2017 JV Champs!

Picture: my son and his football team yesterday on the occasion of completing their 9-1 season.

(Yeah, I know it's not the greatest picture. We're not allowed on the field and since we're getting new bleachers we couldn't even get close enough to get good pictures. I'm sad!) This year and last year (as freshmen,) they won their league. Tonight the varsity squad will complete their season, hopefully as a 10-0 league champion as well, and will go on to the CIF-SS playoffs.

I'm super proud of my son. He is an 'up/down' player which typically means that a player starts on the JV squad and suits up as a back up player for the varsity team. This 'up/down' thing is NO JOKE, y'all. There are about 20 kids that did it this year and they work harder than any other player on any squad. They have double practices, double films, double everything. The amount of time that they have been at the school, starting last spring, is mind-boggling.

My son has worked so hard to secure his position on this team and it is paying off. He was not a starter at he beginning of the season but he is now, and yesterday he started as the center due to an injury for another player. My boy has never played center and he practiced this week to be ready to fill in and he did excellent. There were zero bad snaps. I'm so proud of him!

Championship Saturday

When your kids are little and you're changing a thousand diapers a day you never think it will come to this. I'm here to tell you, it can, and it does. We were lucky this weekend that we didn't overlap and had to split.... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

HB#2's football team had a rocky start this year. They won their first game by forfeit. The killed a few teams. They got killed by a couple of teams. They have had injuries. But they have plugged along and ended up winning their division. Finally a championship for my boy! That led to the regional tournament, which should have started 3 weeks ago but after a bye week and then 2 teams dropping out of the next 2 weeks of games, we ended up in the regional championship game. (Further than any other team from our area!) So off we went at 7 am, so we wouldn't be late for the 8 am meeting. (We made it in PLENTY of time. Lombardi time, X2.) The game started at 10 and almost immediately we knew that it was going to be a struggle. Our first possession was a 3 and out. Then the other team scored. And again. And... well, you get the drift. Despite losing 6-34, I'm still super proud of our team for making it this far. I hope that they can put it back together for our next two 'bowl' games coming up in the next 2 weeks!

HB#1 is in Marching Band and has loved it. Since it is my first year as a band parent I really had no idea what to expect from competitions. So far I've loved it and have really learned a lot. Our band, from what I've been told, has not gone to the finals in many, many years. Last weekend we were waiting on pins and needles to get our score-we needed to score high enough to stay in the top 12 bands in our division to go to the finals this weekend. At midnight last Saturday we checked the standings and we were in 11th place-- by .08! So tonight is the night. #1 is already on his way with his band and we're leaving soon. Realistically, the kids are thrilled to be in the championships and from what I understand would just like to place. You know, take home some kind of trophy. Again, I'm so proud of these kids and how hard that they've worked.

Wish us luck!

Championship Game

My #2 played in his first-ever championship game today.

Unfortunately his team lost the game. But there were no losers on that field today.

Our boys worked so hard this season. Every boy on that team was wanted and valued for what they contributed. They had fun. Luckily we will have a few more games to play before we call it a wrap.

This is the team that you want your kid on. Nice boys. Fun families. But more than that we had exceptional coaches that truly cared about the boys. Have you heard the term "Daddy Ball"? Even though we did have dads coaching this was not "Daddy Ball." These men coached with integrity, and expected it out of the players on and off the field. And they put their money where their mouth was. These boys knew that these men wouldn't put up with any monkey business-whether on the field, at team dinners, at school, or at home. They expected the boys to act like a team and treat one another with respect. After 5 seasons, playing with various local teams and coaches, this year, far and away was the best experience for my son as a player.

Thanks for a great season, Eagles. One this mom won't soon forget.

What I Learned: Gatorade Moms

This is not a compensated post. I was given some Gatorade products to thank me for my time but no way told what to write. Thank you to the Gatorade team for an informative session and I hope I can pass along the knowledge to my readers.

It's that time of year again. Not only are we getting our kids back to school, we're also getting them back on the field. My son started football 3 weeks ago! Yes, that means practice in dessert-like heat. If you have kids starting sports practices too then this information is for you.

While at the BlogHer conference I was lucky enough to be invited to a special sports' moms session hosted by Gatorade. It was one of my favorite sessions of the conference-I felt like it was written for me and where my kids are in their journey.

Some of the interesting things I learned were:

• During exercise it is better to gulp your water or sports drink vs. taking small sips. The stomach will empty faster, leaving less 'sloshing'. Who knew?
• For athletes that need to lose weight for a weigh in, (Hello, exactly what we're doing right now with my HB#2,) increasing protein and vegetable intake and only reducing carbs, (not eliminating them,) is the best way to go. The carbs supply energy for those intense workouts, and if they are skipped your child can feel light headed, or worse.
• Athletes need protein within 30 minutes of their workout for essential muscle repair and recovery.

Please don't take it from me; I'm no expert. Go to the Gatorade Moms website for recipes, real mom stories, and articles on health and nutrition for young people. While you're there make sure to take the BECOME pledge. Let's all help to make the young people in our lives the best they can be. On the field or off.

PS-I shot some footage for them and will let you know how it turns out later in the fall when they publish it. It was really fun!

Anti-Climactic

Last week while starting the Pick Your Post week series, I sure did think that this would be a continuing saga. Hmmmm... not so much. Option 1: Headless Boy #2's possibly broken foot.

Doesn't it always happen? When Mama leaves town something BIG happens? Well, that's how it was last weekend when I was in Las Vegas.

I had done all of the 'planning' for the events that were on the calendar: birthday party-gift bought, dinner party with friends-drink cooler prepared, baseball game-uniforms clean and ready. The rest of the time Headless Dad was on his own to figure out food and entertainment for the crew, which meant that they went over to BIL & SIL's house! They have a new pool and the kids were looking forward to testing it out, BIL was cooking, and HG and her boy friend were going to be there, too. Sounds fun, no?

While swimming, my #2 somehow kicked the edge of the pool and hurt his foot. It apparently hurt really bad that night but everyone thought that he would feel better in the morning. It didn't. As I was leaving Las Vegas HD called me to say that his foot was, in fact, not better, and that he was going to take him to Urgent Care. I actually got home before they did.

Urgent care diagnosis: Possible bone chip, follow up with your Primary on Monday for a referral to a specialist.

Greaaaaat.

So Monday I followed up and the office said that they would talk to the doctor and call me back. Then I had to call them back. And they said it was fine. Huh???

HD, who was in with the Urgent Care doctor wouldn't take that answer without follow up, so on Tuesday we went in to see the primary. She explained the different readings of xrays to my husband, examined #2, and sent us on our way with instructions to slowly get back to normal activity. Including football conditioning twice a week.

So see? Totally anticlimactic.

Wordless Wednesday-Above 500

My Phillies had a win on Monday that puts them back above .500. Both of my boys had hits!

March Madness brought to you by Draft Day Suit and Yahoo

You don't have to be a basketball fan to join. Just join!

 

Yahoo Sports is sponsoring our very first Draft Day Suit March Madness Bracket competition and there are REAL PRIZES, Y'ALL. $200 for the winner and $100 for the runner up in Yahoo sports store credit.

All Draft Day Suit writers and fans are eligible to join, so enter here! There isn't much time before the tournament starts, so get movin'!

Super Bowl: Steelers vs. Green Bay

Over on my Facebook Fan Page, (community page? blog page? what are those crazy kids calling it these days?) I asked for questions for me to answer/write about over here. The lovely Mary of Kyooty Center was the only one who responded, so Instant Gratification for her!

Mary asked:

Who are you pulling for in the Super Bowl?

Yikes. I was wondering when someone would ask. As you all know, I'm a football freak. Now that it's not on tv and talked about for 20 hours a day I'm going through some serious withdraw. Sundays are a vast wasteland of wandering from room to room muttering "Tebow. Orton. Romo. Ochocinco." And on and on.

I have a deeply psychotic way of choosing who I cheer for in a game that I do not have a favorite team in. Let's examine the facts for this game:

• I like Aaron Rodgers and Clay Mathews. They're good guys and Clay is a play-maker. That's exciting to watch whether you like the Packers or not. Charles Woodson is no slouch either.
• GB beat the snot out of the Bears and Jay Cutler 2 weeks ago. Any team who can take Jay off the field is good by me. Pussy.
• Ben Rothlisberger is a douche, but Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward more than make up for his douchbaggery.
• The Steelers also have a player from my alma mater, Aaron Smith.
• Unfortunately, I can't even judge this one on something as shallow meaningful as favorite colors. Green and black are both on my favorite color palate.
• Green Bay fans wear cheese on their heads. Awesome.
• Steelers fans wave towels. Equally as awesome.
• If either team were in the game, playing other teams, I would more than likely be pulling for one of these teams.

So, Mary, in answer to your question, I have no freaking idea. I guess I'll be pulling for the team who plays better/has the better lead-in story/cries the most at the National Anthem. Or the team who wins. Yeah, that's it. I'll just root for the team that wins.

Mud Bath

This is actually what we're expecting at football today. We'll let you know how it goes...

Driving

To school,
home,
to Dick's, to Target, to the grocery,
home,
to the school,
home,
to a birthday party,
home,
to baseball practice,
home,
to the party,
to football practice,
to baseball,
to drop off one kid,
home,
another kid gets picked up,
to get food for the baseball player,
to the football field,
to get the football player (and myself!) food,
home.

Me on Draft Day Suit

 I was over on DDS today, and here's a direct quote. By me.

“Don’t tweet about the Ryder Cup specifically but feel free to tell whomever is listening that you just took a crap.”

Did I just say that out loud? Oops!

Me on Draft Day Suit

You know all those days that I wasn't here? (Well, maybe not all of them, but some of them!) Well, I was over at Draft Day Suit writing all of this....

Visiting Coors Field


Rockies Make Coors Field History


Capriati Recovering, I May Not

The NBA Series, By Someone Who Doesn't Care

DC Football Coach Makes National Headlines

Lakers/Suns Game Overshadowed by Politics

And my personal favorite: How The Magic Happens Here at DDS

Oh, and you should read these by Sarah, too. They're funny. And good. And stuff:


Hence the name, Draft Day Suit

Just Because I Have a Vagina Does Not Mean I Need A Woman's Guide to Sports

Happy Reading!

Fly Over

July 4, 2010, Coors Field, Denver, Colorado.

Las Vegas

Many of you know that I was supposed to be going to Las Vegas this weekend. My bowling league has our annual tournament there  and I always look forward to it. Two days of no kids and just being an adult is always great for my psyche.

Supposed to because I'm not going.

I was going to go. I always plan to go. I didn't make a reservation in my 'preferred' hotel and there is nothing close that I would actually stay in (dumps), and I can't really afford to stay elsewhere. I don't want to drive my car because I don't trust it across the desert in 100 degree heat. (Why yes, summer is arriving this weekend with a vengeance.) (I did look into a rental car, and it would have been reasonable.)

Headless Dad was going to try to go with me. Our first thought was to see if his Vegas office had any business that he needed to take care of on Friday so he wouldn't technically have to take a day off. That didn't work out so we were just going to go up on Saturday morning early to make it for the tournament at noon. That was until my son won their first playoff game (Yay Cubs!) and went into the path to play on Saturday. Yes, Saturday. HD is one of the coaches for the team so he had to stay for the game.

Ultimately, I suppose I could have gone, driven a rented car alone, spent one or two nights in Vegas alone, driven home early on Sunday to be home for commitments at 1pm and at 4pm.

Ultimately, it just doesn't seem worth it, does it?

The Last Olympic Straw

I recently wrote about my dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I really and truly thought that I had gotten it out of my system.

Oh, how wrong I was.

So here I sit on the last morning of the games wondering if we’ll get ANY COVERAGE AT ALL. You see, according to the KNBC website and the listings guide on cable, Olympic coverage came on at 9 am. Really? Because all I’ve seen is Access Hollywood (rerun) and Monk (also a rerun.) The hockey game-GOLD MEDAL GAME AGAINST CANADA is supposed to be on, as well as a few other events that are having their final rounds today.

This is absolutely unacceptable, NBC. You say that your ratings are high? Honestly, it can only be because we have NO other options for viewing. Have you polled anyone lately? And, quite honestly, I think I’m done with you as a network, local and national. This has been the final straw.
Here’s how I think national Olympic coverage should look from you, NBC (and CBS, ABC, and FOX should take notice, should there be a change in networks for the next games. Please?!)

Morning show- Fine. Cute stories about athletes, whatever. Depending on the time zone of the actual games, I get this. (The morning crew has actually done a great job of interviewing the athletes.)

Just after the morning show: LIVE COVERAGE

Noon: 30 minutes of local news.

Afternoon: LIVE COVERAGE

5 or 6 pm: 30 minutes of local news, 30 minutes of national news.

Evening: LIVE COVERAGE

10 pm: 30 minutes of local news

THE END.

Seriously, it’s only 2 weeks out of every 2 years. There is nothing that can’t be put on hiatus for those two weeks. With everyone having digital television now, if a network or local affiliate feels the need to air their regular programming they can now create a digital 2.0 channel for those programs and leave the regular channel for people to find the coverage of the Olympics easily. If you really need your dose of pop culture and celebrity news there are plenty of other networks and online outlets for that.

Here on the west coast we have had to wait until 11-12 pm to watch the medal rounds and races. Why is this if we’re watching it taped? If we tape it to watch later, the morning shows ruin the results. Watching is just not the same if you already know the outcome.

As for the actual coverage? It, too, has been horrendous. Someone actually made a chart of the time that was dedicated to each category: advertising, special stories, Bob Costas, medal ceremonies, etc. Costas is getting more coverage than replays and medal ceremonies COMBINED. The Olympics are not about you, Bob, they’re about the athletes, their competition, their competitors, and their medals. Last night he actually said “If you’re in the central or mountain time zone you can figure it out for yourself,” which I found pretty lame. I tweeted “Bob Costas is a douche,” and I received the following reply from Glennia: @HeadlessMom Amen to that. A botoxed, toupee-wearing douche at that. #shutupcostas. 

Really Bob? As the announcer it’s your JOB to be able to tell the viewers when their national coverage begins and we only have 4 time zones. I guess we’d really be in trouble if we had something like 11 like Russia does.

Thank goodness today is the last day. I honestly don’t think I could take much more. Here’s to a new network getting the rights for the next Olympic games. One that will commit to getting it right.

(Cross posted on Draft Day Suit and Inland Empire Family)

I have a new post up over at Draft Day Suit about Ingram winning the Heisman.

Go ahead and give us some page views. Kthxbi.

Veteran's Day

A mid-week holiday,
An extra hour (OK, hour and a half) of sleep,
Fresh coffee,
Going to the park-
7 kids, and one sweet, wonderful girl friend,
Heart-felt chat,
A house full of yummy smells coming from
Dinner in the slow cooker,
Time to finish left over chores,
blog posts, and to
Sit,
With quiet,
Punctuated with sounds of boys, and
Baseball, and
Football, and
Fall
All outside my back door,
Windows open,
Fresh breeze,
Lazy autumn day,
Thankful for the freedom so many have given.

I have a new post up at Draft Day Suit...go check it out to find out why I won't be watching football all weekend!

Fitness Friday

It is decreed that today begins "Fitness Friday" here at the Headless Casa. Would you like to join me? First, for my story...

I have been far too lax in my exercise and eating and thus have added 5 too many pounds to my frame. Last November, you might remember, that I posted my weight for all the internet to see. Since that time I seriously let a few things go. Namely my belly and my diet. Ahem.

Our youngest started football conditioning this week-two hours each day of running, stretching, agility, and running. He also has to watch his weight. I've mentioned here before that he is a big kid and always has been but to make weight for his age we have to keep an eye on what and how much he eats. He's always been an eater, that one, and we don't want it to get away from him. Thus, we are watching what and how much we all eat this week.

And, I figured that since I had to be at the track anyway....

Which leads me to Fitness Friday. Each Friday I'll be posting here about our successes. It might be what I have or have not eaten this week. (Because we all know that walking away from cake is a success in itself, right?) Or it might be a new exercise that I tried, or how many miles I walked. It might be how many pounds that I lost (please!!!). Anything fitness related is game.

So, this week during practice I started walking again. On Wednesday, I walked about 3 miles on the track, and ran 1/4 mile of that. (Baby steps, right?) On Thursday I did the same. Also this week I have gotten back to only 2 cups of coffee, instead of the three or more I'd been up to.

Meals: more protein, eating sensible breakfasts, low fat, more fruits. No crazy snacking. Only one piece of birthday cake on Wednesday.

Leave me a comment and tell me the successes you've had this week! Don't just sit there-exercise your fingers! (Oh, and feel free to write your own post, link here, and leave us all the link in your comment. If needed I'll eventually get a Mr. Linky.)

Rockies, 3, Angels, 4

Who do you root for when your 2 favorite teams of all time play each other?

HB#2 and friend taking in a little batting practice. The friend got a ball, and they both got Angels jerseys.

Fireworks for an Angel's score.

I just love this shot-all wiggly, just like little boys.

Hey, look!
(I'd also like to point out that these boys are almost exactly the same age. Srsly. Look at that size difference!)

The Big A!