!
Hi, I’m I-66. And this morning I’m pissed off.
[pre-emptive note: I plan on discussing the following with the offender. I attempted to do so last night but he came home after having had a few post-game beverages and was not capable of intelligent conversation... just so you all know I don't choose blogging as a forum for airing my dirty laundry - I just need to vent... a lot]
A little background… in addition to co-captaining our coed soccer team, I also am essentially the General Manager. On gameday I normally tend to have a lot of responsibility. I carry the player passes for most of my team (roughly 22 people, others carry their passes independently because they play for multiple teams). I have a sack of soccer balls (yes, I know) that I carry that people use to warm up and eventually lose during the course of a game because on a team of 20+ soccer-playing adults, only 3 or 4 appear to have soccer balls. I have to bring a roster sheet to give to the referees so they can check the players in. I am present for the coin toss. I bring a stepladder to help put up the net. I am the person the referees talk to when they have a message that needs to get to my team.
Since I’ve been hurt, and even when I was on crutches, I was still coming to games. While on crutches, I was unable to carry things really so Deep Cover carried the book of passes – they were in a small CD case - in his bag. I was there to hand them out and take them back, his bag was just the means of transportation for getting the passes to and from the games. Recently we had a game that I knew we were going to have to forfeit and, as a result, I did not attend. I left the passes with DC since he was going down to the fields just in case enough players showed up. We did not have enough, but the two teams scrimmaged since they were all there. Fast-forward a couple of weeks to last night. We had a game, one that counted, and I was going to be there. I was carrying things and asked DC before we left “you have the passes right?” so I could take them into my possession. Look of puzzlement. Head scratching. No f’king way. He looks through his bag. He has no idea where they are. He’s trying to come up with ideas. I slowly get more and more pissed.
Our league has a no pass no play policy. You must be fully registered before you can step onto the field, which includes having a signed player pass (which means, normally, getting a new player to sign a blank pass and submit to me a small headshot photo to put on the card, taking the stuff to the registrar and getting the card(s) laminated.). On the way to the field, after DC checked in his car to see if he had left them there, I called the commissioner to tell him what happened. He called the registrar who called me. We ironed out that we’d get a free run without passes for the game but that if we couldn’t find the passes we’d need to get new ones made – for everyone. We arrive at the field. I am seeing red. I go down and explain to the refs what the deal is and they’re understanding – I think I was aided by the fact that I know them. At this point I can’t articulate how infuriated I am. How the hell do you lose an entire CD CASE FULL OF PLAYER PASSES (note: passes dated back as far as 2003). I’m normally a pretty happy-go-lucky person who smiles a lot and when I’m bothered I can do a good job of concealing it and dealing with it when I choose, but even last night people were saying “are you ok?” when they’d see me. I call the team together and explain the problem and at the end of the game have those that were present sign blank passes and ask them to submit digital photos to me. The larger problem here is that I need to get passes signed for players that weren’t there. This involves synching up schedules and having one or the other of us (or both) be inconvenienced and have to drive to one or the other’s house or meet in-between, just to sign a little card. The problem I have is that I gave one person one responsibility and he couldn’t handle it. It figures that the one game I don’t go to is when something like this would happen. From now on it looks like I’ll have to do everything myself, whether I’m playing or not, because self-sufficiency appears to be a lost quality. DC has since apologized and that’s fine. I don’t often ask for help unless I absolutely have to - I don’t even want people to do things for me since I’ve been hurt, I’ve taken The Sports Dog for short walks around the corner hopping on one leg – so I won’t ask DC to help with the re-making of the passes… but shouldn’t he have offered to at least?
[pre-emptive note: I plan on discussing the following with the offender. I attempted to do so last night but he came home after having had a few post-game beverages and was not capable of intelligent conversation... just so you all know I don't choose blogging as a forum for airing my dirty laundry - I just need to vent... a lot]
A little background… in addition to co-captaining our coed soccer team, I also am essentially the General Manager. On gameday I normally tend to have a lot of responsibility. I carry the player passes for most of my team (roughly 22 people, others carry their passes independently because they play for multiple teams). I have a sack of soccer balls (yes, I know) that I carry that people use to warm up and eventually lose during the course of a game because on a team of 20+ soccer-playing adults, only 3 or 4 appear to have soccer balls. I have to bring a roster sheet to give to the referees so they can check the players in. I am present for the coin toss. I bring a stepladder to help put up the net. I am the person the referees talk to when they have a message that needs to get to my team.
Since I’ve been hurt, and even when I was on crutches, I was still coming to games. While on crutches, I was unable to carry things really so Deep Cover carried the book of passes – they were in a small CD case - in his bag. I was there to hand them out and take them back, his bag was just the means of transportation for getting the passes to and from the games. Recently we had a game that I knew we were going to have to forfeit and, as a result, I did not attend. I left the passes with DC since he was going down to the fields just in case enough players showed up. We did not have enough, but the two teams scrimmaged since they were all there. Fast-forward a couple of weeks to last night. We had a game, one that counted, and I was going to be there. I was carrying things and asked DC before we left “you have the passes right?” so I could take them into my possession. Look of puzzlement. Head scratching. No f’king way. He looks through his bag. He has no idea where they are. He’s trying to come up with ideas. I slowly get more and more pissed.
Our league has a no pass no play policy. You must be fully registered before you can step onto the field, which includes having a signed player pass (which means, normally, getting a new player to sign a blank pass and submit to me a small headshot photo to put on the card, taking the stuff to the registrar and getting the card(s) laminated.). On the way to the field, after DC checked in his car to see if he had left them there, I called the commissioner to tell him what happened. He called the registrar who called me. We ironed out that we’d get a free run without passes for the game but that if we couldn’t find the passes we’d need to get new ones made – for everyone. We arrive at the field. I am seeing red. I go down and explain to the refs what the deal is and they’re understanding – I think I was aided by the fact that I know them. At this point I can’t articulate how infuriated I am. How the hell do you lose an entire CD CASE FULL OF PLAYER PASSES (note: passes dated back as far as 2003). I’m normally a pretty happy-go-lucky person who smiles a lot and when I’m bothered I can do a good job of concealing it and dealing with it when I choose, but even last night people were saying “are you ok?” when they’d see me. I call the team together and explain the problem and at the end of the game have those that were present sign blank passes and ask them to submit digital photos to me. The larger problem here is that I need to get passes signed for players that weren’t there. This involves synching up schedules and having one or the other of us (or both) be inconvenienced and have to drive to one or the other’s house or meet in-between, just to sign a little card. The problem I have is that I gave one person one responsibility and he couldn’t handle it. It figures that the one game I don’t go to is when something like this would happen. From now on it looks like I’ll have to do everything myself, whether I’m playing or not, because self-sufficiency appears to be a lost quality. DC has since apologized and that’s fine. I don’t often ask for help unless I absolutely have to - I don’t even want people to do things for me since I’ve been hurt, I’ve taken The Sports Dog for short walks around the corner hopping on one leg – so I won’t ask DC to help with the re-making of the passes… but shouldn’t he have offered to at least?
posted by I-66 at 2:38 PM
2 Comments:
Interesting problem, I-66. I'd be pissed as well. But in the future, in the interests of effective management and delegating to the maximum extent practicable, can the players just carry their own cards?
My initial thought is, that's a pretty strict league you play in up there. Laminated, signed passes? To play rec-league soccer? I've never heard of this in any rec league sport I've ever played in.
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