Game 6: ¡FUTURISMOS! 4 — Hoff in the Shower 3

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: or Why The Write-Up Is Short This Week
I have failed you, ¡FUTURISMOS! fans. I thought I’d be able to be reasonable about reading the final Harry Potter by reading a couple chapters a day. Alas, just as Harry’s fate is inextricably intertwined with Lord Voldemort’s so is mine to read about it like a fool.

A Perfectly Normal Game
This game was weird in the sense that it felt perfectly normal. The weather was “nice.” The temperature was in the mid-70’s, I reckon, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so the sun took its toll. Yes, I am grateful for the Sun—seeing as how it is the source of life on our planet—but that doesn’t mean I like playing under its gaze.

Our opponent was Hoff in the Shower. Their record and the scores of their games led me to believe this game would be a breeze. Once again I learned the existential nature of the game the hard way. We beat the p450’s 10-3 and they’re half a game out of playoff contention. HITS is tied for last in the league and they put up a dogfight that we narrowly won.

Bobby scored the game’s first goal. Their keeper looked shaky and we looked like we were ready to cruise.

Then they scored and tied but the knot was short lived.

Bobby scored again and so did Big Pete. We went into halftime up 3-1 and looking good. They had threatened a few times and came away empty but we had on many occasions. So headed into the second half we were up 2 goals and felt like we were on the verge of a few more.

Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls
It wasn’t over confidence or slackened effort that caught up with us in the second half. No, HITS just scored a couple good goals and we couldn’t crack the keeper they switched to for the second half.

That keeper, by the way, scored one of their 2 second half goals. He made a save. Dropped the ball on the ground. Took off up field. Scampered by a couple defenders. Then unleashed an excellent blast from 20-yards out to the left of the goal into the lower right corner.

They tied it with just under 10-minutes to play and the life went out of us. Not in a dramatic way that was clearly visible on the pitch. We just lost our zip. We needed a boost and it didn’t look like one was coming. But then with 5-minutes to play Li’l Pete turned everything around.

Energy is still largely a mystery even to the sciences. Energy is a stubborn element. We can harness it. We can use it. But we don’t really understand it. From an empirical standpoint why Li’l Pete’s efforts worked is a mystery.

What Li’l Pete did was want to win. She started yelling, “¡Five minutes left, and we are going to win this game!” At first it had no effect. Then slowly it started to build. As though the spirit of Li’l Pete imbued all the ¡FUTURISMOS! with a will that was lacking. We were quicker to the ball. More decisive in our movement.

And then with a minute to play Li’l Pete’s energy invested in the club paid off.

Bobby lured the keeper out to the right side of the goal then calmly slotted the ball over to Big Pete who was waiting for it on the left. The pass was perfect and Big Pete escorted the ball into the goal to score the game winner.

There was still a couple minutes to play but the game was over. We played neither particularly well nor poorly. It was a normal game and we were a little bit luckier than HITS. C’est la vie.

Play of the Game & Faustian Moment: Big Pete’s Ronaldinho Summersault Goal
I never thought I’d see the day when the Play of the Game and the Faustian Moment are one and the same. Leave it to Big Pete.

Big Pete was running toward the goal and received the ball only about 15-feet from the goal (sorry, I can’t remember who passed it). The keeper was already rushing Big Pete to smother the ball before he got a chance to get off a shot. The keeper and the ball got to Big Pete’s feet at almost the same time. The keeper was sliding sideways and took Big Pete’s feet out from under him. His momentum carried him forward and he ended up doing a kind of flip/summersault over the keeper.

The ball got caught between Big Pete’s feet and he ended up flinging it forward mid-summersault flip. It is important you actually take a moment to imagine this:

Imagine standing still with the ball between your feet. You do summersault and when your feet are straight over your head you let the ball go to throw it forward. That’s what Big Pete did... on the run. So as he flipped over the diving keeper he threw the ball in with his feet into the goal.

Big Pete tumbled into the goal unaware of what happened. Then looked down and saw the ball with him in the net; looked up and saw his teammates cheering; and realized he had scored a stupefying goal worthy of a Ronaldinho.

I have no doubt had Dr. Faust been there to witness Big Pete’s Ronaldinho Summersault Goal and his reaction to finding himself in the net with the ball he would have yelled “¡STOP!” at the nearby Lucifer and sold his soul right then and there.

It was brilliant.

Li’l Pete Award: Li’l Pete
It’s rare to hear the Li’l Pete scream anymore. I’m not sure why. Perhaps there aren’t as many people who kick the ball hard enough. I like to think our defense is better so we don’t leave her alone anymore with people who kick the ball hard enough to kill children (or spindly adults for that matter). So it is a rare treat when we hear the outright scream Li’l Pete issues when she throws herself into a cannon ball.

We got to hear it as Li’l Pete snuffed out HITS final attempt to get the ball down near our goal to score the tying goal. A HITS guy was trying to rifle the ball into the middle from the sideline. Li’l Pete had none of it, threw herself before the cannon, screamed and the ball bounced harmlessly out of bounds.

Game over.

Thank you, Li’l Pete.