Are you ready for some Football!??? (REAL football)

Today was the USA vs. Honduras "friendly" as a tuneup for the World Cup this June in Japan/Korea. Honduras didn't qualify, but during the final qualifying round we won down there, and they won up here. I think there was a little "payback" in this game for the 3-2 loss in September in Washington D.C.

The US team is looking pretty strong, made up mostly of MLS-based players. A few more players in the European leagues will be available later, but most of them had commitments and couldn't make it. They have a pretty good mix of players playing a similar style and working well together, which is the advantage of having the MLS. Even though it isn't nearly as strong as the major European leagues, it still gets a good talent development system for American players. One such player is Landon Donovan, only 19, who is probably the quickest guy on the team and has superb ball handling ability. He had two goals today, including one on a breakaway where he just seemed to hold the ball Forever and finally tapped it in over the sprawled-out goalie.

Anyway, take a look at my pictures:

Greg waiting to get into the stadium

Just before kickoff

GOOOAAAL!

Clint Mathis lining up the free kick
Mathis is excellent at bending these free kicks into the goal. This one hit the far post just below the crossbar.

Well, we made Honduras our bitch, kicking the crap out of them 4-0. Kasey Keller, the US goalie from Lacey, made a stunning save mid-way through the first half, but after that Honduras generated very little offensively. Click here for the ESPN.com article on the game.

As I was driving home, passing through Fremont and waiting to take a left onto Stone Way, some old dipshit on a bike stepped into the crosswalk JUST AS the light turned green. He couldn't have timed it any better, but I didn't really see it because the vehicle he stepped in front of was a LARGE VAN. What a shitfuck. This is what you get when you defeat natural selection. I saw the van do the lurch gas-brake thing, and the rider emerge with a middle finger and a profane comment at the driver. I'm thinking the driver yelled something, I'm not sure. I decided I needed to register my opinion on this important topic, and quickly rolled down my window and yelled "cross on the light, asshole." He told me to "get bent" and rode on up the sidewalk.

You know, I like G'n'R', every now and then I feel the need to get my G'n'R' schwerve on.

I don't need your Civil War
Feed the rich while you bury the poor
Selling soldiers in a human grocery store
I don't need you Civil War

to be sung in your bet Axl Rose voice, with appropriate "wowo" sound after the "r" sound at the end of every line.

okay, I retract my statement from earlier (below). It isn't black, it's a navy blue... really dark blue, like the Canucks sweaters (for those of you to whom that means something). It just looks black on my monitor.

Sorry, sorry, my bad.

I'm actually thinking the new logo/colors/uniform will kick ass!

The new logo is cool... but why, oh why, did they go to black?

You see, I have a thing against black as a team color. It's just so... cliched. I don't know how else to say it. Of course, teams that had black BEFORE 1990 are grandfathered in. They can keep their black.

Besides, the team should stick with the "local colors" so to speak. Shades of blue (I do like the flat-blue color!) and green for the water and trees. White for the glaciers and snow in the mountains, grey for the skies. I just wish they would stay away from black. Now we're going to be bombarded by black Seahawks merchandise, and I fear the new uniforms will be mostly black as their color.

My official response to the Madden on Monday Night Football issue:
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Wha, tschss, guh.... AAAAHHHHH!

Greg's response:
"I LIKED DENNIS MILLER"

I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God's got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find Him laughing

Last night my soccer game was supposed to serve as some sort of athletic catharsis. It turned out to be a complete disaster.

The team we were playing was very vocal� not necessarily trash-talking, but vocal. They were working the ref from the opening whistle. Every call, EVERY whistle, resulted in some sort of comment, to the ref or just no one in particular.

Now, while I have been known to lose my composure more than once about a call, the constant talking is something that just drives me crazy. There is no need for a running commentary on the game. Not Every foul is on the other guys, sometimes you actually Are offsides� it just creates a negative air to the game.

The other important factor is that they played as a unit. They had good players, but they didn�t necessarily out-talent us. My team is a mess. No one wants to play a position. No one wants to play defense. No one wants to make the quick, easy pass� we were just a debacle last night. I found myself wondering how awesome I could be if I played for the other guys. It also didn�t help our goalie didn�t show.

Then, of course, there was the simple fact I grabbed the wrong shoes. Yep, I had two left shoes last night� literally. I grabbed one of my new pair, one of my old pair, and of course didn�t realize this until game time. I borrowed another guy�s shoes, which fit, but they were flat soles, for turf, and were pretty worn down. It�s amazing how much that affected my game, and I never quite got into it in the first half.

At the start of the second half, I came out feeling okay. We were down 3-1, but that didn�t bother me. I just wanted to play well, and we managed to shore up our defense, getting guys into the correct positions who would play there. Of course, that only applied to the back 4. Every else we were a mess.

By midway through the second half, we were a joke. They scored two goals when we couldn�t even complete a simple pass out of the defensive third of the field. Guys were missing obvious, open passes, opting instead to dribble themselves into trouble, then send a hopeless ball to no one in particular. On one rush down the left side of the field, I look up and so NO ONE making a weakside (the right side) run. None of our players were right of the middle. I made a run from my central defense position to try to fill the space, only to have us turn over the ball, when we couldn�t even make a pass into the middle, and I was caught out of position.

I began to just get sick of it. The whole damn thing, but the constant comments from the opposition were getting to be the worst of it. Near the end of the game, I pounced on a loose ball and made a move up the field, getting by two defenders, I neared a third, and pulled the ball back in towards me to make a pass. Just then, one of the defenders I�d beaten, who was now behind me, just took my legs out. It was a pretty blatant trip from behind, and I don�t know how that guy could defend it as anything but intentional. I lost my composure. As I stated to get up, I grabbed the guy�s leg and gave it a good pull, throwing him off balance and into one of his teammates. The ref had called the trip form behind, but I got up and released some f-bombs, and went on a little tirade about what a disgrace that foul was.

Shortly after that, I stepped up to defend a midfielder trying to start a break up the field. He turned the ball back towards his own goal and took a couple dribbles. I guess I just decided at that moment that turnabout was fair play, so I gave him a good hack from behind. The foul was called of course, but the player complained to the ref �hey, that was intentional!� �You bet it was,� I responded angrily. No you know I feel, I said to myself.

In the meantime were we getting drubbed, and I was embarrassed for myself and my team. In the final minutes of the game, I again pounced on a loose ball and beat a couple guys, then made a pass to an open midfielder to start a rush. Just then, someone yelled, �hey, watch those arms, buddy!� I wheeled around and said, to no one in particular, �Hey, you just want to call this game right now. I�m sick of this shit.� One of their players, who seemed to be the team leader, came up and just said �Hey, you�re just fighting until the end. It�s all right, I know you just want to keep fighting.� �Fighting� in this case meaning playing hard and not giving up. I apologized my behavior and he seemed willing to accept it.

After the game I tried to make my peace, then just looked for a hole to crawl into.

Today is Johnny Cash's 70th birthday. Happy birthday!!!!

Everyone read this... sing on, brother!

So there's some jackass new movie out about some dipshit post-adolescent fuckhead who gives up sex for Lent; aka 40 days. What, am I supposed to feel sorry for this guy, or what? Jesus Christ, I just wish I was in a position to be GIVING UP sex.

You know, If I was offered some sort of a contract where I could have sex every 41 days (i.e. 40 days between any sexual contact), no more, no less, for the rest of my life, I would sign it in a heartbeat. I wouldn't even have to think about it.