Monday Morning Report: Nov 9

Though I have to begin with sad news, I promise you that this note will end on a happy one. The weekend started poorly and ended worse. In life, one cannot control a lot of factors: how much talent one has, what the weather is, or what kind of people one’s parents are. The conditions of success that are under one’s control, one must maximize: effort, preparedness and organization. If AC D.C. can’t prepare well enough to arrive at games on time, then we do not deserve to win.

For the last men's game of the season with major impact on our playoff status and win/lose record, we started with 8 players. As expected, the first half was unfocussed as half of the team warmed up during play. Our defense held, but our offensive was uneven and toothless. The second was much of the same, as our defenders fatigued, but our attackers only generated shots that even Stevie Wonder can save. I counted one shot across the goal-mouth that went nowhere and at least three directly into the keeper’s hands.

The resultant one-nil loss to Express ended our enigmatic season, in which we started by beating all the strong teams in the first half, and produced lukewarm results against the weaker teams in the second part. Our record of 3-2-3 earned us 12 points (out of 24 possible), more than previous seasons, but gets us no better than mid-table.

Sunday was worse in a way. I think the effort was better; we fought tooth and nail. But it's apparent that our men are tired, after Saturday's game, and after a 10-week season on Saturdays. We ran into a very well-organized UMFC and lost by a bunch. 'Nuf said.

Out of all this, how could there be happy news, you ask? Well, remember the players who were late for the men's game? The reason why they were late was that they were held up by our captain. When I called Jeff out on this, he uncharacteristically admitted his fault and apologized.

(pause for contemplation)

I KNOW!

He didn't fight me or even argue. He took the moral high ground and apologized to the team as well. WOW. He followed that by being the first to the pitch on Sunday (he even beat me to it!). He's also wearing his helmet while biking, picking up his phone when I call, responding to emails on the weekend, and helping me plan a social event. Personality transplant? Or perhaps, after 6 full years of nagging him to be a better person, I have finally succeeded! He wouldn't let me have that victory, would he? If I can nag Jeff into being a better person, who should I work on next? (I have candidates in mind!!!)

To end, let's agree that our men's team needs re-evaluation. We clearly have the youth and talent to compete as the first half of the season demonstrated. Is it complacency at the end or fatigue? If we want to do better next spring, I think people will have to take things a bit more seriously. Get to the pitch on time, arrange your rides efficiently, stay home Friday nights....all of that will help....if you want to win, that is.