Cross town rivals.

I don't think that it is any surprise that the game between us and Huron is a big rivalry game. It's turned out to be more and more in the past several years, but if I remember correctly, we began this in 1997 with a win, and I don't know the all time series record, but I'm pretty sure we have the upper hand, and put another one in the win column today, but not without a fight. We won 3-0, for our fourth shutout of the year. The defense was tough and physical, and fast, which matched everything they had on the attack at us. Our offense was well matched with their defense, and it took an own goal against Huron to open the scoring in the second half. Actually the play of the game was the first half when our goal keeper came out to try to stop a breakaway, and got beat with the forward putting the shot to the net, but our sweeper Ryan (who also happens to be my cousin) never gave up on the play and chased the shot all the way to the goal to bring it back out with a sliding kick save. Best play I've seen this year, hands down. That got a little fire going, and the second half we broke through and never looked back. We are now 7-2, with four games left to play. Our toughest spot of the season is now, with back to back tough games, and two others that we must show up for and be competitive.

On a junior varsity note, I'd figure that we'd have a tough time today, and we did. We were again match up against sophomores and freshmen, so the 7th graders were somewhat outmatched. Some of the eighth graders were too. It's a good time to teach teamwork and being a team, even when the going is tough. And tough it was, we lost 9-1. Our goal scored on a Penalty kick with no time left. It was nice to avoid the shutout, and the kids did take some pride in that. Now we go on the road too, Sioux Falls and Freeman next Thursday and Saturday. I'm lovin' the whole coaching thing....

My first win....

It felt kind of like I was a kid again. My JV soccer team won tonight for my first coaching win of my career. I now have a career record of 1-2. We are going to hit the challenging part of our schedule now though, because I'd bet that Huron's JV team will be tough, and I'm guessing the Sioux Falls JV team will be tough also, and we have two games against them in a row. Freeman has a team we might be able to edge out a couple wins against, so we will have to pull it together and play well here in a tough stretch in mid-September. Ohh, and for anyone who might care about the varsity they are 6-2 and look good to qualify for state, again if you're into the whole varsity thing. I hope you can read the sarcasm into that sentence. Actually, the varsity team has been quite good recently, allowing just 2 goals in our last 5 games. The defense we have put together is quite stout, and I like it that way. Of course, I come from the defensive background, sweeper and goalkeeper, so I preach defense until I'm out of breath. Tomorrow is the game we wait all year for. We play the cross town rival, the evil empire of Huron. We are looking to avenge a loss from last season, a winnable game for us at home, and we let it go, so we are out for the revenge of this year. Noon kickoff tomorrow (Saturday).

They do things differently in Huron....

Tonight I attended the homecoming coronation for Huron. I'd not seen them do this before, and I often wondered how things like that were done elsewhere. Well, it was quite interesting. First of all, I wouldn't have been there if it hadn't been for having to work the first part of the volleyball game. I got to the be the pre-game show host. That's it. I went and did all the grunt work, gathered interviews, got the coaches records, key players, keys to the game, and all the things that people hear and find interesting during the broadcast. Then, for the part I love the most, the play-by-play, I got booted. Duffy came in and pushed me right out to take all the glory right away from me. Boo on him for that. But at least I got to meet the Brookings coach, she was a very nice girl. I think that might be a rule, that if you're gonna coach in volleyball at Brookings, you have to be young and attractive. That was my big plus for the evening.

Anyhow, the whole coronation thing is quite a ceremony. First, they go through every team and team member from football, to volleyball, to soccer, to the special Olympians. They had their own place too. Then, the candidates, and they kill the lights the old king and queen go and crown the new ones in the dark, and when the lights come back on, there are the new king and queen standing in front. It was indeed quite an interesting series of events.

So, now on to the weekend. It's gonna be a busy one again. I was wrong on my earlier schedule. Apparently, I'm going to have to go remind my grandmother that the big celebration for her and grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary is not this Sunday, like she told me originally, it's actually next Sunday. So, mark that off, instead I'll have soccer games to coach Friday and Saturday, and who knows what all else I'll throw in there too.

Post 100!

This ever growing little blog has now exceeded 100 posts. So, I wondered what I could do that was special to celebrate, and came up with very little in terms of Ideas. So, I'm just gonna keep on moving through the week, and despite it being busy, I've been keeping up quite well. The busiest of the week is coming up soon though. Tomorrow and Saturday we are gonna be busy with 4 soccer games, two for my JV kids and two for the varsity. I got to watch USD smash a school from Nebraska last night, so that wasn't excessively fun. Anyhow, tonight, homecoming coronation at Huron after the volleyball game, which I'll be hosting the pre-game show for tonight at 6:30.

Unwelcome visitors

Lately, I've been fending off insanity from crickets. Apparently, some of the crickets from the neighborhood won the bid to hold the 2008 "Cricket Chirping Championships." It has been the most annoying past 3 weeks of my life. Apparently, it happens to be over now, with the crickets no where to be found now this evening. Usually this is where they are at their peak annoyance. I'm just glad they are gone now. Well, I must continue on with my busy week as it continues. Tonight is my one night of nothing on the schedule, and after tonight it gets tough. Tomorrow our varsity team will travel to Groton for the 6:00 contest. Wednesday, I am supposed to be on the road refereeing, and Thursday is homecoming at Huron, and I'm part of the volleyball broadcast team. Friday night, soccer continues, and Saturday we have games as well early in the day, then I might try to get back to SDSU in the evening for football. Sunday caps off my Grandparents anniversary celebration, so I might not get to do much Saturday if we are setting up for that in the afternoon. Anyhow, 60 years of marriage for my grandparents. Props to them. Ohh, and happy birthday to my mother too. She celebrates tomorrow. I don't even know how old she is, bit it doesn't matter. I wonder if this means I don't have to buy her a present if I mention her on this prestigious (or whatever kind of) blog.

On the road again

I'm quite sure that I've put more miles on my suv now in the past 2 days than I have all summer. It had to make a couple of nice long trips here recently, one to Sioux Center, IA for a soccer match that I was in the referee crew for on Wednesday. Went down there and did a women's game and a men's game back to back. That will get a guy tuckered out after a while. But, after making it home by 12:30, it was a new day yesterday which included working, running soccer practice since the head coach was out of town with his other coaching (cross country) duties, and another road trip to Watertown for a volleyball match last night. So, I've ended up with roughly 500 miles in distance travelled in the past 2 days, and I know I've not put that many miles on the Trailblazer since June, so it was a pretty big switch. This weekend, cannot let up though, I'll be coaching 2 games this afternoon and tomorrow morning, then on to Sioux Falls for more college games Sunday. Fall seems to be here, and it's the busy time of year, thus why I post at 7:30am.....not quite sure why I'm awake this early....

Goodbye Summer.....

It's been said the State Fair is unofficially the end of summer with Labor Day now behind us (almost), and the rest of fall now to go. I spent 3 days at the fair this year. Thursday I combined work with some fun while I was there. Got to work for the station and see some friends and hang around with them for a while. Sunday and Monday the only things i really saw were the customers at the smoothie stand. I worked in the food court so we served corn dogs also. It's tougher to work that with the different products and sizes of drinks and corn dogs, so that's obviously why I was placed there. It was fun. I'd worked with most of the crew before when I did this, and it was fun to talk with them and play tricks and joke around with everyone. I went home both nights covered in strawberries from the smoothies. Now tomorrow, it's back to work for the fall season, and it will be a quick kickoff to it. I've got soccer practices, two games to referee in Iowa, a volleyball game to commenate on, and 2 more soccer games this weekend. All that in a short week. But, as a man told me at the fair, there will still be some time left to find trouble....

Photo Credit: Tiny Trav's Photography (via facebook). Image not used with permisison.