A few bits of news:
We went to the Ann Arbor Pioneer/Saline Hornets football game last night. We had never been to a game before, so we were not sure what to expect. We were happy to discover that several fourth-graders that M knows were at the game, so he and K sat with them, while we sat 4 rows up behind them. They watched the game and talked and cheered for the Pioneers, and they had a great time. We saw several kids we knew and their parents.
We all got in free because J is an employee of the Ann Arbor schools. That's a nice perk - it would have cost us $20 otherwise. We found that we didn't even have to wait in line for tickets - we could just walk in the front gate. We resisted the urge to taunt the poor saps who had to stand in line. (not really)
Pioneer won the game handily, 36-14, which came as a surprise to me, because Saline has had a very good football team for years, and their quarterback is very highly regarded. Pioneer's defense didn't give this quarterback a chance to prove himself as they regularly moved the offensive linemen out of the way and smushed him.
I wore my Jackson High "J" hat but I don't think anyone recognized it as such. It was my little secret. Jackson High has played Pioneer in basketball a few times in recent years.
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Today were M and K's first soccer games. Fortunately, most of their games are on this side of Ann Arbor, so we don't have to drive a gazillion miles to each game like we did last spring.
They don't keep official scores of the games because they feel it detracts from the sportsmanship of the games (I don't necessarily agree but it's not a big deal either way.) The kids always know the scores, though - they do keep track, and it does matter to them. Maybe the organizers need to listen to the kids about whether to keep score.
The team M played was quite pushy, and even though soccer is played with your feet, they did a lot of pushing and elbowing. We were grumbling about it a little, and wondering why the referee wasn't calling any penalties. M was going for the ball and a boy from the other team who I will kindly refer to as "chunky" stuck his arm out and pushed M to the ground. The referee did call a penalty on that, and M wasn't hurt.
K's first game was very similar to his games from the spring - the team is almost exactly the same as in the spring, with a few new additions. I recognized some of the kids on the other team from last year, so I guess that shows how many games I've been to. I usually offer to help with the out-of-bounds flag; the referee usually asks parents to indicate when the ball goes out of bounds on the sidelines, and which team is to get the ball.
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Michigan State lost to Central Michigan in football today - that's unfortunate! I have higher expectations of MSU than that.
U of M beat Notre Dame today, which is a big deal because they (U of M) were lousy last year and they have a freshman quarterback who is very talented. I guess this means bad news for the UM/MSU game this year. Maybe I'll pick that weekend to go to the zoo or something.
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The kids are settling in at school. They are having fun and both have had some homework. They like their teachers, and so far, so do we.
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Have a good weekend!
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