Happy New Year 2007

My resolution? To have a better year then 2006.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a merry xmas and happy new year. Here is a clip of my daughter ice skating.

Filling in for Batman and Robin

You know for a multi-millionare, Brucie was too cheap to give us costumes.

The hanging out of the GP's

Just us boys hanging out.

I hate Xmas shopping

Now don't get me wrong...I like buying presents for my wife, kids, and anyone else that is on the list. What I can't stand is the stuff surrounding it. Example I went to pay for a couple presents and these days most are smart to ask for my ID. Taking for granted they can read the "Please see California driver's license." Well the clerk looked like he wanted to see ID after looking at the back of my credit card. So taking cue, I showed my ID. Not a problem. Then I asked him, "You were going to ask me, weren't you?"

Clerk: "Huh?"
Me: "You were going to ask for my ID, right?"
Clerk: "Well, uh, you don't look like a guy who would engage in credit card fraud."
Me: "Umm what does a guy who engages in credit card fraud look like?"
Clerk: "uhhhhhhhhhhh"
Me: "Dude, to put it short, I got burned a few years back because someone didn't do their job. Now I don't shop there."

This was Macy's back in the year 2000 when I lost my debit card somehow and it took 3 hours to realize that I had and them 3 hours to make, not one, but two big purchases in Macy's. Basically had to swear on my family's life they were not my charges and I even contacted Macy's loss prevention to reprimand the two clerks that charged my account without checking ID.

Then you have the crowded malls. You have the sales, long lines. Basically I am done unless something catches my eye for the wife or kids.

Had a good christmas party/

Stayed at the Sante Clare in San Jose. Bueatiful hotel.. As a coworker said this morning though, "Free booze get me into trouble."

Just when you think a certain coach is a win at all costs...

...that coach surprises you. Basically was just told a story by a fellow referee who ran as AR for a soccer match. I don't want to give specific details since I am getting this second hand, but there is a point to this story.

Basically a team we'll just call Red, is on the attack and Blue is defending. Ball sails over to the Blue keeper which should be easy to pick up, which he does. Red is on full momentum, with slight hopes of getting the ball before the keeper. Keeper has the ball in hands, and then as the Red forward runs by, the keeper throws an elbow to the Red forward hitting him in the mouth.
The center referee decides to be nice and award a penalty and give the keeper a yellow card. Red converts a goal as a result and it's the only goal of the match. Awfully nice of the referee to give a PK and a yellow card.
The coach of the Blue team saw the AR offsite the next day by just chance and the coach said he suspended the keeper for 6 games and the school is reviewing the incident to see if he can be pulled from the team. Basically the coach finished the referee's job for him.
Now one may read this and say, "Justice is served." And I agree, it was. However, it was the referee's responsibility to administer the justice to being with. Deliberate elbows in the mouth are serious and need to be taken as such. Had the referee given the red card with the PK like he should have, maybe the coach wouldn't have felt inclined to take action on his own.
What is the point of the story? Am I giving kudos to the coach? Yes, I do give the kudos to the coach for trying to make a slightly correct much more politically correct that if I stepped in the middle, did my best and called a fair game, I would be confident he wouldn't give me too much grief for my efforts. However, the referee thought he was doing the keeper a favor by not sending the player off, and now instead of nature taking its course with a red card suspension, and have a chance of returning to the game, he now risks losing out the entire season. And it's his last year in the league.
We have heard of stories where the MLS has stepped in when an incident happens out of the referee's view (or worse in the referee's view) and dole out their harsh punishment even if the referee didn't issue a red card.

In summary, things can happen due to referees calling stuff such as a PK and a Red card. A team gets a goal most likely and a player gets suspended. However, you do nothing because you are trying to be nice then you may think you are avoiding a bad situation, where in contrast, you made a bad situation worse.

US Soccer is taking a turn for the worst

It turns out that Bob Bradley will be the US MNT interim head coach. This was shortly after Jurgon Klingsman turned down the position, even though geographically it would have been a dream job for him. The man lives in Southern California where the Home Depot Stadium is. I guess USSF is still pinching their pennies to bring in a man who brought Germany in the Semi Finals and was a top player back in the 1994 world cup.

So the main question is will Bob Bradley get the job. My vibes are telling me it's not that great of a move. This is a guy who has been known to lose it more than Arena did in his tenure of the MNT. I do know for California referees, two of them, both FIFA at the time have given Bradley his walking papers. In an international setting, he's going to run in to much less tolerant referees.

What I wish is for Klingsman to reconsider taking the position. He would be much better in the running then Bradley.

Day of struggling

It seemed like everything I did today was a struggle. Tried to put together a scanner and it was a struggle. Tried to take a test and it was a struggle. Tried to solved all of other people's technical issues and it was a struggle.

On the flip side of things, my darling daughter has been doing great in school. I got three spelling tests handed to me, two of them she scored a perfect paper and got a 90% on the other. Nice to know the extra help we have given her has paid off.

USSF registration is fast this year

I thought it was amazingly fast when they got my referee license in about a month's time of submitting the paperwork, doing the check vs. the new referee registration electronically. I was afraid my upgrading paperwork would slip through the cracks. Turns out my instincts were correct because the www.d3refs.com web page now suggests registering this way for grade 7 and higher since we have additional paperwork to turn in. Well with my instructors license there was no paperwork involved with the reg form so I decided to give the electronics a try. As it turns out I got my license for 2007 in even half the time. Looks like there is a lot of improvement on the process to get it out in such a timely fashion.

Spent the better part of my day tearing down a scanner and bring it back up. Not really what I wanted to spend the day doing, but maybe the first hour or two was worth while. The rest I don't know about. I have to do the same tomorrow while chasing a call down to make sure he is up and running even though I think it's his program doing the problem because it works on another system.

For fun and entertainment my sister sent me this

Winning streak finally shot down

Well after a few tournaments where I have walked away with cash, it turned out last friday I finally got the boot with no cash. Placed 4th out of 9th and what got me the boot was I went all in on pocket 8's knowing that one player was left. As it turned out, she had pocket Aces and I never hit my card.

Find myself missing an old passion.

No, not an old girlfriend. I've been finding myself more and more missing my old passion for fencing. I fenced in De Anza College . When I first took it, it was more of a "hey this could be fun to do between classes."

I remember my first instructor, Elmer Gates. He was an old gentleman from Indiana. You could tell from the way he says Italian (He pronounces it Eye-talian). I remember slow learning the first class. That was because we were spending much of our time learning the footwork. A lot of it without the foil. So it was no surprise when I was at the class I was screwing up the parries. I remember he stepped in to help me on many occasion.

When we got into bouting, I found myself wanting to be a director (they now call them referees). By then I was getting the hang of the fencing. Then I was so stoked, I wanted to fence in the summer and then in the fall. Then I was taking fencing every quarter by the fall, I was a teacher's aid for the beginning class. Even bought my own mask, foil, and jacket.

I then was started to get bored with the class because I wasn't learning anything new. But then a friend I made in the class found a maestro who was teaching at nights at my old high school. I decided I was going to take a few classes. His name is John DeCesare. He was an interesting fellow. Gave me a few finer points in fencing which was different with Gates and a few new moves that I hadn't learned before.

It was then that I started competing. I took second in my first competition. Then there was the De Anza/West Valley fencing bash twice a year. I made some friends there. I also placed 2nd on the inaugural and first from there on out until I left.

Thing was I was also refereeing soccer and it got to a point one of them had to go. I chose the refereeing. See my post of how I became a referee for details. Problem is when you get to the pinnacle of a course, then you can only tune up what you know.

I then moved a bit up north after Gates retired. Before Gates retired, they needed a successor. Unfortunately I didn't have a degree or I could have taught the class easily. So it went to a rookie. She did one smart thing and take individual lessons from Connie Yu. Her daughter Jennifer, placed very well in National Competitions. I went to seek a new fencing place. I found Sword Play Fencing Academy. I actually discovered it during my college years as I was competing in the amateur level. It was a nice set up I remembered and the host, George Platt was pretty cool. I decided that was going to be my stomping ground where it could gear me up for better fencing and competitions.
At that point I had a wake up call. My competing in college was nothing compared to SPF and USFA competitions. There were kids who were better then me. It was discouraging, but after a while I just rolled with it and tried to be the best I could be. Before I hung up the equipment I did finally get ranked. By now the rank is gone since it lasts 4 years from last competition where you would earn the ranking.
What prompted me to write this was I was in Fullerton visiting my wife's family and my nephew and I were playing with light sabres a little aggressively and then it just brought back memories. As my nephew was wailing away with his sabre, it took little effort to parry his and then my daughter's at the same time. I was once told by old timers, fencing is like riding a bike. Once you get back on, you don't forget how to ride. I didn't believe it until that day.

Letter to a soccer parent

I was surfing the web blogs for some new material and this letter caught my eye. I took the name of the individual that wrote it, but I back up every word that is written here:

"Dear Soccer Parent:

I meant to say something to you Saturday. There you were at Skypark in Scotts Valley, watching the 1:00 PM game on Field #3. I had just finishedworking a couple matches as a center referee on the adjacent field. I letmyself be in too much of a hurry-- trying to get on with my day, so we didn'tget a chance to chat.I think that the game you were watching was an Under 11 boys game. Thereferee had apparently award a penalty kick that was being taken at theopposite end of the field -- nearly 100 yards away from where you werestanding.The first thing that I noticed, even from that distance, was that the centerreferee on the match looked only five or six years older than the playersaround him. Unfortunately, that didn't surprise me. For all the parentsthat come out to watch a Saturday morning soccer game, very few get involvedwith officiating. These games are dependent on a relatively small poolofficials who receive a little bit of training and typically get assigned tothe highest level of soccer game that matches their experience. They don'tget every call right, but every one I've run into tries very hard to do so.I was thinking about the maturity of that young referee. He has to use hisbest judgment in a situation where a number of adults will disagree withhim. I can't imagine that would be a comfortable situation for any youngboy or girl. I could just imagine how tough that would be if that refereeknows any of the parents around that field, as a neighbor, or maybe even ateacher -- how difficult would that be! Maybe that's why for all therecruiting of young referees that gets done Santa Cruz County, there isstill a growing deficit of officials, meaning we lose a lot of new officialsand the remaining ones must work more and more games.Anyway, I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't come over for a word withyou. I hope the Positive Coaching Alliance hasn't had the opportunity to visityour club ­ because if they have, there's probably a team full of parentsembarrassed to be at the same game with you.By the way, the next time I hear you say, "Ref, you suck" to a human beinghalf your age, I'll stop by to let you know how gutless and pathetic youappear to me.

Signed....

The Referee

The american dream is dying.

I was once raised that you went to school, you got a good education, and you get a good paying job. Well I went to school, I never finished college, I have a decent job. I watched the cost of education rise in the community college level. I have to confess, I didn't go to the four year college and I was afraid to look and see what the cost per semester would be. I was afraid for what I would do, I would go, get a student loan, and be in massive debt.
In fact I did get into debt on a trade school student loan. After going to this school I didn't land a job in the field. It took 3 years and more schooling (this time on a full ride scholarship) and then I landed the job I trained for. I was still paying off my student loan and it took another 3 years for that. Oh it was for less than 10K but I also was deep in debt until I hit a small windfall.

That is when I read this article about a Chiropractor, just out of school, is working two jobs, less than 50K a year. I'm not putting down the power of education, but the cost of it is getting so high, I fear for my daughter to have a fighting chance.

Woman fined for peace wreath

If the neighbor nazis (home owners association) have nothing better to do, they can fine some poor woman for putting up a peace wreath.

What I am thankful for

I know thanksgiving weekend is over, but I think it should be a time of year to reflect what I am thankful for during the past year:

The top of my list is, I'm thankful I have a loving wife who has stood behind me, even when I haven't always deserved it.

I'm thankful my baby Gabriel has gone a year with no seizures as the docs predicted he would have. I'm thankful he has not gotten worse but better with him hearing better, seeing better, and he is off the oxygen. We even went on a 5 day trip without the tanks. Not because we forgot them. Because we truly felt he didn't need them. And he is weening off the Phenobarbital quite well.

I'm thankful that I have a beautiful daughter inside and out. Outside she is just a pretty girl, but inside, she is unselfish, loving, easy going, and loves her baby brother so much. I couldn't ask for a better daughter. Well she could score a goal or two, but that would just be gravy.

I'm thankful the soccer season is over and even through my U8 team didn't have the best record, they had the best heart.

I'm thankful I got my grade 5 and even more greatful I have the card stating I am a grade 5 before the 1996 year is over (a first). I know next year will be interesting, but it will not be as tough as this year. I'm futher more greatful I had several upper referees watching my back in more ways then one. I honestly can say, I could not have done it alone.

I'm thankful I'm financially comfortable dispite all the financial set backs we have had. I was able to take a vacation with my wife without worrying what it costed.

I'm thankful we got a vacation with just the two of us. Made us realize we need to do that more. I almost forgot how fun it was to hang out with my wife even when doing nothing but watching a Dr. Phil scam.

I'm thankful for the support my friend and family during the emotional hardship we had with Gabe's health in the beginning. Without them, I don't know how we would have gotten through half of the things we endured.

I'm thankful I have a great boss who I can come to for problems, solutiions, or ideas without feeling shot down, even when rejected.

Crossroads was fun to watch

Spent the good part of the day yesterday watching District 3's finest youth referees. I will tell you, the majority of the youths were the most appreciative that they had someone to watch them and tweak their refereeing skills to make them better. Saw two of those youths keep a cool head when confronted (non violently) by coaches.

After watching some of the games and talking with the locals, a Dublin referee was asking when Dublin referees would get some mentoring. I agree as I'm trying to offer my services to DUSL for referee training. My goal...get it so they would have a meeting on say every first Wednsday of each month starting from Aug to Nov. We'll see if that flies.

A relaxing getaway

My wife and I spent the last couple of days relaxing in Calistoga. It was my first time there and I let my wife do most of the steering. I did my very first mudd bath. That was an odd, but relaxing feeling. The only thing is you tend to wash mudd out in places I didn't think I had. Then we did a 50 minute massage. After the whole ordeal we didn't want much to do of anything so we relaxed until dinner time where we downed a few beers and ate good food and dessert. The night before we hit a nearby sushi bar.

When I got home, in the mail greeted me my packet which contained my 2007 badge and grade 5 card. No more waiting for the paperwork to either complete or slip through the cracks.

Wednsaday night I had dinner at the Radsison. It was nice and I got to sit with the Mayor of Danville and of course her hubby Tony.

MLS cup 2006 analysis of the Referee

In the first 8 minutes there was a miscommunication with the AR prematurely bring up the flag and then a advantage take back after 3 seconds of the foul.

More mentioning on how Kinnear emulates Yallop's style. Will Dom ever be his own man?

11th min DeRosario is fouled.
12th Reis having a good game despite the sun in his eyes.
16th minute. Franchino gets a card for a late tackle on Mullen. Ref again showed late call, waiting to see if an advantage materialized.
Seruioux did a risky tackle in the 18th minute. No call in the box. Nice no call.
So far so good for the referee.
23rd minute Davis gets a card for a late tackle on Heaps.
Announcers mention how Twellmen has been having a difficult year in soccer and personal life. For the record, I believe Thelma should have been picked for the US National team. He was also passed over for
24th minute. Great save by Onstad from a great shot by Twellmen
32nd minute. Joseph took a love tap to Davis after Davis fouled him. Nothing done. Davis already has a card.
33rd. Chastain wanted to know if Dempsey will play. Nicohol said he does
DeRosario took a hard hit from behind. No call. DeRosario is pissed off.
35th minute. If soccer were like Texas Hold em, Dynamo started off with a chip lead but NE took it from them. Nobody is out yet though.
38th minute, the announcers love to make it a point for the 3rd time that Ricardo Clark is out due to a yellow card suspension.

39th Great save by Reis by DeRosario.
40th This is a goal keepers game as both keepers are coming up big.
41th Bloody hell!!! Danglish is not making any waves last the conf championship.
42th Joseph's getting fouled. May me a matter of time that someone gets a card for a PI
43rd. Heaps commits the foul. Heaps holds up the ball to delay the restart. No card. Didn't the referee read the same memorandum as the rest of us?
45th minute. Two players take each other out off the ball and the referee saw it because he raised his arm to it, but no call. Nobody is making a thing of it.
1 minute of stoppage
I fail to understand why referees have to wait until the ball is in play until the whistle for half time.
Half time stuff…

They showed Brian Ching's goal of the year and I have to say I did vote for him. This year was a tough choice, they thought Deosario would get it because he scored 50 yards from the line. Truth is the keeper's position or lack of helped him. Where Ching's goal was all skill and a lot less luck.
Day Break series premier sounds good.
So Don Garber stating they want to have one player per team without a salary cap. They are scoping on Beckham. Basically were looking at Bawling like Beckham the sequel. Also looks like it's going to be a lopsided season next year as Toronto is going to be the only ones coming in the fold. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I want to see more teams. Don't get me wrong. I just hate so see a lopsided number. What happened to Seattle? Or San Jose?

Have a mention how much I despise Bruce Arena. He's a prime example of a great leader gone bad. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

47th minute. Referee got too close to play. Got hit with the ball. Life goes on. Side note. Bruce is criticizing Dom's line up. Bruce, I screw up at the world cup, is criticizing Dom. Bite me Arena!

50th minute. Smart coaching by Dom. Cut off the interview to watch the game. There was one interview when Lorrie Fair
51st Another Delayed call by the referee. He is consistent. If you read Bob Evans' blog, you would understand why the scrutiny.
53rd minute. Fanchno's day is done as Smith takes over.
55th minute tough call
Not that I am one to talk and I', probably late in the game, but what the hell is with Dynamo players and beards?
58th minute. Bruce finally admits he doesn't always make grear decisions. Wow it took him 5 months to admit that.
61st minute. Dempsey is coming in. Is this a smart move by the coach or just giving the fans what they want?
63rd minute. Cochron caught the announcers attention with a good reading. Not much has been said about him. Did you know he played for the Sounders which won the A league championships? He was a major factor in that game. Also, coincidently, was the day my son was born.
68th minute…Let the players play Arena said. Thanks guys. Give Arena the floor to bitch about the referees in the world cup.
71st minute Dempsey proves how deadly he can be unmarked.
84th minute. Moreno gets an elbow by A. John. No red? This is gonna get ugly.
89th minute. Very slow foul by Mullen. Starting to see a bunch of aggressive, but clumsy fouls
One minute of stoppage time.
Had to feed the baby so I couldn't get into the analysys except Mullen has been fouling enough to get close to a PI.

2nd half OT
Twellman does a nice placement in the corner and then Ching answer less then a minute later with a goal of his own.

PK's This is what I call a goalkeeper's game. Reis guessed right and made the effort, but only saved Davis' Despite the stats of Reis getting more practice, Onstad's average was better and proved it.


In short since this is for the referee's while I'm not impressed with his history, he did a decent job in refereeing. He didn't do a great job. I felt he missed that elbow in the face. But take that out he did a good job.

On a winning streak.

Finally took up my local comic book shop owner's invite and played a tournament with regulars who usually place poker when I arrive. Basically mopped the floor with them all. All in a day's work.

So you want volunteers, eh?

Last night I went to my local soccer BOD meeting. Reason, my team had not one but two women who stepped up (that's an understatement) to be team moms. Both of them for what tasks they took on, did an awesome job. In all my years (not many but a handful) as a coach, I've had team mom's do a good job and some that did the minimum. These two really out did themselves. Where am I going with this? It is noted that there is an unwritten rule that states there is one team mom per team. The board was willing to vote that they could split the work deposit. To their defense, and I have to admit this is sound, they start doing that, then they would do it for all parents. Of course this is where a written rule should be allow.

Next week I'm going to do something I never done before. I'm going up to Calistoga with my wife. She's been dying to do this. I thought of Cache Creek, but one, it's expensive, and two we all know why I would be interested in going. The gambling of course. They even have Texas hold em. Problem is if I'm the one gambling, then were not really spending the quality time we should be and it's her turn, so my eyes are wide shut and I'm just going to try a new experience. Although after what Paula told me about the mud bath (the aftermath) I think I'll stick with the mineral. Perhaps some wine tasting will be in order. I love wine tasting.

Birth of the Joker

In case you wondered.
This little movie clip did a pretty good job explaining it.

Blog may be a bit slow for a while

I have decided I am going to take the entire High School Season off. This may include State Cup and Association Cup. My knee isn't going to get any better if I don't start taking care of it. I also want to train when it does get better so in the early spring I will be ready for whatever soccer throws at me.

Still reeling over my poker winnings. My wife tells me I seem to have an obsession with one player whom we seem to go back and forth. He was won the last one, and now I won this one and he was knocked out so bad that he didn't even take any money home. He usually does, even if it's just a buy in. Me? 95% of the time I at least broke even if not made a profit. At home, I have always made money, which I went in just not caring if I won or not so some other people would have the chance. Yet this round I seem to have taken out many of the heavy hitters this time.

A closing season, big pots, and going out with a bang

I open the post by announcing the end of the U8 Cheetah girl's season. No, it wasn't like U6 where we dominated most games, but for the ones we took in with no soccer playing experience and developed them into playing machines. Hopefully we get the same teams. We ended with great coaches gift as we got rolling duffel bags. I mean these were awesome and it has "Coach Giancarlo" on it. How cool is that?

At night we had my quarterly texas holdem tournament. Was hoping for 16 players but with 2 last minute bail outs and one last minute add on, we had 15 players which made it so we could have 4 places. We also had a loser table which made it so one more person could walk away with profits. Well I opened the first hand on my table with an all-in after I raised. I was looking to just take the pot that was already out there. Marty raised me. Basically a big mistake, because I decided to go all-in. Pablo called me and everyone else folded so one person was going to be eliminated. Cards are turned and I have pocket Aces. Pablo has pocket Jacks. What this means is the best chance for Pablo was to get another Jack without me getting an Ace. Neither one of us hit our cards so I won by default and Pablo lasted 25 seconds according to him. It left me in a good spot because all I did was snipe the rest of the game. When the table was consolidated, Denny had major chips as well as my cousin Danny. I was beginning to think I was short stacked. I managed to slow play my way up to a point where I was a threat again. Long story short, I took out Denny and a few hands later I took out Dan.

Today I had an U17 Boys match. Last game of the season. it was Dublin and Livermore. I knew they were going to play hard being the last game of the season and I had a feeling that they didn't think the red cards would follow them into Association Cup or the following season. For the first 10 minutes they were feeling each other out. Probably feeling me out, but I did call some fouls and already started to talk to Dublin regarding shirt pulls. In the 15th minute, two challenge for the ball. Ball is passed ahead to a Dublin player and then a Dublin player off the ball pushes a Livermore player down to make sure he doesn't get up. Which was a real stupid play because Dublin had a nice break away. I called it back and issued the first caution of the match. I was hoping that would give them the clue, I was not going to put up with any nonsense. I was wrong. 4 minutes later I had a Livermore player go in for a tackle from behind with the studs up, hitting the back of the leg. My red card was out before the Dublin player could say "ouch!" I was hoping that would send a message. I hear this old farts saying, "You need to get something back for the card." I was hoping to get a better behaved game. Well for the most part I got that from Livermore. I only booked a couple more players on their side for delayed restart and taunting. Dublin I had to issue cards in spades. A little delayed restart here, a UB there, and a Dissent here. The coach of Dublin was good to pull them out when I book them. I did even the teams in the second half when I sent a Dublin player off for a DOGSO and called a PK. When I approached him after calling the PK, he looked up and said, "Sorry." before I could get my red card out. He didn't dispute it. Neither did the others. Keeper asked me if it was for the tackling from behind. I said, "No. It was for DOGSO because the fact he was in the goal area when it happened and there was nobody between the attacker and the goal except you." Keeper accepted it graciously. After that I had a taunting, a few delayed restarts where the ball was kicked away after the call, and a player who picked up the ball after the foul to keep the other team from restarting. After the 8th caution the last 15 minutes were good and I had both behaving themselves. I usually don't listen to people after the game, but I use it sometimes to grade my performance. Both teams I got excellent game from both sides. Coaches didn't say anything negative. I had numerous spectators say it was a tough, but fair game.

Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness

You have this right under the US constitution and in my Political Science class back in college, my teacher who's name escapes me now, said it best. You have these rights as long as they do not infrindge on other people's rights. So when that jackass Bush decided to sign the bill stating online gambling is illegal because we need it to protect us from ourselves, it pure bullshit. Hey I pay my taxes like the next guy. As my cousin and I were talking he said, "Pave the roads, have the police out to protect us, and keep my house from burning, but don't tell me what to do with my money."

If you read the hyperlink above it tells about a lady who gambled 70,000 online. Now that is someone who has a problem. However, guys like me who are to put 50 bucks in and hope for the best, well, leave us alone. Before this law passed, the banks would not approve our credit card purchases to gamble. At first I was pissed, but in that sense, they need to do that so they don't wind up eating 70,000 when the tab comes but the consumer can't even make a monthly payment. But to wire transfer from my bank with my own money is my damn business. I don't need some jackass in the white house to screw with how I do my funds.

I do know when it comes to voting, I will not vote for politicians. I will vote for measures because those affect us. I won't vote for people like Arnold who signed on as a democrat, but is a republican by heart. In fact those parties mean less each year and if it is miserable, why even call it a party?

Happy Halloween

I brought my Batman costume, but since I was somewhat limping I decided not to dress up. I am going to dress up with my daughter who is going to be Wonder Woman and go trick or treating with her. no, I'm not trying to get free candy. As I look around the office, I see only one in my group who dressed up. So I don't feel so bad.

Poker tournament this weekend looks like it's going to be a blast. Still have 16 players on the guest list and one active person on the waiting list. If I have more then 12 people I am a happy camper.

Tomorrow will be the final practice for my U8 girls. I've said this before about my referee classes, for the good ones, I tend to get attached to the students. Same goes for my U8 soccer team. I know half of them since they were U6 and hoping to take them with me the next season. I have had a couple of players who have never played and have really improved. I would hate to see them go. I also need to think of making my status official and get my coaching license. May help me develop these girls to be better players. We have our final game this weekend and my goal is to have fun, secondary goal, keep from getting scored on., final goal would be to win the final match.

Sunday bloody sunday

No I didn't go to a U2 concert. However, I saw red this weekend. First game was Northwest and Folsom. Was pretty cordial in the beginning as we had a mystery of where the game cards were. I had the same two ARs in the match that morning as I did last night and while they didn't fully dress the part, they did do their part. Considering referees were a rare resource I decided not to go on my soap box on dress and appearance.

The first half was good with very little fouls and pretty much a clean game. At the final minute I called a Folsom player for offside and a second or two later he decided to kick the ball away. I booked him for delayed restart. Ended the half shortly. Second half, it was like I was reffing a different game as both came out on fire. I booked one player, number 17 for charging the keeper, but it was a reckless challenge as he did try for the ball, but nailed the keeper. Booked a couple more players for a reckless challenge here, and a dissent there. Warned a Folsom player he was looking at a Persistent Infringement on the next problem. He cleaned up his act. However 17 of Northwest wasn't so cautious so after a Folsom player cleared the ball, 17 went in for a very late tackle. I gave him the second yellow, and then said...hmmmm you look familiar, looked in my book, and by the time I pulled the red, he was off the field. Had the Northwest coach yell at me for something that may or may not have happened, and against my better judgement, I stopped the game taking the attack away from Folsom. Felt real bad about that one. It was 2-2. I gave 3 minutes of stoppage which Northwest capitalized and scored. One of the Folsom players wanted me to end the game, but the majority wanted to play it out. So I played it out and then ended the game. Losing coach commented me on a job well done. The winning coach, mister big mouth, actually apologized to me for yelling. I told him he really hurt my feelings in a sarcastic voice. He said, "I know and I feel really bad about it." So it ended in a nicer note.

My U16 girls championship match was another story. You would picture two teams nearly equal in skill. This wasn't the case. El Durado had a full team and two assistant coach. Rivercity had a team of 11 and one coach. Explaining to the Rivercity coach what would happen in the event of a tie, he said, "It's not going to end in a tie."
Ammie who was one of my ARs said, "He's awfully confident."
I took another look at the team and said, "Or he's prepared for an awaited beating."
Turned out I was right. However River City came out fighting. Literally. They were committing most of the fouls throughout the match. I nailed one for persistent infringement and one for kicking the ball away. I almost nailed another for Dissent. I just told her to zip it. Before the first goal of El Durado, the team lost two goals from offside. The coach of El Durado decided he was going to work me. After a little of this, I told him, "No more." Then El Durado got a break when a Rivercity defender put her hand up for handling the ball. No DOGSO in this one because it wasn't goal bound. I just gave the penalty kick, which she was scored on. The second goal, now Rivercity was trying to get an offside call. I told the defender at that point to zip it after she tried the dissent by talking loudly to her player how we were unfair. So my AR was either consistently right or consistently wrong. The El Durado coach decided he was going to work me some more. Big mistake. I told him he was on notice. He asked, "Am I cautioned?"
I said, "You catch on quick." Didn't have another problem with him. In fact he was pretty sporting in the second half.
Rivercity decided to pour on the attack. In the 4th minute of the second half, the El Durado goalkeeper picked up the ball from an oncoming Rivercity player. That player pulled back when she knew she was beat, but a second Rivercity player decided while the keeper was standing with ball in hand, to go in for a nice tackle, sending the keeper flying in the air, no chance of getting the ball, didn't even make an effort to avoid the keeper. My hand was in my back pocket while hitting the whistle hard. Sent her off for serious foul play. Game ended 10 minutes early because the Rivercity coach had enough after losing 6-0.

You've know you have been reffing amatuer players too long when...

you go and casually talk to an U12 boys player regarding his outburst to both ARs throughout the match (Jesse could take it, but wasn't sure on the other referee) and then an outburst towards me while others were taking shots on a goal and he's to the brink of crying. Didn't raise my voice, but I was stern. Jesse told me he thinks I made him cry. It was a good game, Mustang I had the distinct pleasure of watching them practice corner kicks the Thursday before and doing it quite well. So when it turned out I reffed them, I knew they were going to be deadly on corners which they were.

My AR assignment wasn't so much fun because I had a center I thought was too assertive and basically made enemies with the coaches. It was due to a time dispute on the program. I would have explained the same thing, but I wouldn't have been as stern about it. Basically could have been a better game. This same referee over asserted himself on another game and as one coach put it, "I've seen him referee and he is a good referee, but it's center ref, not center stage." I had to agree a little bit, but then again, I heard they were jerks and Jesse even told me the coach as an ass.

Nobody pulled a red card that day, but I know I was flirting with it on my final game on Saturday. It was Fair Oaks vs. Northwest Oaks. I booked two players on Fair Oaks in the first 5 minutes. My buddy Mike told me that he looked over at my game, saw me hit the whistle hard and pull a yellow card. Then he heard quiet from the rest of the game. Well it may have been quiet to him, but I had to stay on them to keep them from doing anything else stupid. 00 of Fair Oaks apparently had a hard time keeping his mouth shut and his teammates knew this because they were telling him to shut up. I went to him and said, "If you know what is good for you, you will shut your mouth as you already have a card." Coach took that one under advisement because he pulled both players off that I had booked. He came to me at half time and said while I was doing a good job, I got in the face of the players and that didn't defuse them. He's a ref too...blah blah blah. Rest of the game went fine and I was red card free for Saturday.

Had a few beers and pizza with the old crew I hadn't seen together in a while.

10 most embarrassing things I have done as a referee

1. I was refereeing an U16 boys match where I whistled for a trip. All of the sudden they all were laughing. Turned out I whistled a guy who tripped over his own feet.

2. In an U19 boys match in the first minute, I whistled for a tactical foul. I went to caution the player and he started yelling at me more than usual. I told him he knew he tripped the guy because he was beat and had he not, he would have definitely have scoring options. He said, "You can't send me off for that!" I looked up and I saw my yellow card turned out to be a red card. I said, "This was a test." Pulled the yellow, "This is for real." Needless to say I had control of the match for the rest of the game.

3. I showed up to a game early and decided I needed to rest my eyes. Next thing you know, the opening whistled wakes me up and my AR1 took the center because I was a no show.

4. During an assessment last year, I pulled a red card for DOGSO, but lost sight of the player who I was supposed to give it to, so I gave it to the wrong player. The other players let me know this. I looked at my AR and he was chickening out to give a caution. I knew that wasn't going to fly. Not with Kennedy standing there waiting to see what I would do next. So I held the player hostage and said, "Well either he goes, or you give me the guy who did it." That seemed to fly for everyone, except the coach who thought I was harsh. Kennedy in his usual demeanor said, "Fuck him, you made the right decision. However, how did you get the right player?" I told him how I held the team hostage and I never seen an old man wince with pain and delight at the same time.

5. Showing up late (this was my teen years) to a game because I overslept. The coordinator gave me a wake up call for the next month.

6. My very first assessment in the middle I sent off the wrong player, but managed to correct it before the game restarted with the help of the team (Do you see a pattern here?). I passed and got an excellent feedback to boost my ego, but it ended with you might want to use the same format game sheet so you don't misread your book.

7. In AZ I did a reverse diagonal because the field was so muddy that on the normal AR spot, they would have lost their footing. As a result, you tend to lose yourself on the field. When I did, I got in the way of a player taking a shot, before I was able to move, it glanced off my foot which fooled the keeper and it went in the goal. Only one defender caught on, looked at me, and just patted me in the back in a don't sweat it kind of way. Fortunately it didn't affect the outcome of the game.

8. Did an AR on a CPSA match where I went to take position and turned out I took position on the edge of the penalty area vs. the touch line. The center referee let me know this and players gave me grief for most of the game.

9. Got in the way of a player running full on, and he knocked me several feet. Game was a bit boring anyway, so I provided a little entertainment to the spectators.

10. And finally and most recent grade 5 upgrade, I was prepping for the game, reach down to tie my boots and turned out I noticed a string hanging out. When I reached for it is when I noticed that I had a hold in my short at the crotch area. Trying not to show my anxiety I looked through my bag for an extra pair. Didn't pack one. So I tried not to show my anxiety. When I was told I reeked in experience my thought was you have no idea. I told my assistants after the assessor left.

Wow I actually reached 10. I'm sure there are others, but those were the highlights of my not so great moments in sports.

Weekends are made for fun

I spent Saturday at a very nice wedding. I got a kick out of the preist as I thought this was going to be a long dragged out catholic wedding. I was happy to see this was not the case. I loved the preist's sense of humor.
After the wedding and by the time we got to the reception at an Italian Club in Oakland, it was nice. I noted the choice of beer was either Bud Light or Peroni. Anyone that knows the beer snob of me, knows which one I choose. It was good to see some of the family again. I was beat at the afterparty. Thank goodness my wife was on the same wagon as me, though she seemed to be in better form than me.
Spent sunday sleeping most of the morning away. I can't recall the last time I did that. Got a new toshiba laptop which I pick up today. Have I mentioned I love best buy. They pretty much tailored to my needs vs me really having to negotiate much. I was really impressed. I was pressed for time as I had a game at 5pm. They held the stuff for me until near closing which we rang everything up and they wanted to set me up so I would pick it up in the afternoon today. I looked at the competitor, CompUSA (aka Compuke-essy) and they couldn't even get a better deal. Most cases boys and girls, I'm not keen in buying an extended warranty, but in Best Buy's case they have been more then exceptional with my last computer. Price is not bad either. Highly recommend. After 3 years, you are on your own. The extended warranty is a bit much after that.
Between negotiating the price and making the purchase, I reffed an U15 boys match. It was Danville and Ballistic. Ballistic only had 11 players whereas Danville had mega subs. I feel had we been doing FIFA substitutions, Ballistic would have had the better hand. I had an unfortunate ending where I had to send a player off for a second yellow. The first yellow, I could have very well sent him off technically because it was an elbow. I cautioned him and advised him of this fact. 4 minutes later he takes out the same guy off the ball. He basically sent himself off at this point. Danville was winning by two. Had I been the coach, I would have pulled him out for the rest of the game because he is a good player and would like to save him for next week. I did pad the report at the end stating he left with no incident and the benches and players behaved exceptionally well. I basically sold the red card to all but one spectator who came to me and said the player took a dive. I knew better and just wished him a good evening.

Take care of your legs. You only got one set.

I reffed a game Wednsday night and while the game was good (meaning I didn't have to card anyone) in the first 10 minutes of the game, I was experiencing knee pain. A little pain usually doesn't bug me, but it tended to get worse as the game went by. I still out ran my AR's. One of them was just old and his wheels are where I don't want my wheels to be. The other is pretty inexperienced and I admit, when I beat him to the goal line, I looked at him and waved in a way that should say, "Get your ass to the goal line."
The next morning I paid the price. I would sit down for a while (I do tech support so I am at a desk most of the 8 hours). When I get up and walk around my knee was stiff and hurt like hell to move. Paula mentioned I played soccer last week and played hard, might have put more stress on the knee then it's used to. Today so far, I'm not feeling the pain. I almost pulled out of my game on Sunday, but I think I'm going to stick it out. I have a good AR on my line so if I go down, I know he can take over. Just don't want to be injured for the Halloween tournament, but it has influenced my decision on doing high school.
At work a coworker told me to take tylonal. Most cases I would take something, but I remember my Chiropractor's words. The pill just dulls the pain and masks the true problem. It doesn't cure the main problem and opens yourself to more. Needless to say I didn't take anything. I am back on the Glucosamine religiously (should have been anyway).
Tonight I'm going to a rehearsal dinner because my daughter is the flower girl for a cousin's wedding. Should be a good time. I just feel like until the actual wedding I'm going to feel rushed.
Have I ever mentioned what a great wife I have? (hi Paula) She is pretty mechanically inclined around the house to put the average guy (in this case I'm below average) to shame. Had a water leak outside and she basically solved the problem herself. I was just good for money and grunt work, but she did take the time to teach me a couple things so on my own, I may be able to do this myself this time. Yes it's true, she does better at the homeimproving then me. I've stepped it up a little since I've known her but if she were yoda she would tell me, "Jedi you are not."

Happy hump day updates

This is just an update of a few things that have been going on.

Work....Still on call. Should be a nice check this next month. Downside is I have to replace a laptop. I can't get a reasonable price to repair it without just saying, "Well we should upgrade for an extra 150 and then another 200 for a 3 year service agreement. It just makes more sense.

I tried calling Butch. He has disconnected his phones all over the grid. I know someone mentioned he may have a gambling issue as well as others, but I know he may have a tough time gambling his favorite way thanks to Goerge W. Bush. I got my money from Partypoker. After 8 months I only made a 30 dollar profit on top of the 50 dollar profit when I pulled out of Pacific Poker. Thanks Bush, you *&^%ing A$$hole!. As if the war wasn't bad enough. A friend of mine can't pull his funds because he is below the 50 dollar minimum. Hey Partypoker.. How about making an exception.

Soccer... Half of my girls are getting the passing down. The other half are just doing their own thing. They are going to be in a wake up call in the line up this weekend. Refereed an U19 boys last night. One of the teams has been a handful, not because of the coach, but just the attitudes. One particular player, last I saw him was flirting with a red card. When I saw him again last night he came off of a red card suspension, thanks to his teammates for announcing that. I pretty much shadowed him most of the first half and realized he wasn't going to be a problem. The only chap who was, quieted down when I took him to my neutral corner and offered him my whistle. Coach got a clue and pulled him out. Otherwise it was an easy match. My knee was giving me a little trouble. Felt it this morning. I think it's time to get religious on the glucosamine again. Maybe a maintanence trip to my chiropractor. Good thing all my upgrading is done. It is influencing my decision not to do high school this winter.

Marlena's social calendar is full with all the activities she is doing. She has soccer, DI, and Ice Skating. Two of the three is coming to an end soon. School seems to be going well for her as long as she stays focus.

Gabriel learned to do a bicycle kick with a balloon with my help. He's been in a good mood and I look forward to his smiles when I get home.

The Mrs. and I are looking forward to a little down time soon as I go on sabbatical soon.

Laptop on crack held hostage

If I ever want to see it healthy again I need to be prepared to pay the max of 449.00 and that is if they don't have to go through Toshiba. I asked what it would cost. They said they didn't know, but for 40 bucks diagnostic fee, they can find out how much it is going to break me should I decide not to go through with it. Well I made some phone calls and turns out the part is 469.00. This is without the labor charge. If I have these guys do it, then I'm looking at 80 bucks in labor. For an extra two hundred I can get the upgrades and warranty. Kind of a touch decision because I really liked my laptop before it went on crack. Going to try another place and see if I can get a better deal.

End of the road for my journey to grade 5

Well I took the test and passed with 90%. Now people who know I have been refereeing for a long time will say, "Well you're an instructor and been doing this for a long time. Of course you are going to pass." What they don't know is USSF is rewording the tests to keep the long time State referees like myself from coasting years after year without studying. This would be true for me, but last year I got a rude awakening as I scored below 90% for the first time with an 84% Fortunately all I needed was a 75% but I never have scored below 90 on any given test until last year. That was a good thing because had I coasted this year, I know for sure I would not score about an 85 to get my grade 5. To be honest there was a point I looked at the questions and asked on several occasions, "What the hell?"

Reffed an U19 girls match where the Dublin coach warned me that it may get physical. It didn't get as physical as expected and when it did start, I was in their faces. Managed with 2 cards, one for UB and the other for PI. We had champagne at the end of the day.

The Cheetah girls played well. We held on to a 1-0 lead for so long and then defense lost focus so the other team could equalize. Game ended 1-1 but finally they were passing and spread out. I tell you after practice I didn't think it sunk in, but I was glad to see that it did.

In other news I'm in mourning as my laptop got a crack in the LCD monitor. Getting estimates on repairs. Hoping it's not too expensive or I am going to need to shop for a new laptop.

Well congress decided online poker is illegal and that jackass we call our president of the US signed off on it, making it law. Bastard! I went to play on Friday and found the news. My friend Paul told me he could not get his funds out. But his balance I think was under 50 bucks. I made an attempt and it seems like I will get my funds soon. Looking forward to it since I can't bet anymore.

What do I know about Butch?

For those who have not been in CK (Calorieking) would be slightly clueless to this blog. However there are whom I call the wayward Ckers (former member and at this rate soon to be former) who will get the gist of what I am talking about.

A couple of years back I went down to Disneyland area. A former member and employee of Calorieking and I decided with another member who has a guide dog named Frosty to meet at a Dave and Busters. There were drinks involved and you know how liquid courage loosens the tongue. She told me that CK were making plans to phase Butch out. Apparently they did a slow process of this as it took nearly two years to complete this task.

I wasn't sure what to do with the info or how much weight was involved in the info, but from what I have been reading, Butch finally left an opening to a long standing fight and CK took the shot they needed to take. Hopefully Butch is playing Texas Hold Em somewhere and making more millions then I have made. He will be missed. I have debated on keeping my membership or not. Now that he's gone, it has influenced my decision. You see I know enough to do this on my own. The CK forums which used to be filled with good information are now padded with useless junk so they can make their ranking to royalty.

I'm sure there is a lot more and I'm getting bit by bit information. Perhaps the best thing to do for a friend at this time is to pick up the phone can give the man a call and see how he is holding up.

Team Ronaldo goes undefeated

Okay I know what you are asking. Who the hell is team Ronaldo. Well it turns out my local soccer league whom I coach my daughter hosted a coaches tournament. Basically the games lasted 25 minutes (not halves) and then you basically do a round robin with 3 of the other teams.

First game, was probably my best game. I decided it would be better if I came out as a sub. Turned out to work for the best. Shortly after I came off the bench, I battled for the ball, won it, dribbled it down, passed to the midfielder who passed back, I fed it up to my striker whom put it in. I said, "How about that? Our first goal came off an assist from me." That was short lived as when we were on the defense, a center forward was unmarked and as a result we got scored on. First game ended 1-1. According to several other, it should have been 3-1 but we got two goals called back due to offside.

Second game, we dominated the game, not getting scored on, but also getting an early goal. My performance out there was pretty crappy as my first slide tackle in almost 2 decades. Needless to say, it was still good.

3rd game turned out to be a do or die for us. We got scored on twice. It seemed like our chances of taking the crown were slim. The game was pretty physical. Then we got a goal from an angle shot. Then our esteemed captain ripped one 30 yards out. We tied that match. Since everyone else had tied and lost one, we took the crown with a win and two ties.

Games were close and the people who came to cheer us on had fun. I'm sore from not playing for nearly 5 years and using muscles I hadn't used in a while. Should make the fun run this sunday more bearable.

OMG Gabriel turned his head last night.

To bring you up to speed, after Gabriel got his shunt put in, for 3 weeks they kept him on one side. After a few days of this I voiced concerns. I was concerned his neck would not be limber. I was right. It's been a year and Gabriel has finally got the neck strength to turn his head. Which is good. Yes, we celebrate what seems to be the smallest things because the more he does, the better chance he has at a normal life.

Marlena's soccer game was a disaster. Two people had a bright idea to widen the goals, which one puts less integrity on the center bar which could and has been a potential danger. I voiced this, but being that I am the ASS coach, with a State Referee credential, I was not heard. As a result, nobody got hurt (hopefully nobody in the following games did either), but we got out scored by a long shot. 5-0. We didn't even get a shot on goal. The players played, but not as a team. The good note is we don't have to set up the rest of the season so hopefully I don't need to have this discussion again. It could have been a closer match had they left the goals the way it should have been.

I had a good U19 Boys D3 match. I had good assistants which helped too. But first the pregame. My friend Jesse was doing the center and I had to take a close look at him because he called me Saturday to see if I could take his CPSA game. Since I gave the day to my Oncall partner, I couldn't leave my post unmanned, so I had to decline. Truth is I had my heart set on being a bit lazy with the family (hi honey) so it was an easy decision to make even before I realized I truely was unavailable. Back to the story on hand. I saw he was barely keeping up. But I was releived because I realized I had 3 referees for my game. His center was a disaster because three players needed to go to the hospital. Two on head injuries and one for a cut. The irony of that one was they called an anbulance for the head injuries but both were driven to the hospital by the time the bus got here, but the 3rd player it was pretty convient. Dr. Allen made a huge mistake in the game. He was going to take the player to the hospital but he was the only credentialed coach so if he left, the game was abandoned. Problem was he showed up 3 minute later hoping to resolve his match and half the players on the other team have left.

I get to my boys match and it was a pretty physical game. I kept them under enough control not to kill each other. There was some taunting going on which I stepped in and dealt with on two occasions. Both with cards. Some foul language. Boys will be boys, but here where it started to be an issue. Goal was scored against the white team and the keeper let out an outburst of "You have got to be fucking kidding me!" I couldn't imagine what he had a problem with besides being scored on so I looked at my AR and he didn't seem phased. I could only guess he was upset because he defenders left him high and dry. That said I let it go with a verbal talking. The second incident, was the player on the other team who said, "You watch your fucking mouth." Okay now it's personal, but not a send off, so I put him in the book. This didn't sit well with the coach, so he talked to me and asked me to talk to the players. I told him it depended on the content and context. Second half was pretty busy with cards, but I did get the keeper for another taunting incident, so I have been consistant. At the end of the match, the both of the losing coaches said at the end of the match on two different occasions, it was the best reffed match they had all season. That made me feel good.

Just read Bob Evans piece of Dissent in the MLS. Before you read his, you may want to take a look at the article it is referred to. The title was appropiate, "MLS plays the crying game"

How do you know when you are over tired?

When you show up to the soccer field 45 minutes prior to the match so you decide since you don't see any teams yet, you recline back your carseat to "rest your eyes". Next thing you know the opening whistle wakes you up and you realize you slept through the pre-game.
Never in my years as a referee have I done anything like this. I'm always a stickler for being on time, 30 minutes prior. Was I embarrased? You bet your ass I was. I quickly got the rest of my uniform on and ran like hell to the field to take the flag from the club linesman and resume my duties as an AR (I had the center). As a result I felt I missed out on a good game as it was two rival clubs. Vernon, who took the center, did a fine job. He just needs to get more comfortable with his game. Even as I write this, I'm still embarrassed. Last time I overslept through a soccer game, I was 15 years old.
The week oncall has been quiet. Not one phone call this week on either one of use (two of us are on call). I've been reluctant to take games because of this. It not like I need the money now since I'm making more for just being on stand by. Maybe I need to start talking about quality games only and not so much quanity.
In other news I'm an outraged parent. It appears in livermore some jackass is leaving pipe bombs around that explode when someone picks them up, placing our kids in immediate danger. I personally would like 5 minutes with that jackass.

Is it just me or has today's youth gotten worse

You know I read somewhere that when it comes to the newer generation, the morals tend to go south. It could be true. I had my girls practice and it was brought to my attention that one of my girls spat on another. There was taunting. If you are just tuning into my life, these are U8 girls. Did Rudy and I lecture them? You bet we did!!! I particularrly told them they were lucky there was not a referee at the game. If there were, there would be one player sitting out a couple games and others with yellow cards under their belts. I'm on day two of the oncall biz for the company I work for. I like getting paid to kick back and wait for a call to come in. Actually I'm hoping I don't get a call.

A very good weekend overall

First thing I want to mention that I was pleased to announce that I was able to get my sabbatical approved for the week of Thanksgiving and the Thursday and Friday Prior. I was so stoked, I couldn't wait to tell my wife. My daughter was equally stoked. I think we're going to try a mini romantic getaway in either Capitola or Sausalito. Both sound good.

On Saturday my son turned a year old. It truly was a celebration, I hate to sound story book like, but you ask anyone at the party that knew of the ordeal we went through would say this is a joyous occasion. Especially if you told me two weeks after he was born and brought back to Walnut Creek that he was going to make it to his first birthday, I wouldn't have believed it, but I can honestly say faith was a lot more stronger than science because science said he wasn't going to. Well if Gabriel could speak he would say, "Screw you to science." And I wouldn't put him in time out for it either for I would share that feeling. He was a happy boy that day. He was especially popular with the girls. All week last week I heard comments on the eyelashes. Even here at work I heard it (I recently put up recent pics of him). Anyway it was a good turn out and everyone seemed to have had fun.

It's also my Dad's first day of retirement. I think I'm still in shock because I cannot image him not working. However, his company still loves him and wanted to retain him for something better then just being a tailor. Looks like he may be doing workshops. I think it would be good for him. It sounds like he can take time off whenever he needed to. Hopefully this would be good. He just seemed happier then in a long time.

I reffed a game on Saturday morning. Should have been cakewalk but a few things happened that made it less fun. The coach for Dublin is a friend of mine. That made it tough because when I took the game, I didn't think it would have been his, but the self assigning said I had to contact coordinator to get the assignment which means they didn't want just anyone doing it. The second part was a called a PK in the first 2 minutes of the match. I didn't want to and when I saw the foul I had a "did that just happen?" moment when I saw my AR put the flag up, there was no more questioning about it. My friend of course shouted at him to let me make all the calls. I could have booked him there, but I choose to let it go, it didn't seem to phase him. I called a penalty kick in his favor 2 minutes later. They missed. Actually they kicked it straight to the keeper. That made him mad even more. I can tell the U16 team didn't have much respect for him. 35 minutes and 6 more goals later a seventh goal was scored and my friend thought he was offside. It looked pretty close that I had to give it to my AR to make the call which he kept the flag down. Well my friend went ballistic and was yelling at my AR. I had it at that point and ran straight to him. I said, "You need to stay off my AR." He proceeded to argue and I cut him off. I said, "you leave my assistants alone." Then he started to talk again and I said, "You are the only coach on the roster. If I send you home, this game no longer continues." While that shut him up, I heard a light round of applause for my actions. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was tired of it.
At half time I had my own problems. I had a father and son team. The son was a grade 8. The father was a grade 9 and judging the fact he wore a 2007 badge I knew he doesn't even have a year's worth of experience. It showed on the line as he was not with the second to the last defender and he didn't follow all balls to the goal line. This caused a lot of problems. There was a shot on goal which hit the post. I saw it, everyone saw it. My friend said, it hit the back of the net. Anyway, it would have been easier to sell with him on the goal line. There was another occasion where he should have been on the line. Fortunately I was close enough to sell anything to the players. So I ripped him up and down and didn't even go into the fact they arrived 5 minutes before kick off. The young ref had the proper dress and appearance. The elder didn't and he wore long pants. I asked him if he had shorts on. He first said yes. I asked him to remove the sweat pants and he refused. I said you have shorts on? He recanted his statement. I knew the shit would roll downhill.
Anyway, 11 goals later, I had to call back the one goal Dublin did put in the net. He was offside and it looked that way before my AR raised the flag. He rose it and I hated to call the goal back, but I did.

At the end, I filled my game card and my friend was waiting for me. I shook his hand and said, "No hard feelings?" He said, "Nah, I was out of line and we both had a job to do. You could have let us have that goal."
I said, "I really hurt to pull that one out."
All in all I'm glad it ended the way it did, because I had to see my friend later that day at my son's party. I found out my Cheetah Girls tied with the other team 1-1 and it was a hard fought game. I was sorry I missed it, but at the same time, my Son's party was important.

U19 girls class 4 match was competitive

Not competitive for if I were being assessed it would count. But in the girl's eyes it was. My AR's whom I choose not to name could have been much better. Here's why. Call them pet peeves if you must:

1. The game of soccer requires the referee to show up 30 minutes prior to kick off. This will give ample time to check teams in, give a good and proper pregame. Any less, it diminishes the integrity of the pregame, the inspection, and so forth. I did a rushed job in checking the teams in and as a result I had to send one off (no red card) to correct the equipment.

2. It is really sad when the center (that was me) can beat both AR's in a sprint to the goal line considering they should have more than a head start on me. Yeah I'm in good shape, but there is no excuse for not being able to do this on more than one occasion. Needless to say I bailed them out on a couple what could have been real controversial calls. Basically I denied a wide open goal shot because it went over the goal line on my side. No flag. Had to replay the scene in my head (quickly) and realized it was the right call when nobody complained it was a bad call. They did complain on the lateness of the call. Anyway, I am glad I was on top of my game because they were not on theirs.

First half was interesting because I seemed to have been making a lot of calls against the white team. Problem is they were doing all the fouling, I had to really look for red to commit anything. Funny thing was at half time the white captain came to me and asked me to watch #13 red because she was holding. I said, I would look out for it. I did. She didn't. Her worst crime was getting to close to a player without touching.

Your Values Profile

Loyalty: You value loyalty a fair amount. You're loyal to your friends... to a point. But if they cross you, you will reconsider your loyalties. Staying true to others is important to you, but you also stay true to yourself. Honesty: You value honesty a fair amount. You're honest when you can be, but you aren't a stickler for it. If a little white lie will make a situation more comfortable, you'll go for it. In the end, you mostly care about "situational integrity." Generosity: You value generosity a fair amount. You are all about giving, as long as there's some give and take. Supportive and kind, you don't mind helping out a friend in need. But you know when you've given too much. You have no problem saying "no"! Humility: You value humility a fair amount. You tend to be an easy going, humble person. But occasionally your ego takes over. You have a slight competitive streak - and the need to be the best. Tolerance: You value tolerance a fair amount. You are open to new cultures, beliefs, and ideas. You have very few prejudices that you're aware of. And while you are tolerant, you do stand true to what you believe.

The Five Factor Values Test

Not enough hours in a day....

...and even if I do have more time, I'm too exhusted to do anything. This week is a busy week between Marlena's schedule, my wife's schedule and whatever I fill in when I get home from work. Work has been busy with training up the yin yang.

Had practice with the Cheetah Girls last night and it's been touch and go. I have one player in particular who cries when she doesn't get her way. I finally had to tell her, "I'm not your mother, I'm your coach. Crying is not going to get far with me." I can see she "told on me" to her mother, but I didn't hear a thing of it. I wonder how many other coaches deal with the fact they sometimes need to be tough on their players, but then have to deal with the wrath of the parents. I haven't experienced it yet, but I know it will come soon.

I have an U19 boys match which should prove fun. When it comes to coaches I'm not showing much tolerance for dissent with them in the youth ranks.

Cheetah Girls trailed the Wildcats

It was a very well played game between the two teams. I really didn't expect to win, but I didn't also expect the score to be just 1-0 either. It was a midfield game. Our goalkeepers in the first have did great. I unfortunately was talking to the girls and had my back turned for the next events because we got scored on. According to Rudy it was a bad restart that went against us. Important thing is the players had fun and some of them seem to improve every game I see them in. I have one in particular who took charge of the midfield. She was playing hard so in my book, she earned the right to play the entire match if she so desired. However, she needed a recharge so I subbed her out until I needed her. I can't honestly remember if I put her back in or not. I probably didn't just to make sure everyone got some playing time.
Another played half goal keeper and the other half attacking. She did great in both, but her wind in her sails ran shorter so I wound up subbing her, but I utilized her quite some time. She was the second to earn the right to play the full game. There was a third, but since everyone was there, She missed at least 25%.
Next on the agenda is scoring. Too much hesitation by the time the get in the net. My CPSA game got cancelled so the good news was I could relax. Bad news is I could have been doing a tournament today. Holloween, I will do a tournament.

Oh happy happy day a Friday can be.

Why is today better then others? I truly don't have a great answer. Just wanted to catch your eye. But here are a few things I am celebrating for:

1. As of yesterday I have 15 poker players on for the poker tournament. That means there is only one spot left. It will be by far my biggest tournament if I manage to fill that up. Thanks to an uncle for requesting I give several weeks notice. I didn't think it would fill up so quickly.

2. I went to Marlena's ice skating yesterday. She is really coming along. She's skating much faster which is really good for me to work on my speed photography. She is also doing the one legged skating which she had so much difficulty last session seems to be a pro on this one. Unfortunately her friend who is in the next session up on her tried to rain on her parade. However, Marlena has a good proverbial umbrella and wasn't swayed by that comment. She was still riding high. That is enough for me to be proud of her.

3. It's Friday

4. Marlena is going to get a uniform that fits. Too bad picture day was already there. Bad soccer league...Bad!

I was having a quick chat with a friend of our family at the Ice rink. She brought to my attention that none of her kids were placed on a team. She has several kids. (no she doesn't live in a shoe) Her paperwork slipped through the cracks and instead of making it up for them, she just got dropped. She also had not got her money back. Bad soccer league, bad! While I have respect for what the board members do behind the scenes, I don't think this board planned ahead when they did a hostile take over during the AGM. I have yet to get together with Andy to hear his story on the take over. It was like they came, they took over, they got their seats, then it was like....ummmm now what?

Poker tourney building up

I have been organizing tournaments for almost a year now. I have made some mistakes when I do, but more importantly I try to learn from them so the next one is better. Before we were able to get an 8 person tournament. They were fun, but I always seemed to be shy one or two players. On the other hand, most people tell me they have a great time. That's usually what keeps me having one every 3 months. My uncle (in law) mentioned had he got enough notice he could take time off to do the tournament. Then it dawned on me, maybe that would get others to jump on. Well this move seems to work with a vengeance because there is over a month of time before the poker game and I have 10 players as of this morning. I need to place a call to the "low tech" gang to give them a shot.

I read a Landon Donovan article which gives a much more intelligent analysis of his performance since he graduated from the soccer academy.

I went to my local Subway for lunch. There was a notice that there are no spinich products in the place due to the Ecoli outbreak. They are all looking for the reason behind it. Me? I think it is Bluto's revenge on Popeye. Rememeber, no more spinich, no more Popeye.

Patience is a virtue.....

.........that I seemed to checked at my door when I left my house to go to my U8 girls soccer practice. Rudy was under the weather and I was not prepared to do a solo act on practice. Was hard to coach and check on players when we did passing drills. Tried a scrimmage so I can try people in different positions I would have never dreamed of. That was good in the sense know who not to put in goal. Girls were having trouble listening. It got to a point I made them run a lap for not paying attention. One of the dads came to me at the end of the game and liked the fact I did that, but added, "I'm not sure how the women felt about it." Well considering after the first game we were accused of not running them enough, it works for me. My wife thinks I was a bit hard on myself.
I think after a weekend of stern talking and toughing up against players and coaches I forgot to pull back the reigns a bit with my own girls.
Wednesday will be another day. This time I need to be prepared for a duo act as well as a solo act.

In other news, my daughter scored 100% on her first spelling test. It seems like Marlena has done a complete 180 on her school work, other then motivating herself to do it, when she does do it, I find myself not having to correct her very much. Did I mention she scored 100% on her spelling test? Yes...I was a proud papa!

Played in a poker tournament until late last night, ranking 37 out of 906. I won some money, but I have to say, my heart wasn't in it anymore after deciding to call an all-in with a K-J suited.

Eventful Soccer Weekend

I spent Friday night training my daughter for the defender's spot while I also trained her in the forward. The head coach said she was ready for forward. I begged to differ so I kept her in forward for the first half. She barely got touches on the ball. As a defender, she was in it completely. We're not supposed to keep score, but I can tell you all the coaches did and we won 2-1. But it wasn't mean spirited as last week. Where last week, we could have used a referee, this week, the referee wasn't needed. My line up in the meditation room seemed to have paid off. It was a spur of the moment idea.

I reffed an U15 girls in Danville. Leaving names out, I'm just going to say that red was playing blue and it was supposed to be silent Saturday. That lasted 25 minutes as the parents bitched and a coach from blue bitched. I wound up cautioning 9 for persistent infringement. I was going by Robert Evans' prescription of how to read PI and number 9 made 3 fouls in the first half, two of them in a 2 minute time span and both occasions with her bitching at me. First time I just told her off. Second time I was going to talk about it being her 3 foul, but then she opened her mouth, so I decided this would be PI and if I wound up sending her off, would add the misconduct of dissent in the the report. Fortunately after the card, she was on her best behavior. The San Ramon coach was still going at it. Mind you I hear worse at the SFSFL so this really didn't bother me that much. However, this is a youth match and CYSA has a zero tolerance. Also would be doing the next referee a favor. Also wound up cautioning the red coach after an injury, he decided to confront me rather then take care of his player. I told him he was in my book and if he doesn't tend to his player, I'll find another coach on the staff to do so. Both cautions shut them up though and I pretty much had control for the rest of the match.

Sunday was a morning game, U16 Girls, San Ramon vs. Pleasanton. It was a better game for I didn't have any problems I couldn't shut down in a heartbeat. It was pretty even in the first half, but in the second half, Pleasanton had a slight hill advantage which made the ball roll faster. The real catalyst was when I gave a free kick 30 yards out and she kicked it through a wall and it rolled past 2 defenders and the goalkeeper. The common question on both teams was, "What just happened?" Several more goals came about and Pleasanton won 7-0. I added 3 minutes of stoppage not so Pleasanton would rub it in some more, but so if San Ramon had scored one goal, it could make all the difference in the long run in the standings. Had San Ramon not wanted to play and voiced it, I would have called the game right at 40.

Took Marlena out to ride her bike. We're trying to get her to ride enough so we can get her training wheels off. She's not comfortable, but she didn't notice I raise the wheels to the max.

Friday, Wierd Friday

It's only 6:30am in the morning. How can it get so weird? Well I started off in the Starbucks in Fremont and the guy who rings me up looks and shakes like he's already had too much of the stuff he is brewing. Then I overhear two others on how one guy closes and doesn't do the caramel the "Starbucks" way. Like give me a break. I'm staying with my local.

I go to take a gander in our news and Steve Irwin's memorial sold out in 15 minutes. WTF? Are people that insane? What happened to memorials are there to celebrate the life of the individual who passed?

In other news, I went to the DUSL board meeting last night. Exceeded my expectations. The president of the board knows how to run a meeting and did a good job of it. I got to address my issues which were well received. Apparently my reputation as a referee paid off because they bounced things off of me most of the night. It also helped that I knew half of the board, outside the board, and the other half knew me by name. I don't expect change to happen by this weekend, but perhaps the following weekend will be a different story. It also helps that they have shared with me that I am not the only one to complain, but my reputation and my willingness to come to them and address the issue meant a lot.

While the board is pretty new (There are still a couple of old hands there), they seem very willing to learn from mistakes.

Funny thing though was when I got there, the president said it would be a short meeting, but then other board members showed up and and the short meeting was 3 hours long. If I remember reading other things, they were usually an hour long. My wife when she woke me up with a noise briefly asked me how the meeting went and if I felt better. I said I did. I think she expected me to be confrontational, and I may have felt like doing so, but I and everyone has to remember, this is an organization ran by volunteers who have families. I sat and listened and one of them coaches two teams, sits on the board, referees, and it still stepping up to do more. There were similar ones there as well. One of them even earned my respect back, though he is unaware he even lost it or re-earned it.

I'm a Frat Boy now.

I few days earlier, my friend and mentor asked me for my mailing address. I was intrigued, but I figured there was a new event out of state or a league. Yesterday I found a package in my mailbox addressed to me, from my friend's town of residence. Now I am really curious. I open it and I find a two paged note on top. I have been inducted into a fraternity called the W.C.Y.W.S (West Coast Yellow Whistle Society). If I didn't know better I thought he was completely serious. The letter was so official, it was hard not to take it serious, but at the same time, you were chuckling at the same time. Since I am at work I forgot the letter. I was going to scan and OCR it so I can paste what it said. So I'm just going to summarize. Only a few (8 members) are in this fraternity. This is because our achievements in refereeing. I thought this was real in the sense because I am upgrading to a Grade 5. Well I saw the list of "brothers" and I know that isn't the case, but truth is it put a smile on my face.





So...the rules of the W.C.Y.W.S (I scanned and OCRed)

WEST COAST YELLOW WHISTLE SOCIETY

CONGRATULATIONS, you have been selected as a charter member of
this exclusive fraternity. YOU were selected as a member, not only
because of your dedication to the most popular sport in the world, but
also because you have fulfilled the expectations of your closest friends.
Your dedication and involvement has helped you climb the ladder of
higher recognition. You are no longer performing the minimal duties of a
beginning Referee. But you have excelled as a Referee who desires to
perform at his best ability. You started in the youth program and have
advanced to the Amateur Divisions, High School and College programs.
You have excelled I!
As part of your on-going recognition, you have been bestowed the
position of Charter Member, of this 'Dark Side' Fraternity, BE PROUD !I
BUT, this also beings additional responsibilities. You must follow these
guidelines. If you do not, the Society will strip you of your 'charter
member' status. You will no longer be invited to participate with the
'crew'. And, you will not be recognized for future programs involving the
Society .
First, you must use the YELLOW whistle only when you wear the 60LD
referee jersey. YOU must also use the BLUE whistle with the BLUE
referee jersey and the RED whistle with the RED jersey.
Second, you must support your fellow brothers in their efforts to
officiate as a Referee or Asst. Referee. Remembering that, according
To 'Law 5, the decision of the Referee is the correct decision based on
hidher angle of view. If the Referee is close to play and viewing play,
he/she has the best view to make the decision. If the A/R is in that
position,, the Referee should support the A/R decision, if so director
in the pre-game discussion.

Third, when at a tournament, the Charter Member who first gives a
'Red Card', including 2 yellows (hard or soft), will purchase the first
round of drinks that evening at dinner for all members of the Society.
Fourth, at that same tournament, if the a Charter Member gives more
then one 'Red Card', that member will purchase a round of 'coffee or
tea' for all the members. Now, we get home safe and are able to be on
the field at 8:00 AM the next morning without 'morning sickness'.
If you have any questions, you can find the answers in the current
edition of "Advice to Referees". OR, ask another Oark Side member.
You will be sure that he will tell you 'all he knows' about the subject.
BUT, do not ask a 'player', his opinion has been distorted and does not
meet the intent of the law, as WE interpret it.
REMEMBER - According to Law 5, "In the opinion of the Referee".
We will live and/or die on that fact I!!
Charter Membership includes:

For the love of the game I
The Membership Committee
P.S. -
The Society will be glad to replace your whistle if it becomes
permanently miss-located. All you need to do is justify your continuing
membership, and adherence to the guidelines to the current committee
Chairman. The 'Chair' will replace your lost item.
For your information, we also have a 'Mid-West' Chapter, so
please support that membership.