Monday, May 17, 2010

Playoff Bound + Sitting on the Children

Tomorrow the lacrosse playoff season begins! Exciting stuff in the world of umpiring! I just got "the call", and I will be officiating a night game, so my playoff game will be extra exciting since it will likely be crowded (i.e., L-O-U-D) since the parents can attend the game after work. Unfortunately, there are always a few obnoxious fans, but for the most part, people are paying attention to the game and not to me. At least I hope so....

Depending on the wind and the seating arrangements at the fields, sometimes I can hear what the fans during are cheering during games. My personal favorites are the fans who don't have a clue and use terminology from other sports. "Let's win the face-off ladies." (There are no face-offs in girls lacrosse -- that's from ice hockey). But, my very, very favorites are the cheers containing hunting and/or fishing references. "Run her down!" "Fire away!" "Reel her in!"  "Shoot, shoot, shoot!"

It's funny....I looked at the playoff seedings in the paper this morning. There are 16 games in Round 1 Playoffs, and I would have gladly accepted 15 of the 16 games. The only game I didn't really want to take was the game that would feature the coach that I carded earlier this season. Wouldn't you know it, this is the game I was assigned??!!  Shoot. I spoke with the other officials on the game, and they seem to think that the coach will on his best behavior since it is playoffs and I've "set a good tone".  Fingers crossed!

In other news, we now have two baby cardinals in the nest in our front yard. I first noticed the babies on Mother's Day last weekend, and I have been watching the mother cardinals fly out on endless trips to feed her babies. Caroline has been watching the mother too and is fascinated. I wish she could be fascinated a little more quietly, though. The mother bird gets quite upset with loud noises or any time someone is in the general vicinity of the nest, which is problematic since the front door is so close to the nest. The baby birds make quite a racket when the mom comes back ready to feed them. The high-pitched baby cries are loud enough to hear inside the house.

When the mother cardinal is tired, she just sits back down in the nest, which doesn't seem quite large enough for both the mom and the children. It almost seems like she's sitting on the babies.  However, I've decided to take a cue from Mother Nature. When I'm tired and had enough of the children, I'm going to sit on them. (As it turns out, I'm not the first person to come up with this solution. Scott mentioned his grandma used to threaten to "sit on him" if he didn't behave. And, Scott turned out ok, right?)

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