Saturday morning was Kassie's last soccer game for the outdoor season and we were once again in the presence of "Cody's" screaming banshees, er, family.
I won't bore you with repetitive type but suffice to say it as "Cody! Cody! Cody!" ALL over again. "Mercedes" parents were mercifully silent. Perhaps they read my blog?
Anywho, Cody's gallery, perhaps realizing we had all become numb to their constant stream of screaming decided to trick it up a bit by adding helpful commentary to the game. This, I supposed, in case Cody had somehow plumb FORGOT how to play soccer since taking to the field and would be forced to rely on the screaming from his grandfather (?), Uncle (?), Own personal demon (?) to keep him on track .
What Gramps decided to scream was "she's pushing! Don't let HER push you! She's pushing you Cody. Don't let her push you! Hey that GIRL is pushing you! That girl's pushing!" "She" you may have guessed, was Kassie. She was not pushing him, she was jockeying for the ball and, since she kept taking it off Cody, Cody's people were understandably less than impressed.
Poor Cody having to be jostled in play by a GIRL. Oh the horror.
Now, not five minute later, Cody, in legal play, inadvertently plowed in to another girl on our team, Lucy. Lucy is about as tall as my thumb and weighs only slightly less than, say, a puff of air. So when Cody plowed in to her (accidently) she went down like a sack of bricks. At this point Cody's people shouted "Yeah! Get her Cody! Take her down!"
To which I could only turn and say, incredulous, "is that the same gentleman that was incensed because my daughter was jostling HIM?"
To their credit three OTHER fans from that team, turned to me, rolled their eyes and one spoke "he's like this at EVERY game. He's SUCH a chauvinist!" They also added "please don't judge all of us by him."
I promised not to.
And yet, after the game, Mr. Yelled-himself-Hoarse (but sadly not quite enough) approached Mike, as coach. He explained that he knows he gets really loud but he's just so EXCITED and that this was the best game he'd seen all season and he had a really nice time at our field and he just likes the boy to know he's there, show his support and all.
And suddenly, he's human. Sure, he's still quite possibly the loudest human I've personally met - but human nonetheless. And I thought that in a world where we hear how kids are falling through the cracks and don't get enough support at home, and extended family aren't there for each other - is a grandfather who screams himself hoarse at every single game not because he has to but because he's proud, and he wants to. I decided there are probably worse things than being "Cody" and having your name shouted far and wide by people who care about you - even if this does make the soccer moms deaf.
So, go Cody! And all the other kids who went out in the stifling heat and later freezing rain and took to the field whether they love the game or joined a team and by golly they weren't going to quit before the season ended.
I cheer for each and every one of you. I just cheer QUIETLY because I don't have the lung capacity to compete with Super Fan.
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