Tag: injuries

Eagles – Helaine’s Got The Sound Down By Now

We are die hard Eagles fans, we Foxes. Before we caught on that even non-drinkers could watch the game at a bar, we listened on the computer. Before that we scrounged as best we could.

Being an Eagles fan is an exercise in self flagellation. They have found nearly every way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

After losing last year’s Super Bowl they proceeded to self destruct in the off season.

Superstar Terrell Owens started sniping at superstar quarterback about the same time the ref shot off the gun ending the game. Had the gun contained more than blanks, who knows what would have happened.

Owens also protested his superstar contract. It didn’t pay enough.

Then there were injuries and unhappy talk from other players. No one was well. No one was happy. It was the Eagles as only a true fan knows them.

I started as an Eagles fan through a strange quirk. A friend had tickets. That first game was played in the sun, on a warm late summer’s day. An American flag covered the entire length of the field as I walked in and gazed down at The Vet.

It would be like prejudging airline service based on airline ads. I started attending games anyway.

By the time that first season ended on an amazingly cold December day, the Eagles had managed to go 4 – 10&#185. I was hooked.

Tonight is the first game of the new season and the Eagles are playing in front of a national audience on Monday Night Football. As I type, they are down 7-14. The league’s most accurate kicker has missed two so far.

Hey, the night’s young.

Before the game began a scuffle broke out on the field. Forty five minutes before the game began, a ref threw a flag! Jeremiah Trotter of the Eagles was disqualified.

The Atlanta Falcons drew first blood. They flowed down the field like water into New Orleans. They were a torrent. Before long they did it again.

This is not to say the Eagles aren’t playing too. They scored a touchdown and missed those two aforementioned field goals.

The game is young. There’s still a full half to go. The Eagles could turn it around and win big… or get blown out.

Meanwhile, at home, Helaine has a game plan going. The next few sentences are based on my 20+ years experience with her.

She turned on the set, but kept the volume low. Then, after the Falcons scored, she turned it off entirely. At the moment, it is Helaine in the darkened house, the flickering TV dimly lighting the room – but no sound.

I would call her, but… Well, I value our relationship too much too call now. She is in pre-mourning, if you will. Even if the Eagles win she will have spent the entire evening knowing they would lose.

Hey, that’s what real Eagles fandom is all about.

&#185 – Back then the season was mercifully 14 games.

The Farewell Tour Begins… At Age 17

It is a rainy, drab, chilly Sunday. It’s also a great day. Helaine, Stefanie and I have just been to Steffie’s field hockey team annual dinner.

Steffie received the award as ‘Most Improved Player’. It was a great honor and an award I feel was well deserved. Watching her play defense was amazing for Helaine and me. Steffie was fearless, aggressive and had an uncanny ability to pick the pocket of offensive players.

She wore her injuries (and she got pretty banged up this season) as a badge of honor.

The team and many parents got together in the basement banquet room at ‘Eli’s on Whitney,’ a local restaurant. Upstairs the bar was busy with banks of TVs showing out-of-town NFL games. Downstairs, it was all about the high school field hockey season that had just ended.

As the dinner went on, and the coach and some players spoke, Helaine and I realized this was the beginning of the end of Steffie’s high school life. Sure, she’ll be going to school for another six months or so, but now she’ll be doing many things for the last time.

That’s what made this celebration bittersweet. There’s no guarantee we’ll see Steffie play field hockey again – or that she’ll ever play again. It’s not the kind of game you play pick-up style with friends. There’s a good chance she’ll go to a college with no field hockey program/

Though field hockey has been important to all of us, it’s not that field hockey’s ending that’s so important. It’s that we’re leaving one part of her life and heading into another. There’s no stopping. There’s no turning back.

We hope it’s a bright future facing Steffie. She deserves a bright future. But no matter how bright, we’ll miss where we’ve been.

At this point, life is moving much too quickly. Steffie might not agree with that but I know Helaine does unconditionally.

Fractured Fairy Tales

Before Stefanie was born, Helaine and I had a long running joke. If our child turned out to have any athletic acumen, there should be an investigation.

Let the investigation begin!

Steffie’s school requires students to play sports – period. Nearly everyone, two of the three semesters a year, plays some sort of team sport. Steffie has played basketball, lacrosse and field hockey.

She’s actually been playing basketball since she was in grade school. This can probably be attributed to the very popular University of Connecticut’s women’s basketball team, which is a perennial powerhouse.

Over the past few years, Steffie has gravitated more and more to field hockey and there’s no doubt it’s her favorite sport.

Forget what you’ve heard about women being demure. These girls mix it up. Field hockey is by no means a gentle game under any circumstances. Wooden stick in hand, playing over sometimes rough fields, the ball is hard and travels fast. Shin guards are worn, but that’s about it for padding (except the goalie who wears an unbelievable amount of foam and plastic).

Steffie is very good at this game… and fearless. Playing a defensive position, she knows letting a ball get past her can easily become a goal by the other team.

Today, playing at home, her team dismantled a team from Stamford. With two quick goals in the first few minutes, they never looked back. Steffie played hard and with great skill.

She was fast and relentless, digging out the ball and changing it’s direction. Her position calls for a ball stealer, not a pass catcher. She’s perfect.

Defense is not a glory position. When played properly you don’t hear about those playing it. When played poorly, you’re counting losses.

All went well until there were about 10 minutes to go. In the middle of the action, another player swiped for the ball and caught Steffie’s right hand, middle finger. Most hits wouldn’t have caused a problem, but Steffie’s own stick stopped the motion and concentrated the force into her finger.

She was in pain.

It wasn’t long before Steffie was on the sidelines being attended to by Ethan Victor, who was assisting the trainer. The finger and hand were swelling.

It seemed like the right thing to do to go to the hospital, so Steffie and I drove to Yale/New Haven Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Emergency Room. When the receptionist was taking down Steffie’s information and asked where she was born, I got to say, “upstairs.” Steffie was born at Yale, like George W. Bush (though he is less likely to admit to any Connecticut connection).

Ethan the trainer, was now Ethan the emergency room trauma specialist! That was a good thing because he helped speed along what would have been a slow and tedious process. The emergency room was jammed. It was “Sports Injury Saturday” with soccer, bicycle and paintball related injuries around us, and more that I don’t know about.

After seeing a few doctors and nurses and getting an X-Ray, we were told Steffie had fractured the tiny bone at the tip of her finger. More than likely, it would be just fine. But, Steffie would have to wear a splint for a while. And, field hockey would be out for two weeks… OK, maybe a week if her pediatrician said it was OK.

We drove home. Steffie was still in pain, but I think there’s a certain satisfying comfort in really knowing what’s wrong with you.

Though she always shies away from pictures and complains I take too many, Steffie agreed to ‘pose’ for this shot to archive the occasion (and possibly email to friends – I never quite understand what she’ll do). She will wear the splint with pride. Her team won.