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Father’s Day

As with friends, each person has a different relationship with their parents.  My mother is the best friend that I need to talk to every day, two or three times a day and my father is the best friend I talk to every once in a while, but always picking up right where we left off.

He’s not a big phone person, but when we do talk there’s always a lot to say.  We always have awesome stories to share and both have a really good sense of humor.  He thinks I should be a stand-up comedian because I’m so funny.  I don’t know if I’d go that far… I’d probably just be a sit-down one.

He’s a shy, modest guy who rarely yearns for the spotlight.  A huge parrot-head, though, he also knows how to have a good time.  He is the man to go to for your summer BBQ party or concert tailgate.

We are pretty similar in a lot of ways.  But we share one special bond that always makes me feel close to him. 

Number Eight

Since my first soccer team more than 20 years ago, I have been the number eight…maybe not always on my jersey, but always in my heart. 

In high school, I wore the number ten and every game I would wear a t-shirt under my jersey with the number eight on it.  In college, I wore the number 16 my first two years and had a gold chain with the number eight on it.  Two years ago when I played in Finland and Brazil I wore number ten and 35, but had a number eight tattooed on my wrist. 

I wasn’t the first Weimer to wear eight though. 

I think this new generation of female athletes puts an interesting spin on father-daughter relationships.  I wanted to wear my father’s hockey number and represent it like he did, with our last name over it.

He played high school hockey for Notre Dame of Fairfield in the 1970s.  He was, contrary to his personality, a hard-hitting, penalty box-living type of player.  He was the defender that said ‘you or the puck might be getting past me, but not both.’ If you ever met my father, this would certainly surprise you.

This style of play wasn’t something extraordinary of the time.  I’m sure you all remember the Philadelphia Flyers from the 1970s.  Also known as the Broad Street Bullies.   

Well, guess who wore the number eight for that team.

Yes, The Hammer, Dave Schultz. 

Schultz was my father’s all-time favorite player and someone he emulated in his playing style.  Although I never actually saw my father play, I have seen documentaries on Schultz and the Broad Street Bullies, and definitely have a good idea of what he was like. 

That’s where the number eight came from and how it became a big part of the Weimer family.  My sister and brother were both eight when they played soccer and I highly doubt it will stop there. 

Although I’m not a boy and I didn’t play hockey, I still feel like I can continue his legacy in my own way.  We may not have the same playing style, but I like to think I adapted his competitive edge.

Regardless of playing style or personality, I know my father and I can agree on one thing… you can’t spell gr8 without eight. 

 World Cup 2010: South Africa

I haven't been able to see all the games because we kind of have our own practices and games, but I wanted to give my two bits on what I have seen.  I would love to hear your thoughts on my thoughts… so drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter if you’d like to argue… or agree.

Game Times

So far I have only watched a few of the 7:30am games.  Since I leave for practice at 8:45am, I can only watch the first half.  Plus, it’s really easy to hit snooze at 730am when you have to wake up at 8am. 

We miss most of the 10am games because we train at 10am.  That time slot just so happens to be when some of the best teams play too. 

And the 2pm slot is usually the one I can make. 

The Winner(s)

Slovakia: the team I picked out of a hat to win the World Cup.

Spain: the team I would like to see win.

Italy and Germany: I can cheer for them because of my nationality.

USA: would just be awesome.

The Awards

Keeping in mind that I haven’t seen all the games… here are some of the best and worst of the first games so far:

Best team performance: Germany

Mystery Injury: Gianluigi Buffon

Best individual performance: I am a new fan of Daniele De Rossi

Best goal: Maicon – whether he meant it or not, it was a thing of beauty.

Biggest mistake: Robert Green, English GK… you win my friend.

Best uniform: Spain

Worst uniform: Slovenia

Best cleat: adidas F50 adiZero

Best GK kit: The Mexican GK, Oscar Perez, in all white.

And the Emmy goes to: Cristiano Ronaldo – “a puff of wind could blow him over”

 Our Game Magazine

Raise your hand if you didn’t think I would blog anymore because of the magazine. 

Well you were wrong… and for that you have to keep your hand raised for the duration of this read.

The magazine has taken over a good portion of my down time.  What does that mean? Well, it means my life has changed a bit.

I have rid of some of my favorite activities such as: after-practice-naps, after-lunch-naps, before-dinner-naps and finally the rare and usually regretful, after-dinner-naps.

As you can imagine, life is stressful.

The magazine has been a lot of work, but also tons of fun.  I never thought I could be on my computer more until I became an editor.

Soccer

Like honestly, who ties this much? I don’t think I’ve tied this many games my whole life. 

I know I said it before, but this time I mean it.  We’ll get out of this slump.  Pretty soon people will be calling us the Boston Tie Breakers.

Yeah, I thought it was pretty clever too, thanks.

Anyway, we tied Sky Blue FC last weekend 0-0.  It’s frustrating when we do so many things right and don’t get the result.  If you watched the game or saw the highlights you also saw that we could have easily won that game.

It’s okay though. We play them again next week.

Breaking the Ice

Should we do a talk show? I need your opinions.

Lastly, whose hand is still raised?

It has been ten days since my last blog.  I apologize for those of you who are restless in between blogs; I can only imagine the anxiety that mounts during that time.

Regardless, here I am. 

So, I always listen to music when I write my blogs.  I kind of feel an escape when my headphones are on.  It’s like nothing else is going on around me.  People are talking and I can’t hear what they’re saying.  Nothing matters except the blank Word document in front of me, and the music in my head.

A lot of times I think to myself, what do people want to read about?  I have so many things I could write, but not all of it is interesting, or is it? Who knows… one man’s trash is another’s treasure, right?

Well, anyway, here is some of my “trash” for the week.

Game vs. FC Gold Pride

It is always interesting playing your former team.  This was the first time I’ve ever had to do so.  I had two main thoughts throughout the game: we are going to win this game and to avoid Carrie Dew.  I wanted to avoid her for two reasons: she tackles like a guy and I think we would start laughing if we made eye contact.

I think we avoided each other for the most part.  I tried to win a header over her, but wasn’t too successful. One time (and one time only) she stole the ball from me.  I have to admit that my first reaction was- are you serious… like she is my friend and she stole the ball from me.  But then I remembered that was kind of her job.

Overall, I thought we possessed the ball well and had our chances.  We should have taken three points from that match. 

Regardless, FC Gold Marta (Pride) came out on top.  Luckily we play each team three or four times this year, so… until next time.

My First Start

Walking out with my teammates for our introductions seems like eternity before the game, especially when you’re starting.  All I want to hear is that whistle to kick the game off.

In our pre-game we have little kids run out with us onto the field.  Last year, with the Pride, there were several times when I had giant kids standing in front of me during the intros.  I couldn’t even see over them.  I was pumped this game when the kids didn’t stand in front of us.  I was like “hey, this is going to be a good day.” 

Then we were going to get our team picture. Yes, finally a starting eleven photo!  I mean, I liked the idea of the Puma Unity Kit, but I just really wanted a team photo with our uniforms!  (I think you can tell in the photo.)  I look much better in blue than brown too.

Bye Week

Who ever came up with the idea of having a bye week so the coaches could just run us into the ground knowing we don’t have to taper for anything on the weekend… thank you!

Mother’s Day

More important than any other Hallmark holiday is the day we celebrate our mothers.  Why? Because without them we don’t exist, simple as that.

And that is only the beginning.

I will go ahead and say what every person says about his or her mother…I have the best mom in the world.  Aside from bringing me into this world, she has gone down the street of life and opened every door to every possible avenue for me to explore.  Since I can remember her presence in my life, I can remember thinking that anything is possible.

She has been my best friend since I was old enough to realize how amazing she is, which didn’t take too long… and she will be forever. 

Sorry to be so corny in my blog, but my mom is the one person who can get me all choked up. 

Mom, I love you. You’re the best. I wouldn’t be who I am and where I am without you. Thank you for everything.

For the Record

We don’t enjoy tying.  We are just good at it right now, but that will change.

To be continued…

iBelieve

The Breakers work with a company called iBelieve.  

This is what their Twitter bio is “A social enterprise whose focus lies at the intersection of beliefs-insight-inspiration, and is informed by psychology, neuroscience and personal development.” 

They help us with our team building and creating a culture within our team.

So we did an exercise where Fabiana had to jump as high as she could to slap a piece of tape on the wall.  Our job was to encourage her to jump her highest.  She ended up jumping three times and the third jump was indeed higher than the first two.

One of the guys then put a twenty dollar bill up higher than her first three jumps.  Fabiana jumped high enough to reach the bill. (Yes, she got to keep it)

But it just went to show us all that we can always reach higher than we think, and always higher than our first attempt.  Just a reminder to never settle.

Yankees

Tonight I’m taking my first trip to Fenway to see the Yanks play the Sox.  I’ll let my photo say the rest.

(I am leaving the broom at home don't worry... not worth the risk)