ENTRY #12
Friday, Nov. 16, 2012
Sweet Deesus that was close one! I can’t say her name enough. Dee saves Dees made were out of Dees world! If any of you missed it, Dees came up huge for us in penalty kicks and we came away with the victory against Washington State. Dees might as well have been wearing tights and a red cape that night because no one was stopping her. Every time Dees made a save, she’d pop up to the ground, barrel her chest, and scream at the top of her lungs, “ letsss gooooooo!” I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Dees punctured a lung from yelling so viciously. Regardless, Dees came up clutch and made three do or die saves that instantly made her a celebrity on campus. That night Dees was hoisted in the air by a random UP student, she was trending on twitter, and “Dees” chants accompanied by the “slow clap” took place just about anywhere she stepped foot. If that doesn’t make her a full fledged legend, please tell me what does. Dees’ performance will go down in UP history, but our team has shifted all our focus to our next opponent, Michigan.
I’m on the plane trying to get some inspiration about what to write about and I’m in quite the quandary. I’ve covered our freshmen, our team’s weirdness (particularly Dees), night bike rides, bus rides, pranks, staff members, Sippy...what else could I write about? From all this pondering, I realized I’ve committed a deep, deep sin. Throughout this entire season, I have only displayed one picture of my best friend, Jake Beckham Johnson. And that’s just downright unfair. Only one mention, yet he has taught me numerous, extremely valuable lessons in regards to soccer. With that said, I’ve chosen three lessons Jake has taught me about soccer that I will always hold dear to my heart:
First and foremost, Jake is one of the best defenders I have ever had the privilege of playing against. When I lived at home, I would go out to the park and try to keep the ball away from Jake. I had to always be alert and my moves had to be performed with extreme accuracy. Just when I thought I had him beat, that sneaky bugger would pop out of nowhere. I owe a big thanks to Jake for making me aware of my surroundings and enhancing my dribbling skills.
The second thing I have learned from Jake is to be patient, and wait for the right time to attack. Like myself Jake loves to eat. Unlike myself Jake will eat absolutely anything. Except for tangerines, for some reason he doesn’t like those and I’ve always wondered why. On multiple accounts Jake has eaten a full plate of brownies, muffins, cookies, cake, chocolate, steak, brussels sprouts...name a food (besides tangerines) and he has eaten it. However, Jake doesn’t pounce on our counter at any given time. When anyone is around Jake knows that he will get in trouble if he makes a move. Therefore, he patiently waits around until we all leave the kitchen. Very quietly Jake sniffs around the counter top, and when he’s smelled his target he immediately turns into attack mode. He hops his front paws onto the counter and devours whatever substance he found. It doesn’t matter how far pushed back the food is, he always finds a way to get it. In relation to soccer, I now know that sometimes you just need to slow the game down and wait for the opportune time to attack. But when the time comes, you have to do whatever you can to get the desired end result (whether that is a goal or juicy piece of steak).
The third thing I’ve learned is to be physical and aggressive, but when the ref catches you fouling, don’t argue and play on. We live in a cul-de-sac and we sometimes forget to put on Jakes electric fence collar. He often stays around our house, but when he leaves he usually explores our neighbor’s yards. One of our neighbors was convinced that Jake was using her lawn as a restroom. My mom had apologized multiple times and walked over and cleaned up the droppings. However, a lot of the times the feces are much too small to be Jakes, but that’s neither here nor there. This particular neighbor confronted us about 5 or 6 times before she took it to a whole other level. One fine afternoon, she delivered a folded piece of paper that had a nicely handwritten letter. It read “We had neighbors over this weekend and they took this picture. Please clean up after your dog and find a way to keep him off our lawn.” When my mom unfolded the letter, she was greeted with a printed, blown up picture of Jake mid-poop. I laugh every time I imagine our neighbor downloading the picture, blowing it up so it fits an entire sheet of paper, printing it, and then folding it so the image is a surprise when you open. Besides a nice laugh, this incident made me realize that sometimes you have to do what you have to do get the job done on the field, but once the ref catches you red-handed, accept it and play on.
Right now we are on the second long plane ride in an attempt to reach our final destination of State College. Cruz is sleeping next to me, Nichole is doing homework, Mic and Fris are watching a movie, and who the heck knows what Dees is doing. But I know we all have one thing in the back our minds; beating Michigan this Friday at 2pm. I believe there is a viewing party somewhere on campus if you’d like to watch. We’ll do our best to make Pilot fans and Jake proud.
Life,
Kendall
Previous Entries
• Entry #1 (Aug. 10, 2012)
• Entry #2 (Aug. 17, 2012)
• Entry #3 (Aug. 24, 2012)
• Entry #4 (Aug. 31, 2012)
• Entry #5 (Sept. 6, 2012)
• Entry #6 (Sept. 15, 2012)
• Entry #7 (Sept. 20, 2012)
• Entry #8 - Dees' Guest Blog (Sept. 27, 2012)
• Entry #9 (Oct. 4, 2012)
• Entry #10 (Oct. 11 ,2012)
• Entry #11 (Nov. 8, 2012)
