Soccer mom = psycho mom!

Last night I had a moment right on the very edge of that fine line in between soccer mom and psycho mom (ok, I'll admit it, I jumped over the edge and admit to feeling embarassed about it shortly after!). I'll paint the picture for you.

I have cute little boys... right?! See?

But with all their strengths and sweet parts, I gotta admit something... they're not destined for professional athletics. Somehow, they lack that cut-throat competitive spirit required for significant skill development and athletic performance.

Now, I've admitted before that the day soccer season is over is a day I celebrate. Every Thursday and Saturday morning, we stand there on the sidelines yelling at our boys for 2 hours... it's awesome. At least we're not having to chase Charlie off the field this year! Anyway, yesterday I sent Paul ahead to Canon's game and told him I'd meet him there shortly. After taking my sweet time to round up Charlie and some shoes for both of us, I made it to the game about halfway through...

and of course,

RIGHT AFTER CANON SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL IN THREE YEARS!!!!!

Crud.

Mommy-moment-FAIL.

He was so excited! The team they were playing was really small and looked really young. Canon was one of the tallest kids on the field. Over and over and over, Canon was able to kick that ball down the field toward his goal. He took like 10 shots on the goal! None of them went in once I got there, but I'd never seen him playing so well! I think at this point, they were up 3-0.

So the quarter ends and Canon gets a turn playing goalie. Perfect! He's standing there, ready to go anytime the other team manages to make it to his side of the field. He and his team were FINALLY having a good game. They even scored one more time while I was there.

Quick backtrack: Canon's team doesn't have any power players. They've won a couple games I think, but for the most part, they stink. A couple weeks ago, they had to play this team with a killer player on it. He was a little hispanic kid who was wicked fast, wicked good, and wicked aggressive. That kid (not his team, but THAT KID) scored at least 8 goals on Canon's team that day. He's not a kid you forget... his name was Diego and he. was. awesome. They got totally spanked!

So back to last night... I'm standing there on the sidelines close to the goal so I can appropriately yell at my kid just in case he needs reminders to stand up or stop dancing or something. Suddenly I notice this small little hispanic kid throws the ball in and starts dominating the field! He shoots at the goal and MY CANON actually stops it! As I watch this kid run around taking the ball and keeping it away from anyone who comes near him, a memory stirs. Once I realize this is Diego from a couple weeks ago, I kinda start freaking out!!

ME: "haven't we already played this team?"
SOMEONE: "no"
ME: "what's that kid doing out there? I know that's the same kid. It has to be!"
SOMEONE: "I think they're subbing him in"
ME: "what the crap is going on here? why is Diego out there playing? Get him off the field!!!!!!!!!" (I was talking loud enough that everyone could hear me.)

One of the moms on our team tries to tell me that the other team didn't have enough players so they had to sub someone from another team in so they could play the game. Now, remember, I got there late and didn't know if that was true. So, I shut up at that point, but was still thinking, "what the crap?" If you can sub anyone you want from other teams, yeah, I'd take that kid every time! Then talking to another mom nearby, she points out that the other team's coach (also hispanic, maybe related to Diego?) asked our substitute coach if it was okay if they sent in some extra players "since their team was behind." Our coach didn't know what to say, so the other coach just sent in 2 more of their players AND Diego! 10 players against 7, and one of them not even on the team. I was ticked. Yes, I know it's city-league soccer, but there is no reason to cheat.

Thankfully before I could make myself look like MORE of an insano-maniac, the teenage ref blew her whistle, the game was done and they didn't end up scoring on Canon.

Phew!

Crisis averted!

But it took me a while to fully calm down. For the first time all season, our little boys have a successful game. Not a blowout or anything near it... 4-0 is not an offensive lead in my book! My little boy had his first goal outside of cub soccer. My little boy was protecting the goal when all this cheating was going on. I'm so glad that no damage was done, because if that kid had jumped into the game and come back to beat them, that would have been devastating!

Canon was so funny about it. As we're walking to the car, he says, "mom, remember that mexican boy with the sleeves at that other game. That boy today was just like him." "No, Canon, that WAS him." "nu-uh mom, Diego was on my friend Cameron's team and we didn't play them tonight." "I know Canon, the other team was cheating by letting Diego play today. But you were awesome and he didn't score on you!! Way to go!" I was very proud of him!

I'm glad Paul wasn't there for my drama. He gets embarassed at me sometimes. We made our way over to Andy's soccer game next and I got to tell Paul all about it. He thought it was funny how upset I was over the issue. At least I was getting some validation from a couple of the other mommys that were there! They were upset about it too.

So there you have it... my psycho-soccer-mom moment. One more week til it's all over! And then, I get to look forward to next year when we have 3 kids playing (killmenow)!!!