This morning, 11-year-old Jake woke up in a T-shirt and soccer shorts. Then he changed for school, into a Little League baseball training workshop shirt and an identical (but fresh…I hope) pair of soccer shorts. When I folded what was in the dryer yesterday, I came up with a blue DJ Rockers shirt (Spring soccer ’09), a purple Dover Litho shirt (Spring soccer ’07), and, you guessed it, yet another pair of swishy black soccer shorts.
To be honest, we’re not a huge sports family, but let me tell you: if it weren’t for sports, that kid would be naked.
I remember those guys in college who walked around in shorts all winter, and you know what? I get it now. They weren’t athletes, I don’t think. But they were probably athletes once. And they had a lot of T shirts that they acquired for playing something, somewhere, with someone. And the numerous, identical (I’m hoping there was more than one) athletic shorts with their elastic waistbands that those guys wore every single day really worked for what I can only imagine were their ever-increasing Thursday/Friday/Saturday drinking guts.
Yup, Jake’s one of those guys (without the drinking and the gut, though, right?). He hasn’t got a world class baseball cap collection yet, but I’m sure that’ll be coming down at some point, and it’ll come in handy when his hair inevitably starts to thin. For now, I’m just glad for the triple blessing of kids’ sports: physical fitness, good lessons in teamwork and sportsmanship, and major daytime and evening wardrobe supplementation.
My favorite kids’ soccer shirt of all time is actually my daughter’s, from the one and only season she played. Her team sponsor was the First State Funeral Services. Their team color? Black.
My husband thought they should be called “The Undertakers.” Win or lose, you gotta love that.
Scheir Madness 
Amy said,
September 25, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Hi Cheryl…my favorite day of the week is game day…that is when the boys get to wear their soccer uniform shirt and I don’t have to hear complaints about have to wear a red/white/blue polo!!!! Love the idea of the Undertakers!!!
Cheryl said,
September 25, 2009 at 6:18 pm
You said it, Amy. It’s a nice change from the school uniform, isn’t it? The hard thing for us now is that Jake’s been a DJ Rocker for three seasons, all with different colors. If only they were the same, we’d have 3 shirts in the rotation!
Have a great weekend!
Monica said,
September 25, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Cute blog post! I love the bit where you said if not for sports he’d be naked. Have you showed this post to Jake? How would he feel about you predicting that he’s going to have thinning hair when he gets older?
The black shirt for the First State Funeral Services is a stitch (am I starting to sound like my mother…I think so.) 🙂
Cheryl said,
September 28, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Sorry to say, Monica, but the genetic odds are with the baldness (my Dad, since his 20’s. I guess we’ll see.
By the way, I think that as of today, he’s worn soccer shorts for the 5th day running.