Sent to the Showers

Last night in Chicago we got more rain than I have ever seen in a short period of time. Streets were flooded, others blocked off completely. The lightning was frequent and very close by. Then I had to practically do the long jump to get from the middle of the street to the curb so I could go home. I also had to take three trips because I had my Jack Bauer man bag with my lap top in it, all of my work clothes, my dry cleaning, and all of my soccer gear.

After work I had a soccer game with a co-ed team that I play for on occasion when they need a sub. I really had no business playing. I'm still having problems with the outside of my left knee. IT Band, LCL, whatever it is, it's been hurting like hell the last couple of days. I was fine for awhile, but in the first couple minutes of my men's game on Sunday morning I got twisted up and dropped on a tackle from behind. The rest of the day I had trouble cutting and making turns. Running in a straight line is even painful, but mostly the starting and stopping.

For one reason or another I decided to play last night and I was doing fine since I had doped myself up on pain medication. Then, about 10 minutes into the match I tried to turn in traffic and I went down again. I soldiered on though because it didn't hurt as bad as it did Sunday morning and my team would have been a man short if I didn't.

I hobbled around the field most of the night, picking and choosing my spots to get up to full speed. We were trailing 4-1 and not really playing very well about half way through the second half when I got my chance. Off one of our goal kicks, the ball was being stood up a bit in the wind. Our other forward, Alex, was going up to challenge the header and I saw he was clearly going to win it. He knew I'd be taking off for goal so he just put a little flick on it to clear the defense. It worked and I was in with about 40 yards to go to goal.

I took the first touch off my chest as the ball skipped pretty high off the wet turf. I was almost at top speed (as top as one can be when you have a busted knee) when I felt a pull on my shoulder from the defender. I threw an elbow back and shook myself free for a moment, but the whole way he was on my heels and pulling at my shirt.

Finally, as the goalie came off his line I moved to my right to draw a better angle and right before I hit the shot I felt a shove from behind again. I missed the shot, which I pissed about, but right as I released the ball I felt a crushing tackle coming from my left side. Probably the second dirtiest tackle that I've ever felt (the first being the Japanese player that drilled me from behind and started the whole knee problem mess a couple months ago.) So the tackle was from behind, in a blow-out co-ed game, knowing full well that my knee was already in pain. Asshole.

Now, keep in mind this is a co-ed social club league and you are not allowed to slide tackle. Also note that everyone on the field knows that I'm hurt since the game was stopped once for me to recover and I'd been limping around like an idiot all night. It's also worth mentioning that a couple guys on the other team took themselves way too seriously and were starting to piss off a number of players, including their own teammates. I, for once, had been laughing it off for the most part and tried not to get wrapped up in the chaos. But this was it for me.

The tackle hurt and I could tell my knee wouldn't last much longer anyways, so after rolling to a stop I popped back up and went after the guy. I met him at some point inside the penalty box and slammed into him hard. Before I could throw a real punch, my captain, Ro', got there and pulled me back, but I definitely wanted a bigger piece of the pie.

The referee came over and red-carded both of us. A red card. My first ever ejection in 22 years of playing soccer. Unbelievable. Now, to be fair, I definitely deserved it for retaliating and going after the douchebag. However, if the referee had kept up with the play and stepped in front of me like I would have, I don't know that I'd have reacted the way I did.

After the match, the ref came over to me and I apologized for my actions, thanked him for being on top of the play (even though he really wasn't,) and for having the brains to send both of us off. But then I had to say something. "I assume his red-card was for the tackle, because that was a bullshit challenge from behind." He answered that, yes, it was....and that he wished I had waited for him to get there so he could handle it before I reacted. I apologized again, saying that when you get crushed like that from behind by a dirty player you don't wait, you get up and protect yourself.

And then I asked, "So, why was the restart a goal kick?"

No response. He knew he was wrong. Or that I had caught him in a lie. You see, the restart should either have been a direct kick or a penalty kick if the tackle happened in the box. Restarting with a goal kick meant that he saw no foul, in which case he was not red-carding the other player for the tackle, but for the altercation afterwards.

Anyways, I still can't believe I was sent-off. I certainly pick up my fair share of yellow cards from time to time for hard tackles, every captain does because you have to show your team that toughness and lead by example. This, however, is something totally new for me. I had been very good over the past few years about playing with calm and poise. I learned that from Lorien of all people... mostly because she said she'd never come to another game if "Angry Cap" was playing.

So over the years I've changed on the field. I know that this isn't the World Cup, it's just a social league, so nobody should take it too seriously. But clearly the guy that tackled me was taking it that way, and he put me at risk of serious injury with a tackle like that. There is no place in the game for that kind of behavior. "Angry Cap" may be a thing of the past, but I'm still going to have to stand up for myself and my teammates when players like that exist.

Alright, time to get back to work....I have a long week of officiating, coaching and the Chicago Fire's final regular season home game on Saturday.