Category: Family

Transformation

Q: How long does it take a too-cute-for-his-own-good, 7-year-old soccer scoring machine…

number-two-soccer-98.jpg

…to transform into a fearsome, I’ll-never-dribble-to-his-side-of-the-pitch-again, warrior-god defender?

number-two-soccer-08-v2.jpg

A: About 10 years.

And here’s the other thing: If you blink, you’ll miss it.

Number Two is thrilled to have this well placed elbow in the back shoulder charge as the signature image of his senior and last year of competitive soccer. The special, tie-dyed  “third jersey” that they made just for that Memphis tournament is the crowning touch.

BTW, Number Two is considering Lipscomb, Harding…and Auburn.

Yeah, I know.

… Read the rest

Hairy Mascots and Hurricanes

I’ll be headed down to T-town with Number Three Son tomorrow to watch the Crimson Tide take on the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers. My parents-in-law lived in Bowling Green, KY from 1997-2004, so I had the opportunity to watch WKU play many different sports over the years, and I even saw one of their football playoff games in 2002, the year they won the I-AA national championship. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of progress they’re making as they continue the transition to big boy ball.

I’m all for progress as long as it’s not at the Crimson Tide’s expense. It shouldn’t be that close, but with our still relatively young crew, you never know.… Read the rest

An Ode to Olympic Moms

The Olympics Sap-o-Meter over at Slate was redlining over the weekend in the wake of Michael Phelps’ rendezvous with destiny (there, that ought to set it to twitching even more).

Apparently it was Bob Costas’ interview with Michael and his Mom that really set the too-cool-to-care cynics to clucking. Color me sappy, then, because I enjoyed it (that segment starts about 15 minutes in).

In particular, I was intrigued to learn about Michael’s struggle with ADHD and bullying classmates; as a parent, and a former “shortest and nerdiest kid in the class,” I can identify with such stories. It’s all too easy to look at the mega-million dollar freak of nature with all the O-bling around his neck and forget that he was once an awkward teen in dire need of some loving parenting and mentoring.… Read the rest

Small World, Eh?

It turns out Margaret Hoelzer isn’t the only athlete with North Alabama ties competing in Beijing.

Toyin Augustus is a Nigerian 100 meter hurdler who prepped at and ran track for Grissom High School (Number One and Three’s alma mater) prior to competing at Penn State.

Also, Julianne Kirchner is a 50 meter freestyle swimmer from the Marshall Islands whose parents grew up in North Alabama and attended UNA.

(UPDATE 8/16: You can read how her race went here).

Why the Marshall Islands? Julianne (age 16) has lived most of her life on Kwajalein Island, and if you’re from Huntsville, you probably know at least one rocket scientist in your circle who has spent some time in that distant atoll.… Read the rest

March On, Sarge Marge

Huntsville’s Margaret “You Can’t Holz ‘er Back” Hoelzer kept her cards close to her chest yesterday and cagily made her way into tonight’s 100 meter backstroke final (9:23 pm Central).

This is not her best race (she is one of the favorites and the current world record-holder in the 200 meter back, however), so gold-medaling is still somewhat of a longshot, especially with teammate Natalie Coughlin and Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry in the race too.

Speaking of Coventry, she set a new world’s record in her heat last night, and there’s an interesting side story developing there. Even though Hoelzer and Coventry raced side-by-side last night, there seemed to be little of the usual inter-lane congratulations between the two after the heat was over.… Read the rest

“One World One Dream”…and Tanks Too

I was out soccering last night with Numbers Two and Three and their teams in the opening tournament of the year, so I haven’t caught much of the opening ceremonies yet. Scrolling through the 4-plus hours of recording on my DVR and hitting the highlights is on my to-do list today, after more soccer matches, mowing the lawn, my weekly elliptical trainer workout at the gym…phew, I should get a gold medal for doing all that.

Number One, who was watching at home, called during the soccer matches and said it all seemed a little “creepy,” in a “if 1.3 billion people are capable of putting on this kind of show, what else are they capable of doing?”… Read the rest

You Can’t Keep A Good Song Down

“Be Thou My Vision,” that wonderful old Irish (we think) hymn, is one of my favorites. And if I have to explain to you why, then you haven’t been paying very close attention these past 3 years.

I’ve always considered sacred music, well, you know, sacred. So imagine my surprise to hear the strains of Ginny Owens’ hauntingly beautiful rendition of that hymn intermeshed with the trailer for the latest installment of the Saw series, Saw V.

We were waiting for the new X Files movie to start Friday night, and the misdirection totally threw me. I was thinking, hey this looks and sounds interesting.… Read the rest

On Otter’s Summit We Made Our Stand

The last time I climbed Sharp Top Mountain, one of the two Peaks of Otter in Bedford County, Virginia, was in 1997. That year, I was in training for a marathon and had just run my first 20-miler. The very next day, my “recovery” day, I hiked the strenuous, 1.5 mile trail to the top of Sharp Top as if it were a mere stroll in the park.

A lot has changed in 11 years. This year, I only ran 4 miles and then hiked the very vertical trail to the top of Sharp Top the next day. And while I did feel a little more strain than last time, I’m pleased to report that I made it to the summit with oxygen to spare, passing several huffing and puffing younger men along the way.… Read the rest

Huntsville United

The Huntsville City Recreation Service’s Concerts in the Park summer series continued Monday night on an unseasonably cool and dry July evening. Citizens turned out in droves at Big Spring Park near the Huntsville Art Museum to the listen to the chillin’ sounds of two local bands, Anchor’s Eye and Band of Moose:

concert-1.jpg

Man, you know you’re getting old when the kids that you used to coach in t-ball and soccer are performing live on stage and recording a session in Nashville next week to boot. Where did the time go?

It was a time to bring your camp chair and beverage of choice, enjoy the music and meet and greet old friends:

concert-2.jpg
And new friends:

concert-5.jpg

The politicians were out in full force, including long-time Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer who is running for re-election and is seen here talking to a constituent:

concert-7.jpg

She even gave me this cool fan, although I didn’t really need it that night:

img_0116.JPG

No, that’s not the Mother Ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.… Read the rest

Take That, Mein Führer!

Number Two is “wheels down” in Huntsville after his three week tour of Germany/Austria/Switzerland. Huzzah!

We were expecting more of a grungy, grizzled Euro-backpacker look upon his return. Instead, we got this:

number-two-return-home.jpg

I guess he got a good night’s sleep and a chance to freshen up a bit at that Ho-Jo in Philly.

He also brought back a handsome stash of stuff that included Euro ’08 t-shirts, candy galore, soccer mini-balls, shot glasses for all his friends, a lovely wooden miniature Christmas tree for Eyegal and this little jewel for me:

swiss-army-knife.jpg

That’s not just any Swiss Army Knife. That’s one that came direct from Switzerland.… Read the rest

Hey, US Airways: Plplplplplpt!

We had the perfect evening planned: Attend the opening night party at the new Barnes and Noble at Bridge Street Plaza and then head out to Huntsville International Airport (that’s right, international airport) to meet Number Two Son as he returned home from Germany.

But then he called from Philadelphia. They had flown from Frankfort, made it through customs, checked their bags again (which made their way onto their flight to Charlotte), and then ran to the gate only to find that the US-Air agent had just sold all sixteen of their seats to standby customers.

Again, mind you, their bags made it onto the plane, but they didn’t.… Read the rest

All American Plans

Sorry, but this one was just too sweet not to post again.

I have big, big plans for the 4th:

  • Put up a blog post (check)
  • Water my new sod in the front yard (working on it as I write)
  • Run 5 miles
  • Watch a little Wimbledon (but where have all the McEnroes gone? Thank goodness for the Williams sisters)
  • Go see a movie (I’m open to suggestions, but I’m leaning toward WALL-E)
  • Cookout with the parents-in-law (FIL grills the best burger in Huntsville-seriously)
  • Go see the Huntsville Stars play the Birmingham Barons and watch fireworks afterwards
  • Catch a little of the US Olympic Track and Field Trials from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon (no cooler T&F venue in the universe)
  • Fall blissfully asleep on the couch
  • Wake up at 1:00 AM and stumble to bed

If those aren’t All American plans, I don’t know what is.… Read the rest

Not Just Any Old Europe

I’ve seen it so many times: A team fufills Cantona’s charge to “play beautiful,” out-passing and out-possessing their opponents for 89+ minutes, but fails to find the back of the net. And then, in those waning seconds, comes the knife in the back, cruelly twisted–the junk goal rolling past a desperate keeper’s outstretched fingertips. An impostor emerges from the fray, holding aloft the champion’s cup.

But not yesterday. Spain’s Fernando Torres saw to that.

His immaculate chip in the 33rd minute, made possible by another all-eyes pass from midfielder Xavi Hernandez, proved to be all that was needed as the youthful Spanish, skilled, fit and fast from front to back, created a masterpiece of stingy short-ball, rarely giving the Germans so much as a touch much less the time and space to mount any sort of attack.… Read the rest