So Monday we head out to the first day of practice and obviously the buzz was still all about how many kids and teams and such. Basically it was too much rumor and gossip to really know. To make things worse, the new kids coming in don’t get picked to a team until mid-week. They just float around practicing with all the teams getting a feel for the flow and giving the coaches a chance to see them play a little. The actual drafting of the kids happens on Wednesday of the first week. So no one was saying anything official and they were practicing as three teams. All that was official at this point was that it would be the white team that was broken up and absorbed into the black and orange teams based on having the fewest players. For the record, my son is on the orange team. They actually had 11 boys return/move up from bantam which was a pretty nice number.

So after a million questions and no answers, about 20 minutes into practice they round up all the 3rd grade parents for a small meeting. Turns out board members from our teams and also a rep from the entire conference were there to try to sort this out.

Basically the conference has no set minimum number of players. As long as you have enough for a team, you can play. Some cities in the conference can only ghet enough kids to form one team on any given grade level and get by with just enough kids. Heck we’ve played teams in the past where you’ll see just one or two kids on the bench at any given time. I always assumed they had no-shows or injuries or illness or whatever, but it turns out some places have that low of participation. We’re kind of lucky to have enough kids to form three separate teams at each grade level. So as far as the conference was concerned, they didn’t care as long as we have 11 kids on the field to play each weekend. Naturally they preferred larger teams, but couldn’t really do much if you ran smaller.

Our board members (basically our leaders who report to the conference) originally set the minimum at 16 – which is why we I mentioned 48 kids as the magic number in that previous post I made. Turns out that the actual final number was 45. We fell three short.

I’m filling in blanks here, but it seems to me that the coaches raised a little bit of a stink saying they still wanted to go with three teams of 15 kids, but the board (who technically has the final say) wanted to go with two teams of 22 and 23 kids.

So they pulled all the parents aside and explained the situation a little. Basically the board had seriosu concerns about cutting it that close. You need 11 kids on the field at all times to play football. With even a full roster of 15, that’s a lot of playing. Lose one or two kids for a game (and it happens – vacation, illness, injury, kids quit, just unable to show up one week) and you could be forcing kids to essentially play an entire game of football on both sides of the ball. They talked about horror stories of kids on the field crying and still having to play and stuff like that. If was obvious that they wanted us to merge to two teams. They also made it clear that the coaches felt they could run with smaller squads and three teams. They never said they’d prefer to (even though I’m 99% sure they did), just that they aid they could. So they basically put it out to us – the parent. We pay for this, we bring our kids every night and travel to games, it’s our kids’ experience. They wanted to know what we wanted. Basically it turned into an open forum with everyone expressing both different pros and cons. After a little discussion it was down to an old fashioned show of hands. By my estimation is was roughly 2-to-1 in favor of the smaller teams.

The board members told us they’d have to present it to the full board and to the conference, but they’d let them know what we had to say.

So at this point, the coaches wanted to run three teams, the majority of parents wanted to run three teams, but the board would have preferred two larger squads.

We heard nothing.

Tuesday practice came and went with the same three-team set-up and new player rotation as Monday.

Wednesday rolls around and they gather everyone and have a little huddle. They then break specific kids off into the three teams. The kids practiced with their team the whole 2 hours. I also noticed that we had 4 of the new kids. (4 new kids + 11 returning = 15 kids)

Near the end of practice the head coach ducked out for a meeting. Basically to confirm that it would be three teams and that these picks would stick.

Practice ended with the usual group breakdown (the boys do this whole chant/cheer “Who are we? Beavers! When do we quit? Never!” and so on thingy at the end of every pactice) and then the coaches gathered all the parents around and announced that we were looking at the 2010 3rd grade orange team.

Nice!

I think it looks solid. We have an awesome core of returning players that were damn good last year and we got four of the better looking new kids as well. Lots of speed on the team. My son went from bottom-middle/upper-bottom in terms of speed dexterity on last years team to almost dead last on this years. However, he went from middle/upper-middle in terms of size and solidness on last years team to being one of the ‘thicker’ kids this year. Definitely in the top. So if he just realizes his size advantage and loses that hestitation to really hammer someone, he could be a serious monster for the team this season. Especially with just 15 kids on the roster. Hopefully, coach remembers how he really came into his own (dare I say, flourished a bit) once he moved him from D-line to middle linebacker late last season and puts him there again.

What? An LB without speed? Well, they way they play at this level, the middle backer is pretty much a glorified lineman. My little guy wasn’t quick enough on the line to shake his blocker most of the time when he was on the line. But from the standing position as a middle linebacker, the O-line is picking up our D-line and my little guy already has the upright advantage and just pushed through. Not much of a threat to quick plays around the outside, but a playmaker on slower plays and things coming up the middle.

But I digress, who knows how this season will play out. I love how much time the kids are getting with the coaches in practice and the numbers mean all the kids will get some seriously game time. This week is conditioning (no pads or contact, a lot of running. exercise and refreshing information). Next week we go to full pads and contact and that’s where we’ll start to see where the chips fall. I’m hoping he starts strong and doesn’t look back, because if something happens to make you hesitant (a bad hit, getting leveled, whatever) it takes a lot to lose that timidness and right now I think his best bet toward contributing and being a serious part of the team is to find that inner monster.

We’ll see.

Pretty exciting to get back into the groove of the season. This is the third year my son has been playing now and this begins our march into the fall/winter. The season generally ends somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving depending on how far you go in the tournament.

The big drama this year is the likely merging of teams. At the bantam level (1st and 2nd graders) there’s enough kids coming in to fill three teams nicely. As you move up it becomes just one grade per level. So this year it’s just third graders. That alone cuts the number of kids available in half, in theory. That’s also the level where kids who aren’t way into it tend to drop out.

As it turns out we got an email a few weeks back that we were running short on kids to keep three teams up and that merging down to two would happen if 4 kids didn’t sign up by the end of the first day of practice. We kept getting updates as it go closer. Between trying to convince the powers that be that they could get by with smallr teams and that it offer a better experience for the kids and all that stuff and a few kids jumping on board, it got very close to keeping three teams. Basically, the bare minimum level that the people who make such decisions would allow is 16 kids on a team. When you figure there’s 11 kids on the field at any given time, that’s cutting it close, but not unreasonable. Makes sense to me.

So Saturday at equipment pickup the buzz was all about the number of kids at the 3rd grade level. For three teams of 16 we would need 48 to sign up. Any less and they’d be divided into two teams. As of our picking up our stuff Saturday orning 47 kids had signed on. Yeah! 1 fucking kid short.

It might not seem like a big deal, but the difference between 16 kids and 24 kids on a team is huge. The amount of playing time, instruction, learing, comraderie and general potential fun levels is pretty different in both situations. Some better on smaller teams some better on larger teams. I think our little guy would thrive more in a smaller team situation, so falling one kid short would really be kinda suck-ass.

From what I’ve understood during the course of being kept informed, it seems to me like the coaches would prefer the smaller teams as well.

Yesterday afternoon we got an email from the coach that simply read:

“We have come up one player short as of now to have three third grade teams. Forward me anyone who may be interested, even slightly. Thanks and see you Monday.”

Seemed like desperation with only the faintest glimmer of hope.

By last night another email came across that is too long and uninteresting to post here, but it almost seemed like a surrender of sorts. Basically asking for input on our feelings about team size and the pros and cons we saw both now and in the future as the kids get older. I guess we’ll find out how it’s all gonna play out tomorrow evening. I’m hoping something changes and we get the smaller teams.

Either way, it’s that time of year already and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.

It’s ok, they’ll still be there this fall and they’ll still kick ass.

(I identify a little less with ‘home’ every time we go back)

New TV – (June 2007)
Cable Box Woes – (July 2007)
TV Service Woes – (September 2008)
TV Service Woes Remedied – (September 2008)
Neither Side Gave In – (October 2008)
Temporarily Disconnected – (January 2009)
I Want My U-Verse, Fuck You Time Warner – (March 2010)
Fuck You U-Verse…no, I still love you – (March 2010)

It all makes for a fun little story if you read them all.

So what does this have to do with anything?

Today I wake up and pop open my e-mail like any other day and there it is…an e-mail from AT&T letting me know that U-Verse is now available at my address. All those months of putting my address into the availability checker and asking them to notify me when available finally paid off. I think I came a little.

Hopefully, I’m not counting my chickens before they’re hatched because God knows with my luck in this area that something is bound to go wrong. But tonight, I’m putting together a package and scheduling an install date.

Giggity!

My mother-in-law is an idiot.

At first I thought I would write a long detailed remembrance of our east coast trek, then I noticed that the weird online aversion thing that happens after extended periods away from being online is really strong this time. Like I’m finding it hard to sit in front of the computer for any period of time. Online feels really stupid right now. I go through this every time we go somewhere and I have limited online time. Couple that with the fact that my interest in parks and coasters and stuff seems to be at an all time low (and that much of my online time revolves around those things) and I just have no desire.

But I digress.

Our vacation in a nutshell:

Thursday – We drove to Hagerstown, MD. Google severely overestimates drive times both online and on the Droid navigation app. Stupid Google. Unfortunately, the weather channel doesn’t overestimate temperatures and it did apporach three digits for most of the week. Stupid weather.

Friday – Washington D.C. isn’t much fun in the heat. The Hilton Garden Inn Arlington isn’t nearly as good as the online reviews would lead you to believe. Stupid Hilton Garden Inn.

Saturday – Washington D.C. is actually kind of boring. Stupid Washington D.C. The thai food I got for dinner was simultaneously delicious and replusive. I want more.

Sunday – Ocean City was fun for all the wrong reasons. The Bay Bridge is terrifying. Stupid Bay Bridge.

Monday – Six Flags America doesn’t deserve the reputation it has. Stupid coaster enthusiasts. Second best park of this trip.

Tuesday – Kings Dominion resonates with the same ‘meh’ tone that Kings Island does for us. Intimidator 305 was a big disappointment. Stupid I305. We cut out relatively early to eat steak in Williamsburg.

Wednesday – Busch Gardens crushed it. The coaster tour was awesome except for missing the Alpengeist ERT. Stupid Alpengeist. The food at Das Festhaus was equally awesome. Nice day at a nice park.

Thursday – Long drive to Charlotte. I actually like driving vacations – good times. Wouldn’t trade the memories for the convenience of flying much of the time. 4 tickets for Toy Story 3 IMAX 3D, 4 medium drinks and 2 large popcorns retail for $99.50. It cost just $20 more for tickets and unlimited drinks at Six Flags earlier in the week. Stupid movie prices.

Friday – Carowinds fail. Cedar Fair really is light years behind other park chains in so many areas. Stupid Cedar Fair. We were gone by 4pm. (where the thermometer in the car read 110 when I started it to leave)

Saturday – Drove home. Hit ridiculous and unnecessary traffic on I-77. Stupid tourists. Highlight of the trip? Our stop in Chelyan, WV. I hate to use something as easy as the banjo joke, but I really do think I heard banjos…and I think one guy told me my mouth “sure was purty.” That and I was kidnapped and tortured 70′s horror movie style by an bizarre family of hill people. Luckily I escaped to write this blog entry. Stupid blog.

(I was going to add some photos, but two days later I still haven’t gotten around to looking at them, so no photos – maybe I’ll add them later…or to Facebook)

It just felt like the house phone never got used. In the past month there’s been exactly six calls to the house landline and in every case it’s a sales call (for some reason Time Warner started calling recently) or a reminder on an appointment. No one made a single outgoing call. It was like paying for nothing. So I ported the landline number to Verizon and added a line to our plan. This simplifies changing the house number for things like the school, doctors, bank accounts and such. I activated one of our old phones on that line, tossed the phone on the desk and presto! We have what amount to a home line. It’s just that it’s a cell phone with the old house number and it’s just $9.99 a month on Verizon.

So yeah, the future is now. We’re flying free and I feel liberated, man. Liberated.

Well, last night either mother nature or God himself finally had enough:

(photo from the Dayton Daily News – Rick Graham)

There’s an entire article about it here (you may need to register). I also read a follow-up that says they plan to rebuild. Bigger and creepier, I’m sure.

Here’s to you, creepy statue.

At some point, my son (who was somewhere in the house doing something) came to us and asked what the flashing outside was. We kinda dismissed him with a quick answer about lightning. Maybe heat lightning, maybe a storm. No biggie.

A few minutes later he comes back with a, “No really. What is this out there. Come look.”

So we go to the entry and look up out the big front window and the sky is just lighting up over and over. So we open the door and step out. The flashing is almost constant and very localized. It keeps happening in essentially the same part of the sky. At first we thought it was fireworks relatively close lighting up the low, overcast sky. But that was quickly dismissed as there were no booms. The trees in the front were still blocking the view so I walked out to the end of the yard.

Basically as nutty-ass lightning storm thingy was brewing to the north of us. It was mesmerizing. Flashes of light punctuated by streaks that seemed to trace the outline of the clouds. After a few moments, I realized this was one of those rare opportunites where you have great lightning views and no rain. Photos!

I busted into the house and ran to the basement to find my tripod. Got back upstairs and grabbed my camera, put it on the tripod, snapped in the remote and got back outside.

What I didn’t think of is that it was a comfy 72 with no humidity inside (courtesy of modern air conditioning), but a tropic 78 with 100% humidity outside. The camera fogged up…bad. I stood there watching the storm and cursing the camera. The storm seemed to be moving in a southeast direction meaning that while it was moving from behind the neighbor’s trees into the unobstructed northeast sky, it was also slowing moving towards us as it swept across the sky. After about 10 minutes or so, my camera was not even close to settling in to the outdoor conditions and the first raindrops started falling. I grabbed everything and by the time I hit the door, it was a torrential downpour.

I was pissed at the missed opportunity to capture that fucked up lightning, but glad I went out and saw the free light show.

Would’ve made some really neat photos though…

I have a feeling the post about school starting at the end of summer is going to come way too fast.

It was honestly the biggest spider I’ve ever seen that wasn’t in a zoo setting or someone’s pet. I think at one point it barked at me – or roared or growled or something.

Also hit 30 pounds on the weight loss front. That puts me at X+29. Two pounds to reach my second goal point and then I can look ahead to my third and final goal of X+17 (give or take – I’d be ok settling anywhere from X+15 to X+20)

Kings Island tomorrow evening. Cedar Point on Sunday.