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Weekend in Rewind.

Alas, another weekend has come and gone, but not without some great moments:

Sea Wolves Win! Sea Wolves Win! - Madi's soccer team, the Sea Wolves [what exactly is a "sea wolf," anyway], played two games this weekend, winning both of them. Satutrday's game was a 5-1 victory, which saw Madi playing keeper for the entire second half, a position she loves to play. Keepers run in the family as both Josh and Megan were keepers in their day. Sunday's game as a practice game, but with the same result as Saturday, a 3-0 win. At this point Madi's team is undefeated, or as Madi likes to say it, "undefeatable." [Yes, Josh had to correct her a bit...] This is a rare place for Madi as she has never been on a winning team, in fact her team last year won all of two games all season. This year is a different story, as they are 5-0 now. You can follow all the Sea Wolves action here [look under "Jeff Hamen," her coach].

Capo Cats Heartbreak Loss - On Saturday, the Capo Cats 15U team took on the Trabuco Hills High freshman team at Capo. It turned out to be a pitchers duel, with Trabuco coming out on top 1-0. We definitely had our opportunities to score, leaving eight runners on base. The issue was timely hitting. It was 0-0 going into the top of the seventh, when we gave up an unearned run on an error turning an inning ending double play. We came up in the bottom of seven where Josh got a lead off single, followed by a hit batsman. First and second two outs and we still couldn't score - that was just the kind of day we had. Josh pitched the second inning, faced three batters, striking out one, on 10 pitches. At the plate, he went 1 for 2. Alas, there will always be our next game...

As for the rest of us, there was work [Jamie], birthday overnights with horseback riding [Kayla], time spent with friends [Megan], and a little watching of the USC domination [Josh and I]. I had papers to grade for Community of God, plus reading and the obligatory washing of the car mixed in for good measure.

All in all a good weekend, but it still seems that there was more left undone than planned. Ever have that feeling?

From Riches to Rags.

Here's a fascinating read:

10 Ways Sports Stars Go From Riches To Rags [from The Business Insider]

Rich professional athletes squandering their millions has become a sad cliché.

The 10 ways sports pros blow their cash

Sports Illustrated article this year showed how shockingly common financial ruin is:

• By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce.
• Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke.
• Numerous retired MLB players have been similarly ruined.

[HT: Scot McKnight]

This Weekend in Sports.

If you've been following for a while, you already know that every fall our family enters what could possible be the most frantic pace of life imaginable. With four kids and their sports schedules, not to mention school schedules, life can take on, let's just say, quite a blurring quality. For the past few years we've had to deal with all three girls in AYSO soccer, on three different teams I might add, and Josh's baseball schedule. It looks a little something like this: eight weekly practices, three soccer games on Saturday, Sunday baseball doubleheaders, and the occasional weekend USSSA baseball tournament. This doe snot include the individual workouts and private coaching. So, yeah... you could say that the fall is a busy time for us.

Well, not this year.

This year, as our kids are getting older in particular, interests are changing. Megan and Kayla are moving more away from sports and more into the direction of musical theater, while Madi is still continuing with soccer. As for Josh, we'll you know - if it doesn't revolve around a red stitched ball, it doesn't exist in his world.

This weekend as the first full weekend of fall games for our family, and I must say - it was pretty nice. Madi's team, the Sea Wolves, is a G10U team in Mission Viejo. Today was their second official league game and ended with the same result as last week - a win! [This is particularly exciting for Madi, because she has already tied her win total for the entire last season.] She's always asked, "When am I going to be on a team that wins?" Well, this year might be the year. They won their first game, 1-0. Today they won 5-4. Madi plays mostly center defender/sweeper and goal keeper.

Josh's team, the Capo Cats 15U [freshman going out for Capo Valley High School Baseball] took on the team of freshman going our for Mission Viejo High School Baseball. Now these are our crosstown rivals, and even at this level they simple cannot stand losing to each other. Before the game, our coaching staff, who are the Capo freshman baseball coaches, gave our guys a bit of history between the two programs. And, well they responded with a 15-1 blowout. [Advantage Capo... at least for now.]

Josh had a pretty good game going 2 for 2 at the plate with a triple, a single, a walk, 2 runs scored and an RBI. He pitched a single inning, giving up one unearned run on one hit while striking out one. All in all, not a bad day on the field. It was good to see Josh perform well in front of the freshman coaches. His dream, ever since he was about 12 was to play for Capo. Perhaps he will someday...

Until next weekend's update...

Better Late Than Never...

... for the Charger offense to finally show up. [Whew.]

Anyway, while it was definitely not pretty, it was still a wine over the hated "Rai-dahs" [Sorry, Marlow]. I think that makes it 12 in a row over the Raiders.

Anybody else wonder why when the game is on the line LT was on the sidelines? Good thing we still have Darren Sproles...

[AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez]

23-17.

[Photo by Harry How/Getty Images]

I figured it would be a good game, but overtime? The Colts/Chargers match-up has been one of the better ones over the past years. They are always tight games, and this one was a classic. I have to concur with Matt Millen, who said on the post-game show the Chargers outplayed the Colts in every facet of the game and if it were not for the two turnovers, the game would have been over in regulation. It was also great to see Sproles have the kind of game he did on national television. He is perhaps one of the most exciting players in the NFL right now.

So we live to play another day... Go Bolts!

USC, Pac-10, and the BCS.

[Mark J. Rebilas/US Presswire]

With a very convincing win over #8 Penn State [the 38-24 score was a bit misleading as SC took their foot off the pedal a bit in the second half], a bunch of BCS questions now arise. As what most commentators said post-game, USC is indeed deserving of a shot for the national title. Pete Carroll said post-game, "With all due respect, those are two great programs [Oklahoma and Florida], I don't think anybody can beat the Trojans. I just think we can beat anyone we played." I concur. Just one more reason why we need a playoff system in college football...

Living on the West Coast, it's pretty apparent that the Pac-10 gets very little love. With the 2009 Bowl season well underway, it might be time for people to rethink the Pac-10, who won the conference bowl challenge, going 5-0. Josh and I had the opportunity to go to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, where Oregon beat Oklahoma State, 42-31. Oregon looked good, very good. They were a little flat in the first half as they trailed Oklahoma State, 17-7, but they came out in the second half and dominated both sides of the ball.

Hopefully the Pac-10 gets a little more love next year, I think they've deserved it. Props to former Mission Viejo High QB Mark Sanchez for his effort tonight, passing for 413 yards. He lit it up tonight. I remember watching him when he played for Mission. He was pretty impressive back then.

52-21.

[Jeff Gross/Getty Images North America]

In a season that has been less than stellar [and with precious little to cheer about], it is finally good to see the Chargers playing like we know they can. While it is always good to see the Chargers win, tonight was especially sweet. First, it is good to see justice served from Week #2 and the Hoculi blunder. Second, it is always especially sweet to get a win over Shanahan and Broncos [my regards to John Chandler] - and putting up a 52 spot on them... priceless.

So onto next week and the Colts. It should be a very, very good game.

Student, Then Athlete.

This is just another reminder of why I'm so thrilled about the baseball team Josh is playing for. It's an email that we received from our coach tonight, the night before we have a tournament this weekend.

Cats Players:

As we have previously discussed, all players in the Cats programs must have these priorities in their life in this order:
1.  God--I don't care what you believe in or what church you go to, but develop some sense of faith and devotion. Develop your moral compass through understanding. If you don't know what a moral compass is ask your parents.
2.  Family--always be there for your family. Work on striving for great relationships with your parents and siblings. Your friends will come and go, but your family will always be there for you
3.  Education--see below
4.  Baseball/Sports/Other activities--things that will make you a well-rounded person/athlete
5.  Friends--you are the company you keep. Make good choices. Don't let a bad person bring a good one down. I have seen it happen too many times. 

According to the list, you can see education always comes before sports. You are a student before you are an athlete in the word student-athlete. I will always have high expectations for you on the field, but I will have even higher expectations for you in the classroom.

Scouts and college coaches always ask us this question first: What are his grades like?

If they are asking about you, they have already seen you play. They want to know if you are disciplined in the classroom and they want to know if you are smart. Since Division I baseball coaches only have 11.9 full athletic baseball scholarships to divide among their athletes, many players go to school on academic money, not athletic scholarships. Also, there are many schools with good baseball programs at the Division II and III levels that don't have any scholarships at all to offer, so grades become critical for entrance into those schools. 

You may think that is far away, but it is closer than you think and the next four and half years will fly by. Develop good habits now and take yourself seriously in the classroom. You will give yourself a real chance of playing college baseball if you do.    
 
Attached is a grade progress report. Most schools are done or will be done soon with quarter grades. Please print this form and have each of your teachers put your grade down and sign. This needs to be returned to me at practice on Wednesday, November 26.

We will be doing this throughout the year. If you are having trouble in a class, make time to talk to your teachers and figure out how you can work together to get things resolved, but ultimately take charge of your education...

If I am concerned about your grades, I will ask you to do this more regularly.

Thanks,
Coach Chris

It is so great to know that Josh has people around him who are partnering with us in the same things we desire for him. Kudos to our coach, Chris. We have so loved the experience we've had so far with the Cats - not just from a baseball perspective, but from a life perspective. The boys are really connecting as a team and the families are great.

My Madi.

 

And So It Ends... Again.

So today was the day... we are officially "soccer free" [at least for a little while]. The Lavender Lasers, despite performing their sure fire victory cheer, went down 3-0 to the Purple Pandas [yeah, now there's a team name that strikes fear into the opponent...]

It was a hard fought game. Madi played three inspired quarters of defense, even blocking a shot on goal with the left side of her face. [Okay, maybe that wasn't planned, but it was effective anyway.] In the end, we just could not muster up enough offense to score on those Pandas.

In the early game, Mikayla's team, the Pink Chaos, looked less like the crazy, crazy Chaos team we saw in our last game, and much more like a team that was still on victory hangover. They just looked flat and uninspired in a 6-0 loss to the Hot Shots [a much better team name, I might add...]

And so our weekends much more free now minus three soccer teams. I wonder what we will do with all this time? Perhaps now we can finally get to some of those "home" projects we kept putting off.

[Madi is #5 in the above picture.]