Shiver me Timbers

Star Student

Emilio is the star student of the week in Mrs. Nelson's class at Hayes Elementary.

Dragons v. Trackers: The Rematch (Season 4, Game 5)

We won the first one 11-7, and Emilio scored 10.

The game begins; fifteen seconds later:  through the wickets. It's 1-0.

One minute later: that's some fast running; 2-0.

2-1.

Nice header!

Well-done, Lane!  3-1.

Camera malfunction--but at least I got it.  That's Emi's 3rd.

Determination produces #4.

Emi played goalie for most of the third quarter and allowed one goal.  As soon as the 4th quarter began, he made this incredible corner kick.  Technically, this is an own goal, I guess.

Impressive change of direction.  #5.  Can you hear the Orange coach say  "He schooled you"?  I heard him telling his team at half-time to watch out for that move.  We heard a lot of "Cover #3" in this game.

It's raining.

Taking direction from the documentarian; #6.

#7.  Ref says there's one minute to play.  Final score:  9-4, Dragons. Emi scores 7.  Next week: a double header.

Fall Poses

Dashian Emilio

Tuesday night, Emilio and I went to a Tikka ceremony hosted by ECU's Asian Student Association, where they served a hot chai (milk tea) and cookies. The ceremony marked the end of the Dashain Festival, which is the most important Hindu holiday of the year we were told by the Nepalese students who organized the event. We were also told that the Dashain Festival commemorates the victory of a warrior goddess over a ten-headed demon. Each year Hindu people go home to be with their families for this holiday, and it is common for people to get new clothes, to clean (and sometimes paint) their houses, and to eat lots of meat.  In order to give the god of the Earth a rest, they build swings that reduce the number of feet that are on the Earth at a given time.  They also fly kites that send messages to the rain god:  "Please don't rain on our Festival!" At the Tikka Festival, elders give their blessing to younger ones, putting red rice on their foreheads and barley blades behind their ears while saying a few words (see above), like "May you have a long life, do well in your studies, and respect your parents," and give them some money.

Catty Wampus (Season Four, Game 3.2 . . . or 5)

So it was 6-0 late in the first half of Emi's return encounter with Coach Dwight & Co. when lightning struck. I thought they were just going to play the second half after the next week's game, but they decided to run the whole game over. When I spoke to Emilio on the phone afterwards, he told me "I have a new name: Catty Wampus." Apparently, Coach Dwight had come up with a strategy to stop Emilio that included holding back on defense and having someone cover him the whole time. "Catty Wampus!" or "Cover Catty Wampus!" was code for "cover Emilio."  Apparently, it helped. Why "Catty Wampus," you ask? No idea.

#1 is a sneaker.  Notice the other fields are empty.  Emilio is quite excited about his first in this game.  He even goes for a two-fist salute.  But after quickly resuming his spot, he either regains composure or expresses some fatigue.

One minute later, Emi pounces on the kickoff, but soon loses his shoe and Big Red takes advantage. 1-1.

Four minutes later, Emi takes a kickoff in for his second. Does this mean the score is 2-2?

Nice clear and a strong kick.

I love the way Emi jumps up after hitting the post and soon ends up with another shot on goal.  Good job by Emory in the Blue goal.

Close call.  The Big Red defense is strong.

Tyler scores for the Dragons.

Great shot from way out off the far post which gets in just before Tristan can get to it. That's #3 for Emi.

Two minutes later:  #4.
When I called at halftime, Emi told me the score was 5-2. Apparently, Emilio sat for the third quarter and the score, by the time he came in was 7-6 us.  That seems like a lot of scoring to me, but . . . I wasn't there.

Great pounce. #5 at the other end.

Two minutes later, Emi gets bonked on the head.  He's all smiles, but his mami is concerned . . . and loses track of her documentary duties.  Emi scores, but we don't see it. #6.

Great slalom following a kick-off and a finish with the left:  #7. This one is the highlight of the day in my book.

Amazing intercept score:  #8.  And I love the nod to mom at the end.

This is not a score, but I dig the spin move. Coach Brian encourages Emi to pass the ball; he does . . . and then swoops around behind the pass-ee--just in case he doesn't control it.

The final score, I'm told, was 9-6. Emi scored 8. Considering that it was 6-0 at halftime a couple of weeks ago against the same team, that's quite an endorsement of the Catty Wampus Defense, but in the end, Catty Wampus laughs last. Next week is a Fall Break bye.

Season Four, Game Four

I had to miss this one because I was reading a paper at an academic conference in Lawrence, Kansas.  It hurt!  As soon as I got out of my session, I called the field in time to get a half-time report from the second game of the double-header (the next post).  I am very grateful to Maria for serving as documentarian.  

Emi goes the length of the field, takes his time, and it's 1-0. 

This is the ensuing kickoff.  Nifty.  2-0.

Two minutes later:  I've seen this movie before; the intercepted goal kick becomes the hat trick.

Three minutes later:  #4.  The next clip is 24 minutes later, we've switched ends and perhaps Emi took a break?

Impressive footwork here.  That's #5.

Two minutes later, Emi goes the length of the field for #6.


Tyler scores the last one; nice assist, Emi.  Mari tells me the final score was 7-1; Emi scored six and had one assist.

Lightning 1, Dragons 6 (Season Four: Game Three)

After the bye week, Emilio's team squares off against our coach from last year--Coach Dwight and former teammates Eva and Paik. Coach Dwight's wife Deena told me a couple of weeks ago that he was not looking forward to it.

It's really hard to tell, even in slow-mo, whether this one crosses the line before or after it is touched by the toe of teammate Lane or the opposing defender.  Either way, one minute into the game, it's 1-0 Dragons and Emi either has his first goal or a great assist.

No doubt about this one.  Two minutes after the first goal, it's 2-0 Dragons.

This over-the-head shot is one of Emi's favorites.  3-0.

The patented pick-pocket:  Emi is great at intercepting goal kicks and taking them in for the score. Four minutes in, it's Dragons 4-0.

Sneaky! Dragons 5-0.

At this point, Coach Dwight has assigned #3 (son of ECU's Math Dept. Chair) to cover Emilio full-time. Emi hits one off the post, but he will not be denied . . .
With the score 6-0 in the second quarter, lightning strikes in the area and the game is called. The plan is to play the second half after our next game on Saturday the 12th, but I, alas, will be in Kansas delivering a paper at the Literature/Film Association Conference. I REALLY hate to miss these.