AFC: 6-0-0

It appears I failed to give an update after our fifth win, which was against the Zebicus and was a victory under the lights at Clark field. Today was our 6th game and was against one of our arch rivals, the Monarchs. The Monarchs used to win the league each season with very little fan fare. As seasons passed and AFC gradually improved, there were a couple players on the Monarchs who just could not seem to co-exist peacefully with me (and a couple of other players on AFC) on the field.

"Not being able to co-exist peacefully" is a euphemism for intense arguments, physical violence and all around disparaging comments. Thus, it is always a big game when we play them and it is always a good game when we win 5-0. Icing on the cake was a goal and an assist on my part.

AFC now moves to 6-0-0 with one game left in regular season play.

Retro AFC Jerseys

Did some shopping today which subsequently made me do a little spring cleaning and empty out the t-shirt drawer to get rid of some old shirts. During that project I decided to capture the magnificent history of AFC jerseys through the years. They progress chronologically left to right in the back row (starting with the grey t-shirt followed by the navy Puma).

The one in the foreground is the current year's jersey. One star for each champion season to date.

Note that we have yet to add the star from last season.

AFC Slideshow

Here's a little slideshow with pictures taken from our last game of the season. This was the eighth championship bagged by AFC in the Lafayette Co-Ed league.

The Figs (Starring an AFC Alum!)

AFC alum Caroline Helm is a member of the local band, The Figs. As I am compiling music for the next monthly mix, themed on this last year's Festival Internationale, I find myself having trouble picking my favorite tune from this band. They are all good! Check out Caroline in this interview on the streets of New York.

And then check out this tune. Go Caroline! Let me know when you want to come back and throw on the old jersey for a kick about.

AFC Goes Undefeated!

With our win today, our coed team took our 9th league title and did so with an undefeated season (10-0). The 1972 Dolphins are officially uprooted as legends of sport, replaced by AFC. Congrats to the team!

Fattened Up

Per request, an AFC update: I actually missed my co-ed game this past weekend (because I was busy watching my U-17 team lose our 4th tournament in 2 years on PK's). However, AFC is now 3-0 and have yet to have a tough game. That is all about to change - the easy games are over. For some reason, we had 3 very easy games at the start of the season and are now headed into a stretch of 4 tough games against the upper tier of the league. It's unfortunate that we have yet to have a real test, because we head into the toughest game this weekend, all fattened up with 7-0 wins or better.

Here is a mock-up of the new jersey we designed for this season. We got a hook up at the local t-shirt shop and got these in off brand dry fit - 18 jersey's for $200. Sweet.

Armadillo Fag Convention

I normally wouldn't use such a politically incorrect term in a post, let alone a post title, but I am doing so here because it is a quote that sums up a certain sentiment held by my U-16 boys soccer team. You see, this afternoon (weather permitting), I have scheduled a scrimmage between my U-16 team and my adult co-ed soccer team. The adult team is called AFC and I have had to tell countless people that the 3 letters stand for nothing. I just made up the name because I have always wanted to be part of a soccer club with FC (football club) in the name.

My U-16 team is extremely confident that they are going to kill my adult team today. I really have no idea what to expect other than having a blast. I can't wait to play. The kids were not satisfied with my lack of detail when explaining the name of the team and thus they picked the "Armadillo Fag Convention." In the spirit of a teenage kid who knows it all, they think this is very funny. Oh well. We'll see who is laughing when the final whistle blows.

One last note. I am not so sure my adult team is as confident as the kids. Here is a snippet of one email from a player on AFC:

"I can make it, and I've been thinking about this game for some time...16 year old boys can definitely kick our ass."

The Figs - CD Release Party @ The Blue Moon

This Saturday, The Figs have a CD release party for their album What Keeps Me Up at Night. Here are the fine ladies playing at WDVX in Knoxville, TN. If you want some more you can also check out former BOB posts related to the band.

And yes, AFC alum Caroline is one of the band members!

AFC: 4-0-0

Last night we played our arch rival in the co-ed league and won 5-4. It was a hard fought game under the lights at Clark field. It would be nice to have more games like this in our co-ed league. Most of the games are not challenging enough.

Last night's game was interesting because the dynamic of the "girl goal" rule came heavily into play twice. For those of you not familiar, the rule is that when a woman scores in the game, it is worth two points. For teams like ours and a couple others (one team has a lot of UL women college players on it), this rule is probably unnecessary. It was established to make sure that women were getting involved in the game. On our team, our women are incredible, so we involve them because it just makes sense. You cannot win a co-ed game if you don't have a full team involved and contributing on the field.

So last night, the rule affected the dynamic of the game on two occasions.

1. We were tied 1-1 and received a PK. I opted to have a man on our team take it because the game was close and in my opinion, in a close game with a good goalie in the opposition net, you put your best PK kicker on the line. If it is a woman, so be it. However, I thought Mark was a good choice and he put it away. There is a possibility that some of my team disagreed with that decision. Not sure. In general though, if the "girl-goal" rule stays in the league, I think someone should evaluate if it even applies to PKs. I would like to remove the rule altogether, but would settle for a PK being worth one point, regardless of the kicker.

2. We were up 4-1 and it really felt like the other team was just about to give up. They had no momentum and we were drilling them. And then a woman scored. 4-3. The game was back on. Mind you, we had scored 4 goals and they had scored 2. But regardless, 4-3. The dynamic of the game completely shifted.

Last nights game reminds me why I get frustrated with the rule. It has played in our favor in the past and last night, it played in theirs. But in my opinion, in soccer, a goal is a goal. It is worth one point. When you try to change that system, you end up looking as silly as the MISL.

AFC Spring Kickoff

The spring co-ed soccer season kicked off yesterday and we welcomed a new team to the league with a fairly bad beating. The team only had 3 men, so they played with mostly women. This proved to be a bad tactic as they lost to us by about 10 goals. I was trying to help them find more men after the game because they will definitely need some more if they want to compete by the end of the year. Their women were pretty solid though, with some coming from the local university soccer team.

Here's a photo of my wife in action. She gets better every year and got to try a stint at center midfield in this game. Not sure if she liked that position or not...

AFC Update

Our co-ed league has dragged on this season due to various cancellations and rescheduled games. However, at long last, we entered the playoff portion of the season yesterday and started off with a resounding 5-1 or 6-1 thumping of our first competitor. Our first goal was scored 25 seconds after the opening whistle. The game was marred by two unfortunate incidents:

1. Prior to the start of the game, the league commissioner announced that due to the fact that we will be unable to complete the full playoff schedule, that the playoffs are now meaningless. Regular season records will be used to determine the champion of the league. All games in the post-season are being considered friendlies. Pretty weird right? Note: Our regular season record puts us tied for first place. We are scheduled to play that team next Sunday. Seems like it might make sense to make this a league final.

2. Things got a little out of control during the "friendly" game. It's normal for this to occur. The unfortunate incident was that the other team's fans started cheering for their players to hurt us. It got worse. The children who were watching joined in. Picture a 7 year old girl standing on the sideline yelling "Kick him in the shin!" and you'll understand what it was like.

Battle of the Unbeatens

No....not the Colts vs. Pats, which ended in a tremendously depressing win by the Patriots, but AFC vs. the Monarchs in the adult co-ed league. This past weekend we played the only other undefeated team in our league.

It was more frustrating than watching Manning's receivers drop the ball. The majority of the game was spent in the other team's half as we clearly dominated all over the field. The other team played a long ball game and left 8 players on their defensive side, sending through balls to two players up top. Unfortunately, it was effective and we were down 1-0 most of the game - unable to penetrate the 8 man wall that was in their box. Finally, with about 15 minutes left, we broke the ice. And oddly enough (as my wife pointed out to me afterwards, "you don't normally score goals like that"), it was me that scored the goal with a shot from about 25 yards out. I decided to introduce goal celebrations to the league and pulled a Cantona.

The game ended 1-1 - leaving both teams undefeated and hungry for a rematch.

FIL 2010: Festival Scenes: BonSoir, Catin

BonSoir, Catin captivated the crowd at Scène Chevron yesterday, dissolving the line in front of the port-o-lets and soon everyone was two-stepping. Here is a shot of our friend Anya Burgess who plays in the band (AFC alum!).

AFC: 3-0-0

We have started the portion of our co-ed season where we play games during the week rather than on the weekends (due to youth tournaments taking up the fields on Sunday). Last night was the first such night game. I find night games difficult because I don't have contacts and can't wear glasses when I play. Thus, I have no real depth perception in these games. Also, it is obviously just tougher to see my team, the opponent and the ball in general. These are all bad things.

It didn't matter last night though. We played one of the weaker teams in the league and even though it took us 15 minutes to get the first goal, the game was over fast. The final score was greater than 10-0.

Big news from this game was that my wife scored her first goal of the season! It was a shot from a cross. One time hit from about 14 yards out. Lower 90, far post. She also played center midfielder for a good portion of the game and did really well. She put in an impressive performance.

Our record is now 3-0-0. Next Thursday (I think) we play our top rival. It will be a barn burner.

AFC Update

The co-ed soccer season opened this past Sunday and I was a little too overcome with the flu to be of much use. I wasn't necessarily needed though. We played one of the weaker teams in the league right now and walked away with a 11-0 win.

Next week we play a team that just beat the co-champs of the league 7-2 so I expect it to be a tough one. They also tried to steal our players in the off season so I want to exact vengeance upon them with significant fury.

(Co-champs is a controversial phrase to use. We technically beat the co-champs in the playoffs last year but we were told by the league that the game would not affect the standings.)

The Series is Tied

The AFC vs Thunder (my adult team vs. my youth U-16 team) match was last night at 8 PM and the series is tied 1-1. The adults won 6-0! That's right, 6-0. With the game last year at 4-3, it makes sense to wonder what the differences were this year. There were a few:

1. Ratio: We played 1-2 less women then we normally do. Making the ratio 7:3 or 6:4 depending on the time of the game. Normally we play 5:5. I am not sure this would make a big difference for some other co-ed teams but our men are all college level players (as are a few of the women) so this may have tipped the scales in our favor.
2. Tactics: We played 3 men across our defensive line to manage the U-16 speed. They never adjusted to the fact that through balls down the middle and 1 on 1 encounters were not going to beat the back line. When they attacked on the outside, they exposed us a little bit.
   
3. Mental Preparation: The adults came out with revenge in mind. We were looking to prove that we could compete. I am thinking that the kids came out overconfident a little bit. When the tide turned on them, their overconfidence made it tough to pull through the challenge. So I think mentally, we were more prepared and a bit more mature.
4. Finishing: They hit the post twice, missed about 4 crosses with clean paths to goal and generally were just unable to put shots on target. In fact, the game was almost evenly played. They dominated entire portions. I think that the first 10-15 minutes of both halves we were unable to mount an attack on them. When we did get on the offensive side of the ball, we shot and we finished. They could not. 6-0.

So the darby is tied at 1-1. The rematch next season is going to be a hard fought game.

All Stars and Champions

Today was an historic day for the Lafayette Adult Coed League - we held our inaugural All Star game and I have to say that for a planning period of less than 2 weeks, it was a resounding success! Congrats to all of the players (and the league commissioner, my wife, for pulling it off). I felt somewhat involved in the success in that it was an idea that I came up with, and then handed off to the person who can make great things happen (also my wife). Here is a photo of the two all star teams after the game. It was a blast.

I wasn't able to play in the All Star game. Rather than play, I was the coach of the blue team which unfortunately did not come out on top. The reason I couldn't play is that immediately following the All Star game, our coed team (AFC) was playing in the finals. After having been unseated as reigning champion last year and after losing 3 games in the regular season this fall, we were seeded fourth in the playoffs. As a result, we had to claw our way through the quarters, semis and then finals, beating two of the three teams we lost to in the regular season in order to regain the title. We won the final today 2-0. Here's the team after the win!


All around, it was an awesome day for soccer despite a 20-30 mph wind and some rather cold weather. Now its time to look ahead to to look ahead to the spring season!

Saying Bye to Sarah and Jimmy

Our friends Sarah (in the Adidas shirt) and Jimmy are moving to FL and that pretty much sucks - we will miss them here in Lafayette. Both Sarah and Jimmy are veterans of our co-ed team AFC. While Jimmy is already out of town, we got to have dinner with Sarah tonight at a local Thai restaurant with our friends Jen and Josh (to Sara's left).