Sunday June 22nd 9:02pm Hawaii time
I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home. We're suppose to leave at 10:10pm, but the flight is already delayed until 10:45pm. Today was an early rise for me. Had to be at the field by 9:00am; but I also had to pack, make arrangements for a late checkout, pay for the hotel parking, work my match, get back to the hotel and check out by 2pm.
Packing was easy; The Wife (Yellow Card) took care of the laundry this week so I didn't have too much smelly stuff to carry home. The hotel was cool about giving us a late checkout time (that allowed The Wife and the youngest child to stay behind and pack their bags for the trip home.
The game was a dud. The crew was ready for the wild Colorado Rush Crowd (someone ran onto the field after they scored goals in the semi's). Our pregame created a plan for a repeat performance. Silent signals between AR2, myself and the center referee; would trigger a call for field marshals to come an escort any wrong doers away from the field. Well too thing happened today. First the "Crowd Line" was accented by being roped off to prevent anyone from coming onto the field. Second, the Cal South Team (Irvine Strikers) jumped out to a 4-0 lead by half time. Thus all we had to do is wait and listen for rude and distastefull chants towards the Irvine players. It never happened. My job as the 4th Official was a piece of cake. I spoke with both coaching staffs prior to kickoff on how they were to act within the technical area and they followed those instructions to the letter. Besided the natural frustration of a 5-1 outcome; the game was a yawner.
After my debrief, I rushed back to the hotel to shower and officially check out of the hotel. A fellow referee (joemma) hung out with my family (he had a 9pm flight) as will killed time prior to heading for the airport. We went last minute souviner (spelling) shopping for family members and co-worker. We got a bite to eat at Dave and Busters (wish we had on in Washington). We also made one last drive past Waikiki Beach (some people need to put more cloths on). After dropping of fhe rental car off it was off to the airport.
While the trip was been a wonderful experience I feel sad that we didn't meet our ultimate goal. I hope that I haven't dissapointed those who have followed this journey. Hopefully the trip to Delaware will be the springboard to trips to Lancaster Double Dip the Far West Regional in California for the 2009 Far West Regional and to the National Championships in Massachusetts.
Ray Moffatte, Jr.
Redkard.........
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Topic: Road to Hawaii (Can we make it to Arkansas?) Referee (Read 3673 times)