-heads, running around on the field, very exciting. They were playing a team from Scotts Valley that looked like it meant business… Their parents were all uniformed resplendently in their royal blue team gear, we had a handful of parents in their black sweatshirts or t-shirts; they were set up with chairs and snacks, water for the team, etc. Clearly, a very well funded organization. We had our kids in mismatched jerseys with water and snacks brought for each kid by their parents. Never-the-less, they boys were there and ready to play!!
Seems last year’s squad of the mighty mites did not score one touchdown during the entire season. This year’s squad scored two during the whole scrimmage!! Great job boys!! During Ezra’s first action he actually hit a guy, which took Ezra by surprise. Ezra stopped, you could see the huge smile on his face, and did a little celebration, then he was redirected to the game action. He played center 3 times during the game and got to hike the ball to the quarterback, once with a touchdown!
Lock did his best to coach Ezra from the sidelines, gave Ezra some pointers on stance and speed, while most of the other parents cheered and chatted with each other. In between cheers I did my level best to keep Zaire off the field, out of the path of the marauding Huns and out of the sprinklers. Someone forgot to tell the school folks that there would be people on the field. Had the game lasted 10 minutes longer we would all have been drenched, as it was we were dodging and moving as the different sprinklers cycled through their routine.
I was stunned, though I really shouldn’t have been, to see how much trash people just left on the field. When we got there we picked up some of the bigger, more appealing things for Zaire, and tossed them in the trash, how hard was that?? Then, as the game wore on, I found myself picking up new trash, and a dirty diaper! Really, you are just going to leave a dirty diaper in the midst of adoring parents?? How flippin’ RUDE!! I was also aghast to see what people put in their children’s bodies! There was a little girl, she wasn’t quite one yet, who chowed down a bag of cheetos, a whole glazed donut and had a bottle full of kool-aid. It took all I had not to pounce on those people and mention childhood obesity and juvenile onset diabetes!! I mean, really, what on Earth are you doing to you child, to your grandchild??? It was disgusting. Lock had to talk me down so I didn’t go over and cause a spectacle that had nothing to do with football…
After all was said and done, it was a good morning, made for a long day. Ezra had fun, was excited that he was able to actually play and do some hitting; Lock was thrilled to see Ezra play; and Zaire and I were happy to be outside and dry.
Of course, there are boys attached to this man and he has instilled in them a love of football. We have spent plenty of weekends at high school football games cheering on the older boys. Heck, we even drove to Arizona for the ASU Homecoming game last year! All for football. I guess it should come as no surprise that Ezra would be drawn to the game. He loves watching football and is a very physical player, so it just makes sense that he’d be interested in putting on some shoulder pads and running around on the gridiron. Much to Buddy’s chagrin.
Now our days are a blur between work, school and football practice. The poor kid gets home from school at 4, they pick me up at 5 and then dad and Ezra run off to practice while Buddy and Zaire make dinner. It is crazy, Ezra isn’t eating dinner until 8pm and then jumping, exhausted, into bed at 9. Five days a week. We all look forward to the start of the regular school year, the coach promises that he’ll cut the practices down to 3 days a week at that point, Ezra is suffering because he is in a year round school which started the week before football practice began.
Last week the coach announced the first game and I was totally bummed. I had planned a trip to Angel Island, gathered some friends who wanted to go, set plans in motion; then the announcement: first game of the season, Saturday, August 14th. My heart sank, I had really wanted to take the boys to Angel Island, take a ferry ride, go for a hike, and enjoy the Sun! Instead, I was woken by the alarm at 6am, rousing the house by 6:20 and headed off to bagels and football in San Jose by 7:15am. I had some very sleepy boys in the car with me. Ezra started getting excited when he saw the field and all the other boys all dressed in their gear. He scurried to get dressed and out on the field; we packed all the requisite spectator gear onto the B.O.B. and headed over to the wet field.
Once there was a critical mass of Lancers the coach called roll and had the boys start warming up, doing to drills and getting them ready for their first scrimmage. All the living bobble-heads, running around on the field, very exciting. They were playing a team from Scotts Valley that looked like it meant business… Their parents were all uniformed resplendently in their royal blue team gear, we had a handful of parents in their black sweatshirts or t-shirts; they were set up with chairs and snacks, water for the team, etc. Clearly, a very well funded organization. We had our kids in mismatched jerseys with water and snacks brought for each kid by their parents. Never-the-less, they boys were there and ready to play!!
Seems last year’s squad of the mighty mites did not score one touchdown during the entire season. This year’s squad scored two during the whole scrimmage!! Great job boys!! During Ezra’s first action he actually hit a guy, which took Ezra by surprise. Ezra stopped, you could see the huge smile on his face, and did a little celebration, then he was redirected to the game action. He played center 3 times during the game and got to hike the ball to the quarterback, once with a touchdown!
Lock did his best to coach Ezra from the sidelines, gave Ezra some pointers on stance and speed, while most of the other parents cheered and chatted with each other. In between cheers I did my level best to keep Zaire off the field, out of the path of the marauding Huns and out of the sprinklers. Someone forgot to tell the school folks that there would be people on the field. Had the game lasted 10 minutes longer we would all have been drenched, as it was we were dodging and moving as the different sprinklers cycled through their routine.
I was stunned, though I really shouldn’t have been, to see how much trash people just left on the field. When we got there we picked up some of the bigger, more appealing things for Zaire, and tossed them in the trash, how hard was that?? Then, as the game wore on, I found myself picking up new trash, and a dirty diaper! Really, you are just going to leave a dirty diaper in the midst of adoring parents?? How flippin’ RUDE!! I was also aghast to see what people put in their children’s bodies! There was a little girl, she wasn’t quite one yet, who chowed down a bag of cheetos, a whole glazed donut and had a bottle full of kool-aid. It took all I had not to pounce on those people and mention childhood obesity and juvenile onset diabetes!! I mean, really, what on Earth are you doing to you child, to your grandchild??? It was disgusting. Lock had to talk me down so I didn’t go over and cause a spectacle that had nothing to do with football…
After all was said and done, it was a good morning, made for a long day. Ezra had fun, was excited that he was able to actually play and do some hitting; Lock was thrilled to see Ezra play; and Zaire and I were happy to be outside and dry.