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Intro 1998 1999 2000 2001

Another week and weekend bites the Oregon dust, so what happened this week? The big event was the soccer tournament at Camas in Washington. I'd managed to get a team together, having 12 players for the Saturday, and 13 for the Sunday, plus Graham, who was really for emergencies. On the Friday 1 player couldn't make the first game, so we were down to 11 - no margin for error.

Saturday dawned fine, with us all away by 0715, pretty much on schedule. Fortunately, the trip to Camas only took 40 mins. rather than the full hour we were expecting, so we were there for 0800. Most people were there early or on time, the travel time caught them out as well, and I issued uniform. (Oh, I forgot to mention that I spent Friday evening organizing the uniform, sorting out who got what.) Guaranteed, 1 guy arrived 2 minutes before the 0900 start, and had no uniform, having missed the ordering session. Anyway, he just made the start, although perhaps he wished he hadn't. We were in the under-12 section, as there was no under-11s, and there were only 3 teams, so we played each team twice. The first team certainly were making the most of it, and some of those kids looked pretty big, compared. Sure enough, some of them were 2 years older than the younger players in our team, and it showed, not only in speed and physical strength but also in playing the game, making passes, moves, etc.

We lost the first goal after a few minutes, and by half time it was 5-0. Having said that, they played reasonably, not disastrously. After the turnaround, they lost another few of goals, but then Steven Hitchcock scored 1 for us! Big celebration all round. The final score was 11-1, and Graham got to play, as 1 person took a slight knock and wanted to come off. He got stuck in, even made a tackle, and was willing to get in there, not just back off. Colin played fine as well, showing some nice skills.

The second game was against the team that had beaten our first opponents 3-1, so confidence was not high. However, they played far better than the first game, losing 7-0. I let Graham play for the last few minutes of the second half, but he took a ball full in the face and burst his nose. Not a happy bunny at that point.

The final game of the Saturday was against the first team again, this time losing 7-0, but, again, there was a good improvement in the way they were playing. I was positively shocked when Graham was still wanting to play. After taking one full in the face most kids wouldn't want to play, but he was dead keen, so in he went. The other team had a free kick, about 25 yards out. Their guy just drove it towards goal, and all our players jumped out of the way. Except Graham. He stepped in to block it and took it full in the stomach. Once again he came off with tears streaming. That was in the first half, and by the end of the second half he wanted to go back in again! Amazing! This time I said no, much to his disappointment.

I was talking to the tournament organizer during the latter part of the game, and she was full of compliments for Graham, the way that a 6-year old had gone in and done as well as the others. She said that he would be getting a special award for his efforts.

On the Sunday we played our final game against the team we played second. The boys played their best game of the tournament, going down 7-1 (the goal scored by Kyle Rubendale, following up when the goalkeeper could only parry a shot), 5-0 at halftime, but really should have scored more. They spent a good portion of the game in posession, and some in attack, and showed a great deal more skill and composure. Graham again played for the last few minutes, and in that time he tackled the biggest lad on the pitch, taking the ball off him, dribbled it about 10-15 yards, drew a defender and passed the ball to another of our guys ahead of him. Boy, did he get a big cheer! If only I could get the others to do the same!

And so to the presentation ceremony. There were only prizes for first and second, trophy and medals to winners, trophy to second place. Then the tournament organizer announced that there was a special award, one for the boys and one for the girls, decided by the referees and organizers for sportsmanship, committment, etc, and for the boys it was awarded to Lake Oswego Sharks! She clearly stressed that we had given the other teams 1-2 years and had never stopped playing and trying. She called me down and I gave out the medals to each player, calling them in turn. Colin and Graham were last in order, and Graham got a tremendous cheer from all present, the biggest of the day.

Overall, it was well worth entering the tournament. The boys obviously learned a lot from the 4 games, and their play in the final game was markedly better than their first. When they come to face teams of their own age it should hold them in good standing, as they will have had some experience already. Finally, a big vote of thanks has to go to Alyce Rankin and the others of C-W Revolution soccer team for hosting the tournament. Everyone enjoyed it, and we'd like to return next year. Check out the photos on our Revolution '98 page.

Other than that there's been not much going on here. We're getting the final bits and pieces together for the move into our new home on Friday. We're getting in the removal people to shift the bigger items of furniture, and we'll do the rest over the weekend. It's worked out real good for us, as our rent on the apartment would be up at the end of the month anyway, so we have a few days to complete the move and tidy up. Roll on the next week!

In the news, Clinton was finally seen to be caught out on the Lewinsky affair. He made a short tv appearance on Monday night to admit that he had fibbed a bit when, earlier in the year, he'd said that there was no sexual relationship. However, he stressed that this was something that he had to work out with the two most important groups in his life; his family and his God. In other words, "This is my private life, so bug out!"

Opinion here seems to be fairly divided on what should happen now. Some either see it as a private affair to be resolved with his family, or don't see what the problem is. Either way they are happy for him to remain in office.

The others, however, make the point that if a manager in private industry had an illicit affair with a trainee and indulged in sexual activities in the workplace, he wouldn't last 2 seconds and would be forced to resign. They argue that he has tarnished the whole office of the presidency, and should be replaced.

For myself, I see the points of both parties. An affair is a deeply personal thing that has to be worked out in the family, and is not the business of the media. And yet... He _is_ the president, and as such is more than just an ordinary Joe in the street. Rightly or wrongly, he is looked towards as a role-model, and he is setting a bad example. I think he'll ride this one out, but if there is another 'incident', of any kind, I think the tide will turn and he'll be out on his ear.

Just to sicken all you UK people. I was speaking with my Dad this weekend and he said that the Win98 upgrade was 85GBP. Here it's only $85, so with an exchange rate of about $1.62 to the GBP that means it should cost you only about 52.50GBP. This place looks better all the time.

So, next time an American seems to be bragging about how much less everything costs in the US, he's not bragging, he's just telling the truth...

Well, that's enough for this week. I'll catch you all next week.