The Season's Over

This past weekend was a blur of sporting activity. Beginning Thursday night with the Penguins and Leafs (that's old news...); continuing Friday night with our town's version of Friday Night Lights; onto Saturday with the flag football playoffs; and, of course, The World Series last night. Everyone's season is finally over...
As my camera bit the dust, the pictures are courtesy of John's brother and sister-in-law...

Friday Night
This town lives and breathes Spartans football and our team did not disappoint - in fact the Spartans 8-3 record may have single handedly secured the passage of the two renewal levys our school district has on the ballot next week - no joke! With a 25-0 win over the cross-town rivals, community pride was as explosive as the fireworks at the end of the game.
Canadian's have never seen football this way and frankly, it makes us proud to show it off! I brag more about the marching band (300 strong!) than the football.




Saturday
Caeden's team ended the flag football season with a perfect record....of losses! They put up a valiant fight in their playoff game though - losing in overtime. The best part of watching his game?...The smile never left his face, except when his tongue was sticking out;
a trait he shares with his Dad and brothers! There is nothing like watching your son play a sport and smile the entire time he's on the field - even when they never win.




Jackson's team ended their season with an almost perfect record - and the Championship! The first game (a resounding win) got them to the Championship game against the only team that beat them all season -- the pics show Jackson's Dick Butkus stare-down and his QB moment!
However, after that, Jackson's WONDERFUL coach became a WIN-AT-ALL-COSTS coach. That means, Jackson barely played in the second game...I'm not sure what upset me more, the fact that Jackson had played brilliantly all year and deserved to be in that final game, or the fact the John defended his coach for making the decision, reasoning that Jackson had had trouble keeping up with the other team's quarterback in their losing game. So...(and this is how women think...) play him in a different position! As long as he's on the field, bury him somewhere...!
I'm not sure if his coaches thought he wouldn't notice not playing because of his Asperger's or if they thought he could handle it because, for the most part, he doesn't "act" like he has Asperger's and he would deal with it like a typical kid! But he did notice and he was heartbroken...I had John ask his coach to say something to him after the game, which made things a little better.
I know for sure that the message got through to them though -- two hours later the coach called our house on the pretense of talking about a team party, when in fact, he called to make things right with me and explain how great Jackson is. Too little, too late buddy...I KNOW how great my son is - one day you will know too...