Goomah Turmoil
Suburban Turmoil | October 15
Childsplayx2 here. It’s Goomah time again and you’ll all be happy to note that we’ve managed to line up a Goomah for two months in a row now (I know, impressive). Anyway, this month we are honored to have the lovely and talented Lucinda/Lindsay (yes, she came out of the closet) from Suburban Turmoil grace our pages here at The Blogfathers. Drop by Suburban Turmoil and you can read about her taking on Mom’s Clubs one day while dealing with Soccermania the next. She’s also a 2005 Best of Blogs winner (I’m not jealous, I was just happy to be a finalist… Oh, wait… Never mind). Anyway, I digress. Please welcome Lucinda Lindsay (I’ll never get used to that).
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If your daughter has played soccer for a Nashville middle school during the last four years, chances are you’ve heard The Bell.
It’s an old-fashioned hand bell, the kind Laura Ingalls’ teacher rang outside the schoolhouse when lunchtime had ended. My husband received it as an award from a teachers’ association several years ago and he figured it was an impressively noisy way to celebrate each and every goal scored by my stepdaughters’ soccer teams, as well as difficult saves, spectacular plays and, occasionally, my favorite move: the slide tackle.
The girls on our team love The Bell and so do their parents. The opposing teams? Not so much.
“You’ve got to stop ringing that bell,” one of our opponents’ fathers said peevishly at a game not long ago.
“I like your TV reporting, but I hate that bell,” another opponent’s dad told my husband the other day.
Hubs just laughs. Because he knows that many of these irritated parents who do little more than clap politely from the soccer field sidelines are the same people who don their Tennessee Titans or University of Tennessee jerseys and paint their faces every weekend, who scream at their television sets or tailgate around RVs blasting fight songs. And they sure don’t mind a little noise and fanfare then.
“I’m a man,” Hubs told me when he began ringing The Bell four years ago. “I like watching sports and cheering on my team. But why am I going to waste my time screaming for a bunch of guys I don’t even know when I can cheer on my daughters instead?”
I couldn’t argue with that. And so, even though I fear The Bell has given me permanent hearing damage and I can’t help but cringe sometimes at the sight of the angry faces staring us down from the away side bleachers, I’m proud to have a husband who gives our girls the Titans Treatment. And I only wish more dads did the same. Because I guarantee that while no NFL player out there cares whether Bill Jones screams for him every Sunday afternoon from his living room sofa, to Bill Jones’ daughter, it could make all the difference in the world.
Great post. Good blog from that other part of Tennessee.
I thought I’d take a quick break from screaming at my television (how ’bout them Titans!) and my computer (hey Eric, how you like me NOW?), to welcome the second Goomah from my beloved Music City into The Family. I’d love to buy you lunch sometime as a thank you… Copper Kettle?
Sure! Oh. Wait a second. The Copper Kettle’s in Green Hills and I’m pretty sure the Mommy Mafia there has a contract out on me. ;)
I guess we’re going to need to buy a bell when The Squad gets old enough to play soccer.
Nah… we sent a message with the Copper Kettle fire… Green Hills is our turf now.
Sure enough….
Does your husband tailgate at the soccer games?
That’s so sweet! Whatta dad! Cheers for him!
Such a great post! I don’t have children old enough to play soccer yet, but it sounds like such fun!!
My husband would tailgate I’m sure if he could find anyone to join him. We do currently have the last game score and all the team players’ names and numbers painted in window paint all over our SUV. Good times.
Great idea! Maybe if I get my husband a bell he will stop screaming his head off at our son’s basketball games. Do you think the hearing loss will be intensified indoors?
Same here with all the noise but subtract soccer and add cheerleading and you’ve got us. HAHA Gotta support the sports these kids love and if their parents aren’t there to cheer them on who will??? Many Kudo’s to your hubby, the bell ringer!!!
I have heard the bell and will probably be on the receiving end of it this season. She speaks the truth!