Defiling the Beautiful Game

In September, I resumed playing football (or soccer as us Yanks are forced to call it) with a co-ed club after a long hiatus. I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Kicking the ball around is such childish fun. It's as if I'm back playing with my Tonka trucks in the sandbox. Last week was by all measures bad, but five minutes of chasing a ball around and stopping a shot with my genitals still couldn't wipe the smile of delight from my face.

Our first game is this Sunday and I'm a little worried. The one problem with having played so much competitive ball in my past is invariably I get too tied up in the competition and in it I loose the simple joy of playing. I'm hoping the fact that it is a co-ed league will keep it light. Apparently the guys on any one team can only score two goals total each game. This should present a fun challenge.

The only true negative in all this is that we'll be playing the bastardized version of the game known as "indoor soccer." The boards remove so much beauty.

Along the same lines, I just saw the blokes at Top Gear had a second Car Football Challenge and as always it's brilliant entertainment. Not quite as amusing as car darts or driving Minis off ski jumps but it sure looks like one heck of a good time. If I ever come into money this is what we'll do at parties my friends.