Even Pollyanna would be pissed off by today

For those in the red corner, which should be all of you, as you seem intelligent and compassionate humans, it was a crappy day. A ritual humiliation at Brighton and a sense of general malaise surrounding the whole club. Normally, on days like this, I can rely on Ottawacker Jr. to be a ray of shining light. Not this time.

He had been selected to play up in two games today: the U11's at noon, and then the U12s at 2pm. So for the driver, it meant standing in a dome for the best part of 4 hours. The things we do for the plums of our loins. Both games were against West Ottawa, the financial dopers of the OCSL (think Man City or Chelsea, without the charm).  The fist game was a 6-2 defeat, which was closer than it sounds; the second was a 7-1 shellacking, which was not as close as it sounds.

Part of the problem for the second game was the West Ottawa team and its focus on winning. They were, admittedly, better players - but that is the risk you take when you are part of a 'community club' and committed to the equal time philosophy for all players, regardless of ability. The other part of the problem was the fact that the opposition were, almost literally, twice the size of our team. The disparity in sizes between 12-year-old boys is marked; here they might have been part of a different subspecies (the homo sapiens kanatiensis massivus perhaps).

Anyway, Ottawacker Jr. wasn't his usual bubbly self on the 40-minute drive back, despite at least half the goals not being his fault. So I kicked him out of the car and made him jog back through the snowdrifts carrying the spare tyre and his kit bag. That'll teach him.