The Salinas Song

[edtheguy]

This save started as just a test save for part of an idea I’m working on for a future story, but the test went well and I was having so much fun that before I knew it I had ‘played’ seven seasons and had 28 pages of notes that told a story that interested me.

Then I started thinking I might as well practice developing my style and format too.

So here it is.

Notes:

FM16

Winter transfer database/27 nations/64 leagues/ large db/103,460 players

Started August 2015 unemployed, vacationed to December 2016 checked out the MLS youth intakes and picked a 4* candidate to follow, mostly at random (I might have been more selective here if I had intended on publishing this when I started, but this might actually have worked out better). After that I vacationed a week at a time to document proceedings, and this is what happened….

[edtheguy]

Disclaimer; As we all know football in the US is weird, called soccer, and not able to be represented accurately in FM without breaking the game, so this story is based in the alternate FM representation of lower level and developmental soccer in the states (which is most likely better than the real world anyway). Some names and practices may survive. As to the rest- my apologies.

June 2006

It was another beautiful Saturday, the third in a string of sunny warm spring weekends that had everyone in a good mood in the northeast Ohio area. On this particular day the recreational fields in Youngstown had been taken over by a swarm of tiny soccer players and their accompanying adults.

As the early grade school aged little ones ran around in perceived order some of the adults watched attentively while others were more interested in talking with their fellow adults or interacting with their electronic devices. The whole scene, from a distance, was a sublime mix of chaos and order that in the end created a profoundly modern idyllic scene.

Two of the more attentive parents were talking to one of the older men who was decked out in Columbus Crew training gear.

“Thank you for bringing your son today Mr. and Mrs. Salinas, this is a wonderful opportunity and,” he glanced at his clipboard as he spoke, “Robbie shows some nice signs of being a good young player.”

Mrs. Salinas looked unconvinced, “I don’t know, sports have never really been Robbie’s thing. I just don’t know if the whole scene is right for him.” She had a fair but plain face, thick black hair and wore a sharp looking outfit of a pale blue shirt and black dress pants. Her husband, in contrast, wore a very unspectacular outfit consisting of jeans and a t-shirt. His clothing was less noticeable than his square jaw and crystal clear blue eyes that were prominent under close cropped blonde hair.

Mr. Salinas made a sour looking face, “Jezzus Molly, he’s seven, nobody knows what’s right for him yet, that’s why you try a little bit of everything when you’re young.” he gestured at Robbie running wildly across the pitch, “Can’t you see he’s loving it out there? You’re the one who said he needed more confidence.”

“Richard, watch your tongue,” Molly snapped instinctively as she watched little Robbie cover half the pitch with the ball at his feet, his long blond hair flying around his face as he ran, before he was finally swarmed by most of the other kids on the field. “He does seem to be having a good time, I’m just not sure.”

The Crew representative had clearly seen many exchanges like this before and smoothly cut off the parental debate, “It’s natural to want to think about it, any good parent would. You don’t have to decide right away. You’ll be getting a letter from the Academy’s local youth program with an invitation and then you’ll have two weeks to reply. If you have any questions you can….”

As the grownups talked beside the pitch Robbie was aware that they were talking, but he didn’t have to be concerned with what it was about, that was boring grown up stuff. He was having a good time though, better than he expected. In fact he had agreed with his mom and hadn’t even wanted to come today.

His only experience with sports before this year's rec soccer league had been at the hands of his older brother, Richard Jr. a middle school football and baseball player and, in Robbie’s opinion and to use his older brothers own words - a bit of a tool. “Junior” as they called his brother enjoyed taking his frustrations out on Robbie and every time they played in the backyard Robbie wound up on the wrong end of a physical tackle or hard thrown football or baseball and had a generally lousy time of it.

Soccer was different though, the only time Junior had agreed to play soccer with Robbie the younger Salinas had been able to literally run circles around his older, slower, big brother until Junior lost interest and went inside in a huff. And now, on the practice field, each time he took the ball away from one of the other kids and kept it he liked soccer a little more. He liked to run and it made him feel good when he heard the Crew representative watching his field say “That kid is fast.” as he ran by. It made him feel so good he even managed to run a little faster, but he lost the ball in the process.

Yes, in the end, Robbie was definitely glad they came to the fields that day. Even in his old age when he only remembered bits and pieces of his childhood, the memory of that day stood out as clearly as if it were only yesterday.

[edtheguy]

January 2012

It was the same older man at the front door of the Salinas home five and a half years later, now sharply dressed in slacks and a button up shirt, open at the collar, with a sport coat hanging awkwardly from his shoulders.

“So good to see you again Mr. and Mrs. Salinas,” he said as they invited him into the living room. “Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.”

“It’s our pleasure Mr. Osborne,” Rob thought his mom sounded less than pleased as she spoke, “Please have a seat, can I get you anything to drink, coffee, water, a beer?”

“Call me Stephen,” the Crew Academy employee said, shaking Rick Salinas’ hand before sitting in the chair under the picture window. “I’ll have some water, thank you.”

On her way into the kitchen Rob’s mom looked at him, standing in the hallway, “Robbie, we need to talk to Mr. Osborne for a while, go to your room please.”

Rob knew better than to argue so he just shrugged and went to his room half way down the hall. He could hear his sister’s punk music playing on her stereo from the room across the hall, it sounded like Rise Against today. Rachel was 15, right between the two boys in age and seldom seen in the house outside her room.

Rob closed his door and stood still, listening carefully and wishing Rach would turn her music off so he could hear better. Somehow he got his wish as he heard her cell phone ring and she turned the music down to answer the call. The house was old and the walls were thin, so it wasn’t hard to hear a conversation clear on the other end of the house if you wanted. A fact that his parents had used against all the kids more than once as they grew up, but still seemed to completely forget whenever they wanted to have a private conversation of their own.

He had already missed the start of the conversation, but that didn’t matter, he knew what it was about and he knew he needed Mr. Osborne’s help to convince his parents.

“We only did this because we thought it would be good for him, you know, to take pride in something. We thought that maybe he would be able to make more friends and do better in class if he had something that was just his that he could be proud of.” His mother was using the same argument he had been hearing for years. He was sick of hearing about all these friends he was supposed to have. The kids in his school were lame- they were his brother’s type of people not his.

“And he has had more confidence.” His father chimed in. This was new, in front of Rob his father had never done anything but support his mother's party line, when he heard him speak up on his behalf Rob had a glimmer of hope.

“Yes,” his mother replied dismissively, “but he still won’t apply himself in school and he’s even worse socially, he spends all his time with the travel team, he’s never even around his own classmates.”

“Mrs. Salinas, I know how concerning that can be, and you obviously have Rob’s best interests at heart.” came Mr. Osbournes calm voice.

“Thank you, that is all I want - what's best for Robbie.”

“Of course, but all you get to see is him here, at home, let me tell you a little about the young man we have the privilege of working with in practice and at the games, if that’s alright.”

“Of course.”

“Rob might not be the team captain, but he’s just as important, he leads by example. He always gives his best, he supports his teammates and encourages them when they need it. All the other players, including Jack, the captain, respect him.

And that is just his personality, his skills are every bit as remarkable, sure he doesn’t have great technical skills and he could be a little more determined when things don’t go well, but his work ethic is second to none and, as we all know, he can run like the wind all day long and hit some of the best crosses into the box I’ve ever seen.

Look, I’ll be honest with you, most of the kids that enroll in the academy won’t ever play in MLS, let alone for the Crew, but they will have the opportunity to play at the highest level they are capable of - doing something they love. Your son isn’t just another high school sports star, he has a whole nother level of skill and we would love to have him in the Academy program for the next four years.

I can’t begin to tell you what the right decision is for you and your family, but again, from our end we would absolutely love to have him.”

“Thank you Mr. Osbourne - Stephen,” his mom actually sounded a little choked up, “that was very nice.”

“You’re welcome, as I said earlier ma’am I know I can’t tell you what is right for your son, only you can know that, which means I’m sure you have a lot to talk about. So now that I’ve said my peace I’ll be going, but do you have any questions before I do?”

“How would it work with school? With all the travel away from home?” This was the part Rob wasn’t sure of either, there were a lot of things that would be different that was for sure.

“We have a very good tutoring program for the boys. It’s technically a home school program, but it is run by professionals and we have had very good results, it’s geared to get them into colleges where they can continue to develop, both as men and soccer players.

As for the travel we have volunteer parents that have been with us for years to help out with the boys. It’s things like that that have made our youth program one of the top ones in MLS, and it only benefits them as young men as well.”

After that the questions centered around things like money and other issues that were important to his parents but not him so Rob started getting antsy and his attention drifted until his mother finally called him back to the living room.

His heart was in his mouth as he walked into the living room and saw his mother and father standing arm in arm waiting for him. He could see outside that Mr. Osborne’s car had already left. His parents had been talking in hushed tones for a while and he had no idea what they had decided.

As he walked into the room Rob was finding it hard to breathe, he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the soccer program that had been his sanctuary for the last five years. Football - the real kind, not his brother’s Americanized caveman football-with-your-hands abortion - just made sense to him, every movement flowed like poetry, he couldn’t imagine going back to life without it.

“Son,” Rob lost his breath in anticipation when it was his father who spoke, he was pretty sure he knew what that meant. “We’ve decided to enroll you in the academy, if that’s what you still want.”

Rob Salinas had just officially joined the Columbus Crew Academy and everything was alright in the world again.

(in game notice ‘joined Crew academy 2012’)

[edtheguy]

August 2016

“Sorry I couldn’t be there sis.” Rob was talking to Rachel on his cellphone on the ride home from the game with a family friend. Junior and his parents had spent the day helping Rachel move into her dorm room for her Freshman year of college.

“Yeah, right - you missed all the packing lifting and carrying - I’m sure you’re real broke up.”

Rob chuckled, “Hey, that’s not my fault, I had a game with the senior squad. Besides, Junior’s the big strong brother, not me.”

“Excuses, excuses. I just won’t invite you to the next dorm party. Think of all the half naked college girls you’ll be missing.”

“Harsh Rach, that’s harsh.”

“How’s the season going kid?”

“Not bad, got another assist tonight, Craig actually got to one of the crosses and banged it home for the game winner.”

“Congrats! That’s gotta be more than you had all last year. What did you end up with, like three?” Rachel had gone to all his games with the senior team last year when she was still in high school, which meant more to Rob than she knew.

“Yeah, and one goal, in 15 games. No bad for a 16 year old on the senior Academy team.”

“Yeah, yeah, stop bragging. How’s Liz?”

“Good, she’s good, we’re all good.”

“I’m telling you, she’s a bitch- take care of yourself.”

“That’s a hell of a thing to say about your friend.”

“Sure, we were friends, but she was just this freshman chick that wanted to hang around the cool upper class girl. Which was me bro, in case you forget. She was alright and all, but that doesn’t mean we were besties, and you're my brother. I’ve seen her treat some guys pretty bad, I just don’t want that to happen to you.”

“Don’t worry sis, we’re good.”

“Right. So what was the deal with you and my old school? Mum and dad won’t talk about it.”

“Yeah, they were gonna pull me from the academy and put me in some sort of advanced college placement program because of some test score I got.” Rob had aced the standardized testing that year above the 99th percentile and all the teacher types around him had gotten all excited.

“What are you, some kind of genius?”

“Yeah, something like that. Mr. Carson, the guidance counselor, talked them out of it.”

“Wait, a guidance counselor talked them out of putting you in a school program instead of a sports one?”

“I know, crazy right? He told them that just because I was smart didn’t mean I was meant for college prep classes, he told them it was always good to be smart, but I was truly gifted in two things and it would be a shame not to stick with at least one of them.”

“Two things?”

“Yeah, he knows Mickey, from the music store.”

“Don’t tell me the school guidance counselor told our parents not to put you in college so you could play guitar in a rock band?” Rachel would catch no end of grief for that, she was largely responsible for him taking up the guitar in the first place. And for him and Liz, which she wasn’t thrilled about either, but despite her bad influence her kid brother seemed to be turning out pretty well so far, at least to her anyway

When she was a Junior and Rob and Liz were Freshmen she had gone to Columbus with her younger friend Liz to see Rock on the Range, a large three day rock and roll festival held at the Crew’s home stadium, Mapfre Stadium and Rob had tagged along. He and Liz hit it off and became a couple and Rob’s taste in music shifted from Milky Chance and the Black Keys to Papa Roach and Volbeat.

He also took to the guitar immediately, first as a way to impress Liz, which it did, but later he stuck with it because it made sense to him like football did. On the pitch football flowed in an almost musical pattern for him and with the guitar in his hands music seemed as patterned and organized as football. His fingers flowed about the fretboard like water over stones and he tore through two instructors before he found one that could keep up with him. Within a year he was teaching himself and had formed a band with people he met at the local music store where he liked to practice, Mickey's. Rob’s two passions soon balanced each other out like a perfect harmony, keeping him happy and grounded through the strange schedule of his new life at the Academy.

“I think he meant football, you know maybe a college scholarship or professional deal.” He smiled as he brushed some unruly blond hair out of his eyes.

“OK, that’s not quite as bad, but still.”

“Hey, you’ve seen me in school. So has he, and he just told them that I wouldn’t all of a sudden become some sort of dedicated student just because I got a good test score, and reminded them that my grades only got good after I joined the academy’s travel team.”

“That’s fair, look I gotta go. Take it easy.”

“Talk to you later Rach. Have fun at college” Rob hung up the phone and took a deep breath.

Now if he could just get Liz to answer the phone and tell him why she dumped him.

(In game notice; finished 2015 Academy season with 1 goal and 3 assists in 15 games.)

[tenthreeleader]

Then I started thinking I might as well practice developing my style and format too.

This pleases me to no end to read. Respect for putting your practice work out there, Ed. It takes courage to tinker with something you know is working.

[edtheguy]

This pleases me to no end to read. Respect for putting your practice work out there, Ed. It takes courage to tinker with something you know is working.

Thank you sir, that is appreciated. So far I like where it is taking me for both this story and what I can do with it in the future.

I welcome all comments/criticisms/suggestions from anyone and hope the project is still an enjoyable read, these forums have brought me great enjoyment over the last couple years and I'm happy to be able to give back in any small way that I can.

[edtheguy]

December 2016

It was the day after Christmas and Rob was in Columbus, almost four hours from home. His parents had gotten up at the break of dawn to drive him there so he could be with the rest of the Youth Academy players that had just used up their final U18 season of eligibility. They were waiting to see if they had made the cut to be accepted into the senior Academy team full time.

There was frost on the ground and you could see everyone's breath in the air as prospects and parents milled about outside the Academy offices drinking various coffee drinks and making small talk.

This was make or break day, most of the players here that had trained together daily at various levels for the last ten years would be going home disappointed as the club only had around 15 spots open to be filled by players from all of the youth programs across the Ohio and Michigan area.

Rob was thought to be the top prospect from the Youngstown youth program, but there was no guarantee that even one player from any given area would make it. Rob couldn’t believe he wouldn’t be picked though, no matter how his parents tried to prepare him for disappointment. Why would they have given him almost fifty games on the academy club already if they weren’t planning on picking him?

“You don’t have to worry,” a rather anxious looking Kai said walking up to Rob, “You know you’re in.” Kai had been on Rob’s local team since they were both 7. With long brown hair and a constantly confused expression he had been one of the players expected to go far until he hit a major growth spurt as a teen and never fully recovered his coordination.

Rob grinned at him and held his hands up, “Thanks Kai, but I’ll feel better when the list is up. Good luck, they’d be smart to pick you too.”

Kai rolled his eyes, “No they wouldn’t, but thanks anyway.” He grinned and walked off into the crowd.

The club, in a continuing effort to make things more like international football referred to it as Youth Intake Day, but to most of the young men there it was doomsday. Members of the Academy staff would shortly post the successful candidates outside the training facility and then hold meetings with any player that wished to discuss future plans, accepted or not.

For those that were accepted it was no easy thing either. It meant leaving their already abnormal home lives, moving to a foster home in Obetz, OH, just south of Columbus, and training full time while finishing high school with private tutors. Even after doing all of that almost none of them would be offered professional contracts. Most of them would be going through all of this so that when they finished their senior year and went to college or off to play semi pro ball somewhere the Crew could still hold their MLS rights indefinitely as “Academy Graduates”.

That didn’t stop Rob from wanting to be accepted more than anything. Especially since he had gotten a taste over the last two seasons, playing 49 games on the senior Academy team. The anticipation had kept him from enjoying, or even being aware of Christmas this year, and his parents hadn’t been impressed with the timing at all. Neither had Liz, who had wanted to spend the day after Christmas with him now that they were back together, again. They had broken up and gotten back together now more times than Rob could count, and now she was mad at him again.

Finally the doors to the Academy opened and a staff member Rob didn’t know (he had half expected it to be Mr. Osborne again) walked to the bulletin board and posted one insignificant looking piece of paper. As if answering to the pied piper everyone there closed in on the bulletin board as soon as the staff member walked away.

At only 5’9” and 138 lbs it took a while for Rob to push his way close enough to the board to read the names on the “Intake” list. The list was short, only 16 names, in alphabetical order. He scanned down near the end where the ‘S’ would be and saw it.

Salinas, Robert, Youngstown, OH 7/30/99 (2016 34 GP 3 G 11A)

He was going to be playing all season in Obetz next year. He grabbed his phone to call Liz and give her the news, at least he could say it was worth giving up the day together.

Now it felt like Christmas.

As he got into the car with his parents he saw a dejected looking Kai on the other end of the parking lot with his mother's arm around his shoulders.

(in game; part of 2016 Youth Intake for Columbus Crew 1.5* current / 4-4.5* potential as scouted by club when a temporary manager was made, placed on Columbus to get the evaluation, then retired from the save.)

[edtheguy]

Rob Salinas 26th December 2016

[size=2][size=1]| Technical                                                                                          |                          |                          | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Corners                                                                                            |                          | 12                       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Crossing                                                                                           |                          | 14                       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Dribbling                                                                                          |                          | 6                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Finishing                                                                                          |                          | 5                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| First Touch                                                                                        |                          | 11                       | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Free Kick Taking                                                                                   |                          | 7                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Heading                                                                                            |                          | 7                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Long Shots                                                                                         |                          | 9                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Long Throws                                                                                        |                          | 7                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Marking                                                                                            |                          | 6                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Passing                                                                                            |                          | 8                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Penalty Taking                                                                                     |                          | 4                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Tackling                                                                                           |                          | 7                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Technique                                                                                          |                          | 7                        | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Mental                                                                                          |                          |                          | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Aggression                                                                                      |                          | 10                       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Anticipation                                                                                    |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Bravery                                                                                         |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Composure                                                                                       |                          | 6                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Concentration                                                                                   |                          | 6                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Decisions                                                                                       |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Determination                                                                                   |                          | 6                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Flair                                                                                           |                          | 12                       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Leadership                                                                                      |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Off The Ball                                                                                    |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Positioning                                                                                     |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Teamwork                                                                                        |                          | 10                       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Vision                                                                                          |                          | 7                        | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Work Rate                                                                                       |                          | 14                       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







| Physical                                                                                          |                          |                          | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Acceleration                                                                                      |                          | 13                       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Agility                                                                                           |                          | 15                       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Balance                                                                                           |                          | 5                        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Jumping Reach                                                                                     |                          | 8                        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Natural Fitness                                                                                   |                          | 15                       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Pace                                                                                              |                          | 16                       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Stamina                                                                                           |                          | 12                       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Strength                                                                                          |                          | 8                        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 







|                                       |                                       | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Height                                | 5'9"                                  | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| Weight                                | 138 lbs                               | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/size][/size]

[edtheguy]

Career Stats;

| Year   | Team         | Nation | Division | Info   | Apps   | Gls    | Asts   | PoM    | Av R   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2017   | Crew Academy | U.S.A. | -        |        | 0      | -      | -      | -      | ----   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2016   | Crew Academy | U.S.A. | -        |        | 34     | 3      | 11     | 0      | 6.93   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2015   | Crew Academy | U.S.A. | -        |        | 15     | 1      | 3      | 0      | 7.04   | 
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[edtheguy]

July 2017

“Then maybe we should get another guitar player!” Tommy, or ‘Joker’ as he wanted to be known on stage was worked up, his face was all red, speckles of spit were landing on his bass, and Rob thought if he raised his voice any more the assorted tools hanging on the wall of Dave’s mom's garage might start falling.

“I told you when we started I had other priorities and wouldn’t be around all the time.” Rob said, wishing one of the others would step in. As far as he knew Dave and Nixy had no problems with things. Although since Rob and Nixy had broken up he had no idea what to expect from the black haired high strung lead singer. “If you don’t want me here I’ll leave.”

“C’mon man can’t you change your priorities? Don’t you see we were HOT, we played ROR for crissake - and now we’re losing all that momentum because you’ve got another ‘away game’” he finished sarcastically and turned to the drummer in the back of the garage, “Dave, are you fu@#ing filming this?” He yelled, staring daggers at Dave - ‘Drummer Dave’ as they called him - who was trying to hide his cellphone between drums in his kit as he filmed the argument.

“Yo man, it’s our first fight as a band, I just thought-”

“Don’t be an ass, cut it out,” Joker cut him off and turned back to Rob, “ROR for crissake, we should-”

“You already said that, big deal- it was two songs in the middle of a standup routine before anyone was even there, it's not like we were even on the bill. And we kinda sucked.” Rob couldn’t help but notice Drummer Dave was still filming them.

“What the hell are you talking about? We got a dozen calls for gigs that night, but we still haven’t booked six because you’re never here!” Joker was over the edge now, there wasn’t going to be any reasoning with him, and obviously neither of the other two were going to speak up, Dave was more interested in posting the video on youtube and Nixy looked like she was just enjoying the show.

“Fine, sorry I’m holding you up, go ahead and find someone else. I’ve got double exams to study for anyway.” Rob put his guitar in the case grabbed his amp and walked out of the garage, leaving the other three watching his back speechless.

Finally, after he turned the corner and disappeared out of site Nixy muttered, “F@#k.”

Rob was actually relieved in a way. He would miss being in the band, the music he wrote really came to life when the others played with him, but he was spread way too thin already, something was always going to give. He was doing two years of school at once with the tutors so he could finish high school over the summer and not have to deal with it over the first half of next year. Between that and the extensive soccer practices and games, with all the travel - there just weren’t enough hours in the day to fit it all in. His life had fallen out of tune.

It had started out alright, before there was so much schoolwork, even after Liz had broken up with him for the last time, telling him that she wasn’t interested in a long term relationship. He had taken advantage of the small amount of free time that being single afforded him and started playing with Joker’s band a couple nights a week. He already had a ton of songs that he had written for his old band back home and on all the long trips to away games and Jokers band took to them right away.

It had all seemed good, they started playing actual gigs, were treated like adults and Nixy started getting real friendly with him. But soon the schoolwork started piling up, and not long after that the coaches started telling him he wasn’t doing badly, but they wanted to see more improvement over last season. Then, just as he was going to quit the band they were invited to be the local flavor for a talk show team that was warming up the crowd before day one of Rock on the Range, an offer that was too good to pass up.

Despite the fact that they gave a rather flat performance to Rob’s ear they were a big hit, mostly because they were local - and probably because Nixy was hot and mostly naked. Joker was right, they could have had their pick of gigs after that, but the Academy team had a tournament in Arizona that month and by the time they got back Rob was injured and spending most of his time with the team trainers, the gigs were harder to book, and Nixy had taken up with one of the radio guys that she met at ROR. Since then things had only been getting worse.

Nixys betrayal should have hurt, but just like leaving the band that day he was surprised to find it didn’t really bother him. When he was sad and lonely and closed his eyes it wasn’t her he saw.

No, he saw long, unkempt but perfect dirty blonde hair with red highlights, a long narrow face with piercings that was always giving attitude, and a small, lithe, perfect body.

Liz.

Rachel had been right, Liz was bad news. She smoked, drank, did drugs, ‘got around’ and had never shown Rob any real loyalty. But he couldn’t get over her, no matter how he tried.

When he stepped off the bus back at the academy he was determined to fix his studies and his performance on the pitch - those were things he could control, he just needed to forget about everything else. He couldn’t help but wonder what his former band would do without him though. Or what Liz was doing, but it was best not to think about that.

***

Even though it wasn’t a scheduled practice when he got to the pitch Jon was already there, which didn’t surprise him at all.

Jon James was a tough african american kid from Springfield, Ohio who played both left back and left midfield. He and Rob made a deadly duo that created an almost endless supply of scoring opportunities from either side of the pitch, but unlike Rob, Jon’s development had been off the charts this year. While Rob had been a force for a year or so already Jon had come from way down on the depth charts to steal the show this season and just looked to be getting better.

Neither of them had been helped by monthlong injuries in June, which had hit the club hard, losing both starting wingers at the same time, but now they were both 100% and everything was going well again.

They clasped hands and gave each other a pat on the back when Rob got on the pitch, Rob told Jon he was looking good and then they both got right to work.

“Well if it isn’t Robbie Salinas.” Eric shouted from goal, “didn’t you just get three assists last game? Do you really need extra practice?” Eric Harrison was one of the youngest players from last year’s intake, still only 16 but despite his age and even though he was maybe a tick behind the top prospects in potential he was the first player on the team to have gotten a professional contract from the Crew. They most likely signed him just so they had a backup keeper under contract, as he was on a reserve deal and still assigned to the academy, but it was still a badge of honor for the young keeper as was the fact that he was being scouted by SK Rapid Wien.

“Always,” Rob replied with a smile, “I’ve gotta work hard if I’m gonna keep up with Jon!” Jon flashed a smile, shot Rob with his finger and then took off down the pitch on a defensive drill as Craig Perez, the academy's top prospect and striker charged at him. Rob shook his head, Craig was already being scouted by Havre Athletic Club and it only seemed to be driving him to work harder. This was definitely a higher level team than the youth clubs Rob was used to.

When he was on the pitch everything still felt right, it was time for Rob Salinas to get back to work.

[edtheguy]

Columbus Crew Academy July 2017

 [size=1]Position Selected | Inf| Name            | Apps   | Gls| Ast| PoM| Pas % | Tck R | Hdr % | Cr C/A | Shot % | Tck  | DrbPG | Gl Mst | Yel| Red| Av Rat | Tgls/90 | Tcon/90 | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | John Ashton     | 1      | 0  | 0  | 0  | 70%   | 60%   | -     | 0%     | -      | 3.00 | -     | 0      | 0  | 0  | 8.00   | 0.00    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Hanus Joensen   | 2      | 1  | 1  | 0  | 65%   | 33%   | -     | 0%     | 67%    | 1.50 | -     | 0      | 0  | 0  | 7.95   | 0.00    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt| Craig Perez     | 22     | 20 | 3  | 3  | 66%   | 50%   | 39%   | 31%    | 51%    | 0.58 | 2.66  | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.75   | 2.51    | 0.77    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Peter Martin    | 24     | 1  | 10 | 5  | 76%   | 88%   | 86%   | 0%     | 14%    | 5.67 | -     | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.55   | 2.33    | 0.79    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Jon James       | 17     | 2  | 10 | 2  | 63%   | 55%   | 66%   | 33%    | 21%    | 0.95 | 3.15  | 0      | 2  | 0  | 7.44   | 2.02    | 0.89    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Rob Salinas     | 20     | 3  | 11 | 1  | 66%   | 57%   | 69%   | 38%    | 23%    | 1.38 | 1.70  | 0      | 3  | 1  | 7.25   | 2.33    | 0.85    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj| Enzo Barre      | 24     | 2  | 8  | 3  | 72%   | 64%   | 76%   | 33%    | 42%    | 2.08 | 0.24  | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.19   | 2.41    | 0.85    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Conor Luthy     | 23     | 7  | 0  | 4  | 68%   | 76%   | 77%   | 39%    | 23%    | 2.68 | 0.50  | 0      | 3  | 0  | 7.16   | 2.36    | 0.82    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Chris Jones     | 17     | 4  | 0  | 1  | 71%   | 84%   | 92%   | 5%     | 20%    | 3.57 | -     | 0      | 2  | 0  | 7.08   | 2.59    | 0.62    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Chad Nguyen     | 6 (5)  | 2  | 0  | 0  | 63%   | 63%   | 50%   | 35%    | 44%    | 0.75 | 0.90  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 7.06   | 1.66    | 0.30    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Andrew Bailey   | 18 (2) | 12 | 1  | 0  | 61%   | 42%   | 38%   | 6%     | 62%    | 0.48 | 0.85  | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.02   | 2.36    | 0.85    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Derek Taylor    | 12     | 1  | 5  | 1  | 53%   | 58%   | 63%   | 30%    | 36%    | 1.37 | 1.19  | 0      | 3  | 0  | 6.98   | 2.56    | 0.64    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Ivan Djurdjek   | 2 (17) | 2  | 1  | 0  | 56%   | 54%   | 26%   | 12%    | 38%    | 1.92 | 1.63  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.94   | 1.03    | 0.44    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Mike Walsh      | 6 (1)  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 41%   | 100%  | -     | -      | -      | 0.62 | -     | 0      | 2  | 0  | 6.87   | 1.55    | 0.62    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Kevin Malone    | 24     | 2  | 6  | 0  | 69%   | 60%   | 52%   | 38%    | 38%    | 1.34 | 1.06  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.83   | 2.67    | 0.89    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Eric Harrison   | 20     | 0  | 0  | 0  | 36%   | 80%   | -     | -      | -      | 0.20 | -     | 1      | 0  | 0  | 6.79   | 2.35    | 0.77    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Jay Edwards     | 7 (4)  | 1  | 4  | 0  | 60%   | 68%   | 65%   | 28%    | 50%    | 2.26 | 0.27  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.68   | 1.60    | 0.40    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj| Daniel Britton  | 2 (3)  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 74%   | 78%   | 60%   | 0%     | -      | 2.27 | 0.32  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.64   | 0.00    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Darren Wong     | 16 (4) | 0  | 2  | 0  | 65%   | 74%   | 75%   | 29%    | 40%    | 2.30 | 0.18  | 0      | 7  | 0  | 6.56   | 2.12    | 0.77    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | John Schweitzer | 17 (4) | 2  | 1  | 0  | 66%   | 78%   | 83%   | 18%    | 24%    | 3.51 | 0.37  | 0      | 1  | 2  | 6.55   | 2.24    | 0.85    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Steven Petersen | 2 (11) | 0  | 0  | 0  | 75%   | 68%   | 89%   | 0%     | 0%     | 3.73 | 0.22  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.44   | 0.66    | 0.44    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Marc Stammler   | 2 (13) | 0  | 0  | 0  | 66%   | 67%   | 90%   | 0%     | 0%     | 4.20 | 1.26  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.30   | 0.42    | 0.21    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/size]

[edtheguy]

December 2017

It was only the 27th of December, but to Rob Christmas seemed like an eternity ago. The whole Family had been there, Rich, as they were now calling his brother since Junior didn’t fit a college upperclassmen math major as well as it had a teenage athlete, and Rich’s fiancee Madeline. Rach, who was doing brilliantly in her art school - some of her drawings made Rob’s jaw drop. His mom and dad, who never seemed to change, and even Liz, who swore they weren’t back together but was seeing him nearly every day again.

There had been Christmas music streaming from the sirius radio Rich had given his parents, gifts aplenty, both touching and funny, cheesy sweaters, and even some snow flurries outside. Rich and Madeline had taken over dinner and made an amazing gourmet meal centered around rack of lamb. It had been wonderful.

Now, just two days later, to Rob everything seemed grey and in his mouth even the memories of the gourmet dinner tasted of ash. He had gotten a call that morning- had it only been four hours ago? It seemed forever. The call had been the head of youth development for the Crew, calling to tell him they were releasing him from the academy and the senior team wasn’t going to be offering him a contract.

Now the Salinas household was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Rich and Madeline had gone to see her family the day before, so they weren’t there and neither was Liz, but his parents and Rach were in the living room with Rob. Occasionally one of them would try to say something encouraging, but there really wasn’t anything they could do.

Finally Rob picked his head up as his phone, discarded face down on the couch, vibrated for the hundredth time. “Well, it was always a long shot. They encouraged all of us to have other plans. They really wanted to hook us up with major colleges, so I guess that’s on me.” Rob really didn’t like school and never had any intention of signing up for four more years in prison so he had not applied to any schools or started any financial aid applications, it wasn’t too late to sign up for next fall, but that seemed a long way away.

“How about Youngstown state?” his mother asked. “I know they don’t have a boys soccer team but it’s open enrollment, so you could start this semester, and you do like research. You could see about coaching the women’s team or something too. And there are adult soccer leagues you could play in.” Molly had been a professor at Youngstown for years and the small local school was a good fail-safe for her children, one that so far hadn’t been required.

“Yeah Mom, that makes sense I guess, I’ll think about it.” His phone vibrated again.

“For crissake Robbie.” Rachel said grabbing the phone and swiping it open. “Who is Gerson Torre?”

“Who?” Rob asked halfheartedly,”oh, yea, he was the player-coach of some team in California that watched all of our games in that Arizona tournament last season.”

“Well you should read his email Rob.” Rachel handed him his phone.

“What is it?” His mother asked.

“He wants me to play for his team in San Francisco.” Rob said, reading the message, “He’s offering a part time contract and some cash to get settled. He’s even got a plane ticket on hold.”

“That’s great!” Rachel said with a hopeful smile.

“Yeah.” Rob scrolled further down the message, “Move to California by myself and try to live off a part time pay per game contract. I don’t see how that can work.” His mother, who had clearly been biting her tongue looked relieved when Rob said that.

“Oh, not much money huh?” Rachel said, “That’s too bad.”

“Nope, soccer isn’t a great way to get rich in the states I guess.” Rob took a deep breath. “OK Mom, get me the sign up forms.”

Rob still looked pretty down so Rachel punched him in the shoulder and said “How could this happen? You played ROR for crissake.” It was an inside joke she used every time something went wrong, referencing Drummer Dave’s video of the band's breakup that had gone viral, among Robs friends at least.

It worked, Rob actually smiled and said “Shut up.”

“Yeah, I heard you kinda sucked anyway.” Rachel shot back with a twinkle in her eye.

She always knew how to make her brother feel better.

***

Four days later Rob was at a new year's eve party with friends, most of whom had all been in the academy program and released at one point or another, telling some of them about his plans to attend Youngstown when he got a text from Jon James.

“Yo- I hear Gerson wants you in SFCFC too. You should come, we could head out there together. Text me.”

That was interesting, Rob thought, as he glanced at the doors again hoping to see Liz walking through them finally, then he texted Jon back “Going to college next month. Good luck, you’ll do great out there!”

He checked his phone again, but he still hadn’t gotten a reply from Liz. Then he sent another text, to one of his other friends, “Have you seen her?”

“No” Came the reply. Rob was getting that familiar empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. He’d been down this road too many times. He didn’t want to go there again. He tried to forget about it and have fun, but wasn’t having much success. There were plenty of pretty girls at the party, he should just start flirting with one of them.

But he didn’t. Instead he hung out in the back of the room with a view of the door and made small talk with some of the other guys.

Finally, near midnight he sent the text he’d been avoiding. “Hey Chris, have you seen Liz there?”

Less than a minute later his phone lit up, “Yea bud, she went through with Big Brad hours ago.” Big Brad was a leather clad, motorcycle riding, drug dealer that Liz always went back to when she left Rob.

Rob resisted the urge to throw his phone and muttered a few obscenities. He stewed in the corner for a few minutes and finally when the clock struck midnight and everyone started celebrating picked up his phone and sent two texts.

“Changed my mind - let’s do it.” and “What flight was that ticket for again?”

Jon’s reply was a string of happy emoji’s and a flight number for the next morning.

[edtheguy]

Crew Academy Final Stats 2017

 [size=1]Position Selected | Inf| Name            | Apps   | Gls| Ast| PoM| Pas % | Tck R | Hdr % | Cr C/A | Shot % | Tck  | DrbPG | Gl Mst | Yel| Red| Av Rat | Tgls/90 | Tcon/90 | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| John Ashton     | 1      | 0  | 0  | 0  | 70%   | 60%   | -     | 0%     | -      | 3.00 | -     | 0      | 0  | 0  | 8.00   | 0.00    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Craig Perez     | 33     | 26 | 4  | 4  | 67%   | 52%   | 39%   | 31%    | 51%    | 0.56 | 2.89  | 0      | 1  | 1  | 7.62   | 2.33    | 0.75    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Peter Martin    | 38     | 3  | 12 | 8  | 77%   | 90%   | 87%   | 0%     | 15%    | 5.87 | -     | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.58   | 2.26    | 0.71    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Jon James       | 31     | 3  | 21 | 6  | 64%   | 60%   | 65%   | 30%    | 24%    | 1.03 | 3.48  | 0      | 2  | 0  | 7.51   | 2.12    | 0.76    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Hanus Joensen   | 2 (2)  | 3  | 1  | 0  | 62%   | 33%   | 50%   | 0%     | 78%    | 1.54 | 0.38  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 7.50   | 0.77    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Enzo Barre      | 33     | 3  | 9  | 5  | 72%   | 65%   | 76%   | 33%    | 33%    | 2.06 | 0.17  | 0      | 2  | 0  | 7.18   | 2.32    | 0.76    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Rob Salinas     | 34     | 7  | 15 | 1  | 66%   | 57%   | 68%   | 39%    | 26%    | 1.34 | 2.05  | 0      | 5  | 2  | 7.08   | 2.30    | 0.75    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj| Conor Luthy     | 31     | 7  | 0  | 4  | 68%   | 79%   | 78%   | 36%    | 24%    | 2.93 | 0.56  | 0      | 3  | 2  | 7.06   | 2.41    | 0.67    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Andrew Bailey   | 30 (2) | 20 | 2  | 0  | 62%   | 42%   | 38%   | 4%     | 61%    | 0.40 | 0.99  | 0      | 1  | 0  | 7.06   | 2.39    | 0.74    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Chris Jones     | 31     | 4  | 1  | 1  | 71%   | 87%   | 93%   | 3%     | 26%    | 3.86 | -     | 0      | 4  | 0  | 7.02   | 2.42    | 0.60    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Chad Nguyen     | 9 (6)  | 2  | 0  | 0  | 62%   | 69%   | 60%   | 35%    | 33%    | 1.11 | 1.11  | 0      | 1  | 0  | 6.93   | 1.61    | 0.50    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Kevin Malone    | 38     | 5  | 10 | 1  | 69%   | 62%   | 53%   | 39%    | 38%    | 1.52 | 1.12  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.86   | 2.68    | 0.83    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Ivan Djurdjek   | 2 (25) | 2  | 1  | 0  | 56%   | 53%   | 29%   | 11%    | 41%    | 1.88 | 1.44  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.83   | 1.11    | 0.44    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj| Mike Walsh      | 6 (2)  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 39%   | 100%  | -     | -      | -      | 0.84 | -     | 0      | 2  | 0  | 6.80   | 1.68    | 0.56    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Derek Taylor    | 18 (5) | 1  | 6  | 1  | 53%   | 62%   | 59%   | 32%    | 29%    | 1.88 | 1.15  | 0      | 5  | 0  | 6.78   | 2.55    | 0.55    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Eric Harrison   | 34     | 0  | 0  | 0  | 35%   | 88%   | -     | -      | -      | 0.21 | -     | 1      | 0  | 0  | 6.74   | 2.25    | 0.70    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| John Schweitzer | 25 (6) | 3  | 1  | 1  | 66%   | 79%   | 81%   | 21%    | 23%    | 3.72 | 0.53  | 0      | 6  | 2  | 6.67   | 2.26    | 0.79    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Daniel Britton  | 2 (3)  | 0  | 0  | 0  | 74%   | 78%   | 60%   | 0%     | -      | 2.27 | 0.32  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.64   | 0.00    | 0.00    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj| Jay Edwards     | 9 (4)  | 1  | 4  | 0  | 58%   | 69%   | 67%   | 29%    | 50%    | 2.16 | 0.22  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.60   | 1.51    | 0.43    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Darren Wong     | 27 (7) | 0  | 4  | 0  | 65%   | 76%   | 74%   | 32%    | 17%    | 2.39 | 0.34  | 0      | 9  | 0  | 6.59   | 2.05    | 0.71    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Marc Stammler   | 2 (17) | 1  | 1  | 0  | 67%   | 70%   | 94%   | 0%     | 17%    | 5.06 | 1.35  | 0      | 0  | 0  | 6.41   | 0.84    | 0.34    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Vac| Steven Petersen | 2 (23) | 1  | 0  | 0  | 73%   | 66%   | 78%   | 15%    | 20%    | 4.49 | 0.81  | 0      | 2  | 0  | 6.41   | 0.58    | 0.35    | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |    | Kyle Ring       | -      | -  | -  | -  | -     | -     | -     | -      | -      | -    | -     | -      | -  | -  | -      | -       | -       | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/size]

[edtheguy]

March 2018

“Hi Mom.” Rob walked into his bedroom as he answered his phone. If he didn’t take this call there'd be hell to pay, his mother was understandably worried about him being ‘on his own’ for the first time. Jon was in the kitchen downing his second pot of coffee trying to wake up enough for the afternoon’s practice after working the night shift stocking shelves at the local grocery store.

“How are you doing Robbie?” his mom asked, “are they treating you well?”

“Yea, they are. Coach Torre was waiting at the airport for us and he’s helped us get settled in.” Rob sat down at the small desk in the corner of his room and saw on his laptop that he had an instant message.

Sorry about new years

I f’d up

Rob felt the familiar mix of anger and excitement and typed.

Yes

Again

“I was worried about you boys going off on your own.” His mom was saying on the other end of the phone call.

“I know ma, It was fine, the trip was like a buddy movie about a road trip, and once we had to start adulting out here Coach Torre was around to help.”

I’m a mess

need help

“Tell me about your Coach.”

I can’t do much from here

Just leave

“Coach is good, he’s been a player for a while, he’s like 30 something and now he’s going into coaching. The club just went professional a couple years ago and he’s really trying to build it up. He’s still playing for the next year or two depending how we do and then he’ll just coach full time. He knows what he’s talking about and he’s really seen it all before so we can ask him about anything when we have problems, it’s nice.”

I always needed you for that

What do I do now?

“Good, that’s good. What’s your apartment like, is it safe?”

Walk out and don’t go back

Don’t answer his calls

“Yes it's safe mom, the whole city has seemed nice, the part’s we go to anyway. Our apartment is great, it’s two bedrooms in a neighborhood called the mid market, and it only takes about a half hour on the metro to get to the stadium.”

No reply from Liz, she obviously didn't like his last answer.

“And how is it living with Jon, is he alright?”

“Yea, he was right, it’s good to have someone you know here. It’s kind of strange you know, everything's different. We had it simple in the academy, nothing changed much.”

Liz hadn’t replied for a while now and Rob knew from experience it would probably be a while before he heard from her again, and she would probably still be a wreck.

“I’m glad you have a friend out there. Your father told me you have a job too?”

“Yes, at Amoeba Music. It’s right around the corner from the stadium and it’s good because they are cool about my availability.”

“That’s great Robbie, but I worry about you around those music people they aren’t always the best influences.”

“Mother.”

“I know, I’ll leave it alone.”

“We’ve got practice soon, I gotta go.”

“OK son, love you.”

“Love you too mom.” He hung up the phone, slammed his laptop shut, and grabbed his practice bag.

Out in the kitchen Jon was ready to go as well. “Ready?” he asked, and when Rob nodded they headed out the door and down the street to the nearest bus stop to go to practice. On the way he dialed his phone.

“Hey bro.” Rachel answered his call as he and Jon boarded the bus.

“Hey Rach. Do you still know any of Liz’ friends?”

There was a moment of silence. “Why.”

“I need someone to pick her up and get her away from Brad.”

This time there was a deep sigh. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks sis, I know you’ve got more important things to do than deal with my mess.”

“Rob. I can’t stand the -” she sighed again, “chick- but you’re my brother and she’s important to you, which means she’s important to me. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

“You’re the best. Love you sis.”

“You too kid.”

Maybe now he would be able to focus on practice.

[edtheguy]

April 2018

A few days later Rachel called back as Rob was headed from Amoeba Records to Taverna Aventine for the club's open house season kickoff party.

“I did what I could, but I gotta get back to school. She’s staying with friends now and they’re trying to dry her out.” Rach told him after Rob said hello. “But if that girl doesn’t get into rehab she’s never gonna get better.”

Rob was glad Rachel got Liz out of Big Brad’s drug emporium, but just thinking about the whole situation made him sad. “I know sis, and so does she, we’ve talked about it.”

“I know you have Rob, you’re a good guy, she’s lucky to have you in her life, but you’ve done everything you can. It’s up to her now, no one can fix this but her.”

“Mmhm.” Rob really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

“Listen, just so you know.” Rach said as Rob got off the bus and started walking down the street looking for Aventine. “I took a shot too, I figured if your gentle love wasn’t going to get through to her I’d try some of the other kind. I got pretty tough with her, I don’t know if it will help, but it can’t hurt.”

“Thanks sis, I’m at the season opening party now, I gotta go.”

“Hey, I know this sucks, but try to have some fun- we did what we could.”

“Yeah, I will.”

Before he could hang up she spoke again, “Hey Rob.”

“What?”

“For what it’s worth she knows she’s lucky to have you.” Rob almost teared up at that. “ And I’m damn proud of my kid brother. Don’t ever forget that.” His big sis was doing it again.

“Thanks Rach, I couldn’t ask for a better sister either.”

“I know. Now get going to that party.”

“Bye.”

Rob must have had the look of a soccer player because as soon as he walked through the doors of Taverna Aventine the staff pointed him to the stairs to the basement room which the club had reserved for the party.

Rob was pleasantly surprised to see the party was well attended and there wasn’t much room to be found. One of last years stars, Chad Veljanoski a toned and powerful brown haired playmaking midfielder, waved Rob over to a set of chairs around a table in one of the corners of the room and introduced him to the three women with him who were all players on the Nighthawks team.

Erin and Emily were similar in name, appearance and position. Both were slim, tallish, had short blonde hair, pretty round faces, and played goal. Erin was the starter and had blue eyes and straight hair, while Emily was the backup and had green eyes and wavy hair. With them was Vanessa a spritely hispanic forward that just had a presence about her, one of those personalities you couldn’t help but notice. They all welcomed Rob to San Fran and to the party and after asking him about his background returned to local small talk until Chad spoke up again.

“Rob is the one I told you about, The one that plays guitar.” Rob didn’t know anyone knew about that here and his surprise must have shown on his face, Chad smiled and added, “Yeah, I know people at Amoeba. They say you’re pretty good, and they’re a tough crowd.”

Rob shrugged, “I used to play a lot, but now..” he shrugged again.

“He’s just being modest,” Chad said to the girls, “You should play after John’s speech, we’ll all need something fun after that.”

Rob smiled, “I didn’t bring a guitar.”

“No worries, they’ve got a couple out back.”

“Yes,” Erin spoke up, brushing a stray lock of sandy blonde hair away “You’ve got to play, that’s decided.” She had a very nice smile Rob noticed.

Before he could object any more John Andrews, the head of the supporters group which owned 51% of the club, got up to make his speech.

“No one likes speeches,” he started, which got a round of cheers, “so all I’m going to say is that I think I speak for every single El Lado Norte when I say we are damn proud of this club and excited as hell about where we are going in the next couple years.” Predictably this brought another round of applause. “For a club that only started in 2001 to already have come this far and be playing in the NADL is an amazing accomplishment,” a little less applause now, “Last year we appeared in our first US Cup as league champions,” this brought a little more applause, everyone likes the word champion, but Rob heard Chad mutter “shut up already” before Andrews continued, “and that is just the beginning. We are just starting on what will be a historic club that the bay area can be united behind and proud of.” more applause, though clearly everyone was hoping he was done now. But he waited for the noise to die down so he could continue, “I have no doubt this is going to be a great year. So let’s party!” Now the crowd let out a huge whoop and did as they were told.

Rob was impressed with how much support there was for a small, unknown club and was enjoying the moment. He had almost let his guard down when he saw Erin coming toward him with a beat up looking acoustic guitar. At the same time Vanessa got up on the bar and let out a bellow that seemed disproportionate to her slight frame. Once she got everyone’s attention she introduced Rob as the ‘team musician’ and he was on.

Fortunately the guitar was mostly tuned and within a song or so he was in good form, and had the crowd clapping along as he went. Since he didn’t have the world's best singing voice he stuck to well known crowd favorites and got everyone else to do the singing.

All in all it was a good night. Rob noticed by the end of the night that he seemed to have three new friends as Emily, Erin and Vanessa hung around with him the rest of the evening, Erin even drove everyone home afterwards, with Rob sitting in front with her as Vanessa and Emily sat in the back seat. He had to promise to go to their next game before they let him out of the car.

It was a good feeling, he felt like he was part of something real and as he went to bed that night couldn’t help but be excited about the prospect of the actual games starting soon.

He also wondered how Liz was doing, she still wasn’t responding to his messages.

[edtheguy]

April 2018

City’s first game was in Las Vegas against the interestingly named Las Vegas Mobsters. When Gerson posted the team sheet Rob wasn’t surprised to see he was on the substitutes bench. There weren’t enough midfield spots to play three offensive minded players and Chad, last season’s player of the year, was always going to be in the lineup. That meant he was basically competing with Jon for the starting position and even Rob could see that Jon was adapting better to the style and pace of play on the practice pitch.

In a way it made things worse to be on the bench for his first game as it gave him more time to focus on his nerves.

“Not the best field.” Connor Willis, one of the other subs said as he sat next to Rob on the flat aluminum bench placed along the sideline. The Mobsters played at Green valley High School Stadium, which was your generic combination football/soccer/track and field High School venue with open grandstands on either side of the field. All in all it was very similar to City’s own Kezar Stadium, only drier and in a much flatter area.

The pitch showed its struggle for moisture and heavy use as well, with several bumpy areas of dead grass and dirt. The Mobsters were obviously more accustomed to the conditions and better suited to play a direct aerial game and had the advantage right from the start.

Not accustomed to sitting the bench Rob couldn’t just sit still and watch so he talked strategy with his teammates on the bench and asked Gerson questions during breaks in play staying involved as the game unfolded. His immersion rubbed off on the others on the bench and kept the whole team involved in the game.

The Mobsters homefield advantage paid dividends early in each half answered only by a City goal by John Whalen that was set up nicely by Chad Veljanoski. Down 2-1 midway through the second half Gerson looked to go more offensive and brought Rob on to try to get some more service into the box.

Rob felt at home running out onto the pitch and talking positioning with his teammates, but once the whistle blew things went sideways for him.

He was still faster than most people on the pitch, but not by as much as he was used to and that coupled with a couple poor touches and the spotty pitch meant he wasn’t able to get anything going offensively in his limited chances and even worse, as he was pressing for the tying goal he was caught upfield on a counterattack and the Mobsters scored their third goal by finding an unmarked man at the back post after attacking down his side of the pitch.

When the final whistle blew the score was 3-1 and Rob’s first appearance in a City uniform was wholly unsatisfying.

As they walked off the pitch Jon came over to Rob, “That was crap.” he said, “we’re better than that, we should have won that game.”

“Bad start to each half.” Rob answered, “we never even made them a little bit uncomfortable. You played a good game though.”

“Not good enough.” Jon said shaking his head. “We’ll get em next time.”

Rob just nodded in agreement. No one seemed to blame him for the third goal, but he didn’t like not being a positive factor in the game, let alone being part of the negative so he wasn’t happy whether it was his fault or not.

Gerson’s speech after the game pointed out the negatives, but focused on the positives and already started looking forward to their next game at home against the Fresno Fuego. Rob liked his style.

***

“Do you know anything about Fresno’s team?” Rob asked Jon as the ‘Muni’ - as San Fran’s public transit was known - light rail car that they were riding came out of the tunnel, up onto the street and into the seemingly ever present morning fog on the west side of the city.

“Nah, only what coach has told us. We should be beating them though. How’s that girl back home doing?”

“Liz? Same as ever. Not great, she’s hanging out with people that will only get her into trouble again.”

“Not that drug dealer?”

“Not yet, but it's just a matter of time.” The Muni car made their stop and they got off for the two block walk to Kesar Stadium.

Once the home to the San Francisco 49’ers and, for one season, the Oakland Raiders, Kesar Stadium was at one time a fully enclosed stadium that sat 50,000 plus. After the major tenants moved to newer stadiums however the massive structure fell into disuse and disrepair and was eventually demolished and rebuilt as a 10,000 seat open multi use stadium.

San Francisco City was just one of the current tenants, the others included a Women’s Premier Soccer League team, the San Francisco Nighthawks who Rob was already familiar with, and a women's W-League team the Bay Area Breeze as well as an Ultimate Frisbee team the San Francisco Dogfish. In addition to those teams the stadium hosted various high school competitions and NCAA D1 Lacrosse tournaments.

Rob and Jon were among the first to arrive and started warming up as the wind picked up, moving enough fog to see glimpses of sun here and there, and the rest of the players rolled in. Kesar was in the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park, the huge rectangle of green space in the middle of the northwest portion of San Francisco. 20% larger than New York’s Central Park Golden Gate housed a myriad of activities, ponds, museums and venues as well as walking paths and through roads and was almost always a bustling center of activity.

After warmups, when everyone was there, Gerson took out his lineup and Rob saw he was again on the bench, so he set about his unofficial assistant coaching duties, making sure everyone was on the same page for tactics and preparation and before he knew it the game was starting.

A few of the Nighthawks players were in the stands loudly cheering City on, which was distracting to Rob for a couple reasons. Firstly as the fog cleared and the sun came out they wore less and less clothing and secondly he was feeling guilty because he hadn't managed to get to one of their games yet. The only home game the Nighthawks had played when City were in town so far Rob had to miss because he had been working.

They didn’t seem to mind however as the first time he looked back at them Erin gave him a big smile and waved both her arms over her head. Vanessa was there too, but he didn’t see Emily with them.

When Rob managed to focus on the game he could see that City had the clear edge against Fresno and with the ball at their feet they were able to take full advantage of the difference in skill, building a 2-0 first half lead.

“This is the City team we know,” Geson told them at the half, as they sat in a circle off the side of the pitch. “When we play like this we will be hard to beat. Let’s show them more of it in the second half!”

After some light warm ups to finish the half they took the pitch for the second half with the Nighthawks fiery spark plug Vanessa shouting encouragement. And they were a completely different team. A step slower and lackadaisical on the ball it took just ten minutes to surrender the lead and by the middle of the half Gerson was calling for Rob to enter the game again.

This time Rob had a better idea what to expect and managed to make better use of the ball the few times he touched it and held shape nicely off the ball, but was unable to have much of an effect on the game and time ran out with the score still 2-2. Gerson was clearly less pleased with a second sub par performance but still sent the players on their way with words of encouragement and as Rob and Jon walked off the field they were met by the Nighthawks.

“Tough one,” Erin said consolingly, “ you guys should come with us to the Chalet.” Erin was wearing a sport bra type top with tight shorts and had her sunglasses on top of her head, as the sun was in hiding again.

“The Chalet?” Rob asked.

“The Beach Chalet, on the other end of the park, by the ocean. We go there a lot, good food, nice view. Drinks when you’re old enough.”

“I can’t,” Jon sounded disappointed, “I’ve got to get to work.”

“How about you Rob?” Vanessa asked, “You coming?” Vanessa was wearing a thin top and jean shorts over a two piece swimsuit.

“Sure, but I don’t have a change in clothes - and I’d need a ride.” He had just changed shirts and pulled some running pants over his shorts after the game.

“C’mon,” Erin said heading towards her car, “you’re fine like that, hop in.”

[edtheguy]

San Francisco City Football Club roster preseason 2018.

[size=1] Position Selected | Inf       | Name            | AT Apps   | AT Lge Apps | AT Gls    | AT Lge Gls| 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Will Caligiuri  | 89        | 83          | 0         | 0         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Robert Aloisi   | 0         | 0           | 0         | 0         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Andy Ortiz      | 88        | 83          | 6         | 5         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj       | Brad Evans      | 77        | 76          | 4         | 3         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj       | Mike Bertuzzi   | 68        | 68          | 2         | 2         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Marc Herrera    | 55        | 55          | 1         | 1         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Gerson Torre    | 80        | 76          | 4         | 4         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj       | Terry Salazar   | 83        | 83          | 7         | 7         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Tom Sherard     | 66        | 66          | 4         | 4         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj       | Andrew Manning  | 69        | 68          | 6         | 6         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Dan Garoutte    | 68        | 68          | 7         | 7         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Connor Willis   | 64        | 62          | 2         | 2         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Kevin Mays      | 68        | 68          | 10        | 10        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Jon James       | 64        | 64          | 5         | 5         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt       | Andy Norris     | 88        | 83          | 15        | 13        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Kris Velázquez  | 73        | 70          | 10        | 9         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt       | Josh Hernández  | 83        | 83          | 8         | 8         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Rob Salinas     | 88        | 83          | 11        | 11        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt       | Michel Sánchez  | 79        | 79          | 6         | 6         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Eric Maroales   | 34        | 34          | 1         | 1         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Allen Miller    | 60        | 58          | 7         | 7         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Josh Hart       | 13        | 13          | 0         | 0         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Cory Humphries  | 71        | 68          | 5         | 5         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Inj       | Gareth Griffin  | 87        | 83          | 8         | 8         | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt       | Mike Ramírez    | 70        | 70          | 10        | 10        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Rod Smith       | 90        | 83          | 16        | 14        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 | Wnt       | Chad Veljanoski | 91        | 83          | 17        | 16        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | John Whalen     | 71        | 68          | 41        | 39        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Nick Parsons    | 64        | 64          | 22        | 22        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Adam Fucito     | 65        | 65          | 21        | 21        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| -                 |           | Eddie Parra     | 68        | 68          | 33        | 33        | 
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[/size]

[edtheguy]

July 2018

“We just needed one break.” Jon said shaking his head. The TV in the background showed the final score of France 1, USA 0 as some of the pub’s patrons began to rise to leave. “It was right there.”

Kezar Pub was packed. It was full of young good looking people at the bar, groups of friends at most of the tables and even some families in the booths. While Kezar was definitely geared towards the sports crowd that liked to drink and watch the games together they did their best to draw families and other patrons as well and this afternoon, for the World Cup semi final they had their dream crowd of a packed house eating, drinking and enjoying the game.

Chad, the only one at the table old enough to drink, put his beer down and shook his head, “Nah, France was in total control, they could have turned it up any time if they needed to.”

In an old one story building with one multi paned window and set of doors directly across from the entrance to Kezar field, Kezar Pub was the longtime traditional hangout for the supporters of Kezar field’s major tenants which now included SFCFC.

Across the table Emily brushed a strand of blond hair from her eyes and looked at the small, plain watch on her wrist, “Wanna go for a walk before work?” She asked Rob.

Rob was not often in the Pub, as he was still well underage he didn’t drink with the supporters, but today, for the World Cup he was there with some of his teammates and the usual girls from the Nighthawks.

Rob and the group he was with got several friendly greetings and pats on the back during the game, but Rob wasn’t sure if it was because the patrons were SFCFC supporters or because of the attractive young women accompanying them.

Rob smiled as one of their new friends waved on his way out of the pub. “Sure,” he said to Emily, grabbing his phone as he stood.

Since the first night that Erin had invited them to hang out at the Beach Chalet Jon and Rob quickly became good friends and regular partners in crime with the ‘Three Amigettes’ as they called themselves, Erin, Emily and Vanessa.

The Amigetts rented a house together not far from Golden Gate Park and most of Rob’s free time the last two months was either spent at the beach, the Beach Chalet, or their house.

He had even started giving serious thought to asking Erin out before Jon told him she wasn’t interested in the opposite sex, which made Rob embarrassed that he hadn’t noticed it himself, much to Jon’s amusement.

It had made life easier for Rob once he realized it though. While he was clearly Emily’s favorite he was also Erin’s favorite, but only as a friend and confidant, and once Rob realized that it was so much more relaxing to hang out with the Amigettes.

Rob and Emily walked out of the pub into the dim afternoon fog. Emily was wearing a tank top and shorts, which seemed optimistic given the unpredictable weather in San Fran, but Rob couldn’t object, she looked good. “I’m starting tomorrow’s game, Erin's gonna be out of town again.” She tried to sound nonchalant but Rob could tell she was excited.

They headed past Kezar Stadium into the park, “Awesome,” he said as they passed a family with three kids heading out of the park. One of the children was crying loudly and the mother was embarrassedly trying to shush him. “We should find more groups for her to join, you could play every game.”

Emily rolled her eyes, “I think she’s got enough causes already.” she wrinkled her nose when she spoke, Rob always thought she was cute when she did that.

Emily had a point, Erin was involved in every progressive movement and protest Rob could think of already. That coupled with some ‘friends’ in other towns made her the kind of teammate that would drive Rob crazy, undependable and frequently absent. At least she told her coach ahead of time when she couldn’t make it, usually.

Rob looked over his shoulder at the family leaving the park, with the child still fussing up a storm. “Maybe we cleaned up the kids favorite trash last time we volunteered.”

Rob, Jon and the Amigettes had been volunteering on work crews in the Golden Gate Park to help clean and maintain the park over the spring. Rob and Emily found it gave them a great sense of pride and belonging in the community.

Emily laughed. “It was probably the beer cans behind the carousel.”

“Definitely,” Rob tilted his head towards the big, classic styled old carousel that they were walking by, “Speaking of the carousel.”

“Yes!” Emily said, grabbing his hand and running to the line to get on before the ride started again. Her shoulder length blonde hair bouncing as they ran.

Inside the glass walled circular building that housed the carousel, which had been restored in 1984 and had a working German organ to provide sound, Rob took a seat on the sea dragon and Emily on a nearby giraffe. The kids quarter of the park was busier than usual that afternoon and had a real carnival feel, but they always felt like kids when they rode the carousel, no matter how many other people were around. Rob and Emily had to pay an extra dollar to ride since they were over 12 and no longer considered children. But since you couldn’t tell them they weren't kids anymore when they were riding the carousel it was worth every penny to them.

Afterwards, as they walked back out of the park towards Amoeba Records Emily rested her head on Rob’s shoulder as they talked about the last couple months. “What’s your record now?” she asked him.

“6-7-5” Rob answered, leaning into her a little more as they walked. While they had never taken the step to officially declare a relationship everyone they knew considered them a couple already, “We’re hanging around in the standings, but that slow start has hurt. Since then we’ve been top.” He had to admit he definitely liked having her this close. The smell of her hair was intoxicating.

“Gerson should give you more starts.”

They hurried across Stanyan street when someone finally stopped at the crosswalk for them, “He can’t, he’d have to sit either Jon or Chad and they’re our best players.”

“Better than a goal a game?” The fog had lifted and the late day sun hung over the green space of Golden gate park behind them now, casting everything in a romantic light.

“It was one goal in one start, that’s not a track record. Coach gave me a good eval though, he wants me to work on my dribbling and tackling. He said it’d be good if I got in the box more and could head the ball a little better. If I get better at those things I’ll get more starts. He’s happy with my work rate, fitness, crossing and speed, so that’s good at least.”

They walked silently for a while until they got to Amoeba and Emily gave Rob a big hug “Call me after work?” she asked as she stepped back.

“Sure” Rob said and headed in for his guitar lesson appointment with an obnoxious 12 year old named Kade thinking that it was a good thing the money was good, because students like Kade stirred homicidal tendencies.