Every hour wounds. The last one kills.

So, it’s been quite a while since my last entry. As I stated, things at work have basically exploded and unfortunately my personal life is a big mess also, meaning that when I usually update (from work) and my backup (from home) have both been pretty well cut off.

I’m afraid that I lack the energy to tackle any of the three topics that I suggested in my last post, but getting the creative juices (not those, get your mind out of the gutter) flowing would probably do me some good.

The big and exciting news is that the US will be playing Scotland on Nov. 12^th. I’m happy about this because it means more soccer to hopefully watch—It’ll be very aggravating if there’s no TV, though. I have been pulling further and further from Newcastle as the play becomes duller and the mood on the message boards continues to darken.

A while ago, Mig ad Du Nord called the EPL “The dullest league in the world” slightly tongue-in-cheek (playing off it constantly being called the most exciting.) I have to say that with all the press, and though I hate to admit that they’re right, it’s true that the English game has lost a lot of its luster (lustre) recently.

Although it’s not alone. I have been viewing a lot of tapes of old USA games recently in order to make compilation videos. Back when I was watching these games live in 1996, every moment was exciting. I watched a World Cup Qualifier between the US and Trinidad and Tobago from Richmond, VA. I watched this game a good 5 times at least. I still have the tape and can pull it out and find it more entertaining than so many matches since. It wasn’t a good game either; it was a dull game played in cold weather and a stiff wind. Chances were few as ground skills were at a premium. Russell Latapy vs. John Harkes. It shouldn’t be so much more exciting than Emre vs. Savage. But it is.

It’s a general ennui in my life, I think, that is epitomized by the loss of excitement in the game. The premiership was more exciting when there were fewer ‘good’ players in it. Back in ’96 when each team had only one or two 5 million pound players. Not now, when teams are paying out hundreds of millions of dollars every week in wages.


Everything just seems too polished and over-produced.

Apologies for lack of posts

Sorry folks; things have been busy at work and at the moment my personal life is quite a mess.

Some posts that are in the works:

The Brilliance of Sepp Blatter
Thoughts on World Cup Roster as compared to 90, 94, 98 and 02 squads
Immanuel Kant and the Beautiful Game

USA 0-3 Costa Rica

Ouch. I was watching the game at 1:00 AM after getting home from the aforementioned poorly-planned wedding (actually, it was quite enjoyable despite very bland German food somehow giving me heartburn) and just as I allowed myself to think “Hey, we’re not doing that badly” we gifted them a goal.

We of course went on the give up two more.

Do you know the last time we lost by a three goal margin?

It was eight years ago and we were playing a B squad then too. It was 4-1 to Denmark at the US Cup in 97. Per Pederson scored four and Joe-Max Moore curled a great free-kick to keep us from being shut out.

To find the last 3-0 loss, you have to go back to December 1993 when we lost 3-0 to Germany in San Francisco. To find a worse score line, you have to go back to July of that year when we lost the Gold Cup Final 4-0 to Mexico in the Azteca.

Still, the match was pretty meaningless, but it sure isn’t fun to lose. I think that the score flattered Costa Rica just a bit, though not as much as the 3-0 win we recorder in Salt Lake City flattered us.

Please, allow me to pontificate

I work at a University. Today, I was walking through the student union and passed a table for "Women of Virtue" decorated with crosses and such.

I have no problem with this.

Nor even with the sign that said "This so called sexual freedom is really just a declaration that you offer yourself free of charge and therefor without worth."

Though that sounds more like it's saying all women are prostitutes.

What gets me is that the booth was manned by three MEN. How exactly do they feel qualified to tell women on campus how to live their lives?

The karmic ocean dries up and leaves no trace.

This weekend I went to a Live show. I've been really into Live since their first album, Mental Jewelry came out in the early 90s. They reached popular audiences with Throwing Copper which is a great album as in the whole thing; you want to listen to the whole thing, not just a couple of tracks. Same with Secret Samadhi. Their more recent stuff has been up and down, it takes a lot more to get out of it the same things I get out of their earlier stuff, but if you dig deep enough, it's still there.

But the concert was magnificent. Nice long sets, two encores and they even did "Iris" which they haven't done in 10 years or more (so Ed forgot the lyrics.) It was a really energetic show and the crowd was good too. I need to get to more concerts.

All Over You
Selling the Drama
The River
Mystery
They Stood Up for Love
Run Away
Love Shines
Operation Spirit
Lightning Crashes
Sophia
Lakini's Juice
Dolphin's Cry
I Alone
Show


Turn My Head
Run to the Water
Heaven


White Discussion
Shit Town
Iris
Dance With You

World Cup Qualifying, RSL and has Christian Gomez been reading my blog?

Since the last round of World Cup Qualifying in 2001, we have played Costa Rica four times and we are undefeated. The only draw was in a meaningless group-stage match in the Gold Cup. In those four games we have scored eight and allowed only two.

On the other hand, each of those games was at home, and our record in the Saprissa stinks. You have to go back to 1992 to find a match which we haven’t lost, and that was a scoreless draw in a friendly. Our record there since 1975 or so there is

No wins

Five losses

Two draws

Five goals scored

Ten goals allowed

I am not sure about the history before that; I don’t think we ever played Costa Rica before a 1975 meeting (3-1 loss) in Mexico City.

That record is hardly likely to improve with the US already qualified and this game meaningless to us except as a useful exercise to try out some fresh blood. Today at noon Central, Bruce Arena announced his squad. They are as follows:

Albright, Chris
Barrett, Wade
Beasley, DaMarcus
Bocanegra, Carlos
Califf, Dan
Ching, Brian
Clark, Ricardo
Convey, Bobby
Hartman, Kevin
Howard, Tim
Lewis, Eddie
Martino, Kyle
Mastroeni, Pablo
Onyewu, Oguchi
Pope, Eddie
Quaranta, Santino
Spector, Jonathan
Twellman, Taylor

A (strong) starting line up from that list is:

----------------Howard

Albright Bocanegra Onyewu Lewis

Quaranta Mastroeni Convey Beasely
-----------Twellman Ching

I’ll be interested to see who actually starts as I’m sure Bruce will want to get some players used to the atmosphere of a place like the Saprissa. But I will have to wait until Sunday to find out as I’ll be at a wedding Saturday night.

Honestly, people need to look at the fixture list before scheduling such things.

I know I will.

That lineup seems rather light at forward, especially considering that Quaranta has played right midfield for most of his National Team minutes. Then again, last time in the Saprissa, Bruce Arena played a 5-5-0 and didn’t even bring on a true forward as a sub when down 2-0. (Starting forwards were Kirovski and Jones, subs were Moore, Donovan and Preki.)

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I need to give a shoutout to Real Salt Lake. Not only did they graciously roll over for my Minnesota Thunder 6-4 in over time in the Open Cup, but they then took Melvin Tarley up to the big time. Now they’re giving a trial to Matt Schmidt as well.

Props to them. When I first read about Salt Lake City getting an MLS franchise, I must admit that I was a bit taken aback. Actually I was totally confused as I’d never thought of Utah as a “soccer hotbed.” I thought it strange that such locations as Rochester, Portland and Seattle, with strong. long-lasting and long-suffering, (okay except for Rochester) USL franchises were overlooked.

But the fans in Utah have come through. While they were a bit defensive when we Thunder fans came around their message board on BigSoccer, they are passionate fans who have supported their team well through a dour season.

As a result of Tarley’s transfer and such, I’ve taken to occasionally reading the RSL board and as a result have found that RSL has become one of the teams in MLS that I follow a little more closely. That wasn't hurt by the fact that they sent me a nice little thank you package for my help with their banquet.

When the league started, I was a MetroStars man, marginally, because they had four of my favorite players: Meola, Sorber, Ramos and Lagos. Since then, I really haven’t had a team in MLS given my location, so I haven’t gotten into the league so much. I think that the new teams are a real energizer for the league and the more expansion that can happen (fiscally,) the better it is for the league.

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How cool was it to see Christian Gomez in the crowd at the Meadowlands? This is what I’m talking about as far as having a good relationship with the fans. That’s how things will grow and that’s how thing should grow. You don’t see Major League Baseball players mingling with the fans when they’re on the DL. Or NBA players? Or NFL players? The closest I saw was Daunte Culpepper and Michael Bennet sitting near the crowd at a Timberwolves game. I’m sure some people sitting around them could be classed as ‘ordinary fans’ but they were still in the $200 seats, so I wouldn’t count it as quite the same thing as beating a drum in the middle of the Supporters Section.

Maybe some day I’ll stop beating this horse, but I doubt it.