Quick Story

I did not work as a soccer referee at all in the fall since Luigi was born in September, and I was a little busy. Even with three kids, I planned on doing some occasional work as a referee this spring, but then I dislocated my wrist in January. My primary referee assigner contacted me a few weeks ago to see if I could work an adult game during a weekday night, and I feel like I performed pretty well, particularly since it was really the first time I truly ran in about 8 months.

For my birthday, I wanted to ref for only the second time since August. Since my birthday fell on Mother's Day (and again there's that whole three kid thing), I knew that I had only a limited window available. I found an early morning under-9 (probably 2nd and 3rd graders) girls game where I would only be gone about two hours.

It was an easy game to ref with nice players, coaches, and parents. Even the Canadian geese were pleasant enough to leave the field when I shoo-ed them off before the start of the second half.

As I left the field though, a woman called out to me. She didn't say "Ref," she said Pedro Tulo's dad. (Not his actual name.) I think I stopped and turned like Burt Lancaster did in Field Of Dreams (go to 1:35 of this video).



It turns out that the sister of one of Pedro Tulo's preschool classmates played on one of the two teams. I talked with the mom and his classmate for a few minutes including answering the little girl's question of where was Pedro Tulo. I wonder if she'll mention to Pedro Tulo today that she saw me and if Pedro Tulo will have any type of reaction.

Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner is currently making the rounds going on television shows to promote his new movie, "Mr. Brooks," in which he plays a serial killer. I actually think that Costner will do a great job playing a bad guy, but that’s not the point of this post. Seeing the movie previews has reminded me of something that I have known for years; Kevin Costner is an underrated actor. Take Costner in his five best movies (in my opinion, Dancing With Wolves, The Untouchables, Field of Dreams, and then two of Bull Durham, JFK, Tin Cup and Thirteen Days) and compare them with the five best movies of other actors of his era. I think it’s fair to say that Costner would do well. While Costner is not in the same class as Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Denzel Washington or Tom Hanks, I think he’s certainly in the next tier with Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Mel Gibson (before he went crazy) and Tom Cruise (see Mel Gibson). I would take Costner’s top five movies/performances over Ford, Williams, Gibson and Cruise.

I think it’s fair to write that Costner does not have the reputation he deserves because of one movie, "Waterworld." The cost to make Waterworld was so extraordinary at the time that it had no choice but to fail. Even though other actors have had flops, Costner seems to have “suffered” more for "Waterworld" than any other actor has for another movie. Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty recovered from "Ishtar." Even Mel Gibson earned three Oscar nominations for "Apocalypto."

I admit that I have a certain bias for Costner. “Field of Dreams” is my favorite movie of all time, and I also played Black Jack in his Deadwood, South Dakota casino. Plus, Costner seems like the kind of guy who would buy you a beer. Maybe "Mr. Brooks" will bring Kevin Costner back and make others believe what I just wrote, that he is an underrated actor.