Balance, or Lack Thereof

Balance. Harmony. Equality. Even Steven. Different cultures, philosophies, and religions define this concept using different words or customs. The bottom line, however, is that a group must come together and embrace “different sides to the same coin” in order to succeed. Unfortunately on Sunday the Villians kept embracing the wrong sides of harmony in a tough 2-0 defeat at the hands of Lexington. A few examples:



“Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up”: You may have heard this quote in a legendary speech by the late basketball coach Jim Valvano, who delivered these inspiring words prior to succumbing to cancer. In the interest of balance, however, there are times when one should not give up, and times when one should, in fact, give up. The Villians got it all backwards though. On the first goal (which I had given up on watching so I am just going from anecdotal accounts of Villains that basically boiled down to “Its not my fault!”), The Villains collectively gave up on the play when they should not have. Nobody thought a “throw-in” would generate a legit scoring opportunity, everyone gave up, and next thing you know, the ball is in the back of the net.

The second Lexington goal, however, was a time when giving up would have been the correct course of action. The ball was slowly rolling towards the goal as Nick and Joe pursued it and tried to save it from crossing the line. Nick should have given up, knowing that Joe, as he usually does, was going to hustle like a mad man and clear the ball. Instead Nick ran after the ball as well, got there a split-second too late as Joe was clearing it, and the ball deflected off Nick into the net. Can we amend Jimmie V’s legendary quote to "Give up Every Once in a While"?

Where else should the Villains have turned for advice on maintaining balance? Look no further, my friends, than to Cam’s dog’s big old balls. That’s right, that ugly thing had one ball that hung down by the ground and the other high up in the air. If the Villains had looked to Cam’s dog’s balls for guidance, they would have emulated the one on the right, and kept the ball on or near the ground at least half the time, and looked to the left nut for occasional surprise balls sent through the air. Instead, the Villains maintained their penchant for sending long, high, thru-balls that were easily gobbled up by Lexington’s keeper, instead of capitalizing on the Villains' manicured new home field and building offense through short passes and possession.

Overall, had The Villains embraced a more harmonious style of play, then perhaps the soccer gods would have acted more favorably during a last-minute fury that included at least three Villain shots off the posts and crossbar.

Other random notes from the game:

*The ref sucked, but in the interest of the universe being in balance, somehow had a decent-looking girlfriend.

*Scott had a pretty funny fall, that in no way exhibited any sense of balance or harmony.

*Lastly (and in no way relevant to the rest of this game summary), anyone have friends on facebook that ran the Boston Marathon? Talking about how sore they are today? Blah blah blah. Chances are if they ran the marathon then they probably trained for it all winter. Maybe they should try not exercising once all winter and going out and playing in an old man soccer league match! Then talk to me about being sore! Or at least just go with the old Villian gangsta-lean excuse. Damn rookies.