She shoots, she scores!

The world series is upon us. Millions will be tuning in to see if the Yankees will win and few give Philly a chance. For us, the Gonzalez family, we already witnessed the best the world of sports has to offer. Yup. The stars? Well suffice it to say that they could barely see straight from the blinding lights of the paparazzi's cameras flashing. Okay, there were few paparazzi, but a lot of parents and grandparents.

It all went down on a dry field behind the church on Jackson School Road.

There were three All-Stars we were especially tracking with a glimmer of hope that we might perhaps catch a glimpse of greatness, awesomeness, and sheer athletic brilliance.

All Star #1

Ariella N. Gonzalez (these days, she wouldn't mind it if you called her Ariana).
Height: 4 foot-nothing (that may be exaggerating a bit)
Weight: Princesses do not disclose their weight (sorry)
Position: Team Captain of good form and 'only kick the ball when it comes your way.'
Team: The Dragons (Dragon Breaths)
Notable Highlights: Loved to watch dandelions grow-while playing. Constantly forgot either her water bottle or her pink soccer ball at the field--hey it's either the treats or the water bottle. In her words "Treats, duh!" When the ball got swarmed, she would rather stretch and try to perfect doing the splits. She loved to cheer for her teammates when they scored. Second to the last game, we encouraged her to try and kick the ball into the goal, Please! Just once!, and wouldn't you know it? She did, nearly giving her coach a heart attack. She was all business after that.

All Star #2

Asa G. Gonzalez
Height: Shoulder height to Malachi, but a full head taller than Ariella
Weight: Let's just say were glad a wind gust didn't carry him off
Position: Center, right winger, left winger, defender, and goalie
Team: Out of the Blues (Clues)
Notable Highlights: Routinely neglected to tie his string on his shorts, so he played with one hand on his hip and still outran everyone on the field. I guess it could be said he took them on with one hand tied behind his back. He had smothering defense, no one could score on him when he played goalie, although he preferred playing center. He figured out how to get open so his teammates could center the ball to him in scoring position. He shoots, he scores. Of course I missed that one, but I was told it was a bullet!

All Star #3
Malachi A. Gonzalez
Height: Juvenile Giraffe
Weight: The kid eats rocks
Position: All positions but mostly goalie
Team: The Shadows (shallows)
Notable Highlights: Perhaps the best goalie we have ever seen. His size 13 shoe either blocked any shot in the vicinity or tripped half of the other team's players. He is the only one of the All Stars not wearing cleats because I refused to pay for a pair of shoes he would outgrow before we left the store and would only use for a couple of months anyway. Besides if he would have worn cleats, somebody would have lost an eye. Aside from that, his soccer skills really improved this year. He is still trying to match his best game of yesteryear when he scored 8 goals in one game. Maybe next year.

All Star #4
Tierzah K. Gonzalez (TKat)
Height: Taller both than the cat and dog
Weight: More than the cat, but less than the dog
Position: Cheerleader, grape taster, snack inspector
Team: All Teams
Notable Highlights: Pointed out every plane that flew by, barked at every dog, shared snacks with a girl twice her age (the girl looked for us every game after that). Sampled the pinot noir grapes that grew by the fence, nearly learned to say: "she shoots, she scores" when her older sister scored that blistering goal.