ENTRY #9
Thursday, October 13, 2011

 
Last Thursday we kicked off conference play against BYU on a cold and rainy night in Provo, Utah. The game was scoreless going into halftime, but the second half was a different story. BYU would strike first, and then a few minutes later Micaela would break free of the defense and bury one into the back of the net. The second half ended 1 to 1 and the game was headed into overtime. About halfway through the first overtime one of their players was able to break free at the top of our box and put a shot into the back of our goal. It was a hard loss, but we are ready to take on the rest of conference one game at a time and it starts this Friday at 7 pm against San Diego. (For those of you that are not taking it one game at a time, we will also be playing Saint Mary’s at 1 pm on Sunday).
 
Up until this point in my blogging I have been keeping the fact that I am a goalkeeper to a minimum. There is a stereotype that surrounds goalkeepers that I am not particularly fond of, but in most cases it is relatively true. The stereotype is that goalkeepers are just a little bit different. And when I say a little bit different, I actually mean a lot different. We wear different colored jerseys and gloves, we dive through the air, we put our heads near pairs of feet, and our personalities also tend to set us apart from the rest. Due to these attributes, I have learned that there are two types of people in the world; HOGs and FOGs. Before I got to Portland I was unaware that these specific names, but now I believe that I am very knowledgeable of the differences. A HOG is a “hater of goalkeepers.” These people like to spend their free time making fun of goalkeepers, repeat constantly that they could do our job with one hand tied behind their back, and state over and over that our position is useless. A prime example of a HOG is our head coach G; a practice is not complete without a comment about how needy we are. On the other side, there are FOGs who are “friends of goalkeepers.” These are the nice individuals of the world that realize how difficult goalkeeper’s jobs are and how much we do for a team. Usually FOGs have some personal connection to a goalkeeper or were once a goalkeeper. One major way to tell the difference between a FOG and a HOG is that FOGs actually have conversations with goalkeepers and HOGs make comments about goalkeepers.


This is a prime example of HOGs; I was violently thrown into the ocean by a few of my teammates while playing what was a fun game of 500.
 
So which one are you? Do you enjoy watching goalkeepers make amazing saves or do you poke fun at their quirkiness? My homework for you—yes I am giving you homework—is to think twice before making fun of a goalkeeper and try to have a conversation with one. I think that you will find that conversation enjoyable and entertaining.
 
Until next week,
Dees (it’s the 9^th blog, I think we are on a last name basis now)

PREVIOUS ENTRIES
- Entry #1 (Aug. 17, 2011)
- Entry #2 (Aug. 24, 2011)
- Entry #3 (Aug. 30, 2011)
- Entry #4 (Sept. 7, 2011)
- Entry #5 (Sept. 14, 2011)
- Entry #6 (Sept. 20, 2011)
- Entry #7 (Sept. 28, 2011)
- Entry #8 (Oct. 5, 2011)

PAST BLOGS
- The Emma Nelson Blog (Fall 2010)