The Beautiful Game

Those of you who have read my bio know that in addition to being a soccer fan, I'm a player, too. I played as a kid all the way to high school, where I had to choose between soccer and the band. Alas, I was a much better clarinet player than soccer player. My soccer muscles atrophied for years, even after I really bought in hard on soccer fandom after watching a young (18?) Patrick Kluivert score the European Cup (nee Champion's League) winner for Ajax in 1995. So imagine my surprise a few years ago when I saw a billboard advertisement for the Southern West Virginia Adult Soccer League.

It took about a year to get around to it, but I eventually signed up to play in the old-farts (over 30) division, which played 8 v 8 on a short field. I first played again in April 2003, nearly 15 years after my last match. As cool as that was, however, it wasn't quite the real deal. In the two years since, there were several tries to move the division to a full sized field and 11 v 11. After putting a team together, I played goal this Sunday in my first honest-to-gods soccer game in who knows how many years. We won, which was great, but it was nice to have room and time to move and to play a game that was kinda sort of like the ones I watch on Fox Soccer Channel on the weekends.

In addition to playing outdoor, I've played indoor at the local YMCA the past two seasons. My team this year got on a roll late in the season (just like the WVU basketball team) and played its way into the championship game tonight, in a 3-2 double overtime thriller. This will be the first cup final I've played in since 1989 - we lost and I had a fight with my girlfriend after. So even if we lose 0n Wednesday, at least it won't be as bad as 1989. :)