then again, maybe 4 is too young for team sports

I knew 3 was, which is why we didn't put the boy in soccer last summer, but all of his friends had played, so we decided he could this year. Or should, whatever. Anyway, he mostly had a great time running around "playing soccer", but the last few games he would get really sour when he didn't get the ball or didn't score a goal. We tried explaining to him that everybody is trying to get the ball, and it wouldn't be fun for anybody else if he always had the ball, that you have to take turns, blah blah blah, like reasoning with a piece of bacon, but to no avail. To the point last night, his last game of the season, which I had to bring little girl to because the man had to work late, where he got so upset about not having sole custody of the soccer ball that we got to the "either stop crying and go play with your friends, or we're going home to bed (a good hour earlier than usual)" stage. He opted to not go back out and play, so we did indeed come home and go to bed. He fell asleep almost immediately, as, thankfully, did the little lady, who almost always has a very hard time falling to sleep if we keep her up past 6-6:30. We're discovering, to no great surprise, that there is no reasoning with upset 4-year olds. It doesn't matter what you bribe or threaten him with, he just is upset and will continue to be that way generally until you just leave him alone and he calms down on his own. We're hoping this is a phase. It's a phase, right?