Jacob Tossed

I slept in until about 815am. Officially it was partly cloudy, but at the time, more clouds than sunshine. The temp was warm, though – a balmy 70 degrees. I started coffee then played around online. I quickly bored with playing around on the internet and headed out to the deck. Mindy was up around 915am and joined me downstairs and on the deck. We hung outside for a while. Eiknarf was out there with us too.

Mindy shared that Jimaken came to pick-up Jacob around 7am for his morning soccer game. I didn’t hear him leave. It should be obvious that we didn’t plan to attend his early game, but we did plan to head to the afternoon game. This is the final weekend of the spring soccer season and his league is hosting the weekend’s tournament at our home field – Spindler. Though this is the last weekend of spring soccer, get this. Autumn tryouts are scheduled for Monday and Thursday of the upcoming week. 

While Mindy headed for a shower, I headed off on a run. By then it was well past 10am. I did my usual Saturday run of just 3 miles. Was home near 11am. We didn’t have a whole lot planned other than attending Jacob’s afternoon soccer game, and even then we didn’t yet know the actual time. Just before leaving for my run we learned that his team won the early game 4-1 and that his afternoon game would begin at 330pm.

Mindy asked Bella to check in before noon. She came home while Mindy was in the shower. I spent considerable time shopping online for shower pans no more than 32” wide and preferably even smaller so not to violate the distance code between shower and toilet..

I didn’t really do a whole lot other than shower and play on the internet. We left for Jacob’s soccer game around 3pm. Because it was tournament weekend, the lot was expected to be packed. Surprisingly, there wasn’t nearly as many cars as we expected. We actually got a fairly close spot. I guess most of the games were already completed for the day. Still, there were several games going on at the same time.

Jacob’s team was playing a club from Olentangy. And given that his team beat the number one seed earlier, they were assured a spot in the Sunday championship with another win despite the outcome of their Sunday morning game. The game started well with Jacob’s team scoring the first goal just a minute or so into the match. In fact, they just missed adding a 2nd goal not even a minute later. And unless I’m mistaken, they were leading 1-0 at the half. It should be noted, that even though the temperature was 81 degrees, it was a little chilly when the sun went behind the many clouds thanks in part to the stiff wind blowing out of the SW.

The 2nd half started sluggishly with neither team doing much. However, all that changed about 5-10 minutes in. Over the next 10 minutes the referee called as many as 8 yellow card penalties and eventually 2 red cards on Jacob’s team. At that point the game was tied 1-1. Jacob was ejected from the game after a fight ensued. I only saw the fists flying. I didn’t see the impetus. Mindy, however, did. She said the boys got tangled and as Jacob walked away from a boy taunting him, the kid grabbed and punched him. Jacob’s retaliated with a couple punches which earned him the red card and ejection. By then most of the Hilliard parents were going wild with anger and hollering at the ref as well as some of the Olentangy kids, who weren’t very well mannered. More than one of their players ran by the Hilliard parents basically telling them to shut up. It got ugly fast. Soon all the wee kids on the sideline were screaming at the ref and opposing players. As bad or one sided as the calls seemed to be, I was ashamed of the behavior exhibited by most of the parents.

As angry as Mindy was that Jacob was ejected and the other kid not, she still managed to keep her composure. The rules apparently state that any fighters should be ejected even if they hadn’t prior received a yellow card. Most of the parents felt that the ref was blatantly cheating. Later is was mentioned that the Hilliard team filed a grievance of sorts against this same ref for poor refereeing a month or so prior. The logically conclusion was that he was getting even. It did seem somewhat precarious. I’ve never seen anything like it before – the number of yellow card penalties thrown and two Hilliard players ejected.

It should be noted, that when a player or players are ejected, the team must play the remainder of the game down that or those players. Soon Olentangy took a 2-1 lead. Our team lost its mojo. However, despite being down two players and in all the chaos, they still had numerous chances to score the tying and possibly even the winning goal. But in the end, their efforts fell a little short. A very sad, very ugly game.

Once the kids broke their after game huddle, Jacob shared that Jeremy, his coach, was upset with him as well as his team mates for letting the other team get in their heads. Jacob was furious. The rules say that if you’re removed from a game, you’re required to sit out the very next game, which in this case was the semi-final tournament game Sunday morning, and quite possibly their last game of the season. To play in the championship game, not only did they need to win their Sunday AM game, but they also needed help from another team. That didn’t seem likely. Jacob insisted that he wasn’t going to show up for the Sunday AM game despite all of us (me, Mindy & Jimaken) insisting otherwise.

We headed for home trying to downplay any further discussion until things calmed down. The pan was simple. Shortly after Jacob & Bella were out of the shower all of us were heading to Pies & Pints in Worthington for dinner. While Jacob & Bella took their showers, I watered flowers front and back. We were ready to head north by 530pm. We drove the Accord.

We made good time barreling around 270 toward Worthington. I checked their hours of operation as well as their current draught menu before leaving the house. I was excited to see that they had Bodhi as well as another top notch IPA on tap. Jacob shared that it’s common to have a long wait. We were semi-prepared for the wait, but happy to be seated right away on the patio. Mindy suggested the Memorial tournament still going on as the reason for the smaller crowd. We asked for a table on the patio.

Can’t recall our server’s name, but she went through an entire spiel. Mindy and I both asked for a Bodhi. We quickly learned that despite their webpage indicating as much, they were out. I made a 2nd choice only to learn that they were out of it too. And lastly, when I went with the 3rd alternative, a CBC IPA, we learned that they didn’t have it on tap either. Oh boy! Disappointed, I ordered a Coke.

We placed an order for a plate of wings as a shared appetizer. Jacob insisted that they were incredibly good. They apparently use a dry rub spice and seasoning. We ordered three pies, too – a half & half - Cuban/chicken gouda, a small personal pepperoni for Bella, and a small Cuban for Jacob.
The pies were pretty good, but I’ve never really been a huge fan of designer pizzas. I missed the lack of a tomato based sauce. I enjoyed the food but was disappointed with the lack of a good IPA. I won’t be knocking down walls to get back there much the same thing I said about the Pint Room. As agreed, Mindy picked up the tab.

When we left, Mindy suggested we take the back way through the Worthington subdivision she and Jimaken lived in soon after they were married. Jacob & Bella both lived there, too, but Bella was very young – less than 1year old. Nice old houses. Most well-maintained. That’s Worthington. We took 161 to 315 to 670. I suggested we make a quick stop at Barley’s to get a growler of Hopiate. Mindy was game. Jacob wasn’t. He said he had to poop!  We convinced Bella that it was a good idea by promising dessert.

Not a big crowd at all. Jersey was working the bar. Looked very sleepy. Just my luck, out of Hopiate. They did have Hoptopus and Centennial. I opted for a Centennial. Mindy opted for a Fortune Teller, which is an Imperial Porter. We all sat at the bar. We weren’t at Barley’s too long, but long enough to see Kent, who stopped in after a busy day at work and home. We talked about his smoking a brisket at home on Sunday. Yum! We also were there when Thad & Monica stopped in. Mindy chatted teacher talk with Thad. We left for home around 830pm.

At home, Jacob rushed to the bathroom.  Mindy & I headed out on the deck but just for a brief stint. Mindy shared how tired she was. Despite it being a Saturday night, we all were in bed by 10pm. Don’t tell anyone. 