How do you ruin a would-be bride's day?

You kick a soccer ball in her face. You heard me. It happened last night. I was playing with the usual fellas at our indoor facility. For the first time, my buddy brought his fiance with to watch the goings on. She was sitting on the endline half way between the sideline and the goal flipping through "Modern Bride" magazine. She was surrounded by a half-dozen other standing players who were resting during their game off. There isn't much room. The goal backs up all the way to a fence and there is only about three feet of space behind the endline. It's tight.

On the far sideline, a player was advancing the ball and then placed a shot on goal. The ball skipped past the goal keeper, bounced off three defenders and one other player on the endline before smacking Julie on her upper lip just below the nose... The room of 20 fell silent as John came over to tend to his lady. She tried to stay composed. No blood, nothing broken, all teeth present. The fact that four or five players made contact with the ball before it hit her likely slowed it down enough to cause no harm. Wow, she dodged a bullet there.

She spent the rest of the game behind a fence off the field where she could read her magazine and sit in a chair without the fear of a ball coming it to attack her. The take-away here is that the game is fast moving and a ball can come from anywhere at anytime. Whenever I'm not in the game, my eyes are always watching the action.

John and Julie will marry on September 27th. I bet you I don't see her at a game before that date...