{"id":1247,"date":"2008-11-18T05:45:05","date_gmt":"2008-11-18T11:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/?p=1247"},"modified":"2022-01-02T07:36:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T12:36:03","slug":"no-regrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/?p=1247","title":{"rendered":"No Regrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"img_0232.JPG\"<\/p>\n

Number Two Son and friend Nick have anchored the defensive line of their club soccer team since they were both 11-years-old.<\/p>\n

Together, they were a keeper’s dream–“clean that junk up before it gets to me!” For them, a goal scored on their watch was a personal affront. How dare anyone tread on their turf!<\/p>\n

Over the years, they called out to each other–“Man on! Man on!” or “You’ve got a drop”–whenever the other was in trouble. They were rarely more than a few yards apart, always watching the other’s back. They were a team within a team.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, in the cold and driving rain, they played their last match on a muddy pitch that resembled a barnyard after a monsoon. They lost 2-1 in the semifinals of the U18 Alabama State Championships.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, they were spotted walking off the pitch together one last time, brothers in arms. For once, the family photographer was ready.<\/p>\n

A team within a team, indeed. And they’ll never forget the moment when they gave the last full measure for club, for their teammates, for each other–for the memories.<\/p>\n

No regrets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Number Two Son and friend Nick have anchored the defensive line of their club soccer team since they were both 11-years-old. Together, they were a keeper’s dream–“clean that junk up before it gets to me!” For…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,52,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-soccer","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9252,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1247\/revisions\/9252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ocularfusion.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}