I told the Ev man that if it doesn't kill you then it makes you stronger. He was doing his best to think of reasons why he shouldn't accept the offer to join the ranks of the varsity soccer team when I told him, in so many words, to just suck it up. He is one of two freshman in the school who played JV and freshman soccer during the fall season only to be asked by the varsity to join the team for the fall playoff's. For a team with a record of 12-1-1, this is indeed an honor. One that he should not take lightly but one that certanly took a little more than the usual amount of cajoling by us to get him to accept. When all was said and done, and when I picked him up from the practice around 5, the relief I saw in his face, his emotions, and his demeanor, was palpable to say the least. As I reminded him as I dropped him off at the start of the day, it is never as bad as you think it is going to be. Fear may have gotten the best of him during the day as the hour of his first practice approached, but jubilation reigned at days end. It was a lesson that he had to learn himself and one that certainly required more than a modicum of courage. Courage he didn't know he had. That's the best kind.

Those damn Yankees. I hate those self assured bastards. They think that just because they have all the horses and all the kings men that they can put it all back together again. This time around, they want to be World Series Champs. They have the wind at their backs and a new stadium in which to trumpet their good fortune should they take the series as they believe they are indeed fated to do and perhaps even entitled to. To a player, I believe they believe this. They and their fans have been drinking the Kool Aid and you can see that they sense that this is their year. I'm not so sure. I think, and pray, that the Phillies are destined for a repeat of last year's World Series Championship. Wouldn't that be sweet. I might even take the day off to celebrate were that to happen. To celebrate that is, the Yanks loss. I want to see Steinbrenner and John Sterling crying in their champagne glasses and pissing off about how their team should have won. I want to see the Joba's, the A-Rod's, the Jeters and the Damons, all heading for locker rooms with the knowledge that they came so close but not close enough to win. It is the team I love to hate and that is the worse kind of fan. It is the only kind of fan I know how to be when it comes to the New York Yankees. How bout' a team hug, boys?