Random observations:

It was an interesting week playing pick up this week.  Played on Tue at the Railhawks field.  1st time I've ever seen blood playing pick up.  It started out just like any other pick up game.  The weather was threatening rain when I arrived but for almost an hour, we had ideal playing conditions.  I was playing in the "young" game and nothing was out of the ordinary although a couple of players were a little more physical but nothing too brutal.  Then, on a random 50/50 ball, two guys hit while converging on the ball.  It didn't appear too serious at first.  However, the smaller player stood up and the entire right side of his head was covered in  blood.  Apparently they hit heads on the way to the ball.  The guy with the bloody head didn't realize how bad it was since all the blood was on the side of his head/face.  I called for a towel from the organizers but before they could get it, the bottom fell out.  A torrential downpour.  Everyone scattered and the game was over.  Very strange day.

I also played on Saturday in an early morning regular pick up game.  There are a host of regular players and then some new players float in and out.  The core group was there and we like to zing each other about how we play, missed shots, bad passes, etc.  There are also some youth players (mostly the players children) that play as well.  I missed a through ball from one of the young players and was immediately chided for not being able to run down an over hit through pass.  The issue was, I had already scored on an earlier through ball played off my knee.  So, I reminded the youth player of that fact just as a counter jab.  To which I received "It was just luck"  I then replied, "if you get lucky enough times, it is skill"  only half joking.  It does closely reflect an observation I adhere to - "if you don't put yourself in position to succeed, you never will"