Tales from the third team - five years and counting
Sunny Days Sleepy Nights
Technically the USA Cup starts today, with the opening ceremonies - but there's also a "USA Cup Weekend" - a mini-tournament for those who show up early, including us referees. Typical of the weekend, there's not a lot of games in the older brackets (or at least plenty of high-level referees), so most of us get to enjoy doing 9s, 10s, and 11s with people who've come in from other countries. The games weren't hard, but boy was I sleepy (not tired, just sleepy) after dinner. I realized that while I've done plenty of games this year, most of them have been in the evening, or if they were during the day, in the spring - I wasn't used to being out from 8am to 6pm consistently. Fortunately, I only have one game (which I need to get ready for) at noon, then the opening ceremonies of the USA Cup proper (sorry, "The Schwan's USA Cup Presented by Addidas" - yeah, right).