Battle Ground, Washington
Missing both our All-American forward and the linchpin of our defense, we lost the Div II Men’s Over 30 championship game 5-1. Should have been 5-2, but we missed a penalty. Without our missing players, the better team won. I can have no complaints on that score. The refereeing was iffy, with numerous fouls deserving of a card not receiving such attention. I was hacked repeatedly (and frankly dumped several players in return) at a level that easily deserved yellow card treatment. I’m bruised and battered unlike I’ve been all season, but it made little difference in the game’s outcome. On the whole, I actually played quite well.
After the game we ventured up to Battle Ground to spend the day at our favorite five-star resort spa, also known as Joe, Carol and Ella’s home. I am happy to report that all are well, that Ella continues to sprout, and that she is, in fact, cute as a button. Other than tossing a large soft ball into the Kann’s Christmas tree a few times, Jonah was on pretty good behavior as well. And we were quite pleased with his kind interaction with Ella. Thus far, he’s very considerate of other children, particularly those younger than himself. A full report on that topic will undoubtedly follow the birth of Little Baby Davison #2.
In hindsight this was a mistake, but I volunteered to sub for an indoor team in Portland this evening. Dave made the trek up from Eugene and I dragged myself down from the cozy perch in Battle Ground for the 11:15 PM game time. Other than being totally out of gas, my touch was good and play decent (I thought). We got killed 5-0, but the game was somewhat more competitive than the score indicates. I thought it was great to see Dave back out on the pitch. Hopefully a lot more of that sort of thing to come. Post game I wearily returned the friendly Kann confines in Battle Ground, took a late night shower, and collapsed into bed.
Maybe I’m too tired to be bummed about losing (or too sore to care). Maybe seeing the Kanns again at long last—it’d been a few months—helped buoy my spirits. Maybe I felt like I’d done all I could do and sometimes losing a game is just the way it goes. Regardless of why, I’m still having a pretty good weekend.