The Treats Are the Best Part

I went to my 4-year-old nephew's soccer game yesterday. Now, I'm a bit of a soccer fan. I get up in the middle of the night to watch World Cup games, I watched Olympic games on the Spanish station ("Goooooooooooooal" needs no translation), and I have a small crush on David Beckham and Landon Donovan and Michael Ballack (yes, all three). But the best soccer games in the world are the ones played by 4- and 5-year-olds, where the whole idea is to run around in a pack and if the ball gets close enough to your foot, kick it in whichever direction you're currently heading. They do try to have some semblance of order—they have kickoffs and throw-ins, and punching is definitely frowned upon. My personal favorites are the goal kicks and corner kicks. Four of the kids stand in line about 5 feet away from the ball, and their teammate kicks it right to them. They make a great wall. But the best thing about the game, at least as far as I can tell, is that everyone gets a treat at the end, even if you're like Max and decide you only want to play half the game. Let's hear it for the treats!