A Very Weekend Warrior Thanksgiving

By: Sean | November 25th, 2008

For those of us in the United States, this Thursday is Thanksgiving…a time to gather with friends and family and acknowledge the good fortunes and blessings in our lives. The principal expression of this holiday is, of course, a traditional dinner involving turkey, associated side dishes, and multiple desserts. This meal has its historical origins in the celebrated feast between Native Americans and the newly arrived English settlers, circa 1621. (Little known historical fact: William Bradford, a famed leader of the Plymouth Colony–widely regarded as the site of the “first Thanksgiving”–was actually a decent holding midfielder, although he did lament in Of Plymouth Plantation that “oh, how I do wisheth to be a Striker”.) It is often customary to say a blessing or go around the feast table and recognize those things in our lives for which we are thankful, so here are a few little things this Weekend Warrior is grateful for…

I’m grateful for the children who retrieve the match ball when it gets kicked into the playground adjacent to our home pitch…especially when I am totally out of breath and my squad is down a goal late in the match.

I’m grateful that for the first time since April of 2006, I finally have all ten of my toe nails back.

I’m grateful for my buddy Dan, who willingly stepped in and assumed the goalkeeper’s role on my outdoor team after my other keeper just stopped showing up. Dan really wants to play in the field, but he puts that aside to help the squad.

I’m grateful for the card one of the gals on the U9 squad I coached in the fall gave me at the end of season pizza party. “Coach Shawn” really loved it.

I’m grateful every time I ask my daughter if she wants to play soccer for another season and she enthusiastically answers, “Yes! Of course!” I know in that moment that she loves the game and that she isn’t just doing it to humor her father.

I’m grateful for when the eleventh player shows up at the pitch. I’m glad to see players twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, too, but the eleventh player means I’m not playing short and sometimes that is half the match right there.

I’m grateful for the silly little “samba” goal celebration Virtual Sean does in Xbox 360 FIFA 09. Watching a reasonably close video facsimile of me in full Manchester United red, dancing in front of the Stretford End while Rooney, Vidic, and Berbatov cheer me on is kind of cool…’cause that is about as close as I’m ever going to come to scoring at Old Trafford in this lifetime (or likely any other).

I’m grateful for Gatorade…without which I would have nothing to drink.

I’m grateful for Mike, the steward/server my daughter and I usually have at PGE Park for every Portland Timbers home match and the fact he knows my daughter always gets a PGE Dog and I always finish my meal with one of those cookie/ice cream desserts.

I’m grateful for the fact that I am thirty-eight years old and I still play a contact sport. Suck that, softballers!

I’m grateful for a certain seventeen Rangers who pay their team fees on time, let me know when they can’t make a match, and never bitch when I make them play a position they don’t normally play. They make being a manager pretty easy. I’m also grateful for a certain wife who totally supports her husband’s obsession and bravely stands in the rain to watch me shank shot after shot.

Finally, I’m grateful for you, the readers of this blog. In the two months I’ve been posting, I have received nothing but positive feedback and support. Thank you. I had no idea what to expect when I started, but it is very flattering to read your comments and know that there are others who love this game as much as I do.

How about you, Weekend Warriors? What footballing blessings will you give thanks for this holiday?

Happy Thanksgiving!