And I'm All Like, "WTF, Becks?"

Sometimes, things can be awesome even when they make absolutely no sense.

Classic

I just got back from a week in Ocean City, MD, and as much I enjoyed the week of napping on the sand, I was glad to make it home for last night’s MLS match between New York and LA. It turned out to be the kind of game that MLS’s head honchos had to be drooling over when they signed David Beckham: more than 66,000 showed up at Giants Stadium and were treated to nine total goals in a 5-4 New York victory (conveniently in a game between the teams from the two biggest TV markets in the nation). Beckham played the entire game and set up three of LA’s four goals, but LA continued their streak of generosity, bringing in the fans at someone else’s stadium, but then graciously allowing the home team to win. New York took full advantage, using the opportunity to show off their own offensive star power, getting a pair of goals each from Juan Pablo Angel (a less-heralded import than Becks who’s been making a big impact on the field this year) and Jozy Altidore (the latest US wünderkind who turned heads at the recent Under-20 World Cup), as well as a world-class strike from Clint Mathis. As a DC fan, I would have been happy to see these two teams grind each other down to a painful and exhausting tie, but as an MLS fan, this was a fantastic game to watch. Check out highlights here.

Stargazing

46,ooo+ fans showed up at RFK tonight to see some dude named David Beckham finally start earning his paycheck. Shrugging off the distraction of the rays of golden light and choirs of angels that instantly appeared once Beckham and The World’s Most Expensive Ankle touched the pitch, Luciano Emilio managed to score his 11th goal in his last 10 games, and DC United played a solid match to earn the win. Good times.

Coming into this game, United was averaging 17,720 fans a game. So if 5,000 or even (dare we dream) 10,000 of those extra 29,000 fans from tonight decide they liked what they saw and come back for more DC games, this whole Becks experiment may actually be worth something after all.

Best moment of the night: DC’s very vocal and tuneful supporters group the Screaming Eagles had this message for Beckham. Given the amount of prominent display that it got on ESPN2’s cameras tonight, whoever came up with that banner should never have to pay for their own drink in DC again. Hi-larious.

Odds and Ends

1. There’s a trailer up for the new Wes Anderson movie, and not a moment too soon. I think I’ve had my fill of sequels and car commercials masquerading as movies based on toy commercials masquerading as cartoons. More original and quirky, please.

2. I’ve currently got major nerd love for The Venture Bros. DVDs. The show is part of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup, and intelligently spoofs old shows like Johnny Quest and the Hardy Boys while working in as many geektastic sci-fi and fantasy references as possible. It’s also got a great retro visual look that I love. Entertainment Weekly recently gave the show some love in their EW 100 issue. Definitely worth checking out.

3. David Beckham finally made his debut in a Los Angeles Galaxy uniform. No confirmation on whether he actually walked on water after the game. I feel no need to add to what’s already been written, but hopefully now the focus can go back to the soccer. There were some great MLS games this weekend that were completely overshadowed by ESPN’s over-the-top Becksturbation.

Hey Now, You’re An All-Star

Sweet Jesus, did I really just quote Smash Mouth? Someone please shoot me now.

So, exciting evening at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, where I attended the MLS All-Star Game. The All-Stars took on Celtic FC of Scotland and won 2-0 on goals by Juan Pablo Angel and Juan Toja, or as I like to refer to them, the Two Juans (say it out loud, it’s funnier). The game itself was fairly lackluster. What was more exciting for me was that I was granted my first-ever media credentials, which let me watch the game from the press box (view: very nice; food: so-so; swag: rockin’) and meet some soccer media types and even a celeb or two. Over the course of the night, I chatted with Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, Allen Hopkins of ESPN, Charles Boehm (who covers DC United for MLSNet.com), and Carlos Machado of Fox Soccer Channel, listened in on an Alexi Lalas interview from 2 feet away, shook hands with Bob Bradley, had a man who I’m 99% sure was Garth Brooks accidentally end up in a photo I was taking, and was within 50 yards of David “Jesus Reincarnated” Beckham!!! (I grant him the coveted three exclamation points due to the insane amount of teenage squealing that followed him wherever he went. Seriously, the only comparison is those early Beatles trips to the U.S.)

Now, most of those names I listed won’t mean much to non-soccer fans, but as a wise friend of mine said earlier, they’re stars to me, and it meant a lot to me that the ones I talked to were so friendly and very cool about me wandering around the press box looking a bit awed and starstruck. Plus, these guys will all be great to know down the line someday when I become art director of the breakout American soccer magazine.

Working-Class Hero

It’s been a good week for my soccer teams. The US Men romped their way through the Gold Cup group stage, looking better and better through each of the three matches they played to set up today’s quarterfinal against Panama. The Yanks have scored seven goals so far through six different players, and the US defense has yet to allow one. In their last match against El Salvador, they didn’t even give up a single shot on goal. Dominant, but against some of the smaller countries in the Gold Cup, not entirely unexpected.

On the other hand, what was unexpected was DC United defeating the New York Red Bulls last Sunday behind a hat trick from midfielder Ben Olsen. Benny entered the league back in 1998 as a speedy winger/forward and serious offensive threat, although more often than not his speed and youthful energy resulted in him running around like a chicken with his head cut off. But a couple of serious ankle injuries forced him to change his game. Since his return, Olsen reestablished himself as a hard-nosed defensive midfielder. He may be slower than in his youth (who isn’t?), but he learned to read the game much better, and by the ripe old age of 28 had become a veteran leader for United. He’s also become a fan favorite (and a personal one of mine—I proudly have his jersey hanging alongside my Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna replicas) for his passion and his tough tackles, but nobody expects much in the way of goal-scoring from Benny. Happily, this surprising offensive outburst put the spotlight squarely on Olsen, as he was honored with both MLS Player of the Week and Goal of the Week for his third strike, an absolute blinder of a half-volley from 25 yards (scroll down to Goal of the Week and chose Week 10). It’s nice to see a blue-collar guy like Ben on the receiving end of a lovefest like the one he’s gotten this week, because his role on the field is often a thankless one. Many writers have been quick with praise, but the one that sums it all up best for me is this thoughtful and heartfelt post from Dan Loney. As DC’s Screaming Eagles supporters group likes to sing, we love you Benny, oh yes we do.

UPDATE: Despite no goals from Ben, DC won again last night, defeating the Chicago Fire 3-1 to extend their unbeaten streak to seven games.

Holiday Road

With an extra day off, I had planned a big post to catch up on all the stuff that’s been occupying my free time lately, but instead I spent the weekend watching the Rapids beat LA in front of a sellout crowd, getting drunk, suffering a bad hangover, and best of all... working. Needless to say, I’m a little worn out from this long weekend, so no pretty pictures this time, just a list. I’m sure you’ll all survive.

MOVIES
Just one, an oldie but goodie: Fistful of Dollars. I had never seen this groundbreaking Western from beginning to end, but spending all day on the couch yesterday gave me a chance to explore the free movie list in the OnDemand menu. When I saw they had a remastered widescreen version of Fistful, I couldn’t pass it up. The movie itself was decent, although I thought both Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa’s samurai masterpiece that inspired FOD) and Last Man Standing (a remake of FOD starring Bruce Willis set during Prohibition) were both a little better in providing motivation for the main character. On the other hand, Clint Eastwood was pretty bad-ass as the laconic but deadly gunslinger, but I kept getting distracted by Ennio Morricone’s eccentric spaghetti western score.

BOOKS
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Another re-read I pulled from my shelves recently. Here’s my original review. I didn’t get quite as caught up in the story this time, but that was partly because I was conciously reading slowly to appreciate the richness of the language. Clarke does some amazing things with her words, and more than once, I found myself longing for a return to the days of a more formal approach to the English language. There are some amazingly haunting passages in what is at times a dark and mysterious book, and the payoff was just as good the second time around. UPDATE: Happily, I’ve just discovered that Clarke has a collection of short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, that take place in or are related to the world of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, and that she is also at work on a sequel of sorts that follow some of the lesser characters from the novel. Looks like I’ll be making a trip to the bookstore tomorrow.

COMICS
The Losers: Complete Series. A gripping and epic international espionage story about an Army Special Forces unit that goes “ghost” after the government tries to kill them. Since everyone thinks they’re dead, they are able to work under the radar to unravel the twisted threads leading back to the mysterious man with CIA ties who set them up. Kinda like the A-Team, only people actually die, and they don’t build some kind of crazy tank thing at the end of every issue. For a story told in comic book form, it was heavily cinematic (both in scope and in the way artist Jock made use of the frames), so it was no surprise to me to find out that a movie is in the works.

The Walking Dead, Vol. 6. More great post-apocalyptic zombie stuff. This story gets crazier and and life just keeps getting harder for the rag-tag band of survivors, much like I would assume the world would be if it was overrun with shuffling brain-chompers.

Spike: Asylum. Buffy’s second-favorite vampire gets tricked into entering an asylum where they claim to be able to “cure” vampires and demons. Predictably, this is not the case, and Spike meets some other wrongly-imprisoned peeps and helps them get free, smashing a lot of stuff in the process. Good solid fun.

Star Wars: Legacy, Vol. 1. It’s 120 years after Return of the Jedi. The Empire has rebuilt itself and formed an alliance with a new order of Sith, who promptly betray the Imperials and take over the galaxy. Now the remains of the Empire, the Republic, and a new order of Jedi (including Luke Skywalker’s grandson, who has a rather rocky relationship with his Jedi heritage) must band together to fight the Dark Side once more. (Hey, I should write cover blurbs.)

MUSIC
Dinosaur Jr., Beyond. Awesome comeback album from the original lineup. J Mascis is a god.
Travis, The Boy with No Name. More mellow Brit rock, less politics than the last album. All good.
Bright Eyes, Cassadaga. Folky, rootsy, kinda mediocre.
Stars, Do You Trust Your Friends? Remixes and cover versions of Stars’ Set Yourself on Fire album, all created by (as the title implies) their friends in other bands.
Explosions in the Sky, How Strange, Innocence. More back catalog post-rock instrumentals from this Texas group.
William Parker & Hamid Drake, Piercing the Veil. Jazzy bass and percussion, with a slightly African slant. Maybe a little esoteric for my tastes. Dad, I’m sending this one your way.
Rush, Snakes & Arrows. Decent, but nowhere near their classic work. It might be time for these guys to coast on their greatest hits.
Adult Swim, Warm & Scratchy. A free mix from the Adult Swim website featuring bands like TV on the Radio and Asobi Seksu. One more reason to love Cartoon Network.

The Week in Review

Since the daily post thing just isn’t happening anymore, I’m going to shoot for a regular wrap-up of all my entertainment for the previous week. Here it is:
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson. The best “vampire plague brings about the end of the world” novel ever written, not to mention an inspiration for some of the biggest names in horror —including Stephen King. I wanted to revisit this book before the upcoming movie with Will Smith sullies its good name.
Fountains of Wayne, Traffic and Weather. A somewhat disappointing fourth album from one of my favorite bands. The whole album feels like a retread of the lamest songs from their previous albums. Uninspired, and nowhere near as catchy as their last disc.
Kings of Leon, Because of the Times. On the other hand, this album is a big leap forward for these southern rockers. Clearly, their recent stints opening for bands like U2 and the Rolling Stones has brought them some new maturity, and it shows here in a rich and well-crafted third effort.
DC United at Colorado Rapids. The bad: My dad and I stood in the sub-freezing temps and blowing snow to watch United lose. The good: 16,000+ other people showed up too, and went home happy (if slightly frostbitten) after seeing the hometown team open their spanking new stadium in style. Despite its horrible name, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park is a fantastic venue, and I’m looking forward to going back. The Rapids looked good, and I’ll have no problem supporting them when they’re not playing DC.
HBO’s Sunday lineup: The Sopranos and Entourage. Completely justifying the extra $8 a month on my cable bill.

The Golden Child

I haven't posted anything about soccer in quite a while, but Monday brought the surprising news that DC United had traded starlet Freddy Adu to Real Salt Lake. Freddy was packaged with backup goalkeeper Nick Rimando in exchange for RSL's backup 'keeper Jay Nolly (who's younger and has a much lower salary than Rimando), a major player allocation, and future considerations. When my dad first emailed me the link, I thought it was a joke, but after more consideration, this seems to be a pretty good trade for almost everyone. United unloads a high-profile but somewhat temperamental teenager who hasn't always had the strongest relationship with his coach, and who also seems very likely to move to a team in Europe this summer once he turns 18 (FIFA rules prevent players from playing for teams outside their home country before their 18th birthday). They also move a goalie whose salary was much too high to be a backup and could be starting on several other teams in the league. In exchange, they receive a lot of cap space, the ability to sign several high-profile players they've been scouting before the season begins (rather than in the middle of the year, which would have been the case had they held onto Freddy and he left for Europe), and still receive a good portion of the transfer fee if Freddy does end up being sold to a Euro team.

For Freddy, he gets reunited with his Under-17 coach, John Ellinger (now coaching RSL), and gets the chance to play his preferred position in central midfield. At DC, he was stuck behind reigning MVP Christian Gomez, who DC just re-signed to an extended contract. In Salt Lake, he has the chance to be the Man.

The only party who has the chance to lose out on this deal is Real Salt Lake. Right now, they're going to enjoy the bump in publicity (and likely, ticket sales) as Freddy's presence should attract a lot more casual fans and their pre-teen children. But if Freddy does jump ship and head to Europe in the August transfer window, RSL takes a big credibility hit and is left holding the bag on this trade.

This trade actually got some play outside of the traditionally soccer media, most notably on Sportscenter and even rated a mention during halftime of Monday Night Football. There's been plenty of coverage in newspapers and on the internet, and I've included a variety of links below. Prepare yourself for a whole bunch of bad puns on "Adu/Adieu".
DC United/MLS Press Release
United Trades Adu, Washington Post
It's A Win-Win for Adu and United, Washington Post
DC Deals Teenage Star Adu to RSL, Salt Lake Tribune
Adu's Arrival Leads to Lineup Questions, Salt Lake Tribune
Furor Over Freddy Might Not Last Long, Salt Lake Tribune
Much Adu About Nothing (oh, how original), Sunday Herald
Adu Bids DC United adieu, traded to Salt Lake, ESPN/AP
Adu Starts Over in Real Salt Lake, ESPN
Adu Still Hampered by Unrealistic Expectations, ESPN
DC United Reap Rich Haul from Adu Trade, ESPN
"Best Place for Me", SI.com/AP
Five on Freddy, SI.com

And in other soccer news, after a long and fruitless pursuit of Juergen Klinsmann came to naught, US Soccer announced that Bob Bradley, former coach of the Chicago Fire, NY/NJ Metrostars, and Chivas USA and former US National team assistant, has been named interim head coach of the National Team. An odd move, and one that has been much-debated by soccer pundits since Bradley is perceived by many to be a chip off the block of Bruce Arena, the coach US Soccer just fired. I think Bradley may turn out to be a better choice than most people seem to think, but only time will tell. Here's a few links on that as well.
Official US Soccer Press Release
Bradley Named US National Team Coach, ESPN/AP
Gulati Right Not to Rush the Decision, ESPN
Search for a New Coach Far from Over, ESPN
Bombshell of a Day, SI.com

The Convert

More post-World Cup media love for soccer: my dad sent this column to me a few weeks ago, and I forgot to post it until now. The good thing is, Dave here is only latest member of a fairly large group of people I've come into contact with since the World Cup ended who seem to be willing to give the 21st century version of pro soccer a try. The trick now for MLS is not only to bring these new fans in, but to keep them coming back. Of course, tickets to a DC United game would be the easiest answer. Getting to see the class of the league in action would guarantee all these newcomers would become fans for life. Hey, it worked for me.

Under the Rainbow

Well, here's a sight that I didn't see much of in Indy. I took this photo from the roof of my building about an hour ago. My lens didn't go wide enough to get the whole thing, but it was a pretty amazing sight. I could see pretty much the entire rainbow from up there, and my camera definitely doesn't do it justice.

But as I've quickly discovered, rainbows are just one of the many differences between Indy and Denver. Despite still being busy at work (and spending a lot of free time working on my redesign plans), I'm finally beginning to feel settled in out here, and I'm starting to notice a quality of life change. A lot of the nagging health issues I was dealing with in Indy have disappeared, which is probably due to a lot of things: eating better, sleeping better, exercising more, enjoying my job again, and better weather. With the exception of an atypical two-day rainstorm, it's been sunny every day since I moved here. There are thunderstorms that roll through (like the one that caused the rainbow), but they hardly ever last more than an hour. And except for the couple of days that it got over 100°, even the hot days are pleasant.

Another change is that I've hardly been watching any TV, mainly because I have lots of better stuff to do. I'm still exploring Denver, but I've also been able to read a ton of books, catch a few movies, go out for beers, and anything else that doesn't involve sitting on my couch vegetating. Today alone I walked around downtown for a little while, redesigned the restaurant section of the magazine, saw Clerks 2 (another disappointment from Kevin Smith, who apparently should have retired after Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back), read a few chapters of the latest book on my pile, A Storm of Swords (Book 3 of George R. R. Martin's excellent Song of Ice and Fire series), and worked out. And on top of that, I did manage to squeeze in a little TV-viewing when I watched the MLS All-Stars upset Chelsea, champions of the English Premier League two years running who are basically All-Stars themselves, having the most expensive roster in the world (including 16 players who represented their countries at the World Cup). Anyone who didn't see the match won't read too much into the result, but contrary to the way exhibitions and All-Star games usually go, this match was hard-fought and a well-deserved victory for MLS. Chelsea is in their preseason, and it showed, but it wasn't like they were mailing it in. That much was obvious when John Terry, their captain and central defender, pushed up to play forward for the last 10 minutes of the game trying to score the equalizing goal. Doesn't sound much like a "training match" to me. It was a good game, and nice to see MLS earn a bit more international respect. Chicago's new Toyota Park looked great as well, especially with a sell-out crowd in the seats. Along with the game, MLS also made the exciting announcement that they've signed a new deal with ESPN and ABC. OK, obviously that's good that the league will continue to be on TV, but here's the kicker: For the past 11 years, MLS has basically been buying time from the networks to show their games. No more. For the first time, the money will be going the other direction, with ESPN paying rights fees to show MLS games. This is fantastic news for a league that has struggled to make money for its entire existence. With TV money flowing in and more teams owning their own stadiums (thus controlling all the revenue), the league is suddenly looking financially solid. And that can only help the product on the field. More money = better players. It's that simple.

SOUNDS
The Eraser, Thom Yorke
1, The Beatles

IMAGES
Clerks 2

WORDS
A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin
A Clash of Kings, George R. R. Martin
A Storm of Swords, George R. R. Martin

The Random Factor

My life is finally back in the neighborhood of normal, so I've had some time this weekend to relax and reclaim my apartment from the dust and mold and piles of laundry. But despite my insanely busy week, I've been like a squirrel preparing for winter, gathering little nuts of randomness to share.

One of the sites I make a point to look at everyday is The Daily Monkey, a quirky collection of monkey-related photos and writings run by Brian Biggs, an illustrator I've worked with in the past. The monkeys haven't exactly been "daily" lately (Brian seems to be in the same boat as me), but the last post turned me on to this amazing set of photographs by a New Jersey photographer named Jason King. If there's one thing the internet has proved, it's that there's an incredible amount of undiscovered creative talent out there in the world, and it's nice that the internet has provided a place to see the work these people are creating. Of course, the internet has also proved that there's no end to what people will collect and fetishize, but that's a discussion for another time.

So, you may have heard that Dan Brown, author of a little book called The Da Vinci Code, is getting sued by anyone and everyone who's ever written a single word relating to Jesus. It's gotten so bad, last week, King James filed suit against him. Hey-o! (Ba-dum-bum.) Anyway, one of those suits, filed in London by the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, was recently dismissed by the presiding magistrate, Justice Peter Smith. The interesting twist to this story, however, is that Smith included his very own code in his printed decision. Between this and the judge who handed down her decision in rap form in an Eminem defamation case in 2003, I can't help but think that judges who get cute with their decisions are really just publicity hounds with WAY too much time on their hands, and should really be spending more time earning their money the way they're supposed to.

Despite looking rather disinterested for most of the match, DC United tied with FC Dallas last night to extend their unbeaten streak to 5 matches. United's only goal came from midfielder Ben Olsen, who has continued to play well while anxiously awaiting the announcement of the US World Cup roster (which will be shown live on Tuesday's Sportscenter at 6pm Eastern). Best of luck to Ben, one of my favorite players (so much so that I own his jersey). He's definitely a bubble player for the US, but hopefully his strong recent play will be enough to earn him a trip to Germany. As for United, having seen all of their games this year, I have to say I don't think DC has played particularly well in any of them. There have been nice stretches and good individual performances, but barring last week's dismantling of the hapless New York Red Bulls, United haven't dominated anyone, but they still have yet to lose this season. That worries me a little bit. Something needs to happen to light a fire under their collective butts so that they don't think they can just coast through the season. At this point, they're looking a lot like the Chelsea of MLS: not pretty to watch and not looking like they're all that interested in the games, but still so good that no one can beat them. As an aside, I just wanted to mention that the Washington Post does a fabulous job with their United coverage (and soccer coverage in general). I'm continually impressed by their top-notch soccer writer, Steven Goff. Check out the profile of United's hybrid defender/midfielder, Josh Gros, that Goff wrote as a preview to this week's match. A lot of papers would just run a tiny preview box (if they bothered to cover MLS at all), so it's nice to see this type of effort and quality. As for Gros, he's an interesting character. If you can continually get under the skin of a classy World Cup winner like Youri Djorkaeff, you're doing something right. And check out that photo: Josh seems to be a tongue-chewer, just like me and MJ.

My friend CJ asked me to make her a mix of Rush songs, which turned out to be a very fun experience. It had been a long time since I had really dug deeply into my Rush collection, and it gave me a chance to renew my long love affair with the kings of geek-rock. It also exposed a few glaring gaps in my collection, which I quickly filled thanks to the iTunes store. As any good Rush fan knows, the band has gone through three pretty distinct phases. They are: 1974's Rush — 1978's Hemispheres; (1980's Permanent Waves acts as a bridge to the next phase) 1980's Moving Pictures — 1987's Hold Your Fire; and 1989's Presto — the present. The first phase introduces the band as a heavy rock trio who share a lot in common with Led Zeppelin: a high-voiced lead singer, a killer guitarist who favors Gibson guitars, a monster drummer, long songs exhibiting a love of Tolkien, and some very questionable fashion choices. 2112 is the high point of this phase. The second phase finds the band tightening up their sound (and song length) and introducing the synthesizer rather strongly into the mix, as well as Neil Peart swinging his lyrics away from swords and sorcery towards more futuristic science fiction. Moving Pictures is the peak album here, and is arguably the ultimate Rush album. And finally, in the third phase, the band largely ditches the synths, gets back to a more groove-oriented rock sound, and Peart's lyrics become more personal. This phase sees the band struggle (as all aging acts do) to stay relevant with their new music while trying to meet the fans' demands for their greatest hits in concert. For me, Counterparts is the album to own from this stretch, as it rocks harder than anything the band had done since Permanent Waves. Through their career, Rush have also put out six live albums. My personal favorite is Different Stages, but they're all fairly interchangeable. I prefer Different Stages because the mix is little more raw, which is something most Rush live albums are not. So what does this all mean? Well, to my and CJ's delight (and her husband's dismay) she got three discs, one for each era. And I discovered that digging through Rush's music to make a mix allowed me to rediscover my love for them, so I've decided maybe I should do the same for other bands I used to love but haven't listened to much of lately. Next on my list: Led Zeppelin.

I think I had some other stuff to talk about, but I can't remember. I'm in food coma now after a delicious omelet and cinnamon toast at Cafe Patachou. If you're ever in Indy and looking for a breakfast spot, don't miss this place. Yum.

IMAGES
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

SOUNDS
Permanent Waves, Rush
Signals, Rush
Power Windows, Rush
A Blessing and a Curse, Drive-By Truckers
Skeleton Jar, Youth Group
Mr. Beast, Mogwai
Nashville, Josh Rouse

The Hours

My weekend pretty much went down like this: Drink way too many Newcastle, Killian's and black-and-tans on Friday night, spend Saturday and Sunday letting my body recover. But I had a choice in how to rehab. Take in the fresh air? And deal with 80,000 drunk Hoosiers and overhyped pop stars mixed with severe weather damage that could have killed me? No thanks. Lay on the couch? Why, it was only the best seat in the house for fifteen-and-a-half hours of soccer over two days. Guess which choice I made?

Saturday
Noon—2 pm: DVR recording of Wednesday's Champions League match between Inter Milan and Villareal, ESPN. Milan 2-1. Great game. Almost every time an Italian side and a Spanish side get together, it's a joy to watch. Maybe they should combine the two leagues.
2 pm—4 pm: Newcastle-Tottenham, FSC. Newcastle 3-1. A scrap in the rain. Typical English spring weather. And what is going on with Tottenham these days? Can you say nosedive?
4 pm—6 pm: Dallas-Chicago, ABC. Dallas 3-2. Great first half by Chicago, but a terrific fight back by Dallas. Game winner to hometown Dallas boy Kenny Cooper on his debut. The quality of this match is pretty high. Looks more like midseason than the first game of the year, at least until Dallas makes some subs in the 2nd half and the wind goes out of Chicago's sails. Chad Barrett's opener for Chicago makes the third game in a row that a goal was created by an attacker shooting at an angle across the face of the goal and the keeper was unable to hold on, allowing an opposing forward to tap in. Barrett's goal is almost a mirror image of Diego Forlan's tally for Villareal.

Break for dinner and a nap. Sweet, sweet sleep.

8 pm—10 pm: Bonanza! Flip back and forth between the Final Four and Birmingham-Chelsea, FSC. 0-0. Also have streaming video of Kansas City-Columbus running on my computer. KC 3-1. Only drawback is that this year, MLS has docked their viewer in a pop-up window, so I can't blow it up to full screen and watch from across the room like I did last year. Compensate by cranking the sound up so that I'll know when something exciting happens. Basketball gets boring pretty quickly, so I focus my attention on the soccer games. Kansas City looks good. Chelsea looks bad. Well, bad for Chelsea, anyway. They could still destroy most of the other teams I'm watching.
10 pm—11pm: Fox Sports World Report, FSC. Canadian highlight show. I get 30 great minutes of English, Spanish, German, and French highlights from throughout the day, and then they inexplicably start the same highlights over again at 10:30. Weird. Barcelona-Real Madrid looked like a decent game. (Sarcasm, people. Sarcasm.)
11 pm—1 am: Los Angeles-New England, ESPN2. New England 1-0. A rematch of MLS Cup 2005 ends up the other way around, with the visitors coming out on top. Clint Dempsey scores a nice goal and comes up with a rather disappointing celebration. LA looks drained. Not surprising, considering the emotions of the night: prior to kickoff, they received their championship rings and honored their late GM, Doug Hamilton, who died recently. But excuses aside, this game is sloppy, and looks a lot like the first game of the season.

Sunday
11:30 am—Noon: Schalke-Hamburg, FSC. Had this on in the background while I ate and got dressed. Not much to see.

Venture out into the world for groceries. Bright light, bright light!

4 pm—5 pm: Paris St. Germain-Bordeaux, FSC. PSG 3-1. I only see the second half, so I miss all the goals. Boo. PSG is either really good, or Bordeaux is really bad. Lots of Brazilians play in France.
5 pm—7 pm: Back to double duty. Arsenal-Aston Villa, FSC. Arsenal 5-0. DC United-New York Red Bulls, mlsnet.com. 2-2. As Arsenal demolishes Villa in the background, I'm mostly focused on DC-NY. NY goes up 2-0 early on a Youri Djorkaeff free kick and a horrid display by United's defense that gifts Edson Buddle a goal, but United hit back in the second half. Alecko Eskandarian and his fancy new headgear (see above) come back from a long concussion-induced injury layoff to score his first goal since MLS Cup 2004, a superb volley from 7 yards, and a few minutes later Facundo Erpen fires a wormburner that gets a fortunate deflection. I wish United could have kept the mo' going and gotten the winner, but I'm happy to see them claw their way back.
7 pm—7:15 pm: Tried to watch Houston-Colorado on my computer, but my eyes had had enough, so I decided to give them a rest. At least until next weekend.

Tony Quinn/Wireimage.com

A Question of Sport

The Final Four has invaded Indy. Or, more correctly, I guess I should say the corporate sponsors have invaded Indy. They've plastered Coke and Bud Light signage on every available inch of the downtown buildings, and most of the streets around Monument Circle are shut down and covered in lighting rigs, speakers, and giant projection screens shilling their products (all guarded by some flabby meatheads wearing security shirts who feel they have to earn their minimum wage by being total dicks and not letting you cross the street to get to your office because they're assembling some scaffolding 2 blocks away and "someone could get hurt"). It takes a good 10-15 minutes to make the 5 block drive from my apartment to my work. There appear to be about 200 portable trailers selling all manner of fried food (and to wash it down, of course, Coke and Budweiser products). Half of the circle is now buried under a stage where 80,000 people are expected to gather to see Michelle Branch, John Mellencamp and Carrie Underwood. Nothing like an American Idol winner to bring out the masses. But it's all worth it, because millions of dollars will be spent in Indy this weekend. Millions of dollars of free publicity will be generated for the sponsors. Hundreds of thousands of man-hours will be wasted by workers staring out their windows at all the chaos and holding on that last little slim hope that they might still win their office pool. Oh, and somewhere in all this mess, some college kids will play a couple of basketball games. Luckily, I managed to get something worthwhile out of this deal, scoring some free tickets to see a non-lip-synched concert when Robert Randolph and the Family Band play tomorrow afternoon at... the Bud Light tent? Shit. I guess nobody's safe from the long arm of corporate whoredom.

While most of the country is gearing up for this moneymaking extravaganza, I'm saving my excitement for the fact that this is Opening Weekend for MLS. All 12 teams are in action, with 3 matches on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. There are 2 matches on national TV tomorrow: Chicago and Dallas start the day on ABC at 4 pm Eastern, and ESPN2 has the rematch of last year’s final between LA and New England, at 11 pm. My boys from DC United open the season on Sunday at home against the New York Red Bulls, one of two teams that changed their name this year. The Red Bulls used to be the Metrostars, but were bought only a month ago by (believe it or not), Red Bull, and immediately rebranded. The other team with an identity crisis ended last year as the San Jose Earthquakes. During the offseason, they moved to Houston, where they were christened Houston 1836, after the year Texas won its independence from Mexico. Unfortunately, this managed to piss off the very Hispanic community the team was trying to attract, so they wisely and quickly changed the name again, settling on Houston Dynamo. They did manage to get one thing right, though, ending up with some of the coolest uniforms in the league. For more info, ESPN and MLSnet have both extensively previewed the new season, and SoccerTimes has a condensed wrapup of the offseason.

So between Final Four-related activities and a wide range of televised soccer, I’m in for a busy weekend. Usually, I’d be joined in my excitement by my friends Todd and Cynthia, but for some reason they seemed to think a two-week vacation in Australia would somehow be more interesting than sitting on the couch watching sports. Different strokes, I guess...

AP Photo

The Blahs

No, not my mood. For no particular reason, I decided to search Blingo for "blah blah blog" today, and after 54 pages of links and not a single mention of my page, I've concluded that there are about 47,310 blogs with the same name as mine, which is about 47,309 too many. So look for a name change fairly soon, as soon as I can stop grinding my teeth about work long enough to think of one.

Speaking of work, I'm going to break one of my two rules for this blog (because so many people from both these parts of my life read this, no bitching about work and no discussing my love life) for a brief moment here: one of the dangers of the accessibility of design software over the past decade or so is that now everybody thinks they're a designer. If one more editor questions me on a font choice or color selection or whether something is visually spaced correctly, they're going to require major surgery to have my keyboard removed from their ass. I read what goes in the magazine, and I have an opinion about it, but that doesn't make me an editor. Now if I went back to school and got my journalism degree, then I could complain. And when the editors I work with get their BFAs and have 10+ years of experience laying out magazines, then they can talk to me about leading and kerning and why we can't use the bold weight of our san serif font instead of the semibold weight of the serif font for that caption that had to absolutely be squeezed onto a very self-explanatory photo with a busy background in a layout which I designed using only the serif font.

Whew. OK, I feel a little better.

So, lots of soccer stuff since my last post:
I know this was more than a week ago, but the Nats earned a rare win on European soil, beating Poland 1-0 in the snow in Germany (Lewis and Galarcep analysis). Clint Dempsey scored the only goal, furthering his cause for inclusion on the WC roster.

In MLS, the Name Game continues. Houston 1836 (nee San Jose Earthquakes, nee San Jose Clash) changed their name to Houston Dynamo because of protest in the Hispanic community that 1836 was the year Texas won its independence from Mexico. Apparently, 170 years is not too long to hold a grudge in Texas, but don't you think it might have been a wise idea for team officials to figure that out before they had a press conference announcing the name and colors and logo? And what's going to happen when the Ukranian community in Houston starts protesting that they stole the name from Kiev's greatest team?

And over on the Eastern Seaboard, an infusion of new money into MLS is creating a lot of flap, as Red Bull, (makers of the energy drink of the same name who also own a team in Austria) swooped in to purchase the NY/NJ Metrostars this week, immediately rebranding them "Red Bull New York" (Galarcep analyzed this too). New Jersey officials immediately took umbrage, and I think rightly so, seeing as how the team plays at the Meadowlands and is building a new stadium in Harrison, NJ, neither of which are in New York. Ugly new uniforms will be unveiled when they open the season April 2 at home to my beloved DC United. No matter how they change their look and despite what team president and GM Alexi Lalas has to read from a teleprompter, they still don't have any trophies.

Both MLS participants in the CONCACAF Champions Cup traveled to Costa Rica this week to get knocked out of the tournament, as the LA Galaxy blew a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 in overtime, and New England lost 1-0 to LD Alajuelense. Here's another example of why MLS desparately needs their own stadiums for every team so that they can start playing on the same calendar as the rest of the world. MLS teams have won this tournament twice in 11 years (LA in 2000, DC in 1998), but usually they tend to crash out early because they're barely into their preseason and are playing teams that are in midseason fitness. Granted, LA played a magnificent first half on Wednesday, and they got totally jobbed on the phantom foul that led to the overtime winner for Saprissa, but they were a completely different team in the second half and lost their legs at about the 70th minute. I tihnk it's far to say that they deserved to lose the match.

On a sad note, however, LA's president and GM, Doug Hamilton, died of a heart attack on the plane returning from Costa Rica. He was only 43, and left behind a wife and young son. Hamilton had worked for LA and the now-defunct Miami Fusion over the past 6 years. The Galaxy were planning to stay in Costa Rica for training, but are returning to the US for the funeral. They have established a fund in support of Hamilton's son, and I would hope the team will wear a patch or armband in his memory for their opener on April 1.

And finally, heading across the pond, I caught the tail end of today's Chelsea-Tottenham match. What an amazing finish, and a heartbreaker for Tottenham. But seeing William Gallas' game-winning strike really brought home the difference in quality between MLS and the Premiership. Granted, Chelsea is a superclub and have amazing players at every postion, but you'd never see an MLS right back hit a shot like that. Hell, half the forwards in MLS probably couldn't hit that shot.

Freddy acts his age

So, Freddy. You're not happy on the bench. Good for you. Welcome to the big leagues, kid. I guess when everyone's been telling you how great and special and phenomenal you are since you were five, eventually, you're going to act like a spoiled brat when you don't get your way. But here's something to consider, Fred: even if you could go play for one of your dream teams like Chelsea or Real Madrid (which you legally can't until you're 18, so just relax), you'd just be sitting on the bench in a different country. If you can't win a starting job over Ben Olsen and Christian Gomez, do you really think you're going to start ahead of Zinedine Zidane or Arjen Robben? And, yeah, maybe next year you could switch teams in MLS and start for the Metrostars or Real Salt Lake or the Colorado Rapids or the Columbus Crew, but trust me when I say you're going to miss playing for a championship team. Oh sure, you may get a few more goals and a lot more attention, but when you're surrounded by mediocre players on a team that's trying to rebuild instead of the veteran guys who started ahead of you in DC (some of whom have 4 championship rings), you'll appreciate what you had there. Even high-profile columnists like Michael Wilbon agree with you, although he's more interested in taking MLS' marketing department to task for false promises than "helping your career". But not all is lost. Despite your teenage outburst, Bruce Arena is still going to call you into National Team Camp. If you won't listen to your club coach, maybe your National Team coach can teach you the importance of being a team player.

Meanwhile, DC United has to put aside your distraction and start the MLS Playoffs tomorrow night. If Coach Nowak lets you on the field after your public airing of dirty laundry, try to put your money where your mouth is and score another goal like this. The more you do that, the more you'll get on the field. And then you won't have to cry, to the press or anybody else.

UPDATE: Good grief, kid. Do you really want the "troubled superstar" tag at age 16? Apologize already.

Golazo! and Godzilla! (or what might as well be a scene from one of his movies)

The Kid has done it again. Freddy Adu (left) may not be the most prolific goal scorer in MLS (or even on his own team), but when he scores, he does it right. This is hands-down the best individual goal I’ve seen in MLS play since Clint Mathis dribbled 75 yards through five defenders back in 2000. Watch the move Freddy makes to free himself at the beginning of the sequence. You don’t teach that, folks.

So apparently it’s common knowledge among Washington Post staffers that the Everglades has a python problem, but it came as news to me. Check out the results when a Burmese python and an alligator duke it out for swamp supremacy. Thanks to Todd for the link.

Financial security

Very interesting article from Money magazine about the financial struggles of an MLS player, in this case Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams. Talk about being up, down, and all over the map. In most cases, players don't move around the way Williams has, but it's interesting to see the other side of collective bargaining agreements and incentive-based contracts. Link from Grant Wahl at si.com.

Caught the premiere of My Name is Earl tonight. Interesting idea. My initial thought is that the show is trying a little too hard, and it needs some time to catch its stride, but it's got promise. Jason Lee is the man. And tomorrow night, new Lost. Clear the decks! I am not accepting phone calls.

Mystery Man

As Major League Soccer continues its growth in this, its 10th season, one way I tend to track its progress is through the media coverage. In cities with MLS teams, coverage in the sports page for the home team (and soccer in general) is usually pretty good. Take a look at the paper in a non-MLS city though, and you’re usually lucky to find a standings table on the next-to-last page below the local high school scores. So as an American soccer fan so often does, I turn to the internet to get my fix. ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and the offical site for MLS are my main sources. Marc Connolly, Grant Wahl, and Jeff Bradley generally provide the bulk of the writing, offering insightful columns and interviews. But the stable of knowledgeable writers is beginning to grow. Ives Galarcep, Jeff Carlisle, Frank Dell'Apa, Jen Chang, Michael Lewis, Jamie Trecker and Robert Wagman also tackle MLS and US Soccer from time to time with varying degrees of quality and criticism. But the sign that the coverage is starting to mature is that there are now humorous columns that bring you MLS news with equal parts smack talk, sarcasm, and self-deprecating humor. Former MLS player Greg Lalas is beginning to find his voice, but much like ESPN.com’s Sports Guy column on Page 2, MLSNet has The Clean Sheet, written by a guy who calls himself Tino Palace. This is most definitely a pseudonym (if you look at his photo on MLSNet, you'll see he’s taken pains to disguise himself), and rumors of his true identity range from Drew Carey (celeb soccer fan) to Jim Rome (card-carrying soccer-basher) to Don Garber (MLS Commissioner). Whoever he is, the man can write. Granted, you’ll need a fair amount of soccer and pop culture knowledge to understand his jokes, but I take it as a good sign that a column like this can find a following. It speaks well for the development of MLS and soccer fandom in this country.

And then there's Heather Mitts. She may have a long way to go as a writer, but after looking at the faces of all these balding, paunchy sportswriters, she gives one heck of a headshot.

Denting the couch

Today’s theme: soccer overload. I’m just finishing hour seven, and so far, I’ve watched 2 1/2 games on TV and coached an hour’s worth of practice for the 9 and 10-year-old boys team I’m helping out with. I started the day with a rather lackluster 1-1 draw between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. Liverpool didn't seem to miss their former star Michael Owen, but it looked like they should take some of the money from his sale and buy a defense.

Next it was off to practice. We’ve got a great group of kids, about half of whom decided to skip practice today. So, we ran a few drills and then scrimmaged with another team in the same age group. This was my first chance to see my guys in a game setting, and they were pretty impressive. They have such a better understanding of the game than I remember having at that age. These guys realize that it’s OK to pass backwards to get out of trouble, and they’ve already started to figure out passing into space and running on to the ball, concepts that I wasn’t sure they were ready for.

After practice, it was back home for a much more exciting 1-1 game, this time between Fulham and Manchester City. This game featured three Americans, all of whom played well, especially Claudio Reyna, who was dangerous in midfield and created a lot of chances for City. This is good news for US fans, since Reyna will be an important part of Wednesday night’s World Cup qualifier against Jamaica. After struggling with injuries for so much of the past few years, it’s good to see Claudio healthy and playing well again. During the second half, I started flipping back and forth between this game and San Jose-Kansas City in MLS, which currently stands at 1-0 on a Landon Donovan goal.

Coming up later tonight, my DC United take on the New England Revolution in a big conference match. The standing are so tight right now that the winner of this game would move into 2nd place, while the loser will fall into last. Maybe Freddy Adu can score another beautiful goal like the one he scored Wednesday night. And after that game’s over, I plan to catch a replay of the Middlesborough-Newcastle match from earlier today.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll get off the couch, but maybe not. Everton-Arsenal is on at 1:00.