The "back to school for the first time in four years" rant

Yes, you've read correctly: I am back in school!

Yesterday evening, I attended my first college-credit course since my graduation from RIC in 2004. I have to admit, though I was somewhat nervous about the prospect of going back to school, I was also very enthusiastic about being back at the alma mater for the same schoolin' I despised in my early-20s. Now, I've come to embrace it.

Kids - stay in school AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. Go to college. Get your master's degree. Get your doctorate. Return and get a second doctorate. Avoid the real world as long as you can.

By now, I've lost half of my reader(s), so those of you still here are probably wondering "are you gonna get to soccer at all?" Why, yes. Yes I will.

*The most interesting aspect of going back to school (wait, wait...this deals with soccer) is introducing oneself to others during the first class. However, our first exercise of class was to interview the person seated next to us, find something interesting about them, and tell the class. When I disclosed to my classroom collaborator that I was a soccer journalist, and told the class as well, my new classmates found that quite interesting. In fact, I was somewhat embarrassed that my peers had found my little hobby rather interesting.

Of course, now that the professor knows of this, I fear some heightened expectations from her. The class? "News Writing 240".

*The Revolution's invitation-only tryouts are tonight at the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse. As much as I would like to attend to watch some 20-30 hopefuls, almost all of whom will fail to impress, I have yet another class tonight that will keep me a safe distance from Foxboro until 7:30pm.

Some view these tryouts as just another mundane exercise. Yet, I find these tryouts pretty entertaining, since they are somewhat the soccer equivalent of American Idol. Here you have a group of young gentlemen all vying for the same thing: a shot at becoming a professional footballer. Through the course of the few hours they have to open some eyes, there'll be bad passing, lousy goals, and stupid fouls. But at the same time, there will also be wonderful shots (a brilliant scissor-kick still fresh in my mind from last year) and tremendous saves (courtesy of tryout success story Brad Knighton).

Call it American Footballer, if you will.