Mooch Screws the Pooch

As soon as it became apparent that another organization was going to be playing into the 8 pm slot at Bryant Alternative Mooch’s blood pressure began to rise.  When players from De Agosto failed to be visible Mooch immediately began looking for a scapegoat.  Could he be to blame?  Did he misread the schedule?  Did the other team try to communicate with him and he missed the phone call or email?  Assembled on this night was one of the highest quality Orangemen called-ups in over a decade.  The quality of the Orangemen management, however, seems to have gone on walkabout.  

Just before 8 pm, the referee for the nights match showed up and began offering help to figure out what was going on. Hope was not completely lost as it appeared the Orangemen were in the right place at the right time.  The fact that the ref was in place doesn't really absolve the management of responsibility since they schedule the ref.  So if the manager provides the wrong info to the team, he most likely provided the wrong info to the ref scheduler as well.  There really isn't a cross check unless the individual ref does the due diligence on their own - since all the information is available through the league website.

First thing Mooch did was grab a phone and call the managers of De Agosto.  The assistant manager answered the phone and after a few moments of communication difficulty was able to express the fact that their manager was out of the country and no one had contacted him about a game.   So the fact that De Agosto would be a no show was now at 100%.  

Second, as 15 Orangemen had assembled it would be easy to play, if we had a venue.  Using an iPhone, we 1st confirmed the schedule said 8 pm, and after finally cracking the code on downloading the field permit, to our horror observed that the County had in fact, booked the field for the coaches league from 9-11 pm on Saturday nights.  Something the NVCL affirmed on numerous occasions, not just with the Orangemen, but with Mt Vernon who share our field on opposite weeks, that the field belonged to us at 8 pm.  Clearly that was not the case.

However, it has to be pointed out that Mooch is not free from responsibility for the break-down last night.  He sent a email to De Agosto, but upon checking his email last night, he did not receive a reply. Instead what he had received was a “not delivered” reply from a broken “assistant manager” email account.  The email did, however, make it through to their manager, however there was no reply from him either.  Mooch should have tried an alternative means of contacting De Agosto.  For this he is responsible.  

But there are a few facts about De Agosto to be considered.  First, they are in fact the team that was ejected from the Winter League for failure to meet with the League management over accusations over violent play and also for failure to show to matches.  And second, as it turns out, Steve informed Mooch this morning that they failed to show for their first Spring fixture last week as well.  The league will be dealing with this team that  seems  unable to rise the level of responsibility necessary to play in the most casual league in existence.  Mooch feels at least partially absolved of responsibility as De Agosto seems to really not want to try very hard.  But his is not guilt free.

Eventually we did get some good fun in last night as we had enough players to slit up and play small goals.  Jan brought cones and pennes.  The two teams were Jan, Doug, Tedd, Kendall, Alfredo, Scott R, Dave N, Louis  vs  Mooch, Ben, Luke, Gene, Karl, Scott F, and Gooch.  Within 10 minutes there were complaints that the field was too small so we expanded the full width of half the field.  There was plenty of room to run and to express ourselves with speed and enough space for the ball handlers to make a few moves as well.

By the time we finished playing, around 10:15, everyone was out of breath, but everyone was happy to have stayed and played...and as always the small sided matches are fun with everyone getting a lot of touches on the ball, and they get to practice things they wouldn’t do in a real game.  Tedd for instance tried a back heel while on defense.  It came up short, Ben intervened, and punished them with a quick goal.  Tedd was overheard ruminating that he had broken one of his own commandments, “thou shall not backheel under pressure”.  Gene, once again, established himself as a field player.  His footwork is tremendous and he has a natural ability to break down an 1 v 1 attack.   Mooch threw a Johann Cruyff on Doug that left him scratching his head.  Karl, would be ribbed late in the game for standing dead center of our goal, crept forward on numerous occasions to steal a ball and put in a lethal cross or two.  Luke, who hasn’t been out in months, enjoyed getting out and showing us that he is still lightning fast and plays will one speed, full on.  However, he must have been showing a bit of restraint as no one emerged from anvil tackles with any injuries.   Dave N stepped off the field for a breather...which raised concerns...as he was seen on the sidelines doubled over.  However he was just looking in his bag for a water bottle.   Kendall switched back to his Orangemen Lotto’s which worked well for him allowing him to direct a rapid cross between the cones.  Alfredo and Jan were work horses running up and down the pitch.  The two Scott's played well mixing it up on occasion in the center of the field.  Gooch played his signature I’m a brick wall and you’re not getting through me.  Ben was the high goal scorer on the evening...although he was the recipient of magical service on multiple occasions. As always, after "last goal wins" was called, and the last goal was scored.  We went on to play for another 15 minutes.  It was a blast!

The bad taste in my mouth remains and my apologies to everyone on the team for my any frustration last night caused...in particular to Phil...who can only make rare appearances...last night being one of them...and decided not to stay for the pickup match.