Temper, Temper

He had to know that this would end up here. My poor N!

He loves football.  I will say that I thought he would quit within a couple of weeks.  This is the child who cried over broken toenails and was freaked out at the thought of getting a haircut. I thought for sure it would be over and done in less than a season.

Here we are, at the end of the 2nd season and he has developed into a leader among young men.  He is the one cheering on our big boys who don't finish the warm-ups quite as fast as the smaller guys.  He is always checking on his teammates and asking what he can do better.  He looks to the refs to make sure he is in the right place and following all of the rules.  N is a rule follower.

So, you can imagine my surprise when I heard that two boys were being ejected and one was my boy.  I literally said, "Wait! #33?  My 33?  My N got ejected?"  and hustled my frozen butt down the little bleachers' stairs to the bench.

As I got down there, his helmet came flying and some words that are unmentionable in polite company came spewing from his mouth.

Now, first let me tell you about the game.  We are getting to the end of season.  Playoffs are well underway.  The league, in my humblest of opinions, has not handled things well.  The stickers denoting the bigger boys have been missing from several teams helmets. The binders from MPS with the boys' schools, ages, weights, etc has never made their way to our coaches.  And with these binders missing there's no way to verify ages and weights.  There have been murmurs of high school kids being brought in.  One team we played earlier in the season with about 17ish players, now had enough for a full D and a full O, with subs for both.  And when we questioned it - they were down to 15 the next week. (Funny how that happened after a phone call to the commissioner!)  You can imagine I am not a fan.  
The game yesterday was a team we have not seen before this point.  Our boys played with no heart.  It was no fun to watch.  And then the teams - on the field, starting the series - began their cheers.  And our  boys responded with their chant.   It got ugly and rough, really fast.  Our coach said that a double flag needed to be thrown - it was taunting, on both sides.  Nothing was done.  From there, the officials lost control of the game. It ugly and physical.


Both benches were warned.  N's man got ugly, made some racial comments and threatened him, so N shoved him back down to protect himself.  It was a case of  "2nd one always gets caught" and N got caught.  He felt wronged and he felt like the officials had no idea what his man had done.  And when he and his guy were tossed from the game, he got ugly.

As I said, he said some things that I cannot repeat here.  And all he was concerned about was being ejected from the game.  He was worried that I was mad about that.  My FF and I tried to get him to understand that we understood what happened on the feel, but what was unacceptable was his reaction to it.  He couldn't see that and continued to plead his case.

After a hot shower, we chatted on the way to a family birthday.  And it took a bit, but he got it.  What he did, was a reaction.  Maybe he could have handled it differently, maybe not.  Maybe he should have let the other kid do what he was going to do and he would have been the only one tossed.  But, the one thing I know he could have done better was handle his penalty.  Be angry and frustrated and confused, but...

...there is no need to go down to the level of the people you are ticked off at.  

Rise above and never let them pull you down. 

We'll call it a life lesson and move on from there.  I told his coach he needs to run on Tuesday for practice.  Regardless of what they do, you can only control your action and reactions.  That is it.  You are not responsible for how they handle themselves, only for how you hand yourself.  And that is that.  Learn it now or learn it later, I will keep pounding that into his head.

My FF is on shift - with a 48.  On the engine today and the box tomorrow.  I had to stop at the firehouse...he forgot some stuff.  I have to admit, I was a bit jealous with the breakfast that was being made and the bacon in the air. Ah well.  Back to football.  Happy Sunday!