Liberty 16 Century 10 -- my take

Since Century girls lacrosse was established, they have dominated Carroll County. They make it to the State 1A-2A Final about every year, and win it about 1/2 the time.

This year has been hard for them -- they've lost to 2 county teams, including last night's loss to Liberty.

Century has a history of producing outstanding players - Kelly Kasper (who is leading Uof Md right now in her senior yr), Lauren Schwarzmann (Hopkins), Jenny Steadman.
This year, they have Katie Schwarzmann.

She isn't just outstanding - she really is phenomenal. Everything about her is superfast - running the ball, cuts, stickwork. She's seriously twice as fast as anyone, and she's deceptive - she can be standing still, wait for her defender to glance away, and then she's gone -- 2 steps in front of them. She consistently stuffs passes or intercepts b/c of such good reflexes. She can shoot from impossible angles, and score. And she's not a ball hog - she will pass if she's defended well. It would be interesting to see her goal/shot on goal percentage -- because I bet it would show that she just makes very good use of each shot.

So last night, Liberty assigned a player to her. Westminster did the same thing - put a defender on her who doesn't even look to see where the ball is - they stare at Schwarzmann, and you can tell that their whole job is to mark her out of the game. She did a great job - Schwarzmann scored 5 goals, which is light for her.

The part that made me uncomfortable wasn't that player's great defense -- it was what was going on in the stands. The Liberty fans booed Schwarzmann when she had the ball. They cheered when she messed up. ((It really was cheering at her mistakes -- for instance, she dropped it once-- no Liberty player even near her. She just uncharacteristically bobbled the ball and picked it right back up. They were cheering because she made an error.)
It's one thing to cheer for your team - or even against the opposing team -- but to cheer against an individual??

At one point, I just sat there and thought -- that's a 16 or 17 year old kid who has a whole stand of people cheering personally against her. I wondered how she was handling it.

The other thing I'll say is that the officiating was ridiculous. I don't think it's good to whine about refs, but you had to see them.

They handed out so many cards to Century that at one point, Century was playing 4 men down. I heard that they were carding people just for asking for clarification about calls. It was so bad that Century's AD escorted them out of the stands because he thought Century parents may give them a hard time.

Even with better reffing, Liberty may have won yesterday - I'd say even 'probably would have'. It's just hard when bad officiating clearly affects the outcome of a game.


BUT that's exactly why I love sports so much. For that one hour, everything matters so much. Each team's intensity, the coaching, the outcome -- it all matters. And even more important is how it's all handled.

Bad refs and unsportsmanlike behavior may be part of the picture, but you know that Century's coaches will evaluate what they had control over and improve on it. ((Draw control was a factor, finishing on shots, etc)). Just like last year, they'll use this loss to make their team better.

It may also be that the time for any single team to dominate the county is over. (No CC team is undefeated.) With most HS lax players playing club all year long, every HS team has quality players.

It's happening in Howard county, too -- Hebron, who hadn't lost to a Maryland team in something like 18 years, lost to John Carroll this year, and then even lost to 2 Howard county teams (Centennial and Glenelg).

And that's even a good thing -- because when the score is always 20something - 1, no one is learning anything.

Joylist 4

It's time.

1. Green smoothies. Painless way to eat 4.5 cups of greens. See the blog called 'The Green Smoothie Experiment'.
2. My pastor's wife. She's also a nurse, and she looked at L.'s foot (he sprained it over the weekend) He hadn't showered all weekend, had no socks, and was really uncomfortable having anyone look at it. But a friend insisted she'd know if it was a sprain or not. (She did.)
I watched her as she examined his ankle...his wet, very very dirty foot next to her glittery sandals and painted toenails....and she was so gracious to him...I always get the feeling that she truly loves all kinds of people.
3. watching Kallie for my mom and dad.
4. My sister. Found out I was having a hard week and called out of the blue and said all the things bigs sisters should say when their little sister is having a hard time.
5. The Bud Light Ad people. I wish they were my friends. Since I'm trying to eat healthful stuff these days, I'll give this example:

Crisis Part II (mid-life variety)

So my kids were at a retreat all weekend.
I'm doing so much better. I used to have to spend the night other places when they were gone, or borrow my niece. (She affectionately refers to those times as 'when she had to babysit me.' haha)

But this past weekend, I was able to stay home. Did nothing particularly productive. Nothing even particularly indulgent. Pretty much totally wasted time. Things just feel so lackluster when they're not around.

This makes me worry about the future. Eventually, that weekend will be my whole life. There is a chilling monologue in Notes on a Scandal about loneliness...she constructs her whole weekend around a trip to the laundromat, etc.

So I was talking to my friend Cindy about it - we are same age/same life stage/same living situation etc.
And she said that we are going to do something different than 'Empty Nest Syndrome', a sort of Mid-Life Crisis, but with a twist.
She said that we need to make another kind of list!! ((I was listening! I love lists! JOYLISTS = strength)) This list would be things we are going to get to do once our kids are grown up, in their own places.

We even came up with a name:
PLENTY as in "Praise the Lord for Empty Nests, Thank You...."

Here is one of hers:
Praise the Lord for Empty Nests, Thank You for not sitting on my new Harley Davidson softtail motorcycle

I'm working on it....I'm being proactive....

Crisis Part I

Ever heard this quote?


When written in Chinese, the word ''crisis'' is composed of two characters -- one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) Thirty-fifth President of the USA


Well, turns out that it's not true. The 'danger' part is true, the 'opportunity' part is not. (My office mate is fluent in Korean and knows some Chinese. I heard this quote and loved the idea...played around with the translation tool, talked to him about it, he made me doubt it...I eventually found this ...

So, turns out Chinese wisdom agrees with my experience: crises suck.

Diane Arbus

I talked about Diane Arbus once on my other (sort of) site , but I had to mention it here since the blog-defining photo of the boy is hers.

I learned about her when I was young...in a photography class...the professor talked about the way she protected the dignity of her subjects even as she fully understood their chief flaw/struggle/disability (visually, I mean). That amazed me then, and it still does. Now I realize that it's even a God-like trait.

The professor said that she had a great rapport with her subjects, most of whom were 'different', or 'flawed'...Where most avert their eyes, she could focus the lens -- and with respect.

I found this quote of hers that explains a little bit of her thinking:

"Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats."

I'm attracted to her for the same reason I'm attracted to Philip Yancey and the father in the Hiding Place.

Addendum to JL3

C and L have to get braces. They really don't want braces, and Cath made this visual to show me why. It makes me laugh.

Joylist 3

1. the Thriller dance, and especially these 2 sisters who are going to teach us
2. 70 degree days this time of year (along with my belief that God pre-knew about Global Warming and uses even our bad choices to work out His plan)
3. Clif (met him & Barb before i even moved up here. i love how he loves people. Clif sees everyone as worth it. i love the example he is to L.)
4. Family Fun Nights -- the next one is imminent
5. watch about 20 seconds of this, and you'll feel happy:

Climbers and Pilots

I just finished the book "No Shortcuts to the Top" -- by and about Ed Viesturs, a guy who has climbed all fourteen 8000m mountains. I love reading about climbing, because it's something I would never do. I especially love reading stuff written by the actual climber, because I see this thing common to all of their personalities, and it fascinates me: a confidence that borders on arrogance.

When there is an accident, and people even lose their life, there is this calm rationalizing that it was human error that caused the accident, and an assumption that they won't commit those errors. Some of them come off as very arrogant.

I've read a couple of books about pilots, and the best is the Tom Wolfe book about astronauts (back in the day, the astronauts were test pilots, and test pilots were the cream-of-the-crop who tested proto-type planes, testing their limits, risking their life while acting very casual about it, etc..) He shows this attitude in the test pilots. Their friend might crash and die that day during a test , and they are definitely sad, but they also talk about the errors he made. Also, they don't say "crash" or "die", they use casual jargon...

They always say that surgeons are arrogant, too...so I was thinking about this arrogance -- that it's one way to deal with facing possible death (or causing death, in the surgeon's case)...it's a kind of courage, and I respect it. I'd rather a person like that fly my plane, or take out my appendix.

Another way people face possible death:

Lucas is interested in WWII, and has watched the Band of Brothers many times. We were talking about the young men living with their mortality staring them in the face like that. He said that one soldier's attitude was to consider himself 'already dead'. Write himself off - treat it as a given - and then he could go and do what he was trained to do without fear. Learning that made me respect soldiers even more.

And another way I've seen a person face possible death:

A well-respected man at our church has a form of brain cancer that may not heal. Our pastor interviewed him and his wife, and his way of dealing with it amazed me. He can say it, flat out. He is not afraid. His only concern is his family, his wife (he even tried to arrange another marriage for her for when he is gone...she joked about how controlling he can be...I am amazed/emotional again just writing this down). But he is full of faith, and trust. And so sure of the goodness of God.


My confession: I think about the word recently preached: "This is the end of all men, and the living take it to heart."
I want the husband's mindset- not even for thinking about my death, but just in life. The climber/pilot way would never work for me - I'm too incompetent. If I'm honest with myself, I'm closer to the soldier way. My predestination ideas have a little tinge of futility.

P.S. Spin

I love PostSecret, which I found on Jess's blog, which I also love.


I was thinking of a different version of this...still unifying but less voyeuristic....a lot less cool...but still...

have you ever admitted something to someone...something about you that you thought made you weird and maybe were a little embarrassed about...only to find out that they did it too??

I'll start...

Didn't you ever stare at your dog and promise that if he'd just talk to you right now, that you promise you won't tell anyone and it will be yours and his little secret (even though you knew if he really did talk, you'd think it was demonic and kill him immediately)?


Your turn!!

Joylist of the Week 2

1. My busdriver Rhonda. Impacts hundreds. Her bus is like a party.
2. the drama kids..some of my favorite people
3. i reconnected with a friend from whom i'd been estranged for 3 years. each email is a chapter long. i really missed her.
4. e and c's fabulous lipstick
5. This - it's crazy delicious