What a weekend

Nine games scheduled, nine games completed.  Still no baby!

The entire weekend I ran with my phone in my breast pocket just waiting for a call from my wife.  Had the ringer on as loud as possible...and nothing happened.  I did get one call from my mom, just about half way through my last game of the weekend.  My ring is the Godfather theme song, so once I heard that I knew it wasn't my wife as she has her own ringer.  I'm sure one or two of the players were surprise when a cell phone started going off.

Most of my games this weekend were blowouts, including the U18 girls final last night.  4-1, after being 1-0 at the half.  It was nice though, pretty easy games especially with so much on my mind.  Only 5 yellows in my games as center, not too bad for 4 games.

In a follow up about my shoes post - I've now worn my shoes for 10 games and I still like them.  Did my feet hurt last night - absolutely.  But it wasn't the shoes, it was 9 games over a 48 hour period, 6 of them were full 90s and the other 3 80 minute games.  I did have one blister on my middle toe, left foot, but it was not painful at all.  Other than that my feet are in good shape and my legs, although tired, feel pretty good.  Definitely a good buy, and I feel much better than I would have had I been wearing my turf shoes.

So, what happened during your weekend games?  Anything out of the ordinary?  Did you watch any pro games this weekend?  What about the referee sparing Dema Kovalenko in last night's Galaxy - Dallas ballgame?  Could have easily been a second yellow before the break, but Jair kept him in it.  Good decision?

I'll try to have a post later today bout US Soccer's week in review from last Friday.  Send me your thoughts!

Looking for better shoes?

A few months ago an avid runner looked at my feet as I had been complaining about them for a while.  She recommended I look into custom orthotics.  I looked into them and got them just before the Youth club season began.  I worked into them over a few weeks and eventually used them for all my games.  The foot doctor also recommended that I look into different shoes, mainly because my feet are wide and could benefit from a wider shoe, especially in the toe box.

So, two weeks ago I visited a well-known running store called Fleet Feet.  He helped me find a good shoe, and honestly at this store I'm sure all the shoes were good as this isn't just a Dick's store where they carry all kinds of running shoes.  I got the Asics GT-2150, width 2E.  I took out their insole and put in my orthotics and wore them in a game for the first time last night.  Although it was only a U14 girls match and I was only the AR, they fit pretty well.  My assessment after one game is that they were a really good fit, very comfortable and the extra width makes a huge difference.  The space inside the shoe feels very roomy, but at the same time the shoe still stays on my foot.

For clarification, these are just running shoes, not turf shoes.  I would not recommend wearing these in the rain, but last night on pretty dry grass they performed well.

This is only one game, but I like the shoes so far.  I have nine games this weekend so, come Monday, I will be able to give a better opinion on them.  Cost at Fleet feet was roughly $90 after tax.

Are there any shoes that you can recommend to me?

Here are Bill's shoes: