Trust, But Verify

Parents know what it’s like to rush from work to ball games and school events. Maybe you don’t have to be there, but it’s the right thing to do.

I was already destined to be late for a lacrosse game this week because it was all the way in Amsterdam and scheduled to start at 4:30. It didn’t help to get out of work an hour late, but I said I’d be there. After driving like hell to get there, I rolled in with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.

But my son’s team looked a bit smaller for some reason — and the coach, who can usually be heard from the parking lot, seemed oddly reserved. Maybe some of the kids couldn’t make it. Weird. And did the coach finally give himself laryngitis. Could be.

When the clock wound down and the PA announcer intoned, “And the final score… Amsterdam 6, LaSalle 9.”

Wait… LaSalle? I’m at the wrong game!

I’d been told early that morning that it was in Amsterdam — and don’t you know that Amsterdam’s uniforms are the same purple and gold as our own? It looked like I was in the right place, and I was so blissfully ignorant that I even took some pictures.

I have no idea who this kid is…

So… eventually I figured out that the game was actually in Schenectady.

The take away here is always check and double  check and check again. No big deal, though. I was at somebody’s game, and I guess that’s worth something.