Are you ready for some football?

The end of the fall sports season is almost here. After that, we get a whole month off before hockey chaos begins again. Sydney's soccer season ends this week. AJ's soccer season ends next week. And football already wrapped up.

Wait a minute.

Football's over?

How did that happen? We went through a whole season - his first season, I might add - and I didn't post a single story about it.

Mother of the year I am not. But at least I took pictures.

I discovered early on that it's even harder to identify a child in football gear than it is in hockey gear. See that little #7 in the center of AJ's jersey in the above photo? Now try to follow that number when they bend over at the line of scrimmage and then all run into each other. Try to find AJ in the photo below.

Here's the hint that finally worked for me. Look for his shoes. They're silver with neon green on the heels.

Meanwhile, if he's facing you, you can sometimes pick up the glare of his glasses.

This sure is a swell sport.

And like all first-year seasons, the games move at a brutally slow pace. It takes the coaches a couple minutes to get all the players lined up in their appropriate positions. Then at last they hike the ball. There are five to 15 seconds of motion. And then it starts all over again.

And of course, AJ loves it. He comes off field excitedly declaring things that make no sense to me.

"Mom, I pancaked a guy!"

"That's great honey. I have no idea what that means."

He and his team, along with all the other teams in the league, were recognized during half time at a recent high school game. Too bad it was a Cloquet high school football team. (Esko doesn't offer youth football) Even more annoying: the parents had to pay for tickets to get into the game and take pictures of their little darlings getting their medals.

To the league's credit, they made it exciting for the kids. They called out each one's name as they ran onto the field to get their medal.

Just one question remains. How does an 8-year-old who doesn't really watch much football, know what a "Tebow" is?

AJ with friends Quinn and Noah (even if they did play for another team.)