I got one a few months ago that is my abslolute favourite, not sure if it counts. Important context, I’m 40 but still play soccer with folks as young as 20. So, one game I’m defending against a young fast kid and beat him to the ball (barely!) a few times in a row on long ball chases. After the third or fourth time he looks over after the race and says “You’re really fast for an… uhhh uh uh, you’re really fast!”

He meant so well and it was adorable watching him realize mid sentence that I probably didn’t want to be called an old man.

Oh interesting, I’ll look into that. I’ve always felt pretty tuckered after beach volleyball so just assumed that was somehow higher impact.

Thank you!

You’d best believe I’m ordering these books ASAP!

I definitely kept getting hurt because of the bro-ey “MORE WEIGHT MOTHERFUCKERS!” attitude, keen to try the opposite.

You’re fully right on the attitude. Part of why I love these teams is somehow we keep attracting just awesome groups of people so even though everyone plays their heart out, it’s still laughs and loves when we get ragdolled.

Interesting idea moving up to forward. I always joke about how scary that half of the field is but I’m not a terrible distributor and don’t mind just being bigger at people in the box…

I’ll definitely follow up with you at some point if you’re down. Right now, I’ve got to heal this dumb foot but then, yoga, the gym and maybe slowly transitioning to forward to get some practice there with friends before trying that on a new team.

Really appreciate the kind words and support!

Oh cool, I’d never heard of a packraft but they seem awesome!

Fully recommend ocean kayaking. My buddy had an attachment so he’d basically be trawling a fishing line behind the boat so more often than not, we’d have fresh caught, ready for dinner when we landed.

Oh dang, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Habs, they’re so much fun to root for. Must be fun now that you’re on the upswing with Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and co!

Thanks for thoughts on Hughes, myself and most of the city feel similarly.

Hmmm, that seems so counter intuitive but I will give that a shot!

A 30 minute workout?!? That feels like cheating, I am DOWN!

Ha, I fully get the appeal of getting away from the younglings! I’m lucky, I can still keep pace with most of them. Which led to my favourite accidental burn:

Defending against some fast kid (okay, early 20s) and I beat him a few times on sprints to long balls. After the 3rd or 4th time, he says "man, you’re really fast for an… " then pauses, re-evaluates, “uhhh , you’re really fast!”

They had me at “written by Aaron Sorkin.”

My God, I love this as a new meme format.

Dumb question, is there an easy imgflip equivalent for adding a static header like that to an animated gif?

Sorry to hear it, that’s a rough hand to be dealt. But yeah, like you say, at least the season starts soon! As a Canucks fan, I’m ready to be hurt again.

I have! I’ve only watched one league and it was wildly competitive (lots of Europeans who played at much higher levels back home) but I’m sure there must be some at an appropriate level.

The thing that has really stopped me is that on most of my teams I’m 5 - 15 years older than my teammates so they couldn’t come with me and I love them. But, maybe it’s just an opportunity to make new friends

These are pretty inspiring examples! I guess I just have to change my headspace from “I’m losing soccer” to “I’m picking up a new lifelong sport.”

Ahahaha, well I do love tempting fate so maybe…!

This was really well put, thanks! I’d actually been worried about the older age groups for much the opposite reason, the couple I’ve seen have been hard competitive with a lot of Europeans who used to play at higher levels. And I’m a 5 - 15 years older than most of my team mates so I’d have to join pretty much solo. But I imagine there are a bunch of different leagues of all abilities/aggression/competitiveness.

This is heartbreakingly reasonable advice. (I play centre D so almost all the gameplay changes you suggest are my bread and butter. Probably time to learn a new position if I want to stay intact.)

Great advice on the workouts, probably safer to only play if I’ve been working out that week AND it’s great motivation to actually go to the gym.

This is true. I used to lift but it was a pretty bro-ey group/instructor and I hurt myself enough times that I switched to swimming (which I admittedly don’t do enough of.) I should probably look into another trainer and get back to moving heavy things up and down.

That warms my heart!