Blitzkrieg!

Kyle leading the post-game handshake.

Were you ever embarrassed of your kid, but in a good way? That was our conundrum today at Kyle's soccer game. His team faced off against the gray team, and from the outset, we knew it was gonna be a rout. Most of the kids on the other side were smaller than Kyle's teammates, and not all that coordinated. Still, you always hope for a good, competitive game.

What we got was a blowout.

The light blue team could never get the ball out of their zone, and turned it over more than Penn State. HA! Before we knew it, Kyle's friend Jake had a natural hat trick, and the green team was up 3-0. Kyle's coach was afraid of running up the score, so he put Jake in goal, and told Kyle to play defense.

Nice try.

Kyle played defense until the ball came to him, then stole it, and ran the length of the field for a goal. He did this two more times. Add another goal from Brendan and one from Travis, and you'll get the final score: 8-0. Ouch!

As a parent, I was proud of Kyle's effort. He played well on both sides of the field. But as a fan, I was a little embarrassed, and was worried that the opposing team's parents thought we were running up the score on purpose. We weren't, and imagine how difficult it is to tell a 5-year old not to score. It won't work. Oh well, his team is now 5-0-1, and Kyle has 8 goals on the year. Best of all, he's having fun.

(Now if we can pull out an 8-0 victory in our ice hockey season opener tonight . . . )