Apologies for my blogging absence.  Family issues and work have had me swamped in the last few weeks.

Last night about 8PM my ex-wife had forwarded me an e-mail about the commencement of Fall Football at Jserra High School.  Included in the e-mail was the upcoming schedule and a long list of  upcoming events, etc. (These guys obviously need Weplay, but that will be a future post). Reading the e-mail i noticed that Friday was a  pretty big day for the Football Team. Aside from the first day of 2x a  day practices, a sleepover for the entire team, at 10AM there was something called "Haircut Day" scheduled.

As I read the words "Haircut Day", I couldn't help but wonder....... if this was anything like the distant memory of my high school football team and the shaved heads sported by the entire team around the commencement of the fall semester.  If that were the case Friday would be a memorable day indeed.

I immediately went to the school website and dug around for awhile until I found the section of the website devoted to the Football Team and sure enough there was a link to "2008 Haircut Day" which I immediately clicked with anxious anticipation. After waiting a few seconds for my FIOS connection to kick in,  guess what??? "No access, password required". Drat!!  Adjacent to the error message though was a name and telephone number, which I promptly dialed.

Now for context, I have been suggesting to Connor for about the last 2 years that he cut his hair and to put it mildly have gotten a chilly response so I had a pretty good idea that if my instincts were even directionally correct this boy was in for a fairly unpleasant shock.

As I walked downstairs to find my 6'2" 15 year old my i noticed that I already had received a voice mail from the Team Mom giving me the details for the big day. As I listened to the message, my jaw dropped.  "Total buzz for Freshman, 1/8 inch for Sophomores and 1/4 inch for Juniors and Seniors!"

I'll save you the graphic details but the following 30 minutes were full of lively dialogue, disbelief, shock, horror, near tears, more shock and horror, threats ("I'll quit Dad, I swear I will")... Then ultimately, acceptance.

At about 11:10 this morning, my "little boy" walked up to the front of the line as the second player out of over 100 calmly sat down and got his hair cut, and I do mean cut. When it was over he rubbed his head, kinda looked at me, like what's the big deal dad? and it was over. I was really proud of him.

http://www.weplay.com/users/shansen/pics-photos/61844-Haircut-Day/media

Raising kids is a long, tough road. Baby steps and little victories. 

Today my son took a step forward and i was really proud of him. He learned that sometimes sport requires sacrifice and that he is a member of a team and that as members of the team they all share something as simple as being identified by a haircut. But they're a team and that's what counts... even on Haircut Day.

This morning in the pre-dawn darkness of our happy home, I was awoken by the sounds of large feet clomping around the second floor.  I was momentarily confused..  Was this an intruder, Frankenstein, a bad dream, all of the above?  As my head begin to clear, there was a knock on my door "Dad, you up yet?" sounded a familiar voice.  It was my son Connor.  And then it hit me... today is the first day of Summer High School Football.  Mark the day (August 14, 2009), note the time (4:59 am) the 2009 Football season has arrived at Casa Hansen.

As I crawled into the car and Connor gathered his gear for the 45 minute drive to his new school we both knew that this day, at some level would change our lives.  The beginning of an exciting new chapter.  Connor is attending a new school, meeting new teammates, new coaches and learning a new way of life.  2X a day practices, "Haircut Day" (the subject of a whole blog post later today!), weight rooms, playbooks, sleepovers, fundraisers, sweat, blood, passion and hopefully, self confidence, self respect, sportsmanship, and some fantastic memories and friendships.

All of us parents sacrifice for our children.  We work late, get up early, do without.  It's just the way it is.  But despite the pre-dawn darkness, cobwebs in my head, a sleeping 15 year old next to me on that long drive to the first practice, I had a smile on my face and couldn't imagine any place else that I'd rather be!

As we slip into the middle of summer here at Weplay many of our members are off on vacation, visiting the Grand Canyon, Disney World or just chillin' for a couple of months.  Last summer we were quite new and really didn't know what to expect.  This summer it has been really interesting to watch our traffic ebb and flow with the end of the school year, the July 4 holiday and the wind down of many teams for the summer.  What has been a pleasant surprise is how many coaches have already turned their attention to Fall sports and Weplay continues to grow.

Ok, a couple of other quick but important things..

I've actually sat down two or three times in the last couple of weeks to update my blog.  I'm always a bit torn about the objective of the posts.  This post is telling you about the new stuff on the site and some stuff that is coming.  First off, we did a "deploy" last night, which is the point at which we launch new stuff into Weplay.  We normally choose Thursday night because it corresponds to how our software team's development process works.  We've been working on some stuff that is a big step forward, some apparent, some less so.  I thought it worth a moment to include an image of one of our dev guys (Brian).  Users see a site that is graphically rich, but our development team lives in a world that looks very different.  That said, that's how the magic happens.

First of all i apologize for having not posted in three weeks. The last three weeks have been, well, the best of times and the worst of times. Like many startups, in order to weather the economic tsunami outside we've made some adjustments to our cost structure (the bad news), but the good news is that we are really well positioned, well funded and have a clear path for the future.

It's really exciting to watch as Weplay continues to grow. We've introduced a number of "community" elements that our members seem to really enjoy. Answers; ProFiles; new sport hubs; our Map... and will continue to make the site and the experience better each week.

So Friday my son Connor had a game.. He's a freshman and doesn't have too much baseball experience. He's now been to months of practice, conditioning drills and games and to show for it, one at bat and one strike out. He began the season with high hopes, tons of enthusiasm and a fierce desire to play. Over the ensuing weeks, as he rode the pine i watched the excitement fade and the desire turn to apathy. I went to every game, and sat in the sun for hours with the hope that the team would play well and that my son would get his chance to get on the field. To be rewarded for the sacrifice and hard work. When he did get his first chance, as DH, he took 4 pitches, swung at the 5th and struck out. He walked to the dugout, head bowed, but committed to get a hit the next time at bat. That chance never came. In the last 7 games, he hasn't had an at bat or stepped onto the game field. Despite the fact that his team has lost 6 out of the 7 games. His job is to root for his teammates, clean up the dugout, shag foul balls and go to every practice and every game.

I always marvel at where we are in the world today. Get up at 6 AM, look at the ceiling for a moment trying to remember what city you're in.. Usually it's the noise that reminds me. Horns and sirens in NYC, waves in CA. Yesterday was Monday and I was heading back to Long Beach to be Mr. Mom for the next seven days, before heading off to either New York or Tampa next week.