Laying an Egg!

The Villians took their first-place show on the road, up to Byfield, to face North Shore United in a cool, crisp, windy match. A few soft goals later, the stunned Villains left the field as 3-1 losers (both in score of this match and in overall record). For all intents and purposes, however, The Villians still control their own destiny, and will be in fine shape moving forward. Still, what happened in this match is worth exploring. It was a evenly played match, and tough to tell why it became lopsided, so we consulted with some of the great leaders and philosophers from throughout the hostor of civilized earth to help us. Here is what we came up with:
"Be quick, but don't hurry." John Wooden

Villians need more of this. Get the ball. Don’t rush. Control it. Then make a decisive move. Posses with composure and urgency. A perfect example of this is Ryan’s goal, which was The Villians’ lone goal in the match. Ryan took a pass at the top of the 18, collected himself, made a decisive move to his right, and fired a shot on net. Goal. Be quick but don’t hurry.

“Opportunities Multiply as they are seized.” Sun Tzu – Art of War

On occasion the Villians strung together a some nice passes, taking what the defense gave them. With each successive pass, new opportunities opened to move the ball forward. Sometimes even moving the ball backwards is ok, as taking advantage of an open man will multiply opportunities moving forward.

“Speak Softly and Carry a Big stick.” Teddy Roosevelt
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions”. Confucious
“A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.” Buddha
“It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.” Abe Lincoln

I’ll add one more quote to this series. “Jamie, if you are gonna constantly be negative, loud, and yell at everyone on your team, that’s fine. Just don’t give up a back-breaking “own-goal” right before the half in a tie game. Talk is cheap.” Nick Savarese (Payback, biatch)
“A bitch is a bitch.” Dr. Dre, MC Wren, Ice Cube, Easy-E (a.k.a. N.W.A.)

This quote is in honor of #6, the bald-headed mofo on the other team who wouldn’t stop bitching at the ref, or guys on our team, or guys on his team, even when they were up 3-1 and the game was in hand.


"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” Leonardo daVinci

To the ref, who most likely knew what to do, but had zero urgency whatsoever. Fucking 30 guys showed up to play at 9:00 am on a Sunday morning, and he just wanders around the field aimlessly… chatting, walking, pissing, whatever. Finally he gets the game started at 9:20.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do”. Confucious
Back to Confucious to close it out. So we failed. Big deal. We’ll get these guys later in the season, back on the postage stamp in North Andover. For now we get up, brush it off, and roll into a double-header against a beat-able Harvard team. Let's stay in first place.