It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…

By: Sean | December 19th, 2008

No, it isn’t the FA Cup Final, nor the home opener at your local club’s stadium. It isn’t the Champions League semi-finals, nor your child’s first jamboree…it isn’t the last practice of the season, the World Cup draw, the last day of the transfer window, nor the match where your team handily defeats a loathed rival by a three goal margin. It isn’t even the annual three day celebration of my birth, Seannukkah, which is indeed awesome in it’s own unique way. In my part of the world, “the most wonderful time of the year” is celebrated as Christmas and although it kind of snuck up on me this season, I know this to be true because I received a holiday card from Manchester United. It is a striking little folio with reproductions of the first team player signatures composed in the form of a Christmas tree, all sprouting up from the team crest. (And yes, I do get the irony of a symbol commemorating the birth of Christ supported by a pitchfork wielding devil.)

It was the arrival of that card, one of the first our household received this year, that officially notified me that the proverbial holiday clock was ticking and all of the myriad little rituals we do to participate in the season needed to be done. Right now! Get tree–check! Send cards–check! Buy stuff for friends and family–check! Decorate–check! (Most of you know know some variation of this drill, I suspect.) I mention this as one of the reasons that I haven’t posted in, umm, three-ish weeks. One of the reasons, but not the main reason. My recreational men’s soccer team, Rangers, had a great fall campaign and found ourselves in the division championship match for the second season in a row. Expectations for a fine result were high, but the soccer gods had a different outcome in store for us. Have you ever played in a match where it was it end to end stuff from whistle to whistle, tied at a goal a piece going into the 93rd minute, only to have the linesmen blow an offside call and the opposition slot in the game winner on literally the last kick of the match?

Yeah, this was nothing like that at all.

Nothing seemed to click for us and we gave found ourselves in the hole very early in the match. Despite a hat trick from one of our strikers and some gallant tackles (on artificial turf, no less) we still lost by three and were hard pressed to mount a rally after the fiftieth minute. We gave it our best, but it was just not meant to be. Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you. There’s always next season. It didn’t kill us, so it will only make us stronger. I’m running out of sports cliches to sum it up. Understandably, this put me in a bit of a footballing funk…until many shots of Jaegermeister at the end of season party lifted my spirits and the Christmas card from the champions of Europe and England reminded me that there is still a lot to look forward to in the weeks ahead: Peace, joy, goodwill…and sure, maybe even a little present, too.

That’s one of the great things about being a football fanatic. Shopping for us is so easy! All you have to do is get us anything with our team badge on it (or even a soccer ball) and suddenly you’ve purchased a fantastic gift. Getting a guy a plain green hand towel kind of sucks, but if that green towel has little soccer balls on it, you’ve got a soccer towel! It goes into the gym bag and gets used after every match! I once got a painted wooden sign from my daughter that read: “Goal!” That’s it. “Goal!” No specific team affiliation, just “Goal!” Seriously, a seventh grader in wood shop could (and probably did) make it in twenty minutes but because it said “Goal!”, it became awesome. You can also buy us the same club home kit almost every year because with new sponsors, shirt style, color, etc. it’s like a new shirt every season. And if we have it already, you can get us the away kit. Or the alternate third kit. It doesn’t matter! We’re still going to wear it! This ease of shopping almost makes up for the fact that we are non-responsive for ninety minute stretches–or more–many times a week for pretty much the entire year.

So how about you, Weekend Warriors? Have you been naughty or nice this year? I’m curious as to what you are hoping to get this year from Santa Claus, Babbo Natale, Kris Kringle, Papa Noel, Father Christmas, etc. Also, if anyone is familiar with charities that donate sports equipment to youth in need, feel free to leave a comment and give a plug to a worthy cause this holiday season. We made a donation earmarked for soccer balls to children in Africa through an organization called World Vision, but I know there are many other groups out there with a wide range of missions and affiliations.

Happy holidays!