{"id":5986,"date":"2010-03-02T23:35:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T06:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=5986"},"modified":"2010-03-03T11:30:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T18:30:29","slug":"real-sportsmen-dont-ask-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2010\/03\/02\/real-sportsmen-dont-ask-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Real sportsmen don’t ask questions."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The river sure looks cool in the wee hours of morning.\u00c2\u00a0 If it weren’t for soccer, I’d never have known.<\/p>\n

One practice a week.\u00c2\u00a0 Then one “game” that is half practice, half mini-game.\u00c2\u00a0 2-3 hours a week.\u00c2\u00a0 PERFECT.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Or so I thought.\u00c2\u00a0 My lollipop and rainbows perspective of kids sports is that it should all be high-fives and camaraderie.\u00c2\u00a0 But in reality, we’ve had to have serious talks about it.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the kids (and coaches, coaches of 4, 5, and 6 year old kids to be specific) are actually out for blood.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ll hold the tirade on why adults are encouraging 4, 5, and 6 year olds to attack each other in the hopes that this is just one or two isolated douchebags.\u00c2\u00a0 But the fact is that kids pick up on that negative influence, my kid included.<\/p>\n

It was horrible.\u00c2\u00a0 This is my sweet kid who can’t pass by a baby without making goo-goo faces.<\/p>\n

I swallowed my thoughts on how, maybe, kids under the age of 10 should only do dance and art and music and swimming and gymnastics.\u00c2\u00a0 Things where competitiveness is really about doing their best, not about beating another team.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe there is something to learn from playing in a team, but it certainly isn’t about winning, and I’m starting to feel like that sort of experience doesn’t exist.<\/p>\n

Paul talked me down from the ledge with thoughts that we could make this a teaching moment.\u00c2\u00a0 Okay.\u00c2\u00a0 Fine.\u00c2\u00a0 So we’ve had talks about sportsmanship and the oh-so-not-important scoring\/winning thing which is lame.\u00c2\u00a0 Seriously, people.\u00c2\u00a0 Winning anything in team sports at age 5 is lame.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s be real here.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about not letting down your team and being a good athlete!<\/p>\n

We deliver all of this in the most enthusiastic voices.\u00c2\u00a0 And deliver our disappointment at those who feel that taking out the other team by knocking them down, or talking trash, or seeing them as anything less than colleagues and friends and other jovial kids in the most decrepit, vile voices.\u00c2\u00a0 Bah on them, we say!\u00c2\u00a0 Up with peace, love, and happiness on the soccer field!<\/p>\n

That’s the spirit!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And then I have to bite my tongue and swallow my questioning thoughts.\u00c2\u00a0 I have to secretly thank all that is good and right in the world that he hasn’t come around to question us about all this sportsman-like play stuff.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 That his brain hasn’t circled back and recognized the discrepancies between doing and saying.<\/p>\n

Because Will was there when we went so crazy with joy every time Brett Favre gazed up at the roof of the Superdome when someone planted his behind to the turf.\u00c2\u00a0 Make no mistake, it was awesome.\u00c2\u00a0 Every. Darn. Time.\u00c2\u00a0 AND HARDER EVEN!\u00c2\u00a0 YEAH!<\/p>\n

Sure, we can argue it’s different for a million reasons.\u00c2\u00a0 (And besides, it isn’t about football, anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 I actually am NOT a fan of football, I things considered.)\u00c2\u00a0 But still.<\/p>\n

We’re still hypocrites.<\/p>\n

So if the question comes, I’m just glad Paul will be around to answer it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because me? \u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got nuthin’.<\/p>\n

PS: Alejna<\/a> has the most recent update about the Just Posts Best of 2009.\u00c2\u00a0 Just don’t call them gerbils.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The river sure looks cool in the wee hours of morning.\u00c2\u00a0 If it weren’t for soccer, I’d never have known. One practice a week.\u00c2\u00a0 Then one “game” that is half practice, half mini-game.\u00c2\u00a0 2-3 hours a week.\u00c2\u00a0 PERFECT. Or so I thought.\u00c2\u00a0 My lollipop and rainbows perspective of kids sports is that it should all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[86],"tags":[180],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5986"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5992,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5986\/revisions\/5992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}