I love my son's team, they are not the best but they try hard and they aren't out there trying to hurt anybody. Last night though, I was not impressed by the caliber of people sitting around me. In one play, after it had started raining, Baby A, who plays center had a bad snap and the crowd reacted all around us, negatively. He has only been playing center since the start of this season, he didn't know he could even adjust the ball when he comes up and lines up to it until after the first scrimmage. The field was wet and that affects everything, specially when you're grabbing and throwing on the field. He was also back after missing two games and was heavily wrapped around on his left shoulder, he is right handed, at least. Considering all that, I thought it was great that he only had the one bad snap, and after four games, it is the only bad snap that the QB has not been able to handle.
This was my biggest fear, other than Mijo getting hurt, him being directly responsible for a loss of the ball and he owned it. Ughh, the feeling of not having control of the moment. They lost the ball, the coach yelled at him on the sideline to go and practice some snaps, and the stupid parents yelling "come on center!" and "Get it together #50". We sit about as close to the center of the stands as possible, I always want to be between the 45 and 50 yard lines, we sit a few rows up and we both wear shirts indicating #50 is ours. It only took a second or two then the knuckle draggers must have noticed the shirt on Wife has a big 50 on the back so it quickly silenced, but I was still pissed and felt responsible because that is what responsible people do.
It is times like these that make a person who they become. For Mijo, he was tested and luckily, he didn't have any more bad snaps. With the game on the line, the coaches having yelled at him, and him having had an injury, he could have shrunk from the moment and faked injury, he could have kept making more mistakes and causing another loss of the ball or worse, points on the board. Instead, he held his head up high and played to the best of his ability. I might have not relaxed until the final play when I was sure he wouldn't cause another fumble. For him, he said the fumble got him out of his head. Before it, he said he was in a thought triangle of make the block, make a good snap, and run the play (whether to pull or block the man in front), he had only practiced one day that week, so he was rusty, but like the excellent human he is, he rose to the occasion. I walked off the field proud as hell of him, win or lose, he played like a person who won't let a setback derail him.
I can only hope those parents can learn a thing or two from him. Life is not measured by the mistakes that happen along the way, but in how we handle those mishaps. Do I wish our boys could win every game? Will me yelling "(random player's number) play better!!" change anything? No. These are kids, they may look like men, the coach may even want them in dress clothes and ties the day of games so they look and act like grownups, but they are still kids and this is something that should be fun for them. It sucked to hear Mijo say he had more fun in the last game he played because he didn't make mistakes (bad snap) than this one even though they won this one.
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