It may be hard to see the person in this photo but this is my tribute to a very good friend of mine--Joshua Hardester aka Josue. He has been the one who has baptized me into the sport known as futbol to most of the world. I still love and play futbol americano, but I now have a love of the game we call soccer in a way I never did before because of Josh's influence on me this year. I played in my first match since fourth grade after our goalie tore his hamstring in the first half. And the real shocker was that I played pretty well. Everyone was amazed that hadn't played before (other than fourth grade when I was pretty much riding the pine for the year). Anyway, from there on out we played for fun every Saturday and every Sunday we played in a league.
I've always loved to play sports in general, but now I was gaining real knowledge on the soccer field that I had never had before. In a baseball or football field I had the knowledge--those places felt like home. However here, I was a foreigner in quite a few more ways than being from another country. But it's been an absolute blast.
However, along with playing, Josh has shown me the ropes on jerseys, wrapping your shoelaces around the shoe to tie them up well, pointing out the key players, and then going on to tell me where they have played over the past 15 years, what their favorite color is, and what type of cheese they like to eat on their burgers. He knows them all, and I am better for it.
So, with that...a warm heartfelt and bellowing thank you. The year wdn't have been the same without you. You'll be missed.
