Thank you to all of you who played in the first annual ACDC 5-a-side tournament. If you are like me, you'd be sore for a day or two, but I thought that the football was played at a very high level, and I applaud everyone who put in the effort.
Looking at the "family portrait" of AC D.C., it makes me exceedingly proud to have the honor and privilege of leading this group of people week-in and week-out. Walking around the bubble today, I realize there is a large number of people who play for AC D.C. The trust you place in my leadership is not something I take lightly, I assure you. I learned a lot during this tournament and will use what I learned for future tournaments to make them fairer, better, and even more fun.
Congratulations to Jen, Jan, Zan, Matt, Peter, Jimmy and Jeff for winning this first incarnation of the tournament. Of course it was hard for me to be objective reffing the championship game with a team that wore mis-matching socks "just to annoy Opus." It took every ounce of self-control and in the end, I realize that I like Jen, Jan, Zan, Matt, Peter and Jimmy, so the wearer of the mis-matched socks shouldn't be penalized for the hatcher of the idea. Of course it gnaws at my soul and my very-existence to lose to Jeff. If you're read Les Miserable, the constable jumped into the river for the same reasons. But as Matt points out, that's stuff for my shrink to sort out, and not necessarily good blog material. I'll be visiting my shrink every day this week.
I'm toying with the idea of using four women squad captains for the next tournament. And using keepers....but we'll have to figure out a rule to neutralize the advantage of having a "real keeper" on the roster cuz we don't have four "real keepers" to go around the squads. We set up the teams and rules to maintain parity across the squads, but if you break down the tactical play from today, it was obvious that there is much room for improvement in that department. The small size of the bubble affected scheduling and seriously hurt some squads as well. We'll try to find a bigger space so that every team will have back-to-back games. So, we learn and do better next time.
Moving on, there are big things on the horizon for AC D.C. This week, we have the indoor championship game at Fairfax. And of course, Le Luge Deux. If the tournament winners show up for the party, they'll receive their "prize." Hope to see you next to the luge anon.
Congrats to all of you who played and of course to the Blue Steel/Happy Face/Assortment of Socks team...wished I had been there to witness it all but I look forward to hearing about it and celebrating this weekend.
ReplyDeleteO- when is the indoor championship game?
-Louie Louie
Opus, what have you got against the red and black socks? I thought it looked almost as awesome as Blue Steel's (aka the tournament champions!) dynamite one touch passing. Anyone else agree that it was a pretty good look?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, we did the two different AC/DC colors of red and black to represent the two sides of AC/DC family that were clashing and playing against each other. We were stylish and with a deeper symbolism - quite a sexy combination!
At least in the picture you can only see the red socks of the mis-matched team. I had a good time playing. Thanks for setting everything up Walter.
ReplyDeleteThank god that only the red socks are showing. Never under-estimate the irritating effect of mis-matched socks! And Jeff knows all my buttons to push.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the picture today, I realized something very obvious. This is the first time in AC D.C. history when so many AC D.C. players gathered in one place to play ball. Other than Ahmed as our only guest player, everyone in that picture has played for AC D.C. outdoor, co-ed, mens, indoor, futsal or tournaments like Columbia and Cherry Blossom.
My thoughts drifted to the active players who were away yesterday, like Anna, Paul, Luis, Chris, Robb et al., and our founding members like Lachman, Ben, Graeme, and Mike who must be pleasantly proud. Look at what we've built! It's unbelievable, really.
To finish, I guess I should thank our founding players who are still AC D.C. players: Matt, Parham, Jan, and, oh well, even Jeff. There are not that many of us left but there won't be half that many players in that picture if it were not for their efforts in building this club.
When we first started the team, I remembered that only 2 people showed up for the first "happy hour:" Uli and Mike Reilly. Now, let's see how many we can gather for our party this weekend!