Thoughts on the First Game

Last night, at 9:15, an intramural game between the FC Shirkeadores and the Stihl Chainsaw Gorillas began. After two, 20 minute halves, the score was FC Shirkeadores 12- 1 Stihl Chainsaw Gorillas. I am captain of the SCG's, but I'll be the first to tell you we won something last night. Allow me to explain.

From the beginning, our team was outmatched. The Shirkeadores scored within thirty seconds of the opening whistle. By half time, it was 9-0. We could not close down their passing lanes, nor could we progress the ball past mid field. We were outplayed the first half. I tried to rally the troops, saying, "We can still win," to which one player carefully reminded me, "Do we want to win? Because I was having fun."

I remembered then why I organized this team: to have fun. I specifically chose the lower division so a bunch of us from the ward could get together and play some soccer. I assured people at the signing up that we were in this league to have fun. No pressure was the name of our game. With that in mind, we talked as a group, and started the second half. While there wasn't a miracle comeback, we played better. We waited until the last second for Brenton to finally score our first goal. The last second goal produced the greatest celebration, even greater than the other team's victory.

While I am wary to place a moral on this story (that is my cynical side lurking within the text), I find meaning in the mundaneness of our goal. As I stated before, the SCG's were outplayed at every position. That said, we did not give up. We continued to play, to challenge, to pick ourselves up after their goals, and we scored. We played through, and I couldn't be happier.

As a side note, we have our next games on May 11 (9:15 PM) and May 15 (11 AM).