Recap: Not nearly as many guys today, probably 26 or so, which meant two fields but only a couple subs. The play was chippy, decent at times, but not great. I have complaints but more on that later.

Health Report: Relatively unscathed, though I did get tackled once way too hard against the boards. I have complaints but more on that later.

Performance: Okay. It was not a great day for footie, that’s for sure, and the general attitude definitely had an impact.

Rating: — Right, so the basic problem was that a few fellows I never like playing with were all on the same field. One guy tackles way too hard and, to top it all off, he sucks. Another guy shoots on site of the goal (and you can see the goal from every angle in the place) and rarely hits the target. Passing is like his seventh or eight option. They were both on my team and tempers were simmering, as the one kept fouling opposing players and the other guy wasn’t passing. This led a third guy on the team to take upon himself to try and dribble through the rest of the team because he got tired of passing to the first guy, who invariably sucked it up, or the second, who shot. So guys are yelling at each other, tensions are high, and the fouls are slowly starting to escalate.

On defense, I nudge a guy off the ball (who is quite good but isn’t afraid of tackling too hard) and start up field at the fullest speed I have. He is behind me clattering into my heels and eventually just scythes me down alongside the boards. Way too close to the boards if you’re running full speed, and I’m imagining, oh, concussions and spinal injuries on the way down but end up getting my arms up falling short of face planting into wood.

So I grab his foot as he’s stepping over me to alert him I’d like a word to explain that I did not appreciate the foul next to the boards. He concedes it was a foul but did not think it warranted further discussion. I informed that I differed in opinion, and by this time a number of other people had waded in. The only thing I left out is the fact that this interaction was done at, say, the top of our lungs and I may have left out a few choice four-letter words. After the brou-ha-ha, things settled down a bit. Actually, the two biggest idiots from our team left and with them, so went the trash talking and bad fouling.

Later, the guy who had taken me out did apologize as did I for losing my temper. I found him and shook his hand on the way out too. Over the last hour, three guys told me at different I had a right to be angry because it was indeed a bad foul and dangerous against the boards, as I had been wondering to myself if I had blown the whole thing out of proportion.

The best part of playing pickup is the camaraderie and I have no interest in playing with loudmouths or persistent foulers. The vast majority of regulars would say the same thing, but it’s funny how just a few idiots can ruin the whole thing. It wasn’t a particularly bad day in terms of play, nor was it particularly good, but I can’t get this incident out of my mind and that’s what bothers me the most.