The first one's out of the way

The Mounties women's soccer team were able to get their first win this year against Southwestern College.
There was a bit of panic after losing their first two games, especially after the high bar they set last year.
Alex Loakes almost went down, but the girl's got heart and stayed in despite an injured ankle.
She tried to downplay the injury, but she was carted off the field. She really had to be in pain!
She ran back onto the field and showed the type of leadership that you love to see in sports. Scored the first goal to kind of take some pressure off the team, and really helped the offense get going.
I talked to coach Bowen and she said they've had to adjust to a couple of big injuries such as sophomore midfielder Christina Carriaga's, who played a big role in thier run last season.
Defender Taylor King has had a chance to move up in the offense due to the injuries and seems to be comfortable in that role.
She had at least 4 shots on goal that I counted, and on any other day they might have all gone in. They still have Jennifer Rivera out there, and although it seems like the team isn't running through her as much as it did last year, the potential for a big spurt is still there. She can't be contained for too long, and when she decides to explode, WATCH OUT. The girl is special on the field.
The team effort is certainly there. I love seeing a team that not only wants to win, but has fun playing the game. It's great to see the whole team get up and congratulate the player coming out of the game and really form a welcoming atmosphere on the sideline.
It's great to see a head coach who shows confidence in the players and teaches them to play the right way.
Hopefully this win catapults the team to a big run like last season's.
Their ball movement isn't quite like it was last season, and maybe it'll take them a little bit of time to really get into championship form, but I know coach Bowen will set all of that straight and the girls will respond soon enough.

Meeting the Montanas

Way before Hannah, and hitting his prime just after Tony, was a man named Joe who also carried the name of one of my top 3 square-shaped states of all time, and lit up the NFL. He dominated the sport of football like maybe no other will, and solidified himself as arguably the greatest quarterback in history.

Brought up as a San Francisco Niners fan, Joe Montana was on my Mt. Rushmore of sports heroes growing up. He was right between Michael Jordan, Mike Piazza and Bugs Bunny. (I was 8 when Space Jam came out. Are you kidding me! Combining my favorite cartoon character with my favorite sport was epic!)

Super Joe hasn't done much lately. It's doubtful that he'll be dancing on channel 7. Probably won't be belittled into sharing a house with reject stars on VH1, but once in a while he'll make public appearances at local community college football stadiums. Guaranteed.

Nate Montana plays the coveted position of hall of famer's son at Pasadena City College.

Young Nate had the privelage of playing his first collegiate game ever, at Hilmer Lodge Stadium against our very own Mounties.

Did the Mounties know he was Joe Cool's son? Ohhhhh you better believe it. Poor Nate was on the ground more than a person doing Wii Fit Yoga.

Anyway, Mounties won and it was time to do my journalistic duties and interview the brutalized Montana kid. He was cool as can be. Knew the right things to say and handled the interview as if the loss hadn't affected him. I thanked him for the interview, and watched the son of greatness run away into the brutal California sunset.

After a couple more interviews, I noticed a casually dressed man who glowed like Dr. Manhattan and had a crowd around him like the Fonz. It was Joe Montana. The football Icon in the flesh!

As a sports fan I almost wet my pants, but once I gained composure, I put on my reporter hat and walked right over to the legend. The awkward confrontation went like so:

Me: Hello Mr. Montana

Super Joe: Hi there

Me: Would you mind if I asked a couple of questions for the school paper?

Super Joe: I'm sorry, I'm here for my son and I don't do that stuff. I let him take care of the questions.

Me: Oh ok. Thank you anyway.

Ok. Fair enough. I understand why he wouldn't want to talk. He's freakin Joe Montana! He can talk to or not talk to whoever he wants.

It was really tough for me though. One of my Rushmore heads was right in front of me and I just couldn't leave empty handed. I couldn't ask for an interview again, that'd be stupid. So since he didn't want to talk to me as a journalist, I tried it as a fan. I looked in my backpack and I saw something I never thought I would see at that moment. It was a Sharpie! I ran to Joe Cool for one more shot at a perfect moment with one of my heroes. I asked him for an autograph.

He politely said no. Wamp Wamp. What an ending.

There I was, holding a Sharpie and a game program, alone in the world while my head was spinning like Sidewinder.

I was almost scared to put that picture of him up (above) in fear that copyright laws might reject me from putting it up.

I was rejected twice by the greatest of all time. Just might be the greatest rejection of my life.

Mounties soccer this friday

The Mountie men's soccer team play this weekend against Richmond. Game time is at 7 p.m. After a tie game against Taft where the Mounties had plenty of chances to put the game away, they won their first game pretty easily last Sunday against Oxnard.
A win tomorrow gets them into the tournament championship and it'll get them off to a great start this year.
The soccer team went all the way to State last year and had a finish to the season that while admirable, I'd rather not get into.
Ok, so we got killed by Cerritos 4 times last year, but this year we should win at least one game against them. Other than that stain on the season, they had an amazing year with tons of exciting highlights.
A lot of the sophomores who made huge contributions last year, like, Spencer Jones and Tony Camacho are back this year, and I think they're worth a look. Combined with the new guys coming in, there's potential for another run at the state championship this year.
If anyone is interested in watching a fun, fast-paced sporting event at Mt. SAC, this would be a good game to check out.