Yellow Cards

The UEFA Euro Cup has been on ESPN for the last month. Since I am living in a house with DirectTV, I have had the wonderful privilege of watching most of every game. I have seen some great footwork. I have also seen some great fouls.

Here is a picture of Gerard Pique of Spain (Yeah champions!) getting a yellow card. Can I just say that over my 15 or so years of playing, I have only received one yellow card. It's not that I wasn't aggressive. I was. I just never was flagrant. Except once.

Picture this, we're playing our biggest rivals (King High School) and I think the score is tied (Isn't funny, how this is NOT what I remember). My arm has been hurting because someone stepped on it. I really want to win, so my emotions are so high. We have a corner kick and I am standing in the penalty box being defended by a small little thing. Well, homegirl, decides to keep booty bumping me and I cannot move an inch without being accosted by this defender. So I just straight up take my arms and shove her away from me. Unfortunately, the referee saw this and I get a yellow card. And because when you get a yellow card in a high school game, you have to be subbed out, I just started running to the sideline. I remember my coach just looked at me and shook his head and smiled.

You see, yellow cards aren't really a terrible thing (unless you get too many - don't be stupid). It means that you are showing passion. I feel like I am such a fence sitter at life: Republican or Democrat? Who cares, why can't we just get along? Beach or Mountains? Well, they both are great, do I have to choose? What's your favorite food? Well, it depends on what day it is.

I wish I got more yellow cards playing soccer. But I always (well not always) played it safe. I was smart. I fouled just enough to get the ball. I think I also play it safe at life. I don't take risks. Even moving to Texas wasn't a terrible risk. I had a good set up to jump into. Don't get me wrong, its been hard because I miss my family terribly. But really, its not like I hitch hiked to South America with only a bag on my back (Yeah, I don't recommend taking that kind of risk).

I think we're supposed to take risks at life because otherwise, we don't know what we're capable of. So here's to taking more risks.