Peles or Galileos

Battle Point Park, a fitting name - especially now as soccer moms duke it out with astronomy geeks.

Who will win? Probably the starry-eyed ones who have the ace "we were here first" card. Who should win? That's harder to say. Valid points are made left and right in coffee shops, newspaper articles, letters to the editor, and in parks board meetings.

Producing little Peles.
Some have said our fields are few and failing. This means our young kickers have to carpool to Mall Town to the south or Navy Town, even further south. That's rough for teens trying to juggle homework along with their athletic aspirations. The upgraded, fake grass fields would allow longer, continuous play while the lights would let them play on through the short fall and winter days. Soccer folks say that our kids need the opportunity to play and practice at the highest level. For them, this means high tech fields.

But, is that really necessary? Soccer in the USA is largely a suburban sport. Don't believe me? Go into inner-Seattle. They're playing basketball, they're playing baseball, they're skateboarding. Soccer is king in the lands of culdesacs, two car garage, green grass and John Deer saddle-mounted mowers. And that's also where the money is. So where's our suburban Peles? Can you name a famous American soccer player? High-tech fields, swank uniforms, and SUV carpooling does not a pro soccer player make. Now, name a few non-American superstars. That's easier. Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo. That was easy. These three cut their teeth on broken concrete and dirt lots. They stopped playing when they couldn't see the ball. They didn't have trainers and they sure as heck didn't eat Powerbars and Gatordaide.

The astronomers will likely win the battle at Battle Point. While their "my way or the highway" stance on this issue is pretty off-putting, they make a strong point. Chief among them is that their observatory has the best and biggest public telescope in the state. Oh, and it's also really nice to maintain a pocket of darkness in a few spots of this growing island.

Hopefully, the island's soccer fields will grow along with the population. In the meantime, kicking a ball in the dirt and mud until the sun goes down will do just fine. Besides, sunshine and dirt contain both vitamin D and B, respectively. Good stuff for our growing kids.