Soccer fan makes himself a little too comfortable

Editor's note: Lisa Prejean has been spending time with teenagers at a Key Club convention in Northern Virginia, and a fine arts festival in Lancaster, Pa. Her weekly column will resume next week. This column originally appeared in September 2010 and is being republished in honor of the start of spring soccer season.



An interesting thing happened on the soccer field sidelines the other day.


Not that it's unusual for interesting things to happen when quintessential soccer moms get together, but, well, this was not a typical incident.

In fact, I've never had anything like this happen before.

The game was about to start. The weather was perfect. The sun was shining, a cool breeze was blowing and our boys were ready to play their best.

What more do you need after a hard day's work?

My mom sat to my left; families from our team surrounded us.

As the referees met with the captains in the center of the field, I felt a stirring to my right.

I glanced over and saw a man I didn't know setting up his chair right next to mine. The arms of our chairs were practically touching.

"Oh, let me move down and give you guys more room," I said, thinking he was with the family to our right.

"That's not necessary. It's just me," he said with a smile.

At this point, I wasn't sure what to do, so I moved my chair closer to my mom's.

I wondered if my husband — the coach — could see what was happening, but he was too busy getting ready for the start of the game to notice that anything was amiss across the field.

So, I did what any other soccer mom would do. I smiled, shrugged my shoulders and prepared to watch the game.

After the first play or two, something became quite evident.

My sideline buddy had made his way into enemy camp.

Our first clue was his under-the-breath "C'mon! If that wasn't offside, I don't know what is."

Part of me wanted to turn to him and innocently say, "That's OK. It takes most of us a few seasons to understand an offside call or lack thereof."

Then I thought, "What advice would I give to my kids or my students if they were in this position?"