Wrinkled Thoughts

There isn't anything WORSE in the world than playing a soccer game against a team with 12 men… the 12th being the referee. 

Without going into details, I was the recipient of one of the worst calls I have ever seen in my 30+ years of playing and coaching soccer (and even reffing myself). So, today, I got a little chuckle when my TEN YEAR-OLD SON Avery collected his first yellow card in a tournament game today.

I have a theory… I think most bad refs come from people who never played the game - or sucked so bad they gave up and started reffing. Most of them get roped into it because the league needed "volunteers" from the parents of the kids. Don't get me wrong, we need those parents to step up… However… There is a double standard going on. Let me explain.

In EVERY coaches clinic/class I have ever participated in, the instructor ALWAYS tells us coaches to go and get certified to be a referee because "you will get a whole different understanding of the game and will better understand the reasons referees make the calls they do". This may be so… and I recommend every coach becoming a ref. BUT! I have yet to sit through a ref class that suggested to GO OUT AND PLAY THE GAME. How is a ref supposed to know what it is like to be a player - and what is going through a player's mind - if they have never actually played the game in any capacity?

So here's what happens… You either get a really GOOD ref (one who has played/coached/reffed) or a really BAD ref. There isn't much in between. Good or Bad, black or white. The funniest thing about the bad refs is that they KNOW THE RULES of the game and can usually quote them to you… they know them better than anyone. The PROBLEM is their lack of GAME EXPERIENCE as a PLAYER.

Case in point: Avery collected a yellow card today because he was attacking the opponent's goal by dribbling full speed near the top of the goal area… the defender came to intercept him. When he did so, he got between the ball and Avery and turned his back to Avery so the ball was "shielded" from Avery. It was a good defensive move. Well, Avery was at full speed when the maneuver happened and in his attempt to get the ball back, ran into the defender knocking him to the ground. Was it a foul? YES. Was it worth a yellow card? HELL NO! Avery didn't deliberately push the kid down. There was no maliciousness to the foul… it WASN'T EVEN ON PURPOSE. A referee who had spent anytime on the field as a player would have realized this and given Avery a verbal warning to be a little more careful.

Heck, if he would have thought about it for TWO SECONDS he would have remembers these kids are only 9 and  10 years old… not 16 and 17. 

Moral of the story and the reason I'm ranting about it. Tournaments are run by a point system. You get 6 points for a win and up to three more points for every goal you score. You get another point for a shut out. If you win 3-0 you get 10 points. Point standings determine the seeds for the semifinal games and final games. The problem is, you also get a point taken AWAY for every yellow card. So yes, we lost a point because of a clown ref.

Nuff said. 

Yup… I'm going to be another proud papa sometime in the middle of July. Sage and I are adopting a little girl! Since we seem to only produce boys and started producing them as pairs at the end, we decided a long time ago that the only way we were going to get our little girl was if we adopted her.

We can't believe it… it is the most surreal experience we have ever had… and it hasn't even happened yet! We always thought open adoption would be scary and a pain in the butt. However, this experience is proving otherwise. We have met the birth mom and she loves us - and we love her. Everything is moving a long so smoothly we know without a doubt our Heavenly Father is making it all possible. She was meant to be with our family… and is the entire reason we moved to Utah.

So what are we going to name her? That is the most asked question we get… mostly because all of our boy's names start with a vowel… and are in alphabetical order. Avery, Ethan, Isaac and Owen. So the obvious thing to do would be to have a U name. We tried that already. Our dog Ubu didn't last… so should we try again with U? We thought not, but the birth mother (Devonne) changed our mind. … kind of.

We picked the name Maya. Devonne was trying to devise a name created from the first letters of our boy's names… that didn't work out so well, but when she found out they were all vowels, she insisted we came up with a U name (at least for the middle name) for our daughter… Drum roll please… Maya Unique Service. It fits. She'll be unique for sure. Here are her first "photos" -  a 3D ultrasound taken today.

In the interest of Internet Harmony and the shameless marketing of the websites I have designed over the years, I have created this page as a launch pad for search engine spiders.

 … Oh, and it is a gallery of sorts if you want to see what I'm up to now and then.

- www.scoreguardian.com - The "BIG" site that will eventually make money is ScoreGuardian.com. It is a fantastic CRM tool I wrote for Loan Officers to track and maintain a client base.

- www.heartfeltadopt.com - The Utah Adoption Agency that will help us find our baby girl. Look for my picture.

- www.prosecurityproducts.com - Another client in Utah! These guys are a locksmith and security specialist shop rolled into one.

- www.cutathome.com - In the scrapbooking capital of the world (Utah), how can you go wrong? This is huge online scrapbooking supply store that developed. 

- www.hannaganmeadow.com - My mom and dad's home in the White Mountains of Eastern Arizona. An old hunter's lodge with rooms to rent as well as cabins. 22 miles away from everything else on the planet. Look for my picture on this site too.

- www.sixrealbrothers.com - The most talented group of SIX brothers you will ever have the pleasure of watching perform. They are currently performing in Branson Missouri.

- www.bajabushpilots.com - If you ever need to skip town and go south of the border to Mexico, these are the guys who can get you there and back safely. The green interface is less than desirable, but that's what they wanted. Besides, it's the GUTS of the site that really count. 

Here's a few sites I threw together for my good friend Cam Stewart, who always buys me a Chile Relleno from Mi Amigo's when I am down in Phoenix. He owns Tower Printing and Tactix Design in Mesa Arizona. All of these sites were graphically designed by Cam's team, but I put the code together to make them web pages.

- www.foresightaz.com - For all your home automation, entertainment and security needs. 

- www.montevistaresort.com - Old folks retirement resort in Mesa Arizona

- www.betteratm.com - Makes your ATM machine "better". I did the awesome butterfly animation… sweeeet.

- www.taxque.com - For all your tax needs.

I have developed quite a few more sites over the years, but these are the only sites that deserve any mention at this time. Come back often to see if I've added anything to the list. 

So my wife was talking with Grandpa Service a few weeks ago and he mentioned how much he misses playing golf. Well, today - after a 4 year absence from the links - Grandpa played 9 full holes…

… and he still has it! We played at Grandpa's "Home Course" (Nibley) and he rocked. I've never seen a man hit a 3 wood so consistently! He is the master at 100 yards - straight down the fairway. He even beat me on two holes! - That is mostly because I can't putt to save my butt, but he still beat the other couple we played with. They were amazed that a 98 year old man was able to golf like that.

Grandpa was a little worried as we stepped on the course saying, "I hope I can still hit the ball… I feel like I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a handful of wheat!".

Well, I think he even surprised himself… but he REALLY enjoyed himself, so we are planning on playing once a week through the summer. This is GREAT! I finally have a golf partner and I won't go broke playing because at Nibley it is only $16.50 for the TWO of us with a cart for 9! Love it!

I took some pictures with my phone… I'll try take the real camera next time.

So I like to play soccer. Okay, I LIKED to play soccer. Now I'm the coach. This year, I coached 3 teams (Avery, Ethan and Isaac and Owen). At the moment, I am coaching a "competition" AYSO Summer Select team that gets to play in tournaments all over the state. I've enjoyed it so much, that I'm even thinking about getting my fat butt back in shape this summer so I can play Adult League soccer next fall… we'll see how that goes. Playing Adult League is what ended my career when my knees couldn't take the pounding I was giving them by adding an extra 50 lbs to my frame. I ended up blowing my right ACL and that was that.

Avery's Under 10 boys team went undefeated this year… it was great. I had a bunch of kids who really knew how to play. Avery was the best goalie in the league and can drop-kick the ball farther than anyone else his age. He's also faster than I thought. It's funny, because he doesn't have a real powerful pass/shot yet. I keep telling him it's because he needs to concentrate on the ball and make sure he strikes it correctly. Hopefully, it will come. His speed and ball skills make him a great mid-fielder though. I've plopped in a few videos on this page for your enjoyment.

[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/avery-shoot-post.wmv,320,265[/ACT]

The dribbler and post magnet

[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/avery-save.wmv,320,265[/ACT]

Ethan is fast and fiesty. And I can't believe the difference 2 years can make between age divisions. 8 year olds are just plain brain dead. They have an attention span of about 30 seconds and would rather pick daisies and dink around than actually play soccer. The 10 year olds are on it… the 8 year olds are not. Except for Ethan. For a kid who has made a living out of being a space cadet, he was the only one on his team who paid attention enough to play like he meant it. He routinely scored 3 or 4 goals per game and was usually the ONLY kid on his team scoring goals. He's built a lot like me when I was that age. I'm anxious to see how he does in the older divisions.

[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/ethan-shoot.wmv,320,265[/ACT]
Notice the use of the left foot? Nice…

Isaac and Owen… they played. They had fun… but I can't really call Under 5 soccer REAL soccer. They did show promise though. They aren't afraid to get in a mix it up and the usually knew which way to actually kick the ball, which is a MAJOR achievement for kids their age.

[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/owen-scores.wmv,320,265[/ACT]

Avery's camera skills aren't much… Look for #13 and#14 (I and O)

[ACT]http://www.vonwrinkle.com/blog/movies/owen-miss.wmv,320,265[/ACT]

Okay, so I'm playing a little catch up on the blog…

On Memorial Day, Sage, Ethan, and the twins and I all went to Timpanogos Cave up American Fork Canyon. Avery was off in Idaho with some friends, so he didn't get to go, but I don't think he cared. We all had fun… including Sage who was only about 2 weeks post-op from having her uterus removed. Crazy woman… The hike up to the mouth of the cave climbs about 1100 feet and is a mile and a half long. Then, you go through the cave (bending down, squeezing through holes) which is a quarter of a mile long, and then you have to hike back down the mile and half. I think the hike down is worse than up. Here's some shots of the event.