Monday, April 15, 2013

MLS Instant Replay-Referee Decisions

I subscribe to the MLS YouTube channel for these weekly recap videos on referee decisions.  Every week there are great examples of difficult decisions for referees to make.  This week's sample has more than the usual amount of great content to review.  Take a look and share your thoughts.

I continue to see examples of non-calls and wonder if they are missed or judged to be no-calls.  This video highlights a few, in particular the holding and grabbing of jerseys in the box.  Leagues and FIFA have to intervene with the craziness on corner kicks.  But that's another matter for a later discussion.

Nonetheless, this weeks update has some great clips of excellent referee decisions and serve as excellent learning videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh_Xx7i-gkQ

Sunday, April 14, 2013

The Playhouse is Coming Down

Back in 1996 our friend and neighbor, Brian Paules, took on our back yard project to help relieve the water build up in the back yard every time it rained. It was also putting stress on the foundation. Something had to be done. We tore out the entire back yard, built a 4 foot deep french drain all the way across the back of the house to the storm drain at the street, connected all the gutters to the new drain, layered gravel, then new top soil, and seed. We installed a new tree line of 3 foot Leland Cypresses. And the final piece of the project was a playhouse for the kids! We have had a ton of great memories with that playhouse. Neighborhood kids, cousins, grandparents, and even pets have smiled and laughed on that playhouse.

Time has come to move on and the playhouse is coming down. The kids are older now and really only the new puppy likes to go up and look down from inside. Very cute actually until we discovered that's how she jumps over the fence to get out of the yard!

The demolition began this weekend and we struggled a bit with the change. Lots of changes coming and this reminds us of our new chapter starting this fall when Jacob heads to college. The playhouse coming down is like a foreword to that new chapter. I guess we started the chapter a little sooner than we really wanted to.