NY Times magazine catches BW soccer Mom's eye

Pour yourself a cuppa coffee (or if it's nighttime, a nice merlot) this blog entry was longer than intended...

I read two (cross that out and put three) things in the NY Times Magazine that caught my eye today:

Lisa Belkin does it again (she's the writer behind the Motherlode blog which I have linked to before). This week with Your Old Man. Maybe all of my issues aren't to do with my Mom. Maybe the fact that my Dad was 45 when I was born plays a larger, previously unknown factor. No, I don't have autism, but I wonder if I have some mild form of ADD. It also turns on its head many of our preconceived notions about health issues coming from the egg to the sperm! (ew, yuck, I just thought about my parents' eggs and sperm!) Time to change topic.

The other thing I saw was only by luck, since I don't read the sports section. This was in the Magazine Section, which I usually scan regardless of topic.

Today Bridgewater, NJ is hosting a major soccer name at the former Patroit's Stadium (now TD Stadium). At 4pm the NY/NJ based new women's soccer team will play here(yes, thanks for the warning - why wasn't THIS marketed better?) against the LA Sol. LA Sol's big star, Marta Vieira da Silva, will strut her stuff. I say let's go see it. Ticket info here. It's only $19 a ticket for a single ticket. Great thing to expose my soccer loving kid and her teammates to...

...except controlling soccer Mom that I am, I'm taking her to her own game. Even if I wanted her to blow it off, I wouldn't. Being Palm Sunday there are a bunch of kids away and if C doesn't go they'll have to forfeit. Guess I'll be trying to get the team together to see Marta when she returns in June. So if you don't want to spend $19 for Marta - you can see C play for free in Sussex county. For you non-NJ readers - that's nearly 90 minutes from our house!!!!

This passage was my favorite part of the article:

In U.S. soccer circles, there is an ongoing discussion about how American players, from a young age, are overcoached and coddled. They practice only under a coach’s supervision, and games take place as parents hover with lovingly cut orange slices and juice boxes. The selection of talent for top U.S. teams, from the youth level all the way up to the senior national squads, tends to emphasize speed, strength and aggression over great technical skill or improvisational ability. Marta will present a strong visual image of what can happen with less coaching and a childhood spent learning to pick up the bounces and spin of a soccer ball on nearly every imaginable surface except a groomed field.

Charlie Naimo, the Sol general manager, is eager for his star to be an ambassador for a new style of play — and perhaps new ways of thinking. “What we’re hoping,” he said, “is that having Marta here and people watching her play is going to pose the question: Why? Why is she who she is? Well, it’s kind of obvious. When she was 5 years old, she was out on the street all day playing.”

Guilty - I wish I could pull the coddling gene from my motherhood. I KNOW it didn't come from MY mother who let us roam the neighborhood unattended day or night. Maybe it came from my Dad. Nah, doubtful! It's from Bridgewater - and the thought that other Moms will judge me.

And "lovingly cut orange slices" is a stretch - usually "cut in 2 minutes or less because the forever-late running soccer mom forgot yet again it was her turn" would be more accurate for me.

OK - Again, I was about to post this blog, when I was reading the final page of the NY Times Magazine. This one-pager called Four is Enough was so my life. No, we only have one dog, but I could feel in the pit of my stomach the relationship between this husband and wife.

And if you rip it out the original magazine article to put it up, say on the fridge for the subtle message to your husband that says "Yes, I get it!", you'll have a laugh (if you know who I am, otherwise it won't make any sense). If you get the times, go look at the ad on the previous page. Clearly fate!