Soccer Moms, Dads, Siblings and Puppies

Today I went to the community soccer field to watch Monkey T play soccer.

Soccer is a sport that I actually enjoy watching. Especially little kids. Half of them have no idea what the rules are. Okay, more than half. Half of them do know they are supposed to chase the ball. The other half stand there either a) petrified with the ball actually comes close to them or b) bored.

In T's league (she moved up this year), the players are actually coming to grips with the principles of the game. Since T was top of her league last year, I was anxious to see how she would deal with being one of the smaller players.

However, most of the people there today were not there to watch the game.

For this group, soccer was more of a social event than paying attention. Many sports have parents that go crazy yelling at their kids, the coach, the team, the referees. Not so, with soccer - at least in this town. They were not even aware that the game was going on.

Take for instance, the people beside of us. There was a mother and two of her children, and their new puppy.

1. They had an umbrella. Raining? No. Sun shining and in need of shade? No. Why else would one need an umbrella? Absolutely no idea. What I do know is that it kept blocking my view. Oh, and the little girl hit the little boy with it.
2. The kids were talking and running around good ol' mom's chair. I'm all for kids playing and having fun outdoors. But when you are sitting directly on the sidelines with other people around you trying to watch the game? Perhaps you should take a back row seat instead. Or the playground at the top of the field.
3. The puppy. Now - I love puppies. This one was especially cute because it had one blue eye. Other than the blue eye, it looked like just a regular little mixed-breed dog. But, dear ol' mom told everyone that walked by about how they have had the puppy for a week. I heard lots of other details about their puppy experience. Way too much for someone trying to focus on the game.

So, to my point - it was quite a struggle to watch the game.

At the end of the game as we were leaving, it actually did begin to rain. Good thing that our "neighbors" had their umbrella.

Monkey T's team took a hard loss by 2 points. T had to tell me this on the way home. Apparently I missed a couple of goals due to umbrella blockage.