Football play-in
Sunday, November 7

Jacob's football team is young and didn't win enough games to be auntomatically given a playoff spot. So on Sunday we had to have a "play-in" with 2 other teams (Milford and Bethel) to see who would be given the last playoff spot. The coach asked that eveyone be there at 12 noon and we busted butt to make it there (switching around our whole Sunday schedule to be on time). I was a bit miffed when we got there at noon and only 2 other kids (out of 17) were there. Eventually the rest of the team trickled in. The play-in was set up as a two and out event. It was an alternate possession format, with each team getting the ball on the 25 yard line. The two teams that lost 2 games would be eliminated.

Our first game was against Milford. They had the ball first and didn't score. On our possession our "star" player ran it in for a touchdown. I was honestly surprised that he was even playing in the game becasue in Saturday's game he had hurt his foot (my thought was he had broken it since it had brusied pretty bad but didn't swell at all). We won the first game. Next Milford played Bethel and Milford won, so we had to face Bethel (if they lost they would be out of it). They managed to score so we had to get the ball in. Our "star" went to carry the ball and was tackled at the 1 yard line. The scream he let out echoed through the stands. He just kept SCREAMING and SCREAMING. His jerk of a dad (better known as our head coach) actually tired to get him up and WALKING on it with him SCREAMING. At one point when he was checking him out, he pushed the kid into the ground...the fans in the stands were furious......all of a sudden the paramedics showed up...apparently someone with a cell phone called 911. Despite coach and his wife saying they wanted to take him home, they insisted that the child be taken to the hospital via ambulance.

I HATE parents who feel the need to live vicariously through their children!

Our boys lost the game that they were playing when the "star" got hurt. They lost the next game too. They were all upset because they team mate was hurt, but probably lost because the coach NEVER bothered to develp any player but his son. Have you ever seen the Hey Arnold!
episode when Arnold is playing on the basketball team and the whole strategy is "Get the ball to Tucker!"....well our whole season was "Get the ball to "Star child". I am sad Jake won't get to play in the playoffs like his big brother, but I am so GLAD that that jerk of a coach will never coach my son again!

BTW, we don't know what happened at the hospital. A friend reported "star child" was walking around school Wednesday on crutches with a cast on!