Soccer Hooligans

As I was trying to turn my life around and disassociate myself from the trouble makers, somewhat of a blessing entered my life. Two new friends, Mike "Stinky" Stewart and Danny Henry, both of whom transferred to North Park from Aquinas. They started hanging around with Myre, McCuish and Chapman from E.B.S., so naturally I met them right from the get go and we all hit it off. 

So how did we stay out of trouble exactly? Soccer! I wasn't a fan of soccer by any means, my father signed me up once when I was five, and I was so disinterested in it that I spent most my time on the field pulling my socks up and picking dandelions. Now however I was actually enjoying it. Everyday after school we would head over to one of the local parks and get a game going. Some of the guys were Scottish, and were either fans of the "Rangers" or the "Celtic" so it was easy to establish teams. Myre and I were both Greek so usually we would play goal. I loved playing goalie, it was the position I played in hockey, and now on the fields I was a force to be reckoned with. 

The games were tons of fun. Nobody was overly competitive, we were all there to have a good time. The fact that we generally partook in some Mary Jane before game time probably had something to do with the lack of competitiveness within us and the over abundance of fun and laughs we were having.

After a few weeks of games it seemed like the teams were getting bigger, and they were, as friends of ours were catching on to our extra curricular activities. We now had full blown games going and it was more fun than ever. Some games, it seemed like my team would keep the ball and the pressure on the other end of the field, leaving me to bask and bake in the sun. I'd lie in the grass, within the crease of my net, and stare up at the beautiful blue sky and fluffy clouds, thinking to myself "this is the life"... And wondering what life had in store for me next...