The Nicest Soccer Player Ever

Henry has been playing soccer for about four weeks now.  One practice and three games.  The Yellow Jackets (Henry's team) are 1-1-1.

Henry has managed one shot on goal in three games (he booted one off the side of the goal).

He's the nicest soccer player in AYSO history.

What do I mean by the "nicest" soccer player?  Just what it implies.

He listened carefully to his old man when I told him to avoid bunching into packs on the soccer field.  Apparently, he listened too carefully.  He's waiting for the cherry-pick breakaway.  That's about as aggressive as he gets.

Clever kid. 

Henry's defense is his is offense.  Check it out.



I'm proud of the little guy.  He wanted to play soccer and he's having fun.  I was never much for the sport, but he seems to enjoy it.  Perhaps that's a hat tip to his Uncle Chris who played varsity high school soccer back in the day.

Who knows?

I just miss the orange slices, the muddy mess that was the Vigo County Fairgrounds and the opportunity to get yellow-carded for pummeling those who could not run faster than me -- which is not too many people. 

Ah, soccer.  You sweet little devil, you.

Where Have We Been?

Dear Fans of the Echo Chamber. 

We apologize for the lack of updates.  We are in the midst of a sizable home improvement project and will be back once the dust settles. 

Until then, enjoy one of our favorite clips from one of our favorite movies -- Raising Arizona.

You'll be hearing from us soon...

Another Saturday, Another Tooth for Henry

The kid did it again.  This time at a restaurant.

He has now fully embraced Bobby Clarke.

Henry Channels Bobby Clarke

As predicted, Henry lost his first tooth on Saturday night.  It was an undeniable display of machismo.  He told me it was time to get "it" out.  All he wanted was a warm washcloth and my undying admiration.  After providing both, he proceeded to yank the tooth out in front of a crowded house -- the neighbors, Aunt Judy, Uncle Bill and the girls.

It was the manliest thing a 6 year old has ever done.

Sadly, all I could think about was Bobby Clarke.

Keep checking, eh?

Henry's other front tooth is looking pretty vulnerable right now.  I give it three weeks.  Maybe we should grab some cotton candy and make it rain teeth?

Down with the Bourgeoisie!

We took in the annual Proletariat v. Bourgeoisie Basketball Classic at Twinsburg High School, otherwise known as Twinsburg v. Hudson.  Henry got us tickets through his school which had a special section (directly underneath one of the noisy scoreboards) at the game. 

It was a big day for Henry.

First, he got to meet the Twinsburg cheerleaders and varsity basketball team earlier in the day when they came to his school for a pep rally -- or "pepper" rally, if you asked Henry.  They gave away a brand new basketball signed by all of the members of the varsity basketball team at the rally.  Henry was the lucky recipient of the ball. 

He was pretty stoked about the whole deal.

But wait, it gets better.

That's Jameson  (far left), Henry (middle) and Josh (right) at the basketball game.  A couple of notes about Henry's buds.  We've finally found someone who talks and travels more than Henry.  That honor goes to Jameson.  Mr. Irish Whiskey befriended one of the JV cheerleaders in our section and proceeded to tell her that his friend Henry built a "lair" at his house.

A lair?  Okay, sounds cool.

The chick bought it. 

Not real sure what we do in the "lair" but it was enough for the JV cheerleader to come up from her seat to ask Henry about it.  Red-faced and playing the role of lair-keeper, he didn't elaborate.  I think she thought he was pretty cute. 

I'm beginning to think Henry has it all figured out already.

Jameson later told me that he ended up kissing a few of the cheerleaders.  I had no reason to doubt him.  I saw how hard he was working it.

He also never told me what we supposedly do in the "lair". 

Now for the game action.

I leaned over to Erica during pregame warmups and mentioned that Hudson was going to get beat by 20 points.  There were several reasons for this:

1.  I haven't seen a smaller and weaker group of young lads since the North Central Thunderbirds took the floor against my high school alma mater back in Indiana.  They lost by 50.

2.  No one could hit a jump shot in warmups. 

3.  It's Hudson.  I think President Obama's plan to limit the banks from investing in the derivative markets had them off their game.

4.  Twinsburg had some serious size and a couple of kids who could literally jump out of the gym.

Final score.

That's right.  A 42-27 ass-kicking for the Tigers.

Somewhere, Karl Marx just smiled.

Back to Henry.

Halfway through the fourth quarter of the blowout, Henry took a bite of Caroline's cotton candy and nearly lost his front tooth.

Yes, you heard me correctly.  Henry found a way to nearly lose a tooth in nothing more than spun sugar.  The kid is amazing.

Again, he was pretty excited.  His friends thought it was cool.  He even showed his tooth off to his kindergarten teacher who was in attendance.

Alas, it was a Tiger victory for the H-man and crew.  Here he is after the game with Cyrano de Bergerac (Jameson).

We managed to get out of the gym before the Disco started.  I didn't want Erica getting too nostalgic.