And now your Soccer Moment for Today, which you will never see replicated in the Premier League, because the last I looked dads were not allowed to stand next to the goal, not even if you're Man U or Man City or Chelsea, or even Arsenal or West Ham.
Which is to say, remember that old line, "Jesus saves, and Esposito gets the rebound!"?
Well, check this out. Dad saves (kinda), and little wanna-be Messi gets the rebound.
Now, no one should advise dads to go around pushing their sons to the ground, even if it winds up in a glorious save. You could argue, if you were of a certain bent of mind, that it constitutes child abuse.
But ... come on.
Watch it again. Tell me you didn't laugh. And tell me, if your child played shorty soccer or tee ball, that the spectacle of a little guy standing by the goalpost staring off into space didn't light up your memory board.
Did for me, although the memory doesn't involve one of my own kids. It involves my niece, Hannah, who's all grown up now (she's an RN in the heart unit at Lutheran Hospital), but who, years ago, played tee ball as a tyke.
One day, she was manning second base. Well, sort of. Actually she was standing with her back to the plate, staring off into the vast green void of the outfield, communing with nature.
About that time, some little guy took a mighty swat at the ball. It trickled through the infield. Rolled to a stop against Hannah's heel.
She turned around. Stared down at the ball. Stared and stared at it, as if it was the most wondrous thing she'd ever seen. Meanwhile, her dad -- much like Goalpost Dad -- was standing next to her, imploring her to, you know, do something baseball-y.
"Hannah!" he kept pleading. "Pick up the ball! Hannah! Pick it up!"
Kudos to him for not doing what Goalpost Dad did, and just picking the damn thing up himself and stepping on second.
Then again, hard telling where the kid who hit the ball had wandered off to.
It was tee ball, after all.
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