Sunday Dec 4

Sorry about last week. I got a call from Joe M to go fishing, and, well, fishing season is winding down, there's always soccer. Word is that there were somewhat short sides, but a game occured.

The USR 5k was another great success, with several thousand runners. I ran with John Horuzy. Late in the race Vince passed us both. We all finished, no cocktails in the driveway this year.

Today was a beautiful day for soccer, 30 degrees as I left home, and sunny. We started with 8 v 8, full court. No keepers, no Frank, Dimos, Keebs or that little Brazilion prick. Bobby's son Robert played for a while, till the old men ran him ragged. Fernando-2, is he still a guest? and George played.

So with no keepers and last man back shoot inside the 18 rule in effect:

Joe Bagels for white 1-0

Robert Mangione for blue 1-1

Rocculous for blue 1-2

Joe D to Rocculous 1-3

Jeff to Mr hat-trick Rocco 1-4

Dan from the baseline, incredible shot, for white 2-4

Joe D to Jeff for blue 2-5

Vince to Rob M 2-6

Jay left and Joe M joined the blue, for 10 v 10 sides

Dan again 3-6

Vince with a cheepie for blue 3-7

White own goal 3-8

Scott to Dan, Mr hat-trick-2 4-8

Jeff for blue 4-9

Mu for white 5-9

Hat-trick Rocculous to Vince 5-10

Joe Bagel hits the cross bar, finished by Jamal Jimmy 6-10

Joe B to Mu 7-10

Mu back to Joe b 8-10

Jamal Jimmy with a header 9-10

So with sides diminished to 7 v 8 or so, and a full on 15th round punch drunk brawl winding down, we quit at 11.

Snarky Mark took a wicked shot to the head, but was able to rally and play on.

Next week we will need more players to show up. 9 AM, same time same place. See you then.

Sunday November 20

40 degrees and sunny at 9AM game time. Four guests, George who has played with us before, and three other guys, George, Juan and somebody else who all showed up together with a kid. The kid shagged balls for us, but didn't stick around for his tips. Doug in the white net, Steve in the blue, 12 v. 12, a perfect day for soccer! Lots of banging bodies today, Bobby took two in the gut, big smang-up between Jeff and Doug and Jeff left the field for a while, and one of the guests went down hard, hit his head on the turf and had to leave the game..

Guest George for white, looped one in from the 35 yard line 1-0

Shamoo for bloo 1-1

Jimmy to Dave for white 2-1

Dave with a lazer (Lazer Dave?) 3-1

Jeff with a steal feeds Rocco for blue 3-2

Joe Bagel to Jimmy 4-2

Mark Miller to Lazer Dave 5-2

Then we were kicked off by u-12 girls.

Congradulations to the Waldwick boys varsity soccer team. They had a great season and lost in the State Finals later on Sunday.

No game on Thursday, come to USR and run in the 5k. It's fun. Girls in yoga pants and stuff.

Sunday November 14

The Waldwick varsity soccer team continue to win, so they get first dibs on the turf this morning. Our 8 am start is bumped back to 9:30. The weather is nice, cool & sunny. Two guests, Brian and some guy with white hair who left early. Doug & Steve in the nets and Jeff brought his daughter who chased out of bounders for us, and made a few bucks. Joe Deidrichs is sporting his new Blue uniform shirt, so I guess he's a paid up member. John Horuzy showed up for the first time in years. We had as many as 25 guys on the field at one point.

Joe D. starts things off for blue 1-0

Dave blasts one in from the top of the box for blue 2-0

Dave takes one in the face and has to sit out with a bloody nose

Keebs with a tap in that probably would have gone in on its own, for white 2-1

Dan with a beautiful corner kick to Eric, for blue 3-1

Jimmy for white 3-2

Jeff with an immediate answer for blue 4-2

Joe to Jim 4-3

Joe again 4-4

Joe again 4-5

Jim again 4-6

Next week its probably going to be a 9 o'clock start, but check your emails to be sure.

It's just ten days till Thanksgiving, and I would encourage all of you to sign up and come to Upper Saddle River for the annual Dick Meighan Memorial 5K. The race starts at 9 Thanksgiving morning and it's over in about half an hour, followed by bloody marys and oysters in my driveway. It gives you a great excuse for slacking off the rest of the day.

http://www.dickmeighan5krun.org/

Sunday November 6

Frost on the pumpkin this morning, frost on the turf, too, but it's sunny at 8 o'clock game time. We started 9 v 9 full court, and got up to 12 v 12 as the game wore on. Two guests, Joe and Fernando, Doug in the blue net, Steve in for white.

Joe Bagels for white 1-0

Joe Guest to Joe B for white 2-0

Vince finishing a corner kick, for white 3-0

Joe B to Joe G with a diving header 4-0

Joe G for his hat trick 5-0

Dominick and Fernando showed up for the 9 o'clock game,

Fernando, I forget which one, for white 6-0

Keith left the game, Mark S and I joined the blue,

Keebs, finally, for blue 6-1

We relinquished the field to the Waldwick varsity at 9:30 so they can prepare for the State sem- finals this Tuesday. Go Team!

Sunday Oct 16

Cool, like 40 , at game time, but sunny and nice. Perfect soccer weather. Seemed like short sides again, but Eddy, Dan, Eric, Fernando, Enzo showed up, along with guests Joe & Brandon Dos Santos. No Frank, no Dimos, must be deer season. Doug in the blue net, Mark Snark in for white. 12 v. 12 was nice for a change.

Almost a Hat Trick Mark to Jelly, for blue 1-0

Blue corner kick to Rocc to Dominic 2-0

Shamoo! arrives and takes over for the Snark in white net.

Mario, with a perfection cross, to Keebs, 2-1

Gilchrist, with a perfection header on a goal kick return, to Jay for blue 3-1

Rocculous to Joe 4-1

Mario 4-2

Dan for white 4-3

I'll be away for the next two games, going to visit Will in Italy. I left my dirty old ball sac w/ the Keebs, maybe he'll fill in on his blog as well. Ciao!

Sunday Oct 9

Sunny and cool at game time, forecast is for 80 degrees. The turf is wet with dew. We started with short sides and the goals moved up to the 18 yard lines, last man back. 7 white vs 8 blue no guests.

Jeff for white 1-0

Jay for blue 1-1

Eddy for blue 1-2

Vince with a steal and a score for blue 1-3

Jimmy for white 2-3

Jay to Keeble for blue 2-4

Joe for white 3-4

Jeff for white 4-4

Keebs to Rocc to Vince 4-5

Joe to Jim 5-5

Mark S to Joe 6-5

Vince 6-6

Jeff to Mark 7-6

Vince to Dimos to Keeble 7-7

Joe to Jim 8-7

Dimos 8-8

Jeff 9-8

Joe to Jeff with a beautiful header 10-8

Vince to Dimos 10-9

Rocc to Vince 10-10

Then Dominic showed up right on time for the nine o'clock game, and joined the white team to even up the sides at 8 v 8.

Mark hit the post and Mario finished up 11-10

Ed to Vince with another nice header 11-11

Jim 12-11

Joe 13-11

Vince with another steal & score 13-12

Mario to Rosner 14-12

Dom to Mario 15-12

Mario 16-12, at which point the game officially ended, although there may have been some additional goals scored.

See you next week, at eight.

Sunday Oct 2

It was rainy and dark at 7, but sunny and nice at 8 o'clock game time. We'll be staying at 8 for the rest of the month, mark your calendars. We started w/ 10 blue v 9 white, full court, no keepers. Guests Fernando and Joe.

Rocco for blue on an open net 1-0

Miller for blue 2-0

Joe to Keebo 2-1

Jay for blue 3-1

Timmy showed up & took over in the blue net, Mark Schwartz put on the gloves for white

Joe for white 3-2

Jay to Jeff 4-2

Another guest arrived, Greg?, in for white, Dimos came just in time for the nine o'clock game.

Ted for white 4-3

Rocco 5-3

Mike to Vince for blue 6-3

Joe lofted a cross from the 25 to Keeble's head 6-4

Miller 7-4

Jimmy to Mario 7-5

Jay 8-5

Keebs takes the ball at half court, turns and starts dribbling, all alone, but Mike is closing fast. Sensing danger, he unleashed the ball from the 30 and it found the net! 8-6

Keebs again, pretty much the same play, but from ther 25 8-7

Mark comes out of goal, Jimmy goes in,

Mark Schwartz from a possibly off sides position, to tie the game 8-8

Mike sinks a header of a keeper deflection 9-8

Miller 10-8

Miller 11-8

Snarky Mark 11-9

So Mark Miller finds his inner Keeble and starts to score for a change, missing a hat trick by just one goal! Fernando is starting to find his way and showed us some stuff today. The blue team came out of the doldrums, thanks to Dave, Mike and Keith, and finally won a game.

See you all next week.