This is perhaps the most embarrassed I have ever been after a game. I don't think anyone truly walked away from this game with a good feeling and I certainly hope our opponents felt like crap. After a game like this one does have to ask oneself if playing is really worth this. If our league has gotten so out of control that teams like Big Dough are welcomed, then I don't want to continue to be a part of it.
I am deeply troubled by the lack of emphasis on sportsmanship that plagues most sports leagues these days. As younger players have entered our league, I have encountered more and more trash talking during games and have seen way too many cheap shots during games. There are notable exceptions and there are lots of players who play hard and with class. Perhaps the DCJCC should disband the league for a year and start again with people who are a little less intense and more under control.
If anyone cares, here is a recap:
First half, Mocha welcomed the return of Stuart Bassin and John Knapp for guest spots in the game. For the sake of everyone, these are the only two names I will be mentioning in today's recap. Our opponent, nicknamed Big Dough and wearing dark blue, showed up en masse about 3 minutes before the game. Having only seen one or two of them in previous years, I question how many of them were really members of that team.
Early in the half, one of their strikers was fouled (as he was pulling the shirt of our defender) and this started an altercation. Tempers flared between the two and one of our defenders (Defender B) appeared to me to step in to break things up. A player from their sideline (possibly Ron Artest) came in swinging and landed a number of punches to the head of Defender B. Ron Artest apparently wanted to fight everyone. After things settled down, the referee red-carded Ron Artest and Defender B. Somewhere along the way, Big Dough scored 2 goals since I happen to be the suckiest goalie on the face of the earth. Halftime score: Big Dough 2 - Mocha 0.
I should perhaps explain another interesting aspect of the game. For once, our team had a full complement of players. We started the game with 4 female and 12 male players, which meant we would be able to field the full 11 players (3 female, 8 male) the entire match. Big Dough, started the game with 2 female and 11 male player and therefore would only be able to field 2 female and 8 male players for the match.
After the melee (I still can't believe I was at a match and playing where a melee occurred), we were able to field 3 female (+1 sub) and 7 male (+3 subs) and Big Dough was left with 2 female and 7 male (+1 sub) as Ron Artest vacated the field with his criminal buddy who may or may not have been Stephen Jackson.
The second half saw Big Dough displaying considerable delay tactics to run out the clock and found their players considerably weary due to the fact that they had fewer subs and were outnumbered. With about 10 minutes to play, one of their guys who wasn't the goalie, caught a ball with his hands to keep the ball from going in the net. This earned him an automatic red card and gave us a penalty kick and our first goal. They now had to field 8 players against our 10. We added two more in quick succession and the game mercifully ended. Final Score: Mocha 3 - Big Dough 2.
One of our players thought we should have ended the game when it was tied at 2-2. In retrospect, I believe that would ahve been the correct course of action. I originally thought the game should have ended after the melee when it was 0-0. Perhaps it was better that the game finished giving everyone a chance to cool down. Perhaps we all should have just walked away and thought about what it really means to play recreational soccer.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Monday, October 31, 2005
Fall Soccer Game 10/31
Good effort, results in defeat. The recurring theme that seems to be played over and over again in this space. Since this is a recreational league and since everyone involved does not have professional aspirations, and since we all need the exercise, I cannot be upset with what happens on the field. So, with that being said, here is what transpired:
Today we played the red team, which just so happened to be the light gray team that we tied 2-2 last season in a game marred by cheap shots and overly physical play. While they still have certain personalities on that team that take away some enjoyment from the game, today's game was much better than last season's game.
Prior to the start of the game, Bill and I had a Rochambeau to determine who would start in goal. I lost, I started, we defended the grosser of the two goal areas (lots of mud and standing water). In the first half, Red controlled most of the action. Damian, Kerry and Gail made some great defensive plays to keep the scoring to a minimum. They scored on what I considered to be two unsavable shots to the far post. We scored on a long free kick from Peter that fooled the opposing keeper. There were lots of good passing plays from Bill, Jon, Greg, Brian Sklar, and Lisa. Halftime score: Red 2- Mocha 1.
The second half saw a change in fortune as far a game possession. Mocha had the better run of play to start the half. We even drew a penalty kick when I was taken down in the box on a breakaway. Unfortunately, we could not convert. Helen, Ken and the rest of the defense kept the score close until the end and Marie had some dangerous opportunities up front. Bill had a superb half in goal and only surrendered a very late goal that he had no chance of stopping. It was a beautiful day with a great temperature for playing. Final Score: Red 3 - Mocha 1.
I think we only have one more game left in the regular season, so hopefully, we can finish on a high note!
Today we played the red team, which just so happened to be the light gray team that we tied 2-2 last season in a game marred by cheap shots and overly physical play. While they still have certain personalities on that team that take away some enjoyment from the game, today's game was much better than last season's game.
Prior to the start of the game, Bill and I had a Rochambeau to determine who would start in goal. I lost, I started, we defended the grosser of the two goal areas (lots of mud and standing water). In the first half, Red controlled most of the action. Damian, Kerry and Gail made some great defensive plays to keep the scoring to a minimum. They scored on what I considered to be two unsavable shots to the far post. We scored on a long free kick from Peter that fooled the opposing keeper. There were lots of good passing plays from Bill, Jon, Greg, Brian Sklar, and Lisa. Halftime score: Red 2- Mocha 1.
The second half saw a change in fortune as far a game possession. Mocha had the better run of play to start the half. We even drew a penalty kick when I was taken down in the box on a breakaway. Unfortunately, we could not convert. Helen, Ken and the rest of the defense kept the score close until the end and Marie had some dangerous opportunities up front. Bill had a superb half in goal and only surrendered a very late goal that he had no chance of stopping. It was a beautiful day with a great temperature for playing. Final Score: Red 3 - Mocha 1.
I think we only have one more game left in the regular season, so hopefully, we can finish on a high note!
Fall Soccer Game 10/23
"Rout" does not adequately describe the beating administered on this day. We lost 6-0 to a very talented team. They had Multiple players who could dribble the ball through multiple defenders and basically walk the ball right into the net. It certainly didn't help that I gave them the first goal by letting it slip through my hands and into the net.
Losing 6-0 sucks in any league. Everyone kept a good attitude and tried hard, which is the important thing at the end of the day. It was a beautiful day and a great day to run around and play a game.
Losing 6-0 sucks in any league. Everyone kept a good attitude and tried hard, which is the important thing at the end of the day. It was a beautiful day and a great day to run around and play a game.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Painful loss to White, 3-0
Hi folks out in the cyber-ether!
Since our last soccer update two game weeks have passed. We lost a game 3-0 in week one and were rained out the following week.
Our team had a rather painful 3-0 loss to a team wearing white jerseys yesterday. I guess all losses are painful and this one is definitely not top ten in terms of excruciation, but it did suck none-the-less. Quick recap below:
Due to difficulties with the pregnant-with-twins wife, I arrived 20 minutes late to the game so I cannot comment on what happened early in the game. Upon my arrival, I immediately substituted for keeper and let our much better field player, Greg give it a go out of the net. For me, the rest of the first half was uneventful. There was stalwart D in front of me and I think I touched the ball about 5 times.
The turning point of the game happened in the last 3 minutes of the half. Our sweeper, Brian S. pulled a muscle in his leg and limped off the field. He would not return to the game. This left an already shorthanded team even more shorthanded and without a very good player. Hopefully, he will be back soon. Halftime score, 0-0.
I played the field in the second half and Bill took his turn in goal. I must say that Bill plays keeper most excellently. He makes some incredible saves and only the unsavable shots seem to get past him. Unfortunately for Bill, he faced many opportunities where one or more strikers came through the defense unimpeded and he was left as the last line of defense. He stopped a few and 3 got past him. That is about as good as one can do.
We had a couple of opportunities to score in the second half. Trailing 2-0, Neil sent a pretty cross in front of the goal that I tapped in. The blind-as-shit ref called me offside even though I was behind the ball the whole time and then gave me a yellow card to boot. I won't be missing these maddening calls next season. Final score, White 3 - Skids 0.
There was a lot of good trapping and ball distribution by our team in this game. Everyone seems to be making a concerted effort to gain control of the ball and then look for a good place to distribute it. Such effort will surely be rewarded eventually. Great play by all who were there and let's keep a good thought for the next game!
Since our last soccer update two game weeks have passed. We lost a game 3-0 in week one and were rained out the following week.
Our team had a rather painful 3-0 loss to a team wearing white jerseys yesterday. I guess all losses are painful and this one is definitely not top ten in terms of excruciation, but it did suck none-the-less. Quick recap below:
Due to difficulties with the pregnant-with-twins wife, I arrived 20 minutes late to the game so I cannot comment on what happened early in the game. Upon my arrival, I immediately substituted for keeper and let our much better field player, Greg give it a go out of the net. For me, the rest of the first half was uneventful. There was stalwart D in front of me and I think I touched the ball about 5 times.
The turning point of the game happened in the last 3 minutes of the half. Our sweeper, Brian S. pulled a muscle in his leg and limped off the field. He would not return to the game. This left an already shorthanded team even more shorthanded and without a very good player. Hopefully, he will be back soon. Halftime score, 0-0.
I played the field in the second half and Bill took his turn in goal. I must say that Bill plays keeper most excellently. He makes some incredible saves and only the unsavable shots seem to get past him. Unfortunately for Bill, he faced many opportunities where one or more strikers came through the defense unimpeded and he was left as the last line of defense. He stopped a few and 3 got past him. That is about as good as one can do.
We had a couple of opportunities to score in the second half. Trailing 2-0, Neil sent a pretty cross in front of the goal that I tapped in. The blind-as-shit ref called me offside even though I was behind the ball the whole time and then gave me a yellow card to boot. I won't be missing these maddening calls next season. Final score, White 3 - Skids 0.
There was a lot of good trapping and ball distribution by our team in this game. Everyone seems to be making a concerted effort to gain control of the ball and then look for a good place to distribute it. Such effort will surely be rewarded eventually. Great play by all who were there and let's keep a good thought for the next game!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Yom Kippur
It is known as the Day of Atonement. One is supposed to afflict one's soul and search your conscience for t'shuvah, repentance.
This past Yom Kippur seemed more meaningful for me and I am not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that so much is going on in my life that is good, but I was not dreading the 25-hour fast like I normally do. The one thought I had this year was of joy. In biblical times, Yom Kippur was considered to be one of the happiest days of the year. The entire nation was excited that Yom Kippur would come and their sins would be forgiven (provided appropriate repentance had been completed). So what was the difference this year as compared to recent years?
I think we all can have a tendency to focus on what is not right in our lives at the expense of that is right. If I were to make a list of the good and bad in my life it would look like this:
Good - family life, great daughter, excitement at upcoming twins, good and supportive friends, excellent house, great yard, incredible neighbors and neighborhood,overall good weather in this part of the country.
Bad - Job sucks ass, driving in region is fraught with peril.
Out of the two bad things on my list only the first is something I can even try to change and I am working on it. Hopefully, perserverence will pay off and that situation will improve. Until then, I will make an effort to keep better perspective and not let the few bad things cloud my outlook. Every day is a gift and it is truly great to be alive in the USA. Opportunity is out there and one day, I look forward to posting what my next opportunity will be.
Peace.
This past Yom Kippur seemed more meaningful for me and I am not sure why. Maybe it was the fact that so much is going on in my life that is good, but I was not dreading the 25-hour fast like I normally do. The one thought I had this year was of joy. In biblical times, Yom Kippur was considered to be one of the happiest days of the year. The entire nation was excited that Yom Kippur would come and their sins would be forgiven (provided appropriate repentance had been completed). So what was the difference this year as compared to recent years?
I think we all can have a tendency to focus on what is not right in our lives at the expense of that is right. If I were to make a list of the good and bad in my life it would look like this:
Good - family life, great daughter, excitement at upcoming twins, good and supportive friends, excellent house, great yard, incredible neighbors and neighborhood,overall good weather in this part of the country.
Bad - Job sucks ass, driving in region is fraught with peril.
Out of the two bad things on my list only the first is something I can even try to change and I am working on it. Hopefully, perserverence will pay off and that situation will improve. Until then, I will make an effort to keep better perspective and not let the few bad things cloud my outlook. Every day is a gift and it is truly great to be alive in the USA. Opportunity is out there and one day, I look forward to posting what my next opportunity will be.
Peace.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Man, what a Defeat
The Gators got pummelled by the Crimson Tide today. Perhaps one of the more thorough beatings administered to them over the last 15 years. The margin of victory wasn't worse than the 45-3 beating they took against Tennessee in 1990, but in that particular game, the halftime score was 7-3 and we had just missed getting a touchdown on the last play of the half. The floodgates opened (both literally and figuratively) in the second half of that one.
Perhaps a better comparison was the 1995 Fiesta Bowl where Nebraska beat us 62-24 and dominated from start to finish. It was fairly clear from the outset that this was going to be a long day. The gators failed to take advantage of an early muffed punt and quickly found themselves down 14-0.
Not that it affected the outcome of the game, I have to question UF's decision to go for it on 4th down at the Tide 1 yard line. At the time, UF trailed 17-0 and we were early in the second quarter. No matter how you assume points are needed to catch up, the gators trailed by at least 3 scores. Basic strategy tells you that it doesn't matter what order you get points in as long as you continue to get points. Furthermore, since our running game was non-existent prior to that play, one cannot assume that the one yard is an easy conversion. Missing the 4th down attempt will result in leaving your team 3 scores down and having less time on the clock. Making a field goal is a necessary first step toward tying the game.
Since a football game is an endurance test more than anything, you have to make decisions thinking that you will get more chances later in the game. I think that many coaches see that one last yard and get fooled into thinking that they should take the opportunity while they are so close. In reality, the true opportunity was to be close enough for an easy three points and start some momentum going in your own direction.
Either way, the game ended up being a blowout 31-3 loss that the team will have to recover from. The nice thing about a season is there are plenty of opportunities to erase the bad memories of a single game.
Peace.
Perhaps a better comparison was the 1995 Fiesta Bowl where Nebraska beat us 62-24 and dominated from start to finish. It was fairly clear from the outset that this was going to be a long day. The gators failed to take advantage of an early muffed punt and quickly found themselves down 14-0.
Not that it affected the outcome of the game, I have to question UF's decision to go for it on 4th down at the Tide 1 yard line. At the time, UF trailed 17-0 and we were early in the second quarter. No matter how you assume points are needed to catch up, the gators trailed by at least 3 scores. Basic strategy tells you that it doesn't matter what order you get points in as long as you continue to get points. Furthermore, since our running game was non-existent prior to that play, one cannot assume that the one yard is an easy conversion. Missing the 4th down attempt will result in leaving your team 3 scores down and having less time on the clock. Making a field goal is a necessary first step toward tying the game.
Since a football game is an endurance test more than anything, you have to make decisions thinking that you will get more chances later in the game. I think that many coaches see that one last yard and get fooled into thinking that they should take the opportunity while they are so close. In reality, the true opportunity was to be close enough for an easy three points and start some momentum going in your own direction.
Either way, the game ended up being a blowout 31-3 loss that the team will have to recover from. The nice thing about a season is there are plenty of opportunities to erase the bad memories of a single game.
Peace.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Fall Soccer Game 3
Game 3 took place today under the clouds and quite pleasant temperature of a nice Autumn day in Washington, DC. Team Mocha took the field against a nemesis team from last season, team Green. The Green team was only a nemesis in that they beat us two times including the heartbreaking 4-3 loss in the playoffs, which still haunts me to this day.
Today, with Bill out of town, Peter and I agreed to share the goalkeeping duties. I started the game between the pipes determined to not have a repeat of the episode from game 1 where I bobbled the early ball and gave up a cheap goal. Team Green has a player named Bruce who seems to always be looking for trouble. He is similar in temperament to Eric, the prick bastard from the gray team of last season, but not quite as bad. Eric is dangerous to others, where Bruce is mostly just dangerous to himself.
Team Mocha started the match with 12 players available and only one substitute. Team Green had 4 substitutes and lots of good ones at that. I have noticed that in these situations in the past, our team has responded with very good play. It is like we know we can't play too much long ball, so we concentrate on passing the ball. Since soccer is a game of possession and passing, this is usually a good thing.
The first half seemed to be fairly even. Despite having a number of good strikers, team Green failed to get any quality shots due to great defensive play from Brian Siever, Brian Sklar, Ken, Gail, Greg and Brian Trackman. This keeper was truly blessed to have such an amazing effort in front of him. We took a number of long-range shots that didn't really threaten their keeper, but it did give us a chance to rest while they chased the ball down into the trees behind the goal. Halftime score: 0-0.
The second half was absolutely nuts. Less than 10 minutes into the half, team Green took the lead on a ball that skidded weirdly under my foot through the midfield and then found one of their strikers. He beat the defense and put in a nice low shot to the near post.
Down a goal, Mocha put the offensive pedal to the metal. We started sending more folks forward and were threatening their goal. After many missed opportunities (many by yours truly), Mocha evened the match with 15 minutes to play on a goal by Brian Sklar that deflected a little off the defender's foot and found the inside of the left post.
The action went back and forth until one of our players was red-carded with about 10 minutes to play on what the ref deemed to be a retaliatory kick to a green player. Like most of these situations, the ref neglected to call the shirt pulling the preceded the incident. Now we were a player down and holding on for dear life. With about 2 minutes to go, team Green took the lead again on a ball that seem to hang around our goal and finally find a Green striker's boot.
With little to lose, Mocha attacked with all that we had. We won a corner kick and I had an excellent chance to tie the match after heading a perfectly placed kick from Ken on goal. Unfortunately, the opposing players blocked it and my rebound kick was deflected out of bounds for another corner. Seconds later and with seconds to play, Brian Siever tied the match on a brilliant screaming shot from the top of the box to the lower left part of the goal, just inside the post. Final Score: Mocha 2 - Green 2.
I cannot remember the last time we victimized a team like that. It always seams like we are the team that has such bad luck, but today our fortunes were different. A great match by everyone to come up with a well-deserved point.
I don't normally do this, but today's match will be an exception. I feel the need to specifically note part of the great contribution everyone played in this match.
Marie had some great feeds to the wings and some good shots on goal. Lisa played the right half with poise and made a lot of good stops and feeds. Neil had some good shots, a ton of excellent feeds and should have had more than one assist. In addition to his stellar defensive stops, Brian Trackman had a great assist on the final goal and came close to scoring himself. Greg played his normal all-around excellent game and did a great job not letting Bruce get under his skin. Angel played tough on the right side and disrupted a number of plays. Peter played a great first half in the midfield and distributed well. He was peppered with tons of shots in the second half and kept us in the game with many nice saves. Ken played a stalwart game of defense and had some great corner kicks that should have been converted to goals. Gail was solid as ever (and as usual) and thwarted many attacks on defense. Brian Siever saved our hides on defense and then saved our hides on offense and played a really top-notch game. Our captain, Brian Sklar not only got us on the scoreboard, but played a whale of a game at stopper. He wasn't feeling so well after the game, so everyone wish him good health!
What a good way to start the week!
Today, with Bill out of town, Peter and I agreed to share the goalkeeping duties. I started the game between the pipes determined to not have a repeat of the episode from game 1 where I bobbled the early ball and gave up a cheap goal. Team Green has a player named Bruce who seems to always be looking for trouble. He is similar in temperament to Eric, the prick bastard from the gray team of last season, but not quite as bad. Eric is dangerous to others, where Bruce is mostly just dangerous to himself.
Team Mocha started the match with 12 players available and only one substitute. Team Green had 4 substitutes and lots of good ones at that. I have noticed that in these situations in the past, our team has responded with very good play. It is like we know we can't play too much long ball, so we concentrate on passing the ball. Since soccer is a game of possession and passing, this is usually a good thing.
The first half seemed to be fairly even. Despite having a number of good strikers, team Green failed to get any quality shots due to great defensive play from Brian Siever, Brian Sklar, Ken, Gail, Greg and Brian Trackman. This keeper was truly blessed to have such an amazing effort in front of him. We took a number of long-range shots that didn't really threaten their keeper, but it did give us a chance to rest while they chased the ball down into the trees behind the goal. Halftime score: 0-0.
The second half was absolutely nuts. Less than 10 minutes into the half, team Green took the lead on a ball that skidded weirdly under my foot through the midfield and then found one of their strikers. He beat the defense and put in a nice low shot to the near post.
Down a goal, Mocha put the offensive pedal to the metal. We started sending more folks forward and were threatening their goal. After many missed opportunities (many by yours truly), Mocha evened the match with 15 minutes to play on a goal by Brian Sklar that deflected a little off the defender's foot and found the inside of the left post.
The action went back and forth until one of our players was red-carded with about 10 minutes to play on what the ref deemed to be a retaliatory kick to a green player. Like most of these situations, the ref neglected to call the shirt pulling the preceded the incident. Now we were a player down and holding on for dear life. With about 2 minutes to go, team Green took the lead again on a ball that seem to hang around our goal and finally find a Green striker's boot.
With little to lose, Mocha attacked with all that we had. We won a corner kick and I had an excellent chance to tie the match after heading a perfectly placed kick from Ken on goal. Unfortunately, the opposing players blocked it and my rebound kick was deflected out of bounds for another corner. Seconds later and with seconds to play, Brian Siever tied the match on a brilliant screaming shot from the top of the box to the lower left part of the goal, just inside the post. Final Score: Mocha 2 - Green 2.
I cannot remember the last time we victimized a team like that. It always seams like we are the team that has such bad luck, but today our fortunes were different. A great match by everyone to come up with a well-deserved point.
I don't normally do this, but today's match will be an exception. I feel the need to specifically note part of the great contribution everyone played in this match.
Marie had some great feeds to the wings and some good shots on goal. Lisa played the right half with poise and made a lot of good stops and feeds. Neil had some good shots, a ton of excellent feeds and should have had more than one assist. In addition to his stellar defensive stops, Brian Trackman had a great assist on the final goal and came close to scoring himself. Greg played his normal all-around excellent game and did a great job not letting Bruce get under his skin. Angel played tough on the right side and disrupted a number of plays. Peter played a great first half in the midfield and distributed well. He was peppered with tons of shots in the second half and kept us in the game with many nice saves. Ken played a stalwart game of defense and had some great corner kicks that should have been converted to goals. Gail was solid as ever (and as usual) and thwarted many attacks on defense. Brian Siever saved our hides on defense and then saved our hides on offense and played a really top-notch game. Our captain, Brian Sklar not only got us on the scoreboard, but played a whale of a game at stopper. He wasn't feeling so well after the game, so everyone wish him good health!
What a good way to start the week!
Fall Soccer Game 2
You may recall from the last post our team is not yet given a name since we did not have jerseys prior to the first game. We were told we would have jerseys prior to the start of game 2, but game time rolled around and there were none to be found. A mystery indeed.
The mighty men and women of TOIC A took the field with our light jerseys again, determined to reverse the curse of last week. I will call our opponent TOIC C for now just to keep consistent. This week, the field we played on also had the unique pleasure of not having soccer lines on it aside from the touchlines. No goal box, no penalty box and lots of weird dotted lines.
Peter and Bill were going to share goal duties today and were determined to make everyone proud. Peter started the match in goal and played a very good half. The match started slowly for both teams. There was a lot of change of possession in the midfield and few good scoring opportunities for the first 10 minutes or so. TOIC A took the lead on a goal from Bill that was similar to his goal in game 1. So far it looks like Bill is going to have an excellent year offensively and in goal!
There was a play that happened in the first half that seemed quite innocuous at the time, but it foretold of disastrous consequences later so I will tell you now rather than create an even more hideous run-on sentence. One of the TOIC C strikers called for the ball and was a good 2 yards behind our last defender. The ball was played to him in his clearly offside position and I asked the ref to call it. He did not. Luckily, Brian Siever tracked the ball down and did not let the bad call cost us a goal. The ref insisted the player was even with me (the player told me after the game, he knew he was WAY offside) and the ref was quite belligerent. I thought at the time that at least our defense won't have to deal with this ref in the second half. Score at the half: TOIC A 1 - TOIC C 0.
At halftime, we received our jerseys for this season. I kind of poo brown. I don't know who we pissed off in the league office, but man, these jerseys are reminiscent of the Brown Sound episode of South Park. Many ideas were immediately floated for our team name, most of them scatalogical. The only clean one was "mocha". So here is what I will do: When things go well, I will refer to us as Mocha and when things go poorly, we will be Skidz.
The second half featured a lot of weirdness. Having a one goal lead is nice, but it is also precarious. It helps to pick up another goal to give a good cushion for the inevitable strange goal of the day that always seems to happen to us. The action was very tight, but we started to get some chances. Team Mocha extended its lead to 2-0 about 20 minutes into the second half on a controversial goal by Jon Rose. We had played a corner kick into the area. It was semi-cleared by Team Yellow (formerly TOIC C) to one of our players who played it to Jon who was still right by the goal in what looked like offside position. The referee (same one from the first half) did not call offside and when the Yellow players argued with him and tried to explain the rule (which he demonstrated earlier, he does not understand) he gave a red card to their captain (and best defender) and a yellow card to another one of their players.
From there the floodgates opened. Neil scored a few minutes later by practically walking the ball in. Jon Rose added another nice outside shot from the top of the penalty area to the inside of the post. Greg capped Mocha's scoring with about 8 minutes to play. Team Yellow kept fighting hard and got on the board with less than five minutes to play on a header that seemed to have its own eyes for the net. Final score: Mocha 5 - Yellow 1.
A very nice effort from our team. The red card and goal #2 really changed what was a close and fairly even game to a lopsided affair. I can't think of anyone who played poorly on our team today. A great effort all around!
The mighty men and women of TOIC A took the field with our light jerseys again, determined to reverse the curse of last week. I will call our opponent TOIC C for now just to keep consistent. This week, the field we played on also had the unique pleasure of not having soccer lines on it aside from the touchlines. No goal box, no penalty box and lots of weird dotted lines.
Peter and Bill were going to share goal duties today and were determined to make everyone proud. Peter started the match in goal and played a very good half. The match started slowly for both teams. There was a lot of change of possession in the midfield and few good scoring opportunities for the first 10 minutes or so. TOIC A took the lead on a goal from Bill that was similar to his goal in game 1. So far it looks like Bill is going to have an excellent year offensively and in goal!
There was a play that happened in the first half that seemed quite innocuous at the time, but it foretold of disastrous consequences later so I will tell you now rather than create an even more hideous run-on sentence. One of the TOIC C strikers called for the ball and was a good 2 yards behind our last defender. The ball was played to him in his clearly offside position and I asked the ref to call it. He did not. Luckily, Brian Siever tracked the ball down and did not let the bad call cost us a goal. The ref insisted the player was even with me (the player told me after the game, he knew he was WAY offside) and the ref was quite belligerent. I thought at the time that at least our defense won't have to deal with this ref in the second half. Score at the half: TOIC A 1 - TOIC C 0.
At halftime, we received our jerseys for this season. I kind of poo brown. I don't know who we pissed off in the league office, but man, these jerseys are reminiscent of the Brown Sound episode of South Park. Many ideas were immediately floated for our team name, most of them scatalogical. The only clean one was "mocha". So here is what I will do: When things go well, I will refer to us as Mocha and when things go poorly, we will be Skidz.
The second half featured a lot of weirdness. Having a one goal lead is nice, but it is also precarious. It helps to pick up another goal to give a good cushion for the inevitable strange goal of the day that always seems to happen to us. The action was very tight, but we started to get some chances. Team Mocha extended its lead to 2-0 about 20 minutes into the second half on a controversial goal by Jon Rose. We had played a corner kick into the area. It was semi-cleared by Team Yellow (formerly TOIC C) to one of our players who played it to Jon who was still right by the goal in what looked like offside position. The referee (same one from the first half) did not call offside and when the Yellow players argued with him and tried to explain the rule (which he demonstrated earlier, he does not understand) he gave a red card to their captain (and best defender) and a yellow card to another one of their players.
From there the floodgates opened. Neil scored a few minutes later by practically walking the ball in. Jon Rose added another nice outside shot from the top of the penalty area to the inside of the post. Greg capped Mocha's scoring with about 8 minutes to play. Team Yellow kept fighting hard and got on the board with less than five minutes to play on a header that seemed to have its own eyes for the net. Final score: Mocha 5 - Yellow 1.
A very nice effort from our team. The red card and goal #2 really changed what was a close and fairly even game to a lopsided affair. I can't think of anyone who played poorly on our team today. A great effort all around!
Fall Soccer Game 1
F-ing website lost my first write up of this game. So I will attempt to recreate the literary masterpiece that it was.
I have been quite delinquent in writing up the games for my soccer team this season but I think I will be able to do a better job going forward. Demands on my time (work, job hunting, naps, and uber naps) have kept me from posting more often. Since countless 1's of people visit this forum every few months and since it is a place for current events knowledge in and around my house, I will endeavor to improve my performance.
This season our team will be experimenting with a goal keeper by committee approach. Bill, Peter and me will share the duties equally. Basically, two of the three keepers will split each game. You can kind of think of it like a soccer version of Rochambeau. You may ask yourself, "How do I work this?" Ooops. That was the Talking Heads. You may ask yourself, "What does this have to do with the outcome of game one?" Absolutely nothing! Since this is my blog, I get to be self centered about this and explain how the whole thing affects me!
Onto the game one highlights:
This season, our team of indeterminate color (TOIC A) played another team of indeterminate color (TOIC B). At this point, you may ask yourself, why the indeterminate colors? Well, the league in its infinite wisdom and with much prior knowledge of the exact start date of the season, did not order jerseys for the league on time. So we showed up with light and dark shirts and chose to play light based on the shirts the other team brought.
Historically, TOIC B has given our team great problem when we play. I cannot remember ever beating them. They have a lot of younger and very skilled players that dribble well, pass well, and defend well. They also seem to be pretty fast. Not a good combination for a team like ours.
As mentioned above, I started the game in goal and with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, an offseason of no practice and definitely no thought of playing keeper, does not leave on with the sharpest skills. About 2 minutes into the game, the first ball I handled I bobbled and it fell right onto the feet of a TOIC B striker who touched the ball right into the net for an early lead. Luckily, that would be my game one blunder of the day.
TOIC A evened the match a few minutes later when Bill volleyed a cross from the left side right into the left side of the net. The rest of the half featured good chances from both teams. I was forced to make a couple of saves and to charge out of the box to break up some attacks. One ball did get past me, but Jeff scrambled back to make and excellent save and kick the ball off the goal line. Halftime score: 1-1.
The second half was owned by TOIC B. The got back to their ball control ways and kept peppering our goal with shots. Bill made a ton of great saves but was beaten by two excellent shots from TOIC B strikers. The first was a good shot ripped to the near post from inside the penalty area about 20 minutes into the second half. The TOIC B striker had received the ball outside of the penalty area and beaten me to the outside. He then made a bee-line for the goal and hit a pretty shot just past Bill's outstretched hand.
The second goal was a looping shot to the upper left hand corner that looked pretty unstoppable to me. Our team kept fighting and tried very hard, but it was just not meant to be on this day. Final score: TOIC B 3 - TOIC A 1.
I was impressed by our overall effort and thought everybody did a good job trying to get back into game shape and get back into the mental aspect of playing. I feel good about this season, which will likely be my last for a while. But more on that in later posts....
I have been quite delinquent in writing up the games for my soccer team this season but I think I will be able to do a better job going forward. Demands on my time (work, job hunting, naps, and uber naps) have kept me from posting more often. Since countless 1's of people visit this forum every few months and since it is a place for current events knowledge in and around my house, I will endeavor to improve my performance.
This season our team will be experimenting with a goal keeper by committee approach. Bill, Peter and me will share the duties equally. Basically, two of the three keepers will split each game. You can kind of think of it like a soccer version of Rochambeau. You may ask yourself, "How do I work this?" Ooops. That was the Talking Heads. You may ask yourself, "What does this have to do with the outcome of game one?" Absolutely nothing! Since this is my blog, I get to be self centered about this and explain how the whole thing affects me!
Onto the game one highlights:
This season, our team of indeterminate color (TOIC A) played another team of indeterminate color (TOIC B). At this point, you may ask yourself, why the indeterminate colors? Well, the league in its infinite wisdom and with much prior knowledge of the exact start date of the season, did not order jerseys for the league on time. So we showed up with light and dark shirts and chose to play light based on the shirts the other team brought.
Historically, TOIC B has given our team great problem when we play. I cannot remember ever beating them. They have a lot of younger and very skilled players that dribble well, pass well, and defend well. They also seem to be pretty fast. Not a good combination for a team like ours.
As mentioned above, I started the game in goal and with the best of intentions. Unfortunately, an offseason of no practice and definitely no thought of playing keeper, does not leave on with the sharpest skills. About 2 minutes into the game, the first ball I handled I bobbled and it fell right onto the feet of a TOIC B striker who touched the ball right into the net for an early lead. Luckily, that would be my game one blunder of the day.
TOIC A evened the match a few minutes later when Bill volleyed a cross from the left side right into the left side of the net. The rest of the half featured good chances from both teams. I was forced to make a couple of saves and to charge out of the box to break up some attacks. One ball did get past me, but Jeff scrambled back to make and excellent save and kick the ball off the goal line. Halftime score: 1-1.
The second half was owned by TOIC B. The got back to their ball control ways and kept peppering our goal with shots. Bill made a ton of great saves but was beaten by two excellent shots from TOIC B strikers. The first was a good shot ripped to the near post from inside the penalty area about 20 minutes into the second half. The TOIC B striker had received the ball outside of the penalty area and beaten me to the outside. He then made a bee-line for the goal and hit a pretty shot just past Bill's outstretched hand.
The second goal was a looping shot to the upper left hand corner that looked pretty unstoppable to me. Our team kept fighting and tried very hard, but it was just not meant to be on this day. Final score: TOIC B 3 - TOIC A 1.
I was impressed by our overall effort and thought everybody did a good job trying to get back into game shape and get back into the mental aspect of playing. I feel good about this season, which will likely be my last for a while. But more on that in later posts....
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Team Work
Team work is a concept that lots of folks talk about and few actually believe. At my current employer, I find that teamwork is not rewarded. Individuals are rewarded for achievements even though their achievements are often due to contributions from many other people. I happen to get a bonus when the company does well financially, but the people who I depend on to finish projects, make new products, and help out from time to time do not get such bonuses. So when it comes down to it, they have no incentive to help me finish projects that increase revenue because it is not going to affect their bottom line. Since the company eliminated end of the year bonuses a few years ago, there is not even a sliver of an incentive in place other than vague threats to replace people.
Another nice concept at play is what I refer to as "when the going gets tough, get mean as hell" management. I am driven to do my job in the same manner whether times are good or whether times are bad. When times are good, management leaves me alone and asks few questions about what is going on. When times get bad, all of a sudden I have to answer picayune questions regarding every decision that I make. Not only is this demoralizing, but it is a waste of time. Time that could be spent doing my job, is instead spent answering worthless questions. The same level of work that was outstanding a few weeks ago, is now "unacceptable".
Needless to say, this leaves very little incentive to do more than look for a new job. Please keep a good thought out for me as I try to extricate myself from this employment hell-hole.
Another nice concept at play is what I refer to as "when the going gets tough, get mean as hell" management. I am driven to do my job in the same manner whether times are good or whether times are bad. When times are good, management leaves me alone and asks few questions about what is going on. When times get bad, all of a sudden I have to answer picayune questions regarding every decision that I make. Not only is this demoralizing, but it is a waste of time. Time that could be spent doing my job, is instead spent answering worthless questions. The same level of work that was outstanding a few weeks ago, is now "unacceptable".
Needless to say, this leaves very little incentive to do more than look for a new job. Please keep a good thought out for me as I try to extricate myself from this employment hell-hole.
Goal Keeping Experiment Ends
It looks like yours truly has hung up his goalkeeping gear for good after only one season. Not a totally unsucessful effort, but not stellar by any means. The team deserves someone in there who can do a better job keeping the ball out of the net and I guess I proved that person is not me. It will be back to the field for what looks to be my last season of organized soccer.
I guess I can find other athletic pursuits that do not require the time commitment of playing on a team and give a good sense of accomplishment. I will miss the game, but there are very important things to take care of on the horizon and I am looking forward to those things!
I guess I can find other athletic pursuits that do not require the time commitment of playing on a team and give a good sense of accomplishment. I will miss the game, but there are very important things to take care of on the horizon and I am looking forward to those things!
Monday, August 29, 2005
Driving in Virginia
My apologies for being away for so long, I will try to be more regular with these communications.
I have lived in the DC area for 8 years now and drving in Virginia never ceases to amaze me. What an unbelievable system of signs they have there. If you do not have first hand knowledge of your route, you may as well count on getting lost because there will not be sign to help you navigate how to get around.
After finally seeing the latest Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith on Saturday night at the Arlington Drafthouse, I thought it would be a simple matter of reversing my directions from the theater to get home. Basically, I had taken the beltway, to the GW Parkway, to Route 50 west to the Arlington Drafthouse. So when I hop on 50 and head east toward DC and see a sign for the GW parkway, I naturally turn onto it. The only problem was it was a southbound only entrance.
WTF is wrong with that state? How hard is it to add "Southbound Only" to the huge sign that directs folks to the GW Parkway from Route 50? For all I know there is a northbound entrance later down the road, but there aren't any f-ing signs that would give you a clue about that.
Needless to say, this continues to leave me with the impression that Virginia is a state less interested in actually planning wise responses and more interested in randomly reacting to them.
I have lived in the DC area for 8 years now and drving in Virginia never ceases to amaze me. What an unbelievable system of signs they have there. If you do not have first hand knowledge of your route, you may as well count on getting lost because there will not be sign to help you navigate how to get around.
After finally seeing the latest Star Wars movie, Revenge of the Sith on Saturday night at the Arlington Drafthouse, I thought it would be a simple matter of reversing my directions from the theater to get home. Basically, I had taken the beltway, to the GW Parkway, to Route 50 west to the Arlington Drafthouse. So when I hop on 50 and head east toward DC and see a sign for the GW parkway, I naturally turn onto it. The only problem was it was a southbound only entrance.
WTF is wrong with that state? How hard is it to add "Southbound Only" to the huge sign that directs folks to the GW Parkway from Route 50? For all I know there is a northbound entrance later down the road, but there aren't any f-ing signs that would give you a clue about that.
Needless to say, this continues to leave me with the impression that Virginia is a state less interested in actually planning wise responses and more interested in randomly reacting to them.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Chelsea Out-Arrogants ManU
Good for Chelsea.
In one year they have managed to become more arrogant than Manchester United. As an Arsenal fan, I could really care less if ManU fell off the face of the earth. At least ManU established a dynasty of titles and solid play in Europe that their fans could be boastful of. One season in which Chelsea wins the league title and doesn't win the FA or Champions League and their general manager is talking about "dominating" European Football.
I imagine I will not be the only one to say "that's a shame" when they get their asses handed to them this year.
In one year they have managed to become more arrogant than Manchester United. As an Arsenal fan, I could really care less if ManU fell off the face of the earth. At least ManU established a dynasty of titles and solid play in Europe that their fans could be boastful of. One season in which Chelsea wins the league title and doesn't win the FA or Champions League and their general manager is talking about "dominating" European Football.
I imagine I will not be the only one to say "that's a shame" when they get their asses handed to them this year.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Green Holds on for Win Over Blue
I am sorry this post is not very timely. I have been unusually busy and have not had time to be quick in my analysis of our last game of the season. Plus the result was fairly painful and I was not really in the mood to relive it.
Recap
Green got on the board early with two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. Goal number one was a breakaway on a counterattack following a corner kick from our team. Their striker came down the right side of the field and beat me fair and square to the far post. He had me dead to rights and there was little to do to stop his shot. Their second goal resulted from a throw in the was allowed to linger in our penalty area too long. Eventually it landed at the feet of their other good striker and he put it away.
Blue fought hard and evened the match before halftime. One goal was a nice header following a cross from the left side of the field and the other was somewhat similar to the Green team's second goal. It landed at a Blue player's foot and he calmly put it away. Halftime Score: 2-2.
The second half was eerily similar to the first half. Green scored early on another counter attack down the left side. The same striker beat me to the same side of the goal. You would think I could learn from the first goal! Blue fought back and tied the game at 3 apiece with about 15 minutes to play on a ball that ping-ponged around the Blue net before finally getting put away.
As time wound down, I was convinced we were looking at overtime, but alas it was not meant to be. With about 2 minutes to play Green crossed the ball from their right side and one of their players put it toward the net. Following a miscommunication between me and another Blue player, the ball bounced around and finally landed right at the feet of the Green striker who scored goal #2. He put away the winner and that was that. Final Score: 4-3 loss.
I have to give the Green team a lot of credit. It was a hot day, they had fewer subs than we did and they played just well enough to beat us. I am very proud of our team for not backing down, for coming back from behind twice, and for scoring three goals. I am equally proud that our defense did well to limit two very talented strikers from having more opportunities than they did.
This season has been tough. We lost more games than I thought we would, but everyone came out and played hard each week. I am excited that everyone seemed to have at least one game where they really excelled, sometimes against opponents who were physically superior to us. At the end of the game, I like to ask myself the following:
Did you play as hard as you can and play your position well?
If you feel you can answer "yes" to that question then you have much to be proud of when all is said and done. Isn't that why we play? Don't we like to see if we can push our boundaries a little and do something we shouldn't be able to do?
I hope everyone come back for the Fall season ready to build on some of the improvements we made this season. I hope everyone wants to bring a positive and productive attitude to team and let's see if we can just go out and have a great time playing the greatest game in the world.
Recap
Green got on the board early with two goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. Goal number one was a breakaway on a counterattack following a corner kick from our team. Their striker came down the right side of the field and beat me fair and square to the far post. He had me dead to rights and there was little to do to stop his shot. Their second goal resulted from a throw in the was allowed to linger in our penalty area too long. Eventually it landed at the feet of their other good striker and he put it away.
Blue fought hard and evened the match before halftime. One goal was a nice header following a cross from the left side of the field and the other was somewhat similar to the Green team's second goal. It landed at a Blue player's foot and he calmly put it away. Halftime Score: 2-2.
The second half was eerily similar to the first half. Green scored early on another counter attack down the left side. The same striker beat me to the same side of the goal. You would think I could learn from the first goal! Blue fought back and tied the game at 3 apiece with about 15 minutes to play on a ball that ping-ponged around the Blue net before finally getting put away.
As time wound down, I was convinced we were looking at overtime, but alas it was not meant to be. With about 2 minutes to play Green crossed the ball from their right side and one of their players put it toward the net. Following a miscommunication between me and another Blue player, the ball bounced around and finally landed right at the feet of the Green striker who scored goal #2. He put away the winner and that was that. Final Score: 4-3 loss.
I have to give the Green team a lot of credit. It was a hot day, they had fewer subs than we did and they played just well enough to beat us. I am very proud of our team for not backing down, for coming back from behind twice, and for scoring three goals. I am equally proud that our defense did well to limit two very talented strikers from having more opportunities than they did.
This season has been tough. We lost more games than I thought we would, but everyone came out and played hard each week. I am excited that everyone seemed to have at least one game where they really excelled, sometimes against opponents who were physically superior to us. At the end of the game, I like to ask myself the following:
Did you play as hard as you can and play your position well?
If you feel you can answer "yes" to that question then you have much to be proud of when all is said and done. Isn't that why we play? Don't we like to see if we can push our boundaries a little and do something we shouldn't be able to do?
I hope everyone come back for the Fall season ready to build on some of the improvements we made this season. I hope everyone wants to bring a positive and productive attitude to team and let's see if we can just go out and have a great time playing the greatest game in the world.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Playoff Bracket
Here is the bracket for the Spring 2005 DCJCC Playoffs.
It is an interesting way of setting up a 12 team tournament and one I have never seen before. I personally would have thought giving the top four seeds a bye would make sense, but then you have lots of teams not playing that first week.
Our team is the 9th seed Sklar. Go ahead and print out the bracket and make your predictions. Just note that the #1 team finished with 7 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie and the #12 team finished with 8 losses.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Playoffs, Playoffs?!
Much to the chagrin of Jim Mora, team blue has made the playoffs despite a record of 2 wins, 4 losses and 2 ties.
In truth, Jim Mora has nothing to be chagrined about as every team in the league made the playoffs. We finished in 9th place out of 12 teams with 8 points in eight games. Despite our record, our goal differential was only -4. We will be taking on the dark green team that beat us 2-0 a few weeks ago. I personally thought we could have won the game, so I am hoping they will come in over-confident.
Still to come this week: A downloadable bracket so you can follow all the action and start a pool with your friends and coworkers!
In truth, Jim Mora has nothing to be chagrined about as every team in the league made the playoffs. We finished in 9th place out of 12 teams with 8 points in eight games. Despite our record, our goal differential was only -4. We will be taking on the dark green team that beat us 2-0 a few weeks ago. I personally thought we could have won the game, so I am hoping they will come in over-confident.
Still to come this week: A downloadable bracket so you can follow all the action and start a pool with your friends and coworkers!
Monday, June 20, 2005
Blue ties Red, 1-1
A good effort that was not indicative of the final score.
Seems to be a recurring theme for us. Eventually you figure that we will have to catch a break and have something go our way, but I guess it was not meant to be. Perhaps all of our fortunes will change in the playoffs (stranger things have happened).
As I mentioned at halftime, I had a dream the night before that we were trailing in the game by one goal at the half (2-1 in dreamland, but 1-0 in reality). In the second half of my dream game we scored 4 times to blow the game wide open. I guess the big lesson learned is that my dreams are not indicative of jacksh....
Recap:
The first 10 minutes of the game was fairly even for both teams. Blue took control and had the vast majority of chances in the first half, but failed to find the back of the net. Red scored on a counterattack breakaway that I should have charged sooner. Blue continued to own the left side of the field and created numerous opportunities with lots of shots on goal. Halftime score: 1-0.
The second half was very similar to the first except that we took control right away. We finally evened the match about 20 minutes into the half on a pretty shot from the new Mike from just outside the box. Despite many chances, we did not break their defenses again in the game and the score remained 1-1 at the end of the match.
Looking back on the game, there were many solid performances: lots of good passing combos and feeds to the forwards, tough defense, and fairly good positioning. I only remember making about 5 saves and it seemed like their keeper must have had to make about 15-20. While I feel like a broken record in thanking everyone for good effort despite the result, I don't want to downplay the very positive attitude that everyone has shown this season. I have been very proud to play with all of you. Hopefully, we will have some playoff soccer to look forward to and make up for some unlucky bounces here and there.
Seems to be a recurring theme for us. Eventually you figure that we will have to catch a break and have something go our way, but I guess it was not meant to be. Perhaps all of our fortunes will change in the playoffs (stranger things have happened).
As I mentioned at halftime, I had a dream the night before that we were trailing in the game by one goal at the half (2-1 in dreamland, but 1-0 in reality). In the second half of my dream game we scored 4 times to blow the game wide open. I guess the big lesson learned is that my dreams are not indicative of jacksh....
Recap:
The first 10 minutes of the game was fairly even for both teams. Blue took control and had the vast majority of chances in the first half, but failed to find the back of the net. Red scored on a counterattack breakaway that I should have charged sooner. Blue continued to own the left side of the field and created numerous opportunities with lots of shots on goal. Halftime score: 1-0.
The second half was very similar to the first except that we took control right away. We finally evened the match about 20 minutes into the half on a pretty shot from the new Mike from just outside the box. Despite many chances, we did not break their defenses again in the game and the score remained 1-1 at the end of the match.
Looking back on the game, there were many solid performances: lots of good passing combos and feeds to the forwards, tough defense, and fairly good positioning. I only remember making about 5 saves and it seemed like their keeper must have had to make about 15-20. While I feel like a broken record in thanking everyone for good effort despite the result, I don't want to downplay the very positive attitude that everyone has shown this season. I have been very proud to play with all of you. Hopefully, we will have some playoff soccer to look forward to and make up for some unlucky bounces here and there.
UF Baseball Advances in CWS
UF's baseball team defeated Nebraska 7-4 Sunday night in the College World series in Omaha. The gators now need only one victory to advance to the championship series where they would face the winner of the other semifinal pod.
Here is a schedule of games to give you a better idea of how the tournament works. Basically the final 8 teams are broken into two groups of four. Each group of four plays a double elimination tournament. Once a victor is determined from each group of four. Those two teams play a best of 3 series to determine the national champion. UF has never advanced to an NCAA baseball title game.
Here is a schedule of games to give you a better idea of how the tournament works. Basically the final 8 teams are broken into two groups of four. Each group of four plays a double elimination tournament. Once a victor is determined from each group of four. Those two teams play a best of 3 series to determine the national champion. UF has never advanced to an NCAA baseball title game.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Update on Dry Cleaning Thieves
F--- Dry Clean Direct. There is a low price Dry Cleaner near Grosvenor Metro station. They can take my money for crappy service from this point forward.
Dry Cleaners
Is it just me or do Dry Cleaners take too much advantage of the "Not Responsible for Items Left in Clothing" policy they all seem to share? I wonder if this policy is actually a fringe benefit for the lower wage employees of the store.
Dry Cleaner: You should come and work for us, the payand working conditions suck, but you can keep anything you find in the garments you handle.
Scrub: Sweet!
Yesterday, I took some items into my normal Dry Cleaner, the DryClean Direct in Silver Spring. They do a fair to below average job with the items I bring in, although I have noticed that if there is a stain on any garment, it will remain there unless I explicitly point it out. I had put the headphones from my iPod in my suit jacket pocket the day before and had meant to take them out prior to dropping the clothes off at the store. I, of course, forgot and realized this mistake less than 30 minutes after I had originally gone into the store. I went back and while they found my asthma inhaler (which has no value to most people in the world), they did not "find" the premium headphones in my jacket.
In the grand scheme of things losing a $35 item is not that big of a deal. It is just irritating that I believe they found it and just don't give enough of a crap to have their employees do the right thing and save items for their paying customers. If I thought that any other dry cleaner was different I would switch, but experience has taught me otherwise. My previous dry cleaner couldn't find a new sweater I brought in for my wife and suggested that perhaps I lost it. So, since the current one is cheap and convenient to where I work, I will stay with them until a better priced competitor opens or a more conveniently located one appears.
Dry Cleaner: You should come and work for us, the payand working conditions suck, but you can keep anything you find in the garments you handle.
Scrub: Sweet!
Yesterday, I took some items into my normal Dry Cleaner, the DryClean Direct in Silver Spring. They do a fair to below average job with the items I bring in, although I have noticed that if there is a stain on any garment, it will remain there unless I explicitly point it out. I had put the headphones from my iPod in my suit jacket pocket the day before and had meant to take them out prior to dropping the clothes off at the store. I, of course, forgot and realized this mistake less than 30 minutes after I had originally gone into the store. I went back and while they found my asthma inhaler (which has no value to most people in the world), they did not "find" the premium headphones in my jacket.
In the grand scheme of things losing a $35 item is not that big of a deal. It is just irritating that I believe they found it and just don't give enough of a crap to have their employees do the right thing and save items for their paying customers. If I thought that any other dry cleaner was different I would switch, but experience has taught me otherwise. My previous dry cleaner couldn't find a new sweater I brought in for my wife and suggested that perhaps I lost it. So, since the current one is cheap and convenient to where I work, I will stay with them until a better priced competitor opens or a more conveniently located one appears.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Heat and Air Travel
Heat
Man, it has been hot in Metro DC this past week. It has regularly been over 90 degrees and the humidity has not helped. I was able to contrast the heat here yesterday with that of Toronto, where I had to go for business and it was quite a difference. It felt warmer in DC stepping off the plane after midnight that it felt in Toronto at noon.
Air Travel
I have travelled quite a bit over the past 7 years for the various companies I have worked for and business travel has become fairly unbearable. It used to be merely inconvenient but now it is downright deplorable.
Yesterday I experienced a 45 minute delay leaving DC because the flight attendant didn't show up for work. I agree that this is not the airline's fault that an individual employee screwed them over. I point this out only because 7 of my last 9 flights have experienced a significant delay for one reason or another.
Coming back home, the pilot of the plane was asked to deliver some parts that were needed for planes located at Dulles Airport. We were told it would be 5-10 minutes before the parts arrived. 20 mintues later, the pilot announces that they still say the parts are 5-10 minutes away. We finally push back from the gate after waiting 45 minutes and take off a full hour late. When your plane is departing at 11 PM, this is a big difference.
Once airborne, the pilots typically turn off the Fasten Seatbelt sign after the plane reaches cruising altitude. On the 53 minute flight with no turbulance, our pilot decided to keep the light on for an extra 20 minutes for no apparent reason (remember, this is following a 1 hour delay on the ground). Take into account that planes board 20-30 minutes before scheduled takeoff and it had been approximately 2 hours of time on the plane without an opportunity to move around. The reason I mention all this is because over such a time span, certain biological functions naturally occur and one will likely need to relieve oneself. Also note that if you have taken a previous flight, you may have just come in with a tight connection schedule, and it is likely that when you consider descending, deplaning and moving to the new gate, that it has more likely been close to 3 hours between times with access to a restroom.
Unfortunately, I do not see much hope for better prospects in the future. Even the friendly airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue had significant delays the last time I flew them. At least they are nice about it and try to keep you informed.
Man, it has been hot in Metro DC this past week. It has regularly been over 90 degrees and the humidity has not helped. I was able to contrast the heat here yesterday with that of Toronto, where I had to go for business and it was quite a difference. It felt warmer in DC stepping off the plane after midnight that it felt in Toronto at noon.
Air Travel
I have travelled quite a bit over the past 7 years for the various companies I have worked for and business travel has become fairly unbearable. It used to be merely inconvenient but now it is downright deplorable.
Yesterday I experienced a 45 minute delay leaving DC because the flight attendant didn't show up for work. I agree that this is not the airline's fault that an individual employee screwed them over. I point this out only because 7 of my last 9 flights have experienced a significant delay for one reason or another.
Coming back home, the pilot of the plane was asked to deliver some parts that were needed for planes located at Dulles Airport. We were told it would be 5-10 minutes before the parts arrived. 20 mintues later, the pilot announces that they still say the parts are 5-10 minutes away. We finally push back from the gate after waiting 45 minutes and take off a full hour late. When your plane is departing at 11 PM, this is a big difference.
Once airborne, the pilots typically turn off the Fasten Seatbelt sign after the plane reaches cruising altitude. On the 53 minute flight with no turbulance, our pilot decided to keep the light on for an extra 20 minutes for no apparent reason (remember, this is following a 1 hour delay on the ground). Take into account that planes board 20-30 minutes before scheduled takeoff and it had been approximately 2 hours of time on the plane without an opportunity to move around. The reason I mention all this is because over such a time span, certain biological functions naturally occur and one will likely need to relieve oneself. Also note that if you have taken a previous flight, you may have just come in with a tight connection schedule, and it is likely that when you consider descending, deplaning and moving to the new gate, that it has more likely been close to 3 hours between times with access to a restroom.
Unfortunately, I do not see much hope for better prospects in the future. Even the friendly airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue had significant delays the last time I flew them. At least they are nice about it and try to keep you informed.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
FSU QB Goes Nuts
Most Gator fans think that you would have to be nuts to go to FSU. Apparently it is not so far from the truth.
Monday, June 13, 2005
Blue defeated by Green 2-0
Despite a solid effort, Blue lost a tough match 2-0 to the Green Team on Sunday in sweltering conditions. Limited to 12 players, team blue adopted a patient passing attack and employed some very solid position play. Two mistakes led to two goals which made for the result indicated above.
The refs asked us before the game about playing 4 quarters instead of two halves. Team Blue was for it, but team Green thought they would lose their advantage since the had more subs than us. Jerks. Incidentally, we had new refs for this game and these guys are unquestionably, the best refs we have had in quite some time. They explained their calls, worked together when one could not see a play and called offsides tightly, but consistently.
About 10 minutes into the game, a green striker broke free on the right side and took a shot for the far post. I dove and got a solid hand on the ball for the save, but unfortunately, another one of their strikers made it to the back door and put away an easy one. We possessed the ball more than they did and had quite a few opportunities to score, but were not lucky enough to put one away. Halftime score, 1-0.
The second half was played pretty similarly to the first half, we possessed the ball much more and had some good opportunities to score. The woodwork denied 2 potential scoring chances for team blue. With about 5 minutes to play, a blue defender was whistled for a hand ball in the box leading to a penalty kick for the greens. I went against my gut feeling on the kick and chose to go left instead of right (the kicker was left footed) and really had no chance to redirect myself to the ball. I think I could have gotten it if I went with my first choice, but the question is moot now. Final score, 2-0.
Everyone who made it to the game should be proud of the effort. It was something we can build on for our last regular season game before the playoffs start. If we play this style of ball next week, I guarantee a Blue victory.
The refs asked us before the game about playing 4 quarters instead of two halves. Team Blue was for it, but team Green thought they would lose their advantage since the had more subs than us. Jerks. Incidentally, we had new refs for this game and these guys are unquestionably, the best refs we have had in quite some time. They explained their calls, worked together when one could not see a play and called offsides tightly, but consistently.
About 10 minutes into the game, a green striker broke free on the right side and took a shot for the far post. I dove and got a solid hand on the ball for the save, but unfortunately, another one of their strikers made it to the back door and put away an easy one. We possessed the ball more than they did and had quite a few opportunities to score, but were not lucky enough to put one away. Halftime score, 1-0.
The second half was played pretty similarly to the first half, we possessed the ball much more and had some good opportunities to score. The woodwork denied 2 potential scoring chances for team blue. With about 5 minutes to play, a blue defender was whistled for a hand ball in the box leading to a penalty kick for the greens. I went against my gut feeling on the kick and chose to go left instead of right (the kicker was left footed) and really had no chance to redirect myself to the ball. I think I could have gotten it if I went with my first choice, but the question is moot now. Final score, 2-0.
Everyone who made it to the game should be proud of the effort. It was something we can build on for our last regular season game before the playoffs start. If we play this style of ball next week, I guarantee a Blue victory.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
UF defeats FSU to earn CWS berth
The Florida Gators baseball team defeated hated rival FSU 8-5 to win the second game of their best of three series with the Seminoles. UF won game 1 on Friday night 8-1 with starter Tommy Boss throwing a complete game. UF now heads to the College World Series in Omaha Nebraska where they will face SEC rival Tennessee.
As of this posting, all 3 SEC teams in Super Regionals were still alive with 2 already advancing to Omaha. Fifth-seeded Ole Miss is facing Texas for a spot on the other side of the bracket.
As of this posting, all 3 SEC teams in Super Regionals were still alive with 2 already advancing to Omaha. Fifth-seeded Ole Miss is facing Texas for a spot on the other side of the bracket.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Liverpool to Defend Champion's League Title
UEFA has decided to allow Liverpool to defend its Champion's League title next season, but to do so, the Reds will have to go through the full round of qualifying. This could lead to a fairly unprecedented 5 teams from the English Premiere League in next year's group stage.
Nats and Metro
Washington Nationals
Thanks to my friend Jim, who obtained some killer tickets, I went to my first Nationals game last night: a somewhat thrilling 4-3 victory over Oakland to give the Nats 7 wins in a row! Nationals games are a pretty good time. The crowd is not as voracious as Redskins or O's crowds are, but since the team is so new, the city seems to be trying to find a comfort level with them. In the ninth, the stadium did get very loud as the Nats were urged to close out the game and the series. I think that by the time they move to their new stadium, the team will have crowds that rival the other bigtime teams in terms of numbers and interest level.
Metro
I rode Metro to the game which these days always seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. The Washington Post has been chronicling the difficulties and mismanagement the system faces over the past week. As we left the game and waited for a train on the track and boarded and Orange line train in the direction of Vienna. The train became filled to full capacity as the many thousands of game patrons left the stadium to head home. After sitting on the tracks for about 5 minutes in sardine-esque conditions, an announcement indicated that our train was out of service and everyone on board would have to get off (about 3-5 minutes to unload).
The platform--already full of people waiting for the next train--became dangerously crowded as everyone unloaded from the now out of service train. Everyone waited patiently on the platform for another 5-10 minutes before the out of service train departed. Note: is it just me or doesn't it seem like if the train can depart from the super-crowded station with no one aboard, it would also be capable of departing with everyone on board and just deposit us at a less-crowded station?
After another 3 or minutes or so a new train arrives and we go through the exercise of loading the train again except with 2-3 times as many people trying to board. The train finally takes off and from there the ride is uneventful.
If you take the time to speak with anyone who rides Metro daily, you will find that such occurrences are commonplace. The bride rides Metro every day to and from work and reports such events roughly 25 percent of her rides. I am a proponent of Metro and wish I could take it to work every day. While I do see an effort from Metro to improve facilities and customer service, they are still behind in their efforts. Ignoring obvious problems will not solve them.
Thanks to my friend Jim, who obtained some killer tickets, I went to my first Nationals game last night: a somewhat thrilling 4-3 victory over Oakland to give the Nats 7 wins in a row! Nationals games are a pretty good time. The crowd is not as voracious as Redskins or O's crowds are, but since the team is so new, the city seems to be trying to find a comfort level with them. In the ninth, the stadium did get very loud as the Nats were urged to close out the game and the series. I think that by the time they move to their new stadium, the team will have crowds that rival the other bigtime teams in terms of numbers and interest level.
Metro
I rode Metro to the game which these days always seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. The Washington Post has been chronicling the difficulties and mismanagement the system faces over the past week. As we left the game and waited for a train on the track and boarded and Orange line train in the direction of Vienna. The train became filled to full capacity as the many thousands of game patrons left the stadium to head home. After sitting on the tracks for about 5 minutes in sardine-esque conditions, an announcement indicated that our train was out of service and everyone on board would have to get off (about 3-5 minutes to unload).
The platform--already full of people waiting for the next train--became dangerously crowded as everyone unloaded from the now out of service train. Everyone waited patiently on the platform for another 5-10 minutes before the out of service train departed. Note: is it just me or doesn't it seem like if the train can depart from the super-crowded station with no one aboard, it would also be capable of departing with everyone on board and just deposit us at a less-crowded station?
After another 3 or minutes or so a new train arrives and we go through the exercise of loading the train again except with 2-3 times as many people trying to board. The train finally takes off and from there the ride is uneventful.
If you take the time to speak with anyone who rides Metro daily, you will find that such occurrences are commonplace. The bride rides Metro every day to and from work and reports such events roughly 25 percent of her rides. I am a proponent of Metro and wish I could take it to work every day. While I do see an effort from Metro to improve facilities and customer service, they are still behind in their efforts. Ignoring obvious problems will not solve them.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Spam, the sequel
By now, I assume that everyone has received the "Relative of a Nigerian Oil Minister that requests help moving $30 M out of the country" e-mail. I think I received the sequel to this plea last week.
The message I received was from an "American" that fell for the scam and was begging for modest sums of cash to scrounge airfare to get back to the U.S. These guys are nothing if not inventive.
The message I received was from an "American" that fell for the scam and was begging for modest sums of cash to scrounge airfare to get back to the U.S. These guys are nothing if not inventive.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Blue defeated by Navy, 2-1
What a hot, gnarly day. What a crappy feeling.
The heat was oppressive on Sunday, and both teams seemed bothered by it. Our opponents were apparently bothered less and picked up a crucial win. The loss leaves the good guys with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. After we lost our first game in heartbreaking fashion, we came back to win two in a row. Now is the time to turn it around and do it again. Special thanks to all players, but especially to those who played even though they were not feeling well. Thanks for all of your efforts.
Quick recap:
Blue struck first about 10 minutes into the game. After being denied by the post, our substitute stopper fired in a pretty shot from outside the box. Our regular stopper was sidelined with a leg cramp early in the game. On a side note, my thermometer at home registered 95 F, so it is very little surprise that this game which kicked off at 12:45 PM seemed to wear everyone down.
Overall the first half was fairly evenly played. If memory serves me correctly the other team probably had more possession in our end overall. They also had a shot hit the crossbar post junction, so I guess things evened out there. Halftime score, 1-0.
The second half started off poorly for us. About 4 minutes into the half, an opposing striker broke free on the left side of the penalty area. I tried to cut down the angle and the ball was played in front of the goal. It ended up near one of their players right in front of the net that I thought must have been offside, but apparently was not. The ball was tantalizingly on the goal line for a split second, but I couldn't get to it in time.
With about 10 minutes to go in the half, one of their strikers broke free. One of our defenders and I tried to tackle him American football-style, but the dude outweighed us by quite a bit and was able to muscle through our feeble attempts to bring him down. He put the ball in the net for the winning margin.
Overall, our opponent seemed to have the better run of play in the second half. We created a few really good scoring opportunities, but their keeper played a very strong second half. I was quite impressed with his play. I hope to bounce back and do you all proud next week.
In an unrelated positive note, I watched "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" Saturday night. It was one of the funniest movies I have seen since "Old School". If you are looking for a few good cheap laughs, rent it.
The heat was oppressive on Sunday, and both teams seemed bothered by it. Our opponents were apparently bothered less and picked up a crucial win. The loss leaves the good guys with a record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. After we lost our first game in heartbreaking fashion, we came back to win two in a row. Now is the time to turn it around and do it again. Special thanks to all players, but especially to those who played even though they were not feeling well. Thanks for all of your efforts.
Quick recap:
Blue struck first about 10 minutes into the game. After being denied by the post, our substitute stopper fired in a pretty shot from outside the box. Our regular stopper was sidelined with a leg cramp early in the game. On a side note, my thermometer at home registered 95 F, so it is very little surprise that this game which kicked off at 12:45 PM seemed to wear everyone down.
Overall the first half was fairly evenly played. If memory serves me correctly the other team probably had more possession in our end overall. They also had a shot hit the crossbar post junction, so I guess things evened out there. Halftime score, 1-0.
The second half started off poorly for us. About 4 minutes into the half, an opposing striker broke free on the left side of the penalty area. I tried to cut down the angle and the ball was played in front of the goal. It ended up near one of their players right in front of the net that I thought must have been offside, but apparently was not. The ball was tantalizingly on the goal line for a split second, but I couldn't get to it in time.
With about 10 minutes to go in the half, one of their strikers broke free. One of our defenders and I tried to tackle him American football-style, but the dude outweighed us by quite a bit and was able to muscle through our feeble attempts to bring him down. He put the ball in the net for the winning margin.
Overall, our opponent seemed to have the better run of play in the second half. We created a few really good scoring opportunities, but their keeper played a very strong second half. I was quite impressed with his play. I hope to bounce back and do you all proud next week.
In an unrelated positive note, I watched "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" Saturday night. It was one of the funniest movies I have seen since "Old School". If you are looking for a few good cheap laughs, rent it.
Friday, June 03, 2005
DC United
Some random thoughts heading into the weekend....
DC United
I moved to the Washington DC area in 1997, but was a fan of DC United before ever coming here. I remember watching the first ever MLS championship game where United came back from the dead to defeat the seemingly invincible LA Galaxy. That was a gritty team that started the season rather weakly and finished strong.
Last season's MLS champion DC United was similar. They were hanging around near the bottom of the league and finished the season on an incredible winning streak. They took this momentum into the playoffs and became the team that no one wanted to face. It looks like United is playing the same way this year. Coach Peter Nowak's troops are starting to gel. Look for them to make a strong finishing run in the second half of the season!
Team Blue
I am hopeful that my soccer team can emulate the accomplishments of DC United. We currently sit in the middle of the standings of our league with 7 points on 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. We have 3 games remaining against the 3rd, 8th, and 10th place teams (12 total teams in the league). I think we are good enough to win all three games and go into the league playoffs on a roll. If that happens, the rest of the league better watch out!
Shootouts
Last week the Champion's League Final was decided on penalty kicks after Liverpool and AC Milan played to a dramatic 3-3 tie through regulation and overtime. If you did not get to watch this game, or any part of it, you missed an instant classic. Having faced (and saved!) my first ever penalty kick two weeks ago, I can't help but wonder why FIFA and EUFA don't consider adopting the former NASL and MLS-style shootouts to break ties.
Under current FIFA rules, tie matches that require a winner are broken by penalty kicks. After each team has taken 5 shots, the team with the most goals wins. If they are still tied, we go to "Sudden Death" where each team gets 1 shot and if one team makes while the other misses, the match is over. If both make or both miss, the process continues.
Under the MLS-style shootout, a player starts with the ball 35 yards out from goal. The player has 5 seconds to take a shot. The player can dribble and basically do whatever they like prior to taking their shot (it is similar to a hockey penalty shot). Like the penalty shootout described above, each team gets five opportunities to score and the team with the most goals wins. Ties continue on in "Sudden Death" fashion.
What I like about the MLS-style shootout is that it is more like a natural play of the game. Keepers are often required to make stops on breakaway opportunities. Penalty kicks are much more rare. The MLS-style shootout puts the keeper and the striker on a more equal footing. As a result, less luck is involved in deciding the outcome.
I am going to talk to friends in Europe to see if they feel similarly about Penalty Kick Shootouts. Maybe a grass-roots change can happen.
DC United
I moved to the Washington DC area in 1997, but was a fan of DC United before ever coming here. I remember watching the first ever MLS championship game where United came back from the dead to defeat the seemingly invincible LA Galaxy. That was a gritty team that started the season rather weakly and finished strong.
Last season's MLS champion DC United was similar. They were hanging around near the bottom of the league and finished the season on an incredible winning streak. They took this momentum into the playoffs and became the team that no one wanted to face. It looks like United is playing the same way this year. Coach Peter Nowak's troops are starting to gel. Look for them to make a strong finishing run in the second half of the season!
Team Blue
I am hopeful that my soccer team can emulate the accomplishments of DC United. We currently sit in the middle of the standings of our league with 7 points on 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses. We have 3 games remaining against the 3rd, 8th, and 10th place teams (12 total teams in the league). I think we are good enough to win all three games and go into the league playoffs on a roll. If that happens, the rest of the league better watch out!
Shootouts
Last week the Champion's League Final was decided on penalty kicks after Liverpool and AC Milan played to a dramatic 3-3 tie through regulation and overtime. If you did not get to watch this game, or any part of it, you missed an instant classic. Having faced (and saved!) my first ever penalty kick two weeks ago, I can't help but wonder why FIFA and EUFA don't consider adopting the former NASL and MLS-style shootouts to break ties.
Under current FIFA rules, tie matches that require a winner are broken by penalty kicks. After each team has taken 5 shots, the team with the most goals wins. If they are still tied, we go to "Sudden Death" where each team gets 1 shot and if one team makes while the other misses, the match is over. If both make or both miss, the process continues.
Under the MLS-style shootout, a player starts with the ball 35 yards out from goal. The player has 5 seconds to take a shot. The player can dribble and basically do whatever they like prior to taking their shot (it is similar to a hockey penalty shot). Like the penalty shootout described above, each team gets five opportunities to score and the team with the most goals wins. Ties continue on in "Sudden Death" fashion.
What I like about the MLS-style shootout is that it is more like a natural play of the game. Keepers are often required to make stops on breakaway opportunities. Penalty kicks are much more rare. The MLS-style shootout puts the keeper and the striker on a more equal footing. As a result, less luck is involved in deciding the outcome.
I am going to talk to friends in Europe to see if they feel similarly about Penalty Kick Shootouts. Maybe a grass-roots change can happen.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Pulp Hockey
The following is an exchange a friend and I had on IM earlier. We were talking about the possibility of a transatlantic hockey league and at some point the conversation went down a strange path. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent:
[16:22] MDGator: i think the NHL is considering going to Euro rules in many cases when they resume
[16:22] TheFRB: good
[16:22] TheFRB: much more flowing game
[16:42] MDGator: olympic hockey is pretty thrilling
[16:43] TheFRB: yeah, I dig it
[17:01] MDGator: you dig it the most
[17:01] MDGator: you know what i like most about european hockey?
[17:01] MDGator: it's the little differences.
[17:01] TheFRB: example
[17:02] MDGator: like, there, they don't have a red line. There's no two line pass!
[17:02] TheFRB: oh man
[17:02] MDGator: i seen em passing the puck and drownin' it in lines
[17:03] TheFRB: what do they call a goal there?
[17:03] MDGator: Gooooooooooool!
[17:03] TheFRB: what do they call a dunk?
[17:04] MDGator: I dunno, I didn't watch any basketball.
[16:22] MDGator: i think the NHL is considering going to Euro rules in many cases when they resume
[16:22] TheFRB: good
[16:22] TheFRB: much more flowing game
[16:42] MDGator: olympic hockey is pretty thrilling
[16:43] TheFRB: yeah, I dig it
[17:01] MDGator: you dig it the most
[17:01] MDGator: you know what i like most about european hockey?
[17:01] MDGator: it's the little differences.
[17:01] TheFRB: example
[17:02] MDGator: like, there, they don't have a red line. There's no two line pass!
[17:02] TheFRB: oh man
[17:02] MDGator: i seen em passing the puck and drownin' it in lines
[17:03] TheFRB: what do they call a goal there?
[17:03] MDGator: Gooooooooooool!
[17:03] TheFRB: what do they call a dunk?
[17:04] MDGator: I dunno, I didn't watch any basketball.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Return of the Nigerians
They may not be as smart as we think: They called again two times yesterday. To their credit, they did not leave any messages. Developing....
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
First UF Post
Since I did name this the Maryland Gator Blog, I should spend more time focusing on UF sports.
I have yet to meet a UF graduate that is not excited about this upcoming football season. Everyone thinks better days are ahead with the arrival of Urban Meyer to lead the troops against the best of the SEC. All are happy the Ron Zook disaster is behind us.
I am sure he is a hard working, good guy, but he is just not a great football coach. Some thoughts on the Zooker (no offense to Illinois fans):
I have yet to meet a UF graduate that is not excited about this upcoming football season. Everyone thinks better days are ahead with the arrival of Urban Meyer to lead the troops against the best of the SEC. All are happy the Ron Zook disaster is behind us.
I am sure he is a hard working, good guy, but he is just not a great football coach. Some thoughts on the Zooker (no offense to Illinois fans):
- He was way too lax on discipline with our team which is why off campus incidents and arrests climbed after he took over the program. Meyer promises to correct this trend. One wonders how he can expect to have players be disciplined on the football field (i.e. no penalties and flawless execution of plays), when they are not disciplined in anything else they do.
- He was too conservative for the college game. Unlike the NFL, college games are not generally won or lost on the last possession of the game. Better teams impose their will on the other team and force them to do things they would rather not do. UF played close games against good teams and bad teams while Zook was coach. Sure we were always in the game, but we never were able to make the other team react to us for the full duration of the game.
- The man is incapable of stringing together coherent thoughts during interviews. Again, if he has that much trouble communicating to a sideline reporter asking a fluff question, how can one expect him to adequately impart game plan information to his coordinators and players? Sure he is "high energy", but he would probablyhave more of his plan actually put into place if he spoke in a manner understandable to the rest of the humans in the room.
Little Powdered Donuts
Those little powdered donuts are about as tasty a creation as one can find. Imagine my disappointment that the convenience store near where I work stopped carrying them. They may be one of the most perfect morning snack foods:
- As mentioned above, they are tasty.
- Each donut is one good-sized bite.
- Does not necessarily require the use of a napkin, but is more substantial than chips.
Monday, May 23, 2005
May 22 Soccer Game vs. Light Gray
Wow! That was one heck of a game yesterday. It had everything: lead changes, tempers, and lots of good plays. I imagine a neutral spectator would have found it quite entertaining. Below is a synopsis:
The light gray team is an opponent that has traditionally given us trouble both in winning the game and in causing tempers to flair during the game. They do this to every team they play. About one year ago I remember a fight breaking out in their game against a Green team.
Both teams started with little in the way of subs and the situation worsened for the good guys when one of our strikers turned an ankle and could not play the rest of the game. The light gray team was short one female player and had to play with 10. Still, they have a lot of skilled players and were not to be taken lightly. They did their normal tactics of shoving here and cheap shots all over the field. I got a good look at tons of plays that could have been called against them, but were not.
About 10 minutes in one of their strikers broke free and scored on a low shot to the near post that I couldn't get down to get fast enough. About 15 minutes later we evened up the score on what has to be the goal of the year. Our striker scored on a bicycle kick from the top of the penalty box. A tremendous goal that I have not seen the equal of in this league. We were also unlucky with the woodwork and hit the crossbar twice in the half. Halftime score: 1-1.
Early in the second half, one of our midfielders ripped a nice shot into the top corner of the net for a 2-1 lead. The drama of the match came soon thereafter when our stopper was ejected for fighting following a cheap shot from an opposing player. With about 15 minutes to play we still held a 2-1 lead and I misplayed a low ball that snuck inside the post. I tried to slide and kick it out but it jumped over my foot. This is a lesson to always dive on these types of shots.
With about 10 minutes to play, light gray was awarded a penalty kick on an unintentional hand ball in the box. Knowing the odds are against me in this situation, I decided not to guess and potentially take myself out of the play. The kicker looked first to my left, so I thought that might be his first choice. As he approached the ball he tried to deceive me by looking left, then right, then left, and then right. He looked left as he approached the ball and I dove left as hard as I could. I was able to deflect the ball over the crossbar for the best save I think I have made this season. We held on to preserve a 2-2 tie.
Our team played very well against a difficult opponent. We created many good opportunities to score and had lots of great passing. I was very impressed with our strikers and midfielders' ability to create shots and distribute the ball. As always, our defenders did a tremendous job of limiting the number of shots I faced and battled hard all game long.
Playing keeper is very challenging. It has some huge mental swings that really are tough to deal with. It is hard to look at the other players on the team after our opponent scores. I feel like I have let them down. On the other hand, making a good save really pumps you up. I was feeling pretty down in this game after giving up the second goal, but preserving a tie when our team fought so hard against that group of jerks was a good feeling and a positive way to head into our next game.
The light gray team is an opponent that has traditionally given us trouble both in winning the game and in causing tempers to flair during the game. They do this to every team they play. About one year ago I remember a fight breaking out in their game against a Green team.
Both teams started with little in the way of subs and the situation worsened for the good guys when one of our strikers turned an ankle and could not play the rest of the game. The light gray team was short one female player and had to play with 10. Still, they have a lot of skilled players and were not to be taken lightly. They did their normal tactics of shoving here and cheap shots all over the field. I got a good look at tons of plays that could have been called against them, but were not.
About 10 minutes in one of their strikers broke free and scored on a low shot to the near post that I couldn't get down to get fast enough. About 15 minutes later we evened up the score on what has to be the goal of the year. Our striker scored on a bicycle kick from the top of the penalty box. A tremendous goal that I have not seen the equal of in this league. We were also unlucky with the woodwork and hit the crossbar twice in the half. Halftime score: 1-1.
Early in the second half, one of our midfielders ripped a nice shot into the top corner of the net for a 2-1 lead. The drama of the match came soon thereafter when our stopper was ejected for fighting following a cheap shot from an opposing player. With about 15 minutes to play we still held a 2-1 lead and I misplayed a low ball that snuck inside the post. I tried to slide and kick it out but it jumped over my foot. This is a lesson to always dive on these types of shots.
With about 10 minutes to play, light gray was awarded a penalty kick on an unintentional hand ball in the box. Knowing the odds are against me in this situation, I decided not to guess and potentially take myself out of the play. The kicker looked first to my left, so I thought that might be his first choice. As he approached the ball he tried to deceive me by looking left, then right, then left, and then right. He looked left as he approached the ball and I dove left as hard as I could. I was able to deflect the ball over the crossbar for the best save I think I have made this season. We held on to preserve a 2-2 tie.
Our team played very well against a difficult opponent. We created many good opportunities to score and had lots of great passing. I was very impressed with our strikers and midfielders' ability to create shots and distribute the ball. As always, our defenders did a tremendous job of limiting the number of shots I faced and battled hard all game long.
Playing keeper is very challenging. It has some huge mental swings that really are tough to deal with. It is hard to look at the other players on the team after our opponent scores. I feel like I have let them down. On the other hand, making a good save really pumps you up. I was feeling pretty down in this game after giving up the second goal, but preserving a tie when our team fought so hard against that group of jerks was a good feeling and a positive way to head into our next game.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Last Nigerian Post and Scotland
I have not heard from the Nigerians in 10 days. I think they have finally realized that they were dialing incorrectly.
A friend of mine correctly pointed out that just because English is the official language of Nigeria, it doesn't mean that we can understand the dialect they speak. It may sound just as foreign as the language they speak in Scotland!
If you have never been to Scotland, it is a hoot to talk to the people there. I went there on a business trip in January 2004 to meet with some folks at one of the sister companies of the company I currently work for. At the meeting were folks from the US, Denmark, England, Scotland, and Wales. It was easier to understand the Danish guy's English compared to that of the Scottish! I was introduced to the term "Glascow kiss" while enjoying a frosty beverage one night. One of our colleagues described it as:
Another highlight of the trip was obtaining a map of the UK which listed each region by the derogatory terms that the other regions refer to them as. Classic!
A friend of mine correctly pointed out that just because English is the official language of Nigeria, it doesn't mean that we can understand the dialect they speak. It may sound just as foreign as the language they speak in Scotland!
If you have never been to Scotland, it is a hoot to talk to the people there. I went there on a business trip in January 2004 to meet with some folks at one of the sister companies of the company I currently work for. At the meeting were folks from the US, Denmark, England, Scotland, and Wales. It was easier to understand the Danish guy's English compared to that of the Scottish! I was introduced to the term "Glascow kiss" while enjoying a frosty beverage one night. One of our colleagues described it as:
When aye grab ye by de eers and ram my forehead troo yer nose!
Another highlight of the trip was obtaining a map of the UK which listed each region by the derogatory terms that the other regions refer to them as. Classic!
Monday, May 16, 2005
Blue Team Takes one on the Chin (vs Sea Foam)
I am sad to report the mighty men and women in blue suffered a 4-0 loss to end their modest two game winning streak. We did lose to a superior team that had a lot of bigger, faster and more talented players. Currently undefeated, I will not be surprised if that team wins the league title this year.
That being said, the play of the Blue team was mixed. We played hard and competed, but suffered breakdowns that the other team always seemed to capitalize on. When we didn't effectively clear the ball, they collected it and took a shot on goal. When we waited for the ball instead of moving toward it, they intercepted it. I find no shame in losing to a better team and hope that we can try and emulate their style of play. They possessed the ball, moved without the ball into open space, and communicated well on the field.
We did have some scoring opportunities in the game and were unlucky not to put at least one through. For the first time this season, I did not think we were better than the other team. Thankfully, there were no injuries to report. Let's hope we can start another winning streak this coming Sunday.
That being said, the play of the Blue team was mixed. We played hard and competed, but suffered breakdowns that the other team always seemed to capitalize on. When we didn't effectively clear the ball, they collected it and took a shot on goal. When we waited for the ball instead of moving toward it, they intercepted it. I find no shame in losing to a better team and hope that we can try and emulate their style of play. They possessed the ball, moved without the ball into open space, and communicated well on the field.
We did have some scoring opportunities in the game and were unlucky not to put at least one through. For the first time this season, I did not think we were better than the other team. Thankfully, there were no injuries to report. Let's hope we can start another winning streak this coming Sunday.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Glazer to Acquire Manchester United
I have been following the attempts of Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer to purchase the English football team Manchester United. It now appears that he is close to completing the deal.
The kind of resistance he has met seems absurdly discriminatory. No one freaked out when the Russian billionaire Abramovich purchased Chelsea. All he did was spend a load of cash and viola, they are the league champs this year. I think the ManU fans are mainly opposed to an American owning their beloved team.
Some of the statements from their fans have been utterly ridiculous. "He will sell the stadium!" "He will run the club into debt!" Quite to the contrary, he will probably look to spend money on better players and coaches to make the team more profitable. Before he owned the Buccaneers, they were the laughing stock of the NFL. Since then, they have become competitive and even won a Super Bowl for the first time in their history. He isn't buying the team to sell the stadium. He is buying the team to make money and the way to make money is to have them win. He will continue to spend like ManU always has.
That being said, since I am an Arsenal fan, I hope he fires that fat bastard Sir Alex Ferguson and hires Grudin.
The kind of resistance he has met seems absurdly discriminatory. No one freaked out when the Russian billionaire Abramovich purchased Chelsea. All he did was spend a load of cash and viola, they are the league champs this year. I think the ManU fans are mainly opposed to an American owning their beloved team.
Some of the statements from their fans have been utterly ridiculous. "He will sell the stadium!" "He will run the club into debt!" Quite to the contrary, he will probably look to spend money on better players and coaches to make the team more profitable. Before he owned the Buccaneers, they were the laughing stock of the NFL. Since then, they have become competitive and even won a Super Bowl for the first time in their history. He isn't buying the team to sell the stadium. He is buying the team to make money and the way to make money is to have them win. He will continue to spend like ManU always has.
That being said, since I am an Arsenal fan, I hope he fires that fat bastard Sir Alex Ferguson and hires Grudin.
UPS junk mail
I just received some junk mail from Verizon today via UPS. While I did actually read the header of said junk mail since it was a UPS letter, it seems a tad excessive to market using them instead of regular mail, TV, or radio.
I have had a grudge against Verizon for the past 5 years since they screwed me over on a connection charge they said they would waive and did not. Now they have built a new fiber optic system and plan to have cable TV service, high speed internet, as well as phone service. Their cell phone customer service was among the worst I had ever encountered. I have to wonder how they feel they can provide adequate customer service for a whole new set of products, when they do not adequately service the products they currently have?
Personally, it will be a long time before you see me sign up for their new services.
I have had a grudge against Verizon for the past 5 years since they screwed me over on a connection charge they said they would waive and did not. Now they have built a new fiber optic system and plan to have cable TV service, high speed internet, as well as phone service. Their cell phone customer service was among the worst I had ever encountered. I have to wonder how they feel they can provide adequate customer service for a whole new set of products, when they do not adequately service the products they currently have?
Personally, it will be a long time before you see me sign up for their new services.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
On Being a Soccer Fan in America
As you probably gathered from one of my previous posts, I am a soccer fan. I have been playing since I was 7 years old and have been interested in professional leagues for more than 20 years. I attended my first professional soccer game in the early 1980s. It was an NASL match between the Jacksonville Teamen and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. The game went into overtime and the Teamen won in a shootout (NASL-style, 5 seconds to score from 35 yards out with only a keeper defending).
Quick aside--Is there anything more rediculous than moving a sports franchise and not renaming the team? A new name is especially needed when the team has a name that is based on something that is unique for a specific city or region. In the above example, the Teamen used to play in New England, where the name made sense. In Jacksonville, FL, the name sounds like a play on the fact that sweet tea is a popular, and delicious, drink. With the exception of teams like the Raiders, where the name is the team, a new name should accompany a team to its new city. Now back to my original rant.
I enjoy checking up on the results from the European leagues and especially the English Premier League. My favorite team is Arsenal. This is because I played on a team called Arsenal when I was 11. I also happen to be a fan of the more traditional American sports (Basketball and Football). Almost every soccer fan I know happens to be a fairly knowledgeable overall sports fan and also loves at least one of the "major" American sports.
The reason for this post is to clear up many inaccuracies that I still hear regarding soccer in the American sports media. While driving home, I can usually expect at least once a week to here the local sports talk yackers talk about how much soccer sucks or how it is "being crammed down our throats". This tactic, of course, elicits a soccer fan to try and come to the rescue and the hosts get to have fun at the poor guy's expense and then pat themselves on the back for showin him up.
A common harangue I hear against soccer is that no one cares unless the World Cup is on. This argument is silly. Interest in any event peaks when the biggest and most important games are played. Regular season college basketball and professional basketball ratings generally suck. But once you get to March Madness or the NBA Finals, the ratings increase and more casual fans take an interest. The same is true for soccer. People recognize that the most important tournament is the World Cup and those inclined to do so tune in to watch. When the US played in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, their games were played in the middle of the night on weeknights no less. During a time of day when your average viewer is likely unemployed, alcoholic, insomniac or in college, ESPN drew ratings for those games that were better than weekend broadcasts for supposedly "better" sports.
Another common argument against soccer is that it is boring. A soccer match is very similar to hockey or in some respects, baseball. Like baseball, at any time, something could happen, so you have to pay attention so that you don't miss it. Soccer is not a good sport for TV primarily because the most important part of the game is what is happening away from the ball. Much like hockey, players are constantly trying to move to open space and hoping that the teammate with the ball can deliver it to them. When I watch a match, most of the time I am anticipating the next pass and hoping the string of events needed for success will play out. The anticipation is the most exciting part of a soccer game for most fans.
My other counter to the boring argument is that most sports, TV programs, or other performances for which you are not a fan are indeed boring. People who don't like golf consider watching the Masters to be a chore. Similarly, if you don't like reality TV, Survivor is probably not for you. Most of these "experts" who say that soccer is boring are not fans of the game and are not qualified to give an analysis of the sport. They are welcome to their opinions, but you know what they say about opinions....
Another argument I have heard recently is that while soccer is popular among kids, these participants fail to remain interested into adulthood. The main fallacy with this argument is that you are comparing participation with interest. Of course most people who play soccer through high school don't play after. They get jobs and have families and don't necessarily have time to commit to play a team sport. Lots of folks take up solitary exercise regimes to stay in shape. I guarantee you that the same is true for basketball, football and baseball. Furthermore, kids happen to enjoy and participate in lots of other activities that don't necessarily continue through adulthood. A large number of kids in America own a bike at some point before going to college. While in college, many find bicycles to be useful means of transportation in getting around campuses that often do not allow cars. After college, most people do not ride bikes. I have never heard anyone talk about how bicycles fail to hold interest into adulthood. And by the way, the Tour de France happens to be the only race that Americans even know or remotely care about throughout the year. Since it is the premier event for cycling, this is not a surprising outcome.
Finally, I believe that most sports fans enjoy sampling a taste of different sports from time to time. Most Olympic sports are not popular outside of the context of the Olympics. Every once in a while, I find it refreshing to learn something new about a different sport and read about people who probably won't make millions of dollars in their sport. I certainly enjoy the break of hearing Self-Important Star #2 from New York talk about how undervalued he is. I also think that sampling different sports keeps you interested in your "core" sports. For example, if football were played year-round, we wouldn't anticipate the start of the season as much. Soccer season is one of the ways I fill the void from basketball season to the start of football season.
So enjoy whatever sports you like to participate in, watch those you find compelling and do yourself a favor and ignore the sports talk hosts when they try to bait an argument. It just means that the supposedly "interesting" sports must really not be compelling at the moment if talking about how uninteresting other sports are seems like a viable topic for their show.
Quick aside--Is there anything more rediculous than moving a sports franchise and not renaming the team? A new name is especially needed when the team has a name that is based on something that is unique for a specific city or region. In the above example, the Teamen used to play in New England, where the name made sense. In Jacksonville, FL, the name sounds like a play on the fact that sweet tea is a popular, and delicious, drink. With the exception of teams like the Raiders, where the name is the team, a new name should accompany a team to its new city. Now back to my original rant.
I enjoy checking up on the results from the European leagues and especially the English Premier League. My favorite team is Arsenal. This is because I played on a team called Arsenal when I was 11. I also happen to be a fan of the more traditional American sports (Basketball and Football). Almost every soccer fan I know happens to be a fairly knowledgeable overall sports fan and also loves at least one of the "major" American sports.
The reason for this post is to clear up many inaccuracies that I still hear regarding soccer in the American sports media. While driving home, I can usually expect at least once a week to here the local sports talk yackers talk about how much soccer sucks or how it is "being crammed down our throats". This tactic, of course, elicits a soccer fan to try and come to the rescue and the hosts get to have fun at the poor guy's expense and then pat themselves on the back for showin him up.
A common harangue I hear against soccer is that no one cares unless the World Cup is on. This argument is silly. Interest in any event peaks when the biggest and most important games are played. Regular season college basketball and professional basketball ratings generally suck. But once you get to March Madness or the NBA Finals, the ratings increase and more casual fans take an interest. The same is true for soccer. People recognize that the most important tournament is the World Cup and those inclined to do so tune in to watch. When the US played in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, their games were played in the middle of the night on weeknights no less. During a time of day when your average viewer is likely unemployed, alcoholic, insomniac or in college, ESPN drew ratings for those games that were better than weekend broadcasts for supposedly "better" sports.
Another common argument against soccer is that it is boring. A soccer match is very similar to hockey or in some respects, baseball. Like baseball, at any time, something could happen, so you have to pay attention so that you don't miss it. Soccer is not a good sport for TV primarily because the most important part of the game is what is happening away from the ball. Much like hockey, players are constantly trying to move to open space and hoping that the teammate with the ball can deliver it to them. When I watch a match, most of the time I am anticipating the next pass and hoping the string of events needed for success will play out. The anticipation is the most exciting part of a soccer game for most fans.
My other counter to the boring argument is that most sports, TV programs, or other performances for which you are not a fan are indeed boring. People who don't like golf consider watching the Masters to be a chore. Similarly, if you don't like reality TV, Survivor is probably not for you. Most of these "experts" who say that soccer is boring are not fans of the game and are not qualified to give an analysis of the sport. They are welcome to their opinions, but you know what they say about opinions....
Another argument I have heard recently is that while soccer is popular among kids, these participants fail to remain interested into adulthood. The main fallacy with this argument is that you are comparing participation with interest. Of course most people who play soccer through high school don't play after. They get jobs and have families and don't necessarily have time to commit to play a team sport. Lots of folks take up solitary exercise regimes to stay in shape. I guarantee you that the same is true for basketball, football and baseball. Furthermore, kids happen to enjoy and participate in lots of other activities that don't necessarily continue through adulthood. A large number of kids in America own a bike at some point before going to college. While in college, many find bicycles to be useful means of transportation in getting around campuses that often do not allow cars. After college, most people do not ride bikes. I have never heard anyone talk about how bicycles fail to hold interest into adulthood. And by the way, the Tour de France happens to be the only race that Americans even know or remotely care about throughout the year. Since it is the premier event for cycling, this is not a surprising outcome.
Finally, I believe that most sports fans enjoy sampling a taste of different sports from time to time. Most Olympic sports are not popular outside of the context of the Olympics. Every once in a while, I find it refreshing to learn something new about a different sport and read about people who probably won't make millions of dollars in their sport. I certainly enjoy the break of hearing Self-Important Star #2 from New York talk about how undervalued he is. I also think that sampling different sports keeps you interested in your "core" sports. For example, if football were played year-round, we wouldn't anticipate the start of the season as much. Soccer season is one of the ways I fill the void from basketball season to the start of football season.
So enjoy whatever sports you like to participate in, watch those you find compelling and do yourself a favor and ignore the sports talk hosts when they try to bait an argument. It just means that the supposedly "interesting" sports must really not be compelling at the moment if talking about how uninteresting other sports are seems like a viable topic for their show.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Lawn Mower Blade Sharpener and Costco
I finally got to use my new sharpening tool and it worked really well. Along with some other minor maintenance on the mower (e.g. cleaning out the muck of 3+ years), the machine now works like a charm. It was clearly working better than before and my lovely Bride even commented that the cutting looked "cleaner" than the last time I mowed. This wasn't enough to cause me to break into song or even pull a Victor Kiam (think back to those old Remington Electric Shaver ads), but it made me quite proud.
On a related note, I purchased a new tool while at Costco last night: a 13 foot extended branch trimmer. It got me thinking about how incredibly weird a store Costco is. It is one of the few stores that you can impulsively purchase hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and still feel like you are saving money. I rank them right up there with the Disney corporation in their ability to separate you from your hard-earned cash.
Here is the way my trip last night transpired:
While picking up the tiny one, the daycare informed us that we were running low on diapers and wipes. Since Costco sells these items in quantities that make you feel like having triplets could be a feasible option and at a reasonably good price, I decide to make the trip after the baby is put to bed. Stated purpose of the trip: purchase diapers and wipes.
The Bride was suffering from a cold and going through tissues at an alarming rate so I decide on the way there to also pick up a gross of tissues. Impulse rating (1 through 10 with 10 being the most impulsive): 3.
Picked up a case of Gatorade bottles to support the Bride in her efforts to stay hydrated while sick. Impulse rating: 2 (just means I am thoughtful).
Realized I was running out of frozen waffles after picking up the tissues. While crossing the store, I see the 13 foot extending trimming tool. The Bride and I had been talking about trimming our Crepe Myrtle so I pick up this item and add it to the cart. Impulse rating: 7. Continue on after getting the trimmer and get the waffles. Impulse rating: 4 (we had noted over the weekend that we were running low and I eat them, so back off!).
On the way over to the diaper/wipes area, I see the socks area. Knowing that the Bride has been coveting new socks, I decide to check and see if the have any dark-colored women's dress socks. They don't. But they do have a rather impressive selection of men's slacks. I need a pair of tan slacks, so I look and there is a pair of Tommy Hilfiger slacks in my size. Into the cart they go. They also have tan men's dress socks there. One pack to go with the pants. Impulse rating: 8.
Finally reach the diapers. Two giant boxes of diapers and two boxes of wipes. The wee one will have a clean tushy for the foreseeable future. Impulse rating: 1. Since it was the stated purpose of the trip, it cannot be an impulse. Time to head to the checkout lines.
One the way there, I pass the multi-vitamins. I remember that I ran out of vitamins last week. I grab a bottle of Flintstones with roughly enough vitamins to keep Secretariat in good health for about 1 year. "Flintstones?" you may ask. I hate taking vitamins and since they taste good, I remember. Impulse rating: 7.
So, my simple errand to buy diapers and wipes turned into a $255 shopping adventure. You have to give Costco credit: Where else can you buy bulk baby supplies, decent men's fashion, lawn and garden tools, frozen food and health supplies all at once?
Perhaps the most alarming thing about this trip is that I realized the next morning that I have almost finished my industrial drum of Listerine. This means I will have to go back in about 1 or 2 weeks....
If you are still wondering what the heck I meant with the Victor Kiam reference earlier, here is a link that removes all the suspense.
On a related note, I purchased a new tool while at Costco last night: a 13 foot extended branch trimmer. It got me thinking about how incredibly weird a store Costco is. It is one of the few stores that you can impulsively purchase hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise and still feel like you are saving money. I rank them right up there with the Disney corporation in their ability to separate you from your hard-earned cash.
Here is the way my trip last night transpired:
While picking up the tiny one, the daycare informed us that we were running low on diapers and wipes. Since Costco sells these items in quantities that make you feel like having triplets could be a feasible option and at a reasonably good price, I decide to make the trip after the baby is put to bed. Stated purpose of the trip: purchase diapers and wipes.
The Bride was suffering from a cold and going through tissues at an alarming rate so I decide on the way there to also pick up a gross of tissues. Impulse rating (1 through 10 with 10 being the most impulsive): 3.
Picked up a case of Gatorade bottles to support the Bride in her efforts to stay hydrated while sick. Impulse rating: 2 (just means I am thoughtful).
Realized I was running out of frozen waffles after picking up the tissues. While crossing the store, I see the 13 foot extending trimming tool. The Bride and I had been talking about trimming our Crepe Myrtle so I pick up this item and add it to the cart. Impulse rating: 7. Continue on after getting the trimmer and get the waffles. Impulse rating: 4 (we had noted over the weekend that we were running low and I eat them, so back off!).
On the way over to the diaper/wipes area, I see the socks area. Knowing that the Bride has been coveting new socks, I decide to check and see if the have any dark-colored women's dress socks. They don't. But they do have a rather impressive selection of men's slacks. I need a pair of tan slacks, so I look and there is a pair of Tommy Hilfiger slacks in my size. Into the cart they go. They also have tan men's dress socks there. One pack to go with the pants. Impulse rating: 8.
Finally reach the diapers. Two giant boxes of diapers and two boxes of wipes. The wee one will have a clean tushy for the foreseeable future. Impulse rating: 1. Since it was the stated purpose of the trip, it cannot be an impulse. Time to head to the checkout lines.
One the way there, I pass the multi-vitamins. I remember that I ran out of vitamins last week. I grab a bottle of Flintstones with roughly enough vitamins to keep Secretariat in good health for about 1 year. "Flintstones?" you may ask. I hate taking vitamins and since they taste good, I remember. Impulse rating: 7.
So, my simple errand to buy diapers and wipes turned into a $255 shopping adventure. You have to give Costco credit: Where else can you buy bulk baby supplies, decent men's fashion, lawn and garden tools, frozen food and health supplies all at once?
Perhaps the most alarming thing about this trip is that I realized the next morning that I have almost finished my industrial drum of Listerine. This means I will have to go back in about 1 or 2 weeks....
If you are still wondering what the heck I meant with the Victor Kiam reference earlier, here is a link that removes all the suspense.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Soccer
I play on a recreational soccer team. I know that most people are supposed to stop playing team sports after high school, but I need to exercise and playing on a team is definitely something to look forward to. I have played on the same team since 2001 and we have had mixed success. One time we won the regular season title and with the exception of last season, have always qualified for the playoffs.
Last season, we actually played well, but for some strange reason failed to win a single game. Some of the games were just bad luck. Almost all of the games were competitive and I believe we gave up 3 goals in two games, but otherwise held our opponents to two goals or fewer. We tied 3 games and lost five and never scored more than one goal in a game.
This season I am playing keeper for the first time as a full time option. I have played every position on the field over my playing career and am a comfortable field player. I filled in at keeper last season after our normal keeper was injured and subsequently retired. No one likes seeing anyone get injured in a recreational game. It is so sad when it happens.
So far this season, our team is playing great! Here is a recap of the season to date:
Game 1 (White)
This was a typical game to get all of the mistakes out of your system. Our team jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Played ball control really well in the first half. I misplayed a corner kick and the ball slipped into the net. Halftime score: 1-1.
Second half starts off well. We score about 10 minutes in and try to hold onto the lead as time expires. With 5 minutes left we still lead 2-1 but our team is tired and no longer winning balls in the midfield. Two times they break through our defense with two strikers and just me defending the goal and of course they score both times. Full time result: 3-2 loss.
I thought the team played well over all, but just ran out of gas.
Game 2 (Maroon)
Playing on a new field this week. Half the field was covered in grass and half in dirt. The field also sloped downhill toward the dirt. We chose to defend the dirt in the first half and take the downhill run in the second half.
We jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a pretty goal from one of our strikers that found the inside of the post. A few minutes later, I was tested for the first time with a point blank shot and made a decent reflex save. We score again on a pretty breakaway. Halftime score: 2-0 lead.
In the second half, we keep applying pressure. With about 15 mintues to play, the other team scores a nice goal on a looping header that just is out of my reach and sneeks inside the post. A hand ball in the penalty box leads to an insurance goal for the good guys and the full time result is a 3-1 victory. This is our first victory since last Spring. Like Sir Robin and his merry band of minstrels, there was much rejoicing.
On the bad side, one player on each team was injured during the game. One of their players had a collision with their own goalkeeper and knocked his head. He did not return to the game, but seemed OK afterward. One of our players turned an ankle in the second half and did not return to the game. Hopefully the three week break will allow him time to heal.
Game 3 (Yellow)
This team had a few very skilled players, but did not play team ball as well as we did. They were also one of the friendliest teams we have ever faced. Really good sports and no real sniping during the game.
We scored very quickly to open the game. They had a few good opportunities to even the match up. The best was a long ball that one of their strikers tried to direct toward the goal. I got a hand on it and slowed it down and deflected it enough to make the save. We added a penalty kick for a hand ball and had a nice 2-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, the yellow team made some adjustments and changed keepers. Their starting keeper moved to striker and within 5 minutes had a 0ne-on-one opportunity for goal. I cut down his angle and he tried to push it past me but it bounced off my shin and out of bounds. It was a pretty evenly played second half. I made about 4 saves and their goalie was actually lucky not to get scored on. Full time result: 2-0 victory.
We now have 6 points on two victories and one defeat. We have scored at least 2 goals in every game and have reduced our goals against average to 1.33. No injuries for either team in this game.
Wish us luck for next week.
Last season, we actually played well, but for some strange reason failed to win a single game. Some of the games were just bad luck. Almost all of the games were competitive and I believe we gave up 3 goals in two games, but otherwise held our opponents to two goals or fewer. We tied 3 games and lost five and never scored more than one goal in a game.
This season I am playing keeper for the first time as a full time option. I have played every position on the field over my playing career and am a comfortable field player. I filled in at keeper last season after our normal keeper was injured and subsequently retired. No one likes seeing anyone get injured in a recreational game. It is so sad when it happens.
So far this season, our team is playing great! Here is a recap of the season to date:
Game 1 (White)
This was a typical game to get all of the mistakes out of your system. Our team jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Played ball control really well in the first half. I misplayed a corner kick and the ball slipped into the net. Halftime score: 1-1.
Second half starts off well. We score about 10 minutes in and try to hold onto the lead as time expires. With 5 minutes left we still lead 2-1 but our team is tired and no longer winning balls in the midfield. Two times they break through our defense with two strikers and just me defending the goal and of course they score both times. Full time result: 3-2 loss.
I thought the team played well over all, but just ran out of gas.
Game 2 (Maroon)
Playing on a new field this week. Half the field was covered in grass and half in dirt. The field also sloped downhill toward the dirt. We chose to defend the dirt in the first half and take the downhill run in the second half.
We jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a pretty goal from one of our strikers that found the inside of the post. A few minutes later, I was tested for the first time with a point blank shot and made a decent reflex save. We score again on a pretty breakaway. Halftime score: 2-0 lead.
In the second half, we keep applying pressure. With about 15 mintues to play, the other team scores a nice goal on a looping header that just is out of my reach and sneeks inside the post. A hand ball in the penalty box leads to an insurance goal for the good guys and the full time result is a 3-1 victory. This is our first victory since last Spring. Like Sir Robin and his merry band of minstrels, there was much rejoicing.
On the bad side, one player on each team was injured during the game. One of their players had a collision with their own goalkeeper and knocked his head. He did not return to the game, but seemed OK afterward. One of our players turned an ankle in the second half and did not return to the game. Hopefully the three week break will allow him time to heal.
Game 3 (Yellow)
This team had a few very skilled players, but did not play team ball as well as we did. They were also one of the friendliest teams we have ever faced. Really good sports and no real sniping during the game.
We scored very quickly to open the game. They had a few good opportunities to even the match up. The best was a long ball that one of their strikers tried to direct toward the goal. I got a hand on it and slowed it down and deflected it enough to make the save. We added a penalty kick for a hand ball and had a nice 2-0 halftime lead.
In the second half, the yellow team made some adjustments and changed keepers. Their starting keeper moved to striker and within 5 minutes had a 0ne-on-one opportunity for goal. I cut down his angle and he tried to push it past me but it bounced off my shin and out of bounds. It was a pretty evenly played second half. I made about 4 saves and their goalie was actually lucky not to get scored on. Full time result: 2-0 victory.
We now have 6 points on two victories and one defeat. We have scored at least 2 goals in every game and have reduced our goals against average to 1.33. No injuries for either team in this game.
Wish us luck for next week.
Episode 5: The Nigerians Strike Back
Looks like the Nigerians won't be going away so easily. I missed their call from 5:30 AM (thankfully, I turn the volume on my phone down at night). Anyone reading this who might have an idea of how to handle this, I am open to suggestions. They obviously really need to speak to someone.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Lawn Mower Blade Sharpener
I have purchased a new lawn-mower blade sharpener this week. Not that this is an earth shattering event for me or for the lawn mower, but it did come with a fairly lame story.
I decided to purchase this tool after perusing several different models on the internet. I personally went with the EZ grip, which seems easy to use, requires no power equipment, and should not result in my losing any digits.
Since I work in an office, I decided to have the item shipped to my work address. Like most other times before, I figured it was better to send it to work, than risk having the mail carrier or UPS delivery person decide whether or not to leave it next to my front door.
At my office, the shipping manager likes to be notified ahead of time when you are going to receive a personal shipment. Our office receives very few shipments, but personal ones do not have to be logged, so I guess it saves him time. Anyway, I go to tell him about it and after describing the shipment in detail, he requests an e-mail with all of this restated. I decide to send the following:
Great. Now everyone gets to know that a lawn-mower blade sharpener is arriving soon with my name on it. Not that anyone really cares, it just sucks to have something that mundane that no one really has to know about broadcast to such a wide audience. I have seen worse such as replies meant for an individual that contain somewhat personal content that end up going to EVERYONE in the company. I just prefer to be the one that gets to laugh at those people instead of having to wallow in their cesspool.
Anyway, the sharpener arrived yesterday and I fought the urge to send a message to everyone to let them know it made it here safely.
Coming Attractions: Maiden Voyage of the Sharpener!
I decided to purchase this tool after perusing several different models on the internet. I personally went with the EZ grip, which seems easy to use, requires no power equipment, and should not result in my losing any digits.
Since I work in an office, I decided to have the item shipped to my work address. Like most other times before, I figured it was better to send it to work, than risk having the mail carrier or UPS delivery person decide whether or not to leave it next to my front door.
At my office, the shipping manager likes to be notified ahead of time when you are going to receive a personal shipment. Our office receives very few shipments, but personal ones do not have to be logged, so I guess it saves him time. Anyway, I go to tell him about it and after describing the shipment in detail, he requests an e-mail with all of this restated. I decide to send the following:
Hi John,Unfortunately, that day my e-mail program had lost the ability to use auto-complete for names in the "To:" field of e-mails. Rather than look up the shipping manager's address, i chose to reply to an earler e-mail he sent. The e-mail he had sent had been to an internal group that includes, my boss, all the customer service reps, the marketing department, and the company CEO.
I ordered a Lawn mower blade sharpener from Country Home Products for delivery to this office. It should get here within a week or so. It is a small item that is about the size of a screwdriver.
Thanks,
Doug
Great. Now everyone gets to know that a lawn-mower blade sharpener is arriving soon with my name on it. Not that anyone really cares, it just sucks to have something that mundane that no one really has to know about broadcast to such a wide audience. I have seen worse such as replies meant for an individual that contain somewhat personal content that end up going to EVERYONE in the company. I just prefer to be the one that gets to laugh at those people instead of having to wallow in their cesspool.
Anyway, the sharpener arrived yesterday and I fought the urge to send a message to everyone to let them know it made it here safely.
Coming Attractions: Maiden Voyage of the Sharpener!
Resolution to Nigerian Story
Part 2
I am happy to report that I seem to have a positive update on the Nigerian situation.
Yesterday, my cell phone rings and the familiar Nigerian number pops up. I decide to let it go to voicemail. The message was much like all the others: confused words that I cannot understand.
Less than five minutes later, the phone rings again. I look at the caller ID and see the Nigerian number and this time I decide to answer.
Me: Hello, this is Doug who has never been to Nigeria.
Nigerian: (long pause) Hallo?
Me: Hello?
Nigerian: Hallo?
Me: Hello!
Nigerian: (Words in language I can't understand. Remember, the official language of Nigeria is English)
Me: You have the wrong number.
Nigerian: Hallo?
Me: Wrong number.
Nigerian: My number is 80380...
Me: (Interrupting) Hold on, I don't need your phone number. Whoever you are trying to call does not live at this number.
Nigerian: OK (Hangs up).
This is the first time I feel like the person on the other end of the phone has even remotely understood what I have tried to tell them.
Progress!
I am happy to report that I seem to have a positive update on the Nigerian situation.
Yesterday, my cell phone rings and the familiar Nigerian number pops up. I decide to let it go to voicemail. The message was much like all the others: confused words that I cannot understand.
Less than five minutes later, the phone rings again. I look at the caller ID and see the Nigerian number and this time I decide to answer.
Me: Hello, this is Doug who has never been to Nigeria.
Nigerian: (long pause) Hallo?
Me: Hello?
Nigerian: Hallo?
Me: Hello!
Nigerian: (Words in language I can't understand. Remember, the official language of Nigeria is English)
Me: You have the wrong number.
Nigerian: Hallo?
Me: Wrong number.
Nigerian: My number is 80380...
Me: (Interrupting) Hold on, I don't need your phone number. Whoever you are trying to call does not live at this number.
Nigerian: OK (Hangs up).
This is the first time I feel like the person on the other end of the phone has even remotely understood what I have tried to tell them.
Progress!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
First Post- My Nigerian Story
Part 1
About two weeks ago, I received a call on my cell phone from a person with a horrible connection who spoke no English. Knowing that all of my friends and family speak English, I said, "wrong number" a number of times before the caller hung up on me. The caller immediately called back and I just let it go to voicemail figuring they would realize the message is not anyone they know and that will be that. The caller leaves a message in a language I do not understand.
A few days later, I receive another call. I let it go to voicemail. Next 3 days, same drill. I do some research on the phone number and find it is from Nigeria. I am convinced I know no one there. I get another call on Saturday and this time the message left contains English telling me I should "call my sister in Nigeria." Unless my dad made some trips I am unaware of, I am fairly certain the only sister I have is in Raleigh, NC.
Feeling sorry that someone desperately wants to speak with their sibling here in the USA, I fire up Google to determine if there is a way to tell this person in her native language that she has the wrong number. In doing so, I discover that there are about 50 different languages spoken in Nigeria. It is probably going to be beyond my meager mental capabilities to figure out how to say "wrong number" in all 50. Interestingly, this Nigerian language web site states, "English is the official language in Nigeria. We were colonized by the British, obtaining our independence on October 1, 1960." WTF! Now I am really confused. According to this website, there is a good chance whoever is calling can speak English.
Fast forward to today. I see the familiar Nigerian number pop up on my cell phone. I answer in clear English, the official language of Nigeria. The poor bastards on the other end don't understand a word I am saying and repeatedly try to give me a phone number to have some person call their sister in Nigeria.
Until these calls started, the only interaction with Nigeria that I had previously was receiving a few hundred e-mails from the wife/child/mistress/pet of a deceased oil minister/president/foreign minister asking if I could help transfer a few million $ out of their country (Naturally, I declined). So, beyond letting these calls continue to go to voicemail and then creating a website based on their content, is there any way you can think of to communicate to this person that she is dialing the wrong number?
About two weeks ago, I received a call on my cell phone from a person with a horrible connection who spoke no English. Knowing that all of my friends and family speak English, I said, "wrong number" a number of times before the caller hung up on me. The caller immediately called back and I just let it go to voicemail figuring they would realize the message is not anyone they know and that will be that. The caller leaves a message in a language I do not understand.
A few days later, I receive another call. I let it go to voicemail. Next 3 days, same drill. I do some research on the phone number and find it is from Nigeria. I am convinced I know no one there. I get another call on Saturday and this time the message left contains English telling me I should "call my sister in Nigeria." Unless my dad made some trips I am unaware of, I am fairly certain the only sister I have is in Raleigh, NC.
Feeling sorry that someone desperately wants to speak with their sibling here in the USA, I fire up Google to determine if there is a way to tell this person in her native language that she has the wrong number. In doing so, I discover that there are about 50 different languages spoken in Nigeria. It is probably going to be beyond my meager mental capabilities to figure out how to say "wrong number" in all 50. Interestingly, this Nigerian language web site states, "English is the official language in Nigeria. We were colonized by the British, obtaining our independence on October 1, 1960." WTF! Now I am really confused. According to this website, there is a good chance whoever is calling can speak English.
Fast forward to today. I see the familiar Nigerian number pop up on my cell phone. I answer in clear English, the official language of Nigeria. The poor bastards on the other end don't understand a word I am saying and repeatedly try to give me a phone number to have some person call their sister in Nigeria.
Until these calls started, the only interaction with Nigeria that I had previously was receiving a few hundred e-mails from the wife/child/mistress/pet of a deceased oil minister/president/foreign minister asking if I could help transfer a few million $ out of their country (Naturally, I declined). So, beyond letting these calls continue to go to voicemail and then creating a website based on their content, is there any way you can think of to communicate to this person that she is dialing the wrong number?
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