entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Crossfire finished its winless session by losing to Team Suds by... 8-3?  10-3?  Something like that.  Our last two games have shown improvement in our physical condition, as people weren't getting run down in the final quarter of the game.  In general, we didn't play badly on defense, but we did make a good amount of boneheaded plays that led to goals, and that includes me.

Next session starts up next week, and i'll be resuming play with Centavo.  However, Off The Wall Soccer is trying to move Crossfire into a co-ed division that plays on Thursdays, which is also when Centavo plays.  Needless to say, we're not happy, and we're hoping that OTWS doesn't actually force us to play on Thursdays.  It's typical OTWS shit... they're so damned incompetent.

You can probably guess that things at work are coming to a head.

After a 2.5 week layoff, Crossfire played two games in quick succession, on Friday night and Monday afternoon, both losses: 10-2 to Unhinged, and 9-1 to Habana Cuba.  I was a little rusty against Unhinged, and it showed in my footwork and positioning.  Also, we were short a woman, and we didn't have an extra guy until the second half, so we were all pretty tired by the end.  Habana Cuba nutmegged me twice, and that's just plain embarrassing.  I also managed to strain my shoulder after flinging my arm trying to catch a ball that rolled its way across the box.  We had plenty of guys on the bench for this game, but no women, so they had to play all game.  I was 5-10 minutes late, too, thanks to work, so my focus wavered, as usually happens when i'm late.

Last night, Crossfire lost to Ball Monsters, 7-3.  We continue to make good progress; Maria and Javier, the captains, tried assigning set positions to people, and they seemed to yield decent results.  We played a fairly tight game (scored the first goal again) until about halfway through the second half, when we lost our defensive composure (again).  I had a couple of embarrassing goals: the first occurred when a shot bounced off my forearm and lobbed into the far corner; the other occurred when i dove and stifled a shot, but when i tried to put my hand on the ball to prevent it from rolling into the goal, i managed instead to slap it and push it in all the way.  Apparently the ref didn't count it, but that barely ameliorated the chagrin.  Despite the miscues, i was happy with my play; i was all over the box, throwing my body across the path of the ball and opposing players.

Ah, college, the prime breeding ground of socialists and LaRouchies, same as it was sixteen years ago.  What did the LaRouchie type spout before LaRouche, i wonder?

"What would happen if you were to connect all the ZIP codes in the US in ascending order?"

On Monday night, Crossfire lost again, this time 7-3 to Ball Monsters.  We played our best game yet, but it bears mentioning that Ball Monsters was a player down the whole game.  Lack of conditioning haunted us again; that'll work itself out the more we play.

Crossfire lost 12-3 (although i'm certain we scored 4, it was not reflected on the scoreboard) to Vortex.  Vortex was very organized and pressed us hard right from the start; after that, though, we came together very well, and came out in the second half playing our best soccer to date.  Then we got tired and gave up a few more goals, and while everyone else played better, i played worse; at least 3 goals were my fault for committing too early or not trusting my defenders to do their job.  I was, however, a lot more vocal than usual, and the team responded well, and played their hearts out.  This was not a bad loss, despite the score.

Despite tying the game early, Crossfire went down in another crushing defeat, 11-1 to Santos.  My finger is still busted, and stopping shots hurt a lot.  This led me to play a little scared, which led to one goal which was scored by the opposing goalie, who made his way unopposed past midfield and then took a nice topspin shot at me.  By the time i thought the ball was going to hit above the goal, it started dropping over my head and in.  I should've just punched it with my good hand... got nutmegged once, too.  I bought new gloves and my first goalie jersey, a nice orange job.  I'll try to have Kim take a picture of me in full regalia before the next game.

Crossfire lost the first game of their campaign to Tobiko, 11-5.  There was definitely a sense of unfamiliarity among the players (especially on one woman's part, who hasn't played soccer since she was 6), although we started off well.  I managed to get rug rash despite my padded shorts and someone kicked my left ringfinger as i dove for the ball; the swelling has come down, fortunately.  Three games in five days and i'm completely whupped; at least i get a week and a half off until the next game.

Two weeks ago, Centavo defeated Unleash The Fury 8-5, in a well-played game notable for me taking a close-range shot right in the nads; fortunately, my Protective spared me any downtime or pain.

On Thursday, Centavo beat Jets 4-2. I got there late due to the first day of rain in California, which is celebrated across all highways with mangled cars. While i was warming up to enter the game, one of my teammates headed a ball away and was grazed in the head by a high-boot (his head was lowered, at about mid-thorax). The ref called the foul... on my teammate. I let out a loud "HA!" After a break in the action, he came over to our bench and asked who laughed. I said it was me, but he did nothing. He continued to be extremely sensitive to any outburst throughout the game. I came home with a pretty sore right biceps.

Last night, Centavo's luck ran out as we got crushed in the session's last game by Still Movin, 11-2. Nobody was sharp, either defensively (most of the goals happened when people were left open, and i got nutmegged twice) or offensively (more shanks than at an all-you-can-eat lamb barbecue). Combined with the late 23:25 game time, things got chippy and there was a lot of whining on both sides, but more on ours. I got boarded when i went out to challenge a loose ball, and when the ref called the foul, my aggressor said, "He's not supposed to do that!" What wasn't i supposed to do? I got no good answer. Today's game was played on the big field, which box i still don't feel i own (i have a pretty good handle on the box on the small field). Right now my whole right arm is useless, all the way up to my shoulder.

It looks like Centavo's gonna take a session off because our captain moved to LA, and his replacement failed to register us on time. Fortunately, i just signed up with a co-ed team, Crossfire, with which i start playing on Monday.

After two fallow weeks, Centavo ran back on the pitch and lost a tough game to Metapan, 8-7.  We were up 6-3 at the half, but we came out very flat to start the second half, and were hurried and lost.  I took a shot in the mouth in the first half, but no harm came of it.  In the second half, i took a goal kick with my left foot and passed the ball out of the reach of my teammate; an attacker took advantage and quickly turned it into a goal.  Other than that, i think i played well, and really, we all did.  We just let `em back in it after the half, and they wore us down (we only had one sub to their four).

I'd like to go shower off the stink now, but i have to finish migrating this database...

Last night, Centavo defeated Ninjasneaky 8-5.  We were down 3-1 at the half, but we had played well.  Ninjasneaky started the game two men down, but reached full strength plus a sub about halfway through the half.  From our experience in starts like that, i figured they'd be worn down in the second half.  Sure enough, they came out in the second half defending poorly, and we struck quickly with four unanswered goals.  A good game again for all of us, like last week, except this time we won.