This has been a pretty rewarding sports year for me so far.
Despite the Ravens' woes throughout this season, even with losing so many key players on both sides of the ball, six of the Ravens' seven losses have been by less than a touchdown. It stinks that they've lost "Joe Cool" for the rest of the year, but hopefully his time away will give him the fire in the belly to prove his detractors wrong and bring a couple of them back to his side when they see how much they'll miss him.
My hands-down favorite sports team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, went into the last week of the season with a shot at the final four to compete for the BCS National Championship. Their only loss preventing them from having it locked down already is a two-point loss in Death Valley in the driving rain against Clemson, currently ranked No. 1 in the country.
That is, if you don't count the loss of 6-7 starters that have depleted both sides of the ball including our starting quarterback, two running backs, nose tackle, tight end and now a sure first-rounder in our shutdown cornerback, as losses.
After our second paid coach left my son's club team earlier this year, I joined the new coaching staff and realized how much fun coaching club soccer can be again. We have similar styles yet different enough to challenge each other, egos are checked at the door, and we're pushing our boys hard to get to the level where they should be playing. We've played in two tournaments and so far are 3-1-1 and playing very well as we move indoors for the futsal season and a shot at another state cup title.
Our high school season fell just short of our goals, but we played beyond our expectations and certainly the expectations of the teams we faced in the playoffs. We had our second consecutive 10-win season, beat the No. 1 seed in our section in overtime, played two state champion teams to a one-goal victory and a one-goal defeat, and caught the attention of several college coaches to show that Carroll County has some pretty good soccer.
Speaking of that, the county held our inaugural senior all-star boys' soccer game at Liberty High School last week, and it was a real success for our first run at it. Thirty-two high school senior players got one more shot at playing a game in their high school career, and the game ended in a 4-4 draw after regulation and one mini-overtime before the small schools of the Cowan Division ultimately won the game in a penalty kick shootout.
I told my boys during our playoff run that the most depressing day of my life each year is the day after the soccer season is over. For those of you that haven't been afflicted with the disease of the beautiful game, you probably won't understand — but for those that do, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I'm sure there's a similar feeling after football, lacrosse, baseball and basketball seasons, but the one that pains me the most is the end of soccer.
Unfortunately, as it has for the 46 years I've been involved in the game, it once again came to an end.
So what's next?
It's bittersweet to pass the seniors onto the next stages of their lives on and off the field, but the thought of what awaits us next August through the fall season is what drives me to get better at what I do for a living, at least the coaching part. But what about the boys and girls left behind that still have time left in their high school careers? What should they be doing now that their seasons are over?
The natural thing may be to go back to pre-season fitness and get your thumbs back in shape to play Xbox One or Playstation 4.
If that seems like you, know that somewhere someone is working hard on their own because they want your spot in the starting lineup or on the roster. Your competition set their controllers down and went for that two-mile run, or took their ball to the park and juggled 1,000 times to improve their touch on the ball.
Secretary of State Colin Powell once said, "'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms."
Make sure when it's time for the tryouts for your next season, you haven't let that opportunity pass you by as you sit on the couch shooting zombies.
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