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Anne Taintor
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I’m So Mediocre
Poetic Under-Estimation
Underestimating my husband on Friday worked well for me. But that word, “under”estimation, has such a negative connotation.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, my husband is NOT a man to underestimate under any circumstance.
I prefer to think of myself having had low expectations for my birthday, which naturally translates to low-maintenance, which has a much nicer connotation. Right?
Yes. That’s the story. I’m sticking with it.
Mother’s Day was great. My amazing gift on Friday was a combined Mother’s Day gift. I would normally be irked about that, but it’s kind of hard to be mad about John Mayer. 16th row. Ocean front.
My real gift yesterday was having children who make me a mother. I fully realize there are women who would give anything to give up “their” day to attend their child’s lacrosse tournament, and so that was my perspective on the field yesterday afternoon.
It’s been a tough season. In all fairness, the cards were pretty well stacked against us from the get go, but our fantastic coach made the season a success despite our record. He taught our boys how to honor the game, accept our losses with dignity, and keep digging deep.
I’m sorry, but cultivating that kind of character is of much higher value than any number of wins.
Back to Under-Estimation and the tournament this weekend. (Sorry.)
We lost our first game. It wasn’t even close. There was a five point spread rule in this tournament that the score on the board could never be more than a 5 point difference.
Well, you should have seen the parents and coaches all up in arms about that…. yelling at one of our mom’s who was scoring, accusing her of making up the rules as she went. What is it with parent’s complete in ability to set a good example for their players on the field??
We barely lost our second game against the highest ranked team in our division. We kept it tied up until the last few minutes when they scored two last minute goals against us. Close close game, but we felt really good about making them work for the win.
Our third game was our win. And we won it handily (thank you very much!) against the #2 ranked team because they underestimated us. They had won against the #1 team earlier in the day (their loss to them in the regular season is what knocked them to 2nd place) and having “settled the score” they walked onto our field thinking it was over before it had even started.
And that was their downfall.
Because we wanted them. Badly.
When we played them in the regular season, we only had 7 players – who had to play the whole game with no substitutions, and it was a close game, but we lost. So we wanted another go at them with a full team.
This club has a reputation of never losing. Their players make up a pretty darn good little team. But the overgrown children parents and coaches have a reputation of cheating to get the win and just overall poor sportsmanship.
I’m not even kidding.
I have never been so disappointed in a group of adults. Every goal we got yesterday, those parents were bitching, arguing, muttering – even crossing the field to get up in the ref’s, official’s and OUR COACHES faces. They couldn’t stand losing!
I found myself wanting them to lose for the adult’s sake! I didn’t even want the win for us. I mean, I did – but you know what I mean. Truth be told, they’re a better team…. but they were sloppy yesterday -and I’d like to think they were distracted by the ridiculous behavior from their sideline.
Listen. We’ve won some and lost some. We played six games with a 2-4 record. My point is, we’ve learned how to lose. Sportsmanship is not a lesson our team needed to learn.
But it’s one we were happy to teach yesterday.
My bad. I really should speak for myself…..
I was beside myself at the sideline behavior yesterday. It was so blatantly disrespectful to everyone – their players, our players, our coaches, the officials – even themselves because they came across as utter fools.
Our fourth game was a back to back game against our win. The games were literally 3:30 and 4:30. Our kids were exhausted – physically, yes, but perhaps moreso emotionally.
So were the parents.
We were all – “They can have the win. We just beat TROJAN!!!”
Our one tournament win was victory enough for the whole season.
All on a count of being underestimated.
Poetic, I tell you.
Got something to Say?
6 Responses to “Poetic Under-Estimation”
Now its Your Turn
We havent gotten into the “little league-ish” world yet but it is coming and I soooo dont have tolerance for parents like you were describing. It could be bad when it gets here!
Your BFLSs last blog post.."Mom, I Need 10 Hot Dogs"
I hate when parents act like that. I hope to teach my kids that is not ok-by my actions.
Glad you had a fun weekend overall!
Headless Moms last blog post..The One Without A Title
I didn’t do such a good job keeping my mouth shut in response…..
I wasn’t rude, by any means, but the “first-born, overly-responsible-to-correct freak” in me would not be contained.
At half time, our coach asked us all to not say ANYTHING that could in any way be misconstrued as divisive, so we all shut up and let them self-destruct. It was COMICAL.
And I learned a good lesson in the value of biting one’s tongue.
(embarrassed sigh)
That was a great post, there are a lot of lessons to be learned in sports. Both from the game and the people on the sidelines.
Congrats to your sons team!
Lisa@Take90Wests last blog post..I even do dishes and windows.
As a coach, who wants only a fair game for my girls, I’ve had to check my mouth when the girls are around and I’m speaking to the other parents and/or my assistant coaches….
However, there have been several occassions as we have been getting in the cars that other parents from other teams have spoken badly about MY girls. I know that we aren’t the best team. I know that I’m not the best coach. But these girls are 5-8 and they are loving the game. Do we really need to say things like “it’s not my fault they can’t hit?” or “that woman coach sure is a stickler about the rules?”
Yes, I am a stickler. They underestimate me as a coach all the time because I’m the only female headcoach of all 12 mini-mite teams.
And when I see them snickering in their dug out before the game? That’s when I know we’re going to clober them…
except when I’m up against the hottie single coach… then i’m all dumb and “help me with this, help me with that…” before we spank them 16-1…. kidding… except about the spanking part… we really did beat them 16-1… and i think that pretty much dissolves any chance of him asking me out…
Heather @ Desperately Seeking Sanitys last blog post..MommyFest 2008 with a chance to win!
Yeah, scary sports parents freak me out, especially at the YMCA. I’m like, ‘hellloooo, no points, here!’
We are THAT familys last blog post..Those Pesky Squirrels