10/7/22 Another Ortho Visit?

     I don't know that it matters too much at this point, other than to give us a little hope.  After Mijo hurt his ankle this time, the trainer could not tell if it was possibly fractured or if it was something less serious.  My hope is that it was just a sprained ankle that might take a week to heal.  While we sat and finished watching the game, Wife called and set up a visit to our now favorite doctor's office, Texas Orthopedics.  She was able to secure an appointment for the afternoon, at 2:15pm.  Being that he was real tender moving around, we let him stay home, so he wouldn't have to be moving around too much.

    The first thing they did at the doctor's was to take some x-rays, and luckily there were no fractured bones to worry about.  I didn't expect them to look so solid and square down around the ankle, I thought they looked cool.  Based on where the tenderness is, the doctor said it was either a low ankle or a high ankle strain, unfortunately, these types of injuries take time to heal, a high ankle sprain could take 6-8 weeks to heal completely.  Even the low ankle sprain, the doc said could take 2-4 weeks to heal.  This pretty much takes him to the end of the football season, which is a shitty way to end your senior year, when the build-up was looking so good, with all the work that had been done prior to the knee injury.  I know this weighs heavy on him, he feels like he is letting down his teammates, and there isn't much he can do.  It hurts me too that we can't do anything but sit with him and wait.

    After the visit, he was pretty bummed out, Wife suggested going to the school to talk to the trainer and possibly the coach, it was almost 3:30pm and there was an early release, so we were thinking there wouldn't be any kids around at that time.  We were wrong, within two minutes of being there, like his friends knew he had showed up, they all gathered there, I think they were all there to talk to the trainer, all these boys are walking injured in one way or another, but they all rallied around Mijo.  Coach was there, while we talked to the trainer, showing her the x-rays, the boys ran down the hall to tell the coach what the doctor said.  Coach was either hoping against hope or he knows more from experience.  He boldly told Mijo, just put your leg in ice, you'll be fine in a week, we'll get you back out there in two weeks.

    I still think he has a few games in him, I am hoping he will feel better in two weeks, maybe play his last two district games and then there should be some playoff games, they are currently 3-3, and they had been told that 3 district game wins pretty much would get them into the playoffs, so one more win and they are contending with that, while I believe they can win 3 of the last 4 matches pretty easily, considering how well they have been playing.

10/6/22 Crockett 49, Navarro 13?

     Alright, enough of the sad times.  Yes, Mijo being injured is not how I wanted his senior year to go, but sometimes, things happen for a reason.  Maybe he realizes sports is not everything by realizing he is not indestructible.  As much as I love watching Mijo, and I am his biggest fan, I want him set up for a future where he lives a comfortable life, so maybe focusing on his classes and not just sports might be a good wake-up call.

    Still, it has been exciting watching these Cougars get explosive and start to look like winners.  They played a very dominating game again last night, winning 49-13, in a game that was not that close.  The week before they completely dismantled LASA with an even bigger score of 63-0.  The Navarro Vikings managed one successful drive in the second quarter to make the score 26-7 at halftime.  I was a little worried, McCallum had a similar score, they had been down 28-7 before halftime, but did manage a second scoring drive just before halftime, with a minute left, then got the ball back at the start of the second half.  I honestly think that ultimately was a good thing for these boys, so they know not to show sympathy or get lackluster against an opponent until the match is done.

    For a second, I thought the guys might have lost their edge coming back after the half, we were not even thinking about the game when it started up again, we had just gone and seen Mijo crying in the visitor fieldhouse because his night was done, but the rest of the team was still in it.  They came back storming onto the field, flags a blazing, and with determination in their eyes.  They had a turnover soon after starting the second half, and turned it into a score, quite rapidly.  That is the key, the team just scores at will, it seems, on the back of their quarterback, who will probably be labeled a true D1 prospect by the end of the season, if he isn't already, they guy just tears defenses apart, mostly with his running, but he can also throw a beautiful pass, when things are going great.

    By the 4th quarter, the game was over, they were still on the field, but the other team knew there was no chance of stealing this game.  Barring the ugly injury to the other Cougar, who took a helmet to the chest and either hurt a rib or his sternum and laid on the field on his back for a good 15-20 minutes, the game was uneventful.  I say this mostly as a parent whose kid did not get to play, so I am a bit painted by that, but I will take the win.  The hope is we make the playoffs and that Mijo is good and strong for those extra games and possibly the last four regular district games, which are all important and with their own interesting side stories.

10/5/22 More Injuries?

     When can we go back to normal, I thought we were done with this?  I guess one should never think their son/daughter to be invincible, it has been a hard season watching Mijo unable to contribute, even though it is all he wants to do.  The season got off to a slow start with his knee injury.  At first, I joked about it because of how it happened.  I did not think it would still be an issue in October, in the middle of the season, especially when MRI and two separate doctors told us nothing was broken, it was just bruising.  Well, with physical therapy and time, we finally got over it, he was signed off and even got a baker's cyst, which had all this extra fluid from his knee develop and pop behind his knee.  It didn't seem like more bad news could happen, but then he said he bumped it while running through plays, not even in full pads because practice was not supposed to be contact.  He bruised it again, I was worried and a little pissed he didn't have it wrapped with something, but then again, it is supposed to be healed.  This was just as he described it, just some superficial bruising, nothing to really worry about, although the coaches did not let him practice the rest of the week.

    Last night, he made it to the second quarter before hurting himself again.  I noticed him hopping around but staying in the game.  I thought "here we go again..."  Sure enough, a play or two later, he was pulled out.  He came out, they took off the knee brace, which I thought maybe it broke or something, Tom Brady had a similar situation, where the brace worked itself sideways and then had to be removed a couple weeks ago.  He seemed to be moving better once they took it off, and he even went another series in to play.  We didn't know the severity of the injury, but he said although he tried, there was no strength in his leg, he either rolled his ankle or someone stepped on it, accidentally, I have to assume, especially when some of the guys were saying it was his own teammate that stepped on him as he ran through.

    As a parent, you don't want to be called down to the field to talk about your son and his injuries, but we got the call during halftime to go to the field house where the team was.  I had just gone to the bathroom and was wondering why Wife had left our camera and my phone unattended, but then she called, and I got scared hearing her tell me to go to where the team was at.  Mijo was sitting on a table being looked at by the trainer, his leg was unwrapped, and I guess it was good to hear it wasn't his knee again, but she was looking at his ankle.  Her worry is that it might be fractured or dislocated.  There isn't anything sadder than watching your kid unable to do the one thing he lives for.  I know the sacrifice this boy has endured, there wasn't a relaxing summer for him, he spent every day working out, this is his entirety of who he is right now, and not being able to help his team on the field just kills him.  All the coaches came by, hugged him and told him it was alright, it was good but still very sad, as he realized his day was done.

    This season is going by way too fast, there are four more games, and I just hope he can salvage some of them, maybe this injury is just a sprain, and he can be fit in a week.  We scheduled another visit to the ortho Friday, so we shall see what they say.  They have been very good at seeing him and treating him.  As bad as Mijo's injury, there was another kid who took a hard hit to the chest, and he collapsed on the field and was down for a good 15-20 minutes.  The was sobering, as bad as a limb injury is, a chest injury is much scarier because that is where our organs are.  I asked the coach what happened to that kid after the game, while collecting Mijo's backpack and phone back at school, and he said he either bruised a rib or his sternum, he would be in pain for a while, but he should be alright.  We forget sometimes how violent this game can be.

10/4/22 A Week Full Of Mail-In Treats?

     Who needs the mall, when we have Amazon and online shopping?  I got a little contact high from all the stuff I received this week via mail.  Probably the most exciting thing I received was the book I worked on for almost a month on and off again.  I went and using Shutterfly, composed a book from the hundreds of pics taken during the wrestling season.  Of course, my focus was Mijo, making sure to capture the will of victory and the agony of defeat, at least in the opponent's eyes.  I did not use any footage where Mijo might have lost, only the good memories needed here.  I also added images of his friends fighting, and then some images that were just cool, along the season, I mean these are just kids competing, when they get off the mat, they are all still goofy and sweet.

    The next best thing I got in the mail was my game jersey, Wife and I have black jerseys that sort of resemble the ones worn by the team, but I wanted a gold version, since the team doesn't always wear the black jersey.  I chose not to get Wife a matching one, I sat and ordered mine in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago, because she has not been wearing her jersey while Mijo was injured, she chose to just wear the Crockett standard black shirts.  I love the jerseys, I feel more connected to Mijo and since I ordered mine in 6X, it fits very loose and is a comfortable wear.

    After this, I also got my large "Always Victorious" banner, which is a school slogan I had not noticed before, but the coach is trying to make it a loud chant.  I noticed this week, while watching some of the volleyball game online, the basketball court has the slogan imprinted on what looks like a very old court print, so it has been around longer than Mijo has.  Either way, I got the idea to order a banner about a month ago, and it finally came in.  It looked terrific along the fence, at 3ftx12ft, it was a good size to see.

There were also some large, printed images that I ordered last week, while messing around with Shutterfly, which I have started doing to decorate Mijo's room, some are just with friends, some are action shots while he is competing, and some include his girl, which he will probably enjoy most of all.

    Then there are my flags, which I love, but are kind of a pain in the butt.  I thought I had ordered four 3x5 flags with the Cougar logo, but in fact I ordered six.  I then went and ordered five new poles to hang my flags from, including a Texas flag, which Mijo convinced me we needed, for the running in because nothing looks cooler than the Texas flag.  Since I then discovered that I had more flags than poles, I left the larger 4x6ft flags at home and took the poles from those to use on the smaller flags.  The problem is that not all stadiums have slots to go and easily hang the flags from.  The boys did have fun running onto the field with the Texas and a couple of Cougar logo flags, but then they were just resting on the ground and a couple were hung on the fence down at field level, but there was absolutely no air to make then fly proudly.  Still, I am happy the team has these, probably for a few years, if they take care of them.

10/3/22 Husqvarna Dreams and Realities?

     I keep getting burned by name brand crap.  This one is kind of an inside joke, but towards the end of the school year, we had the wrestling banquet at what is now the girlfriend of Mijo.  We went over the day before to help clean and set up for the party.  The mom asked our boy if he knew how to run a trimmer to cut some of the grass.  He was honest and said he hadn't run one like hers, she had a nice Husqvarna which was gas operated, ours is electric and connected to a cord.  I also tend to do all the trimming, while Mijo runs the mower.  She decided he couldn't handle her Husqvarna and she proceeded to cut the grass herself, I mean they have something like 13 acres, she should have been out there driving a mower of some kind.  Still, since then, I have been teasing our boy that he needs time on a Husqvarna so that next time, he will be ready.

    I had been wanting to buy one, even before this, the electric works fine, but it is small, and I have to kind of bend a bit to reach the ground, and I have to be mindful of the cord, which is why I like the idea of a gas powered one.  I got my wish on Saturday, when we went and bought one, Wife really wanted to go look at the Halloween decorations, but she was willing to let me get something for participating.  I was still a bit hesitant; the stupid trimmers don't say if they are 2-cycle or 4-cycle.  They sell pre-mixed fuel, which costs so much more than what you can get at the gas station, but that is a choice.  Once I talked to one of the sales guys, he explained that they are indeed 2-cycle engines, which meant I needed that type of fuel.

    We got it home, while Mijo was at the game working and other Mijo was on his way over.  We had planned to grill some meat to watch the game, dad doesn't like to leave the house, so this worked out for me.  Boy got there about 6:30pm, I had the meat going on the grill, and it is starting to get dark sooner, so cutting the grass would have to wait.  The night was good, Boy kept Wife and Grandma entertained with his pictures from Japan, I glanced at them while running the grill and trying to watch the game.

    When I finally got to use my own Husqvarna, I wasn't crazy for it.  First off, my electric one starts as soon as it is plugged in.  This gas one had to be primed, I had to use a choke, then I apparently need to toughen up.  The vibration from the motor about numbed my hand.  The trimmer is carried on my right hand (I am left-handed) and guided by the left hand.  My right hand was numb after working with the machine for about half an hour.  I did like the freedom of not being tethered to an electric wire, but we only did the front, it was later in the day, and it was getting darker.

10/2/22 Working For New Wrestling Uniforms?

    The booster club has stumbled on a great way to make money for the team, volunteering at the UT games, working the food stands, can pay well.  The money so far has been going to the booster club which predominantly worries about the football team, which includes the large group of athletic trainers, which are really a tight knit even more organized and dedicated group than the football players.  Since the first game, when we were supposed to handle one booth, but we showed up strong and by necessity, were split and found ourselves manning two food stands, the athletic trainers have all been showing up and pretty much taking one of the stands, so their group makes half the money, which is still great overall.

    I was told we made $5000 just at the Alabama game, which sounds like a lot of money.  The way it is supposed to work is that the group gets an automatic $100 per body working, be they adults or students.  On top of that, the group also gets to keep 90% of their tips which they make throughout the event.  UT or the stadium provides all the food and ice needed to last throughout the game.

    For some reason, there was a shortage, or something happened, but the wrestling coach sent out emails on short notice that the team needed to show up and if everyone did, we could get enough funds to order new uniforms.  I know Mijo would rather not have bothered, but his Girlie was the first to sign up, so he pretty much had no choice.  He then got three other boys to volunteer with him, he talked to two other friends, but they had to work and a band competition.

    There will be another chance for the wrestling team to make some more money, they will be given another booth at the UT game, but that one will be on Thanksgiving weekend, which I did not want to necessarily be involved with.  I feel that we got away this weekend because my folks were here, but on that weekend, we will end up volunteering to help Mijo out.

    Make no mistake, the money is nice, but the whole day is a pain in the ass.  The game started at 6:30pm, but they had to show up around 2:00pm, we had to have him at school by noon so they would all have time to meet and get their shirts and hats on.  Even though the game ended around 10:00pm, we didn't get him from the UT grounds until almost 11:30pm.  We thought we would just go to the parking lot where the rest of the people parked, but the road itself was closed, they were only allowing cars to leave at that point.  It was all a mess, almost organized, but not really.  We were able to find him bu using our phones and maps, thank goodness phones are so good nowadays.

10/1/22 Homecoming Dance?

     Well, Mijo went, that was great.  It was still a weird night, starting after school, we picked him up at 5:00pm, and he had two friends with him.  He sold me the "We won last, we should go celebrate at Red Robin."  Who am I to say no?  This was the weekend my mom finally came for a visit, so she went along with us, good thing, or she would have missed hanging with Mijo and his buds for a while.  Mom and I had eaten with Boy, who also had been missing for a good while, earlier in the day, so we weren't really hungry.  I just kept thinking the boys were not going to have time to groom and get ready for the dance if we sat and enjoyed this meal too long.

    As soon as we got done eating, we headed home.  His boys were also going to the dance, but since they did not have dates, they were just going in their school clothes, one was in shorts, the other in warm-ups and probably a hoodie.  These are jock boys who always have a little sweat they're working on.  I basically threatened Mijo that I wouldn't take him if he didn't shower and dress up, although he was going to, he did have a girl to court.  He showed up with his boys, I can only guess the girl showed up with her mom, she was chaperoning the dance.  Either way, they met up there, and there was at least one pic of them dancing, which we got a copy of.  His boys, however, did not get so lucky.  Wife had just got into town from work, so she had not eaten.  We dropped them off, and since she was the hungry one, she chose to go to Taco Bell.  We started ordering from a computer screen, and then Mijo called that his boys could not get into the dance.  Turns out they had been absent or tardy to a class during the week, so they were banned from entering.  That kind of sucked, but I don't think they cared that much to go in.  Mijo asked if we could go get them, we did, then we went back to Taco Bell, with both of the extra kids and had dinner, boys can eat and be hungry again two hours later, as if that surprises anyone.

    We then went home, waited for Mijo, went to pick him up, he had his date with him, plus an extra friend, and we headed to Whataburger, but the line was super long.  While they were in line, they talked about other fast-food places they like, and Sonic came up.  We suggested Sonic would be faster, and they agreed.  We went over, got some assorted foods and headed home.  The girl's mom came and picked her up about 30-40 minutes later, just enough time for them to eat and go thru a few photo albums.  We went out and chatted with the mom so she would know that the kids weren't doing anything they weren't supposed to, we were still up with them.