Irony and the Art of Losing

All good things must come to an end.

But did they really have to end so absurdly nasty??

We didn't just lose. We lost badly. After run-ruling teams all season long, we find ourselves down 10-2 in the first three innings.

I had some little chats with God about how irony was NOT appreciated at that moment.

I mean, come on. It was our last regular season game, and a conference game at that. I felt sick to my stomach all day and couldn’t eat a thing. I wanted this win so, so badly. But if I felt that nervous about the game, I couldn’t help but wonder how the team felt. That’s a lot of pressure to have a perfect season.

I don’t know if it was the pressure that got to us or if the team we played was just a better opponent. (One thing I do know is that the boys we played must be either corn-fed or they have HGH in the water. Those were some big ol’ boys!)

Our defense was awful and we couldn’t hit for anything. We finally got two runs in off a home run in the third but didn’t score again until the last two innings. I think I paced a path out behind the bleachers along with some other parents. We just couldn’t sit and watch the desecration.

Final score was 10-5 (which is way better than the 10-2 we had for most of the game) and my heart broke for the last kid up to bat. Our poor guy had the ultimate stress situation – bases loaded, end of the game, two outs. You can guess what happened.

I would have peed my pants.

Now we just have three Frisco League Tourney games (Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday) left. I hope we win the tourney, but I think Tuesday’s loss was the heartbreaker of the season. Matt actually isn’t too upset. He was just proud of the boys for doing as well as they did this whole fall – our record improved from last fall. It’s a good group of kids.

In the midst of this week’s game, Jr. High basketball started. Which, yes, Matt also coaches - he's in charge of the 8th graders (which I personally think should add up to extra crowns in heaven). Thank goodness for other coaches who are willing to step in, or else Matt would have before-school basketball during after-school baseball. After this tourney he’ll be up at 6am for 6:30 practices until December.

Crazy. That husband of mine is c-r-a-z-y.

Our first basketball game is October 30, and we have 2-3 games a week until December - not including tournament weeks.

Just another reason why I wish Thanksgiving and Christmas were in January or February, our only two months out of the year we don't have anything going on.

Actually, that's not true. Matt gets restless and bored in the off-season, so he volunteers to run the clock at varsity basketball games or help the varsity coach with practices.

Did I mention the word "crazy??"