Arsenal: Reflections on a Mediocre Season

It's been a while since we talked about Arsenal. I guess the reason is that there hasn't been a whole lot to say. They've been pretty poor of late (today's 7-1 drubbing of Blackburn not withstanding). Over the last month, Wenger has taken a lot of stick from fans & pundits alike & much of it has been deserved. He's made some bad decisions, particularly in his unwillingness to buy in January. That said, much of the criticism has been harsh. Obviously, they need to win more, but I still don't see them missing out on The Champions League next year & they're still in it now (not to mention the fact that they're still in The FA Cup w/ a strong possibility of winning it... of course, I said that last year about the Carling Cup & they lost to Birmingham in the finals so who knows?). The main problems people seem to have w/ Wenger right now though involve his squad choice & his purchases. I think we need to look a bit more deeply @ that though.

His substitutions of Oxlade-Chamberlin should surprise no one. Ox is a young kid getting used to the Prem. & can't be expected to make it through entire matches yet. Walcott got the same treatmet for a long time. The fact that Ashavin has been coming on for him is rough, but the options haven't been there w/ Gervinho in Africa & Henry hurt. Now that Henry is healthy & w/ Gervinho coming back, I highly doubt we'll see much of Arshavin any time soon.

As for the purchases, it's had to say that Fabregas or Nasri where ever replaced properly, but otherwise, the buying hasn't been nearly as bad as people like to suggest. Considering the fact that the board hasn't been releasing the funds to buy people like the other top clubs, perhaps we need to take a look @ the players who have come in over the last few years.

2011-12
Mertesacker: A bit of a let down, but an experienced defender w/ plenty of international caps including strong runs in The World Cup & Euros. Everyone assumed he'd be fantastic.
Arteta: A great signing. He's been ever present & always reliable. He's not as flashy as most central attacking midfielders, but he rarely makes a mistake.
Park: A top scorer in France last year, & teh Captain of S. Korea. He hasn't had many opportunities yet, but all signs point to yes w/ him.
Santos: Brazilian international left back. He's slower than Clichy & Gibbs, but he's stronger than them too... & maybe better @ actually defending.
Henry: 2 goals since his re-debut less than a month ago... not bad.
Oxlade-Chamberlain: He looks the real deal. We'll see.
Jenkinson: I've been impressed by him when he was healthy, & no one can blame Wenger for an injury to the back-up right back.
Gervinho: Like Park, a huge scorer in France last year. Maybe he could find the back of the net more, but he's great on the wing.
Benayoun: Underwhelming, but everyone knows how good he can be. He had trouble @ Chelsea, but @ Liverpool he was always strong.
Ryo: Looks to be another one for the future. I hope his loan spell goes well for him.

2010-11
Squillaci: He hasn't done well, but when he was signed, everyone was excited. He was an experienced French international. The fact that he's taken a shit couldn't have been for seen.
Koscielny: In 2008 he was in the 2nd division of French football. He was just named Arsenal player of the month for January. He's been getting better & better. No one seems to complain about him anymore.
Chamakh: Like Gervinho & Park, a huge goalscorer before joining Arsenal. He did great when RVP was hurt too. I imagine leave in the summer, but I bet if he had a run in the 1st team he'd be back scoring goals again. He's been a flop this year, but no one complained about the signing last year.

2009-10
Campbell*: Rejoined on a short contract to help get the team through some injuries. He was good & there was even talk about getting back into the English national team.
Vermaelen: Ummm... fantastic signing. One of the best defenders in the league... maybe in the world.

2008-09
Ramsey: He's been good this year, but not quite as great as people hoped. Considering his major injury 2 years ago & his age, he's only going to get better & better.
Silvestre*: He'd won everything w/ Man U & had tons of experience w/ France. He sucked, but everyone assumed he'd be fine, & he brought bags of experience to the locker room.
Arshavin: Wenger signed him to make fans happy after the 2008 Euros. He was fantastic, but has gotten lazy. I think he'll leave after the 2012 Euros, but everyone hollering for more big-name buys needs to remember that spending the money is no guarantee.
Nasri*: Was great if a bit of a dick. I was definitely sad to see him go, but Arteta has been fine & the team made a bag of cash.

2007-08
Sagna: best right back in the league. He's been hurt, but buying another one would have been ridiculous. Besides, he's back now & looking good.
Eduardo*: Like so many of the strikers we've talked about already, he was huge when he joined the team. His massive leg-break sidelined him for a year & he lost a lot of confidence. I still like seeing him do well w/ Croatia & Shakhtar.

2006-07
Gallas*: Was a great center back & even became captain for a while. He went nuts, but he's still pretty good when he plays for Spuds.
Rosicky: Another one w/ some injury problems, but he's always been great for The Czech Republic & when he plays, he looks good. He even kept Ramsey out of the line-up today & looked really good. I don't know why, maybe the injury, but I've always liked him. There has been talk of his impending departure, but I hope he sticks around.
Diarra*: An odd buy. He only stuck around for a few months before he was shipped off to Pompy. From there he made his way to Madrid & got into the France 1st team. I never liked him much, but many people do.

All in all, the signings have been good... or at least they've seemed positive @ the time. Besides, the recent calls for the sacking of AW, need to remember that in order to replace him they'd need to find someone better. Real Madrid have been sniffing around & they don't usually make mistakes. There's been talk of Jose Mourhino, but I can't imagine he'd do well w/ a small budget. All things considered, AW has been great, & while I may be in the minority right now, I still trust him to right the ship.

Holiday Post #2: The Wish List

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Euro 2012 Group Draw & Reaction

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B: Spain, Italy, Rep. of Ireland, Croatia
Group C: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Portugal
Group D: Ukraine, Sweden, France, England

Quarter Finals:
Game 25 A1 v B2
Game 26 A2 v B1
Game 27 C1 v D2
Game 28 D1 v C2

Semi Finals:
Winner 25 v Winner 27
Winner 26 v Winner 28

Here are my thoughts... since you've waited so patiently for them over the last 48 hours. I apologize for the wait; I know you've been on the edge of your seat wondering how I feel about these groups.

Group A is a tough one to call. Poland could do pretty well w/ their fantastic goalie & the fact that they are one of the host nations. Home town crowds will obviously help a bit. However, Russia will probably go through too. Aside from the home country situation, I think Poland, Greece & the Czechs are all pretty good. I guess I would like to see Tomas Rosicky ;lead the Czech Republic through the quarter finals, but it will be a rough group of mid-level teams. In the end, it won't really matter, because I don't see any of these teams getting past the quarter-finals. We'll say Russia (1) & Poland (2)

Group B is less tricky, I would say, & I'm sure most people would predict Spain & Italy moving on. I suppose, I will too, but it'd be nice to see the Irish get past the Italians. I wouldn't put money on it though. Spain (1) & Italy (2)

Group C will certainly be called "The group of death" by pundits (if it hasn't been called that already). I would say it's more likely to be the group of tears though as we're almost certain to see Cristiano Ronaldo squirt out a few when Portugal fails to edge past Germany & The Netherlands. In fact, I would be willing to put money on them getting gout of the group stage... if I had money to bet & was a betting man. Germany (1) & Netherlands (2).

Group D shouldn't be much of a problem for France & England, but then again, one never really knows what those two under performing squads will do. While the Ukraine is the other co-host, I don't see them getting out of the group like Poland. Based on sheer talent, I will go against the British talking heads (& Arsene Wenger) & say France will win the group w/ England taking 2nd. (They seem to see it happening the other way).

If this is what happens (& it's sure not to now that I've actually posted this), we'll see the quarter finals thusly:
QF1: Russia v Italy
QF2: Poland v Spain
QF3: Germany v England
QF4: Netherlands v France

The semi finals are obviously tougher to call, & in the past, I think I've stopped here for propriety's sake; however, for fun, I suppose I'll go all the way now.

SF1: Italy v Germany
SF2: Spain v France (if France takes a shit in the group stage, I would see The Netherlands getting past either The Ukraine or Sweden).

As far as the finals are concerned, the odds makers seems to believe that Spain will win it all again, but no country has ever repeated. This means, we're either going to see a little history, or we aren't. Shocking revelation, I know. I'm going to go w/ history but ignore my fanatical devotion to the FFF & say Germany will beat Spain in the finals.

I was going to get into my beliefs about the French squad for the tournament, but I'll hold off on that for another post. Keep checking back though... it will be pretty soon. We've got a James Bond post & a couple holiday season posts coming up soon, & we'll start the nominating process for your 2012 Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year contest now too. in order to be eligible, the person must meet a couple criteria... she must be a celebrity & she must be pregnant now or had a baby in the last 5 month so as to ensure she wasn't eligible w/ the same pregnancy last year. Post your nominations here in the comments section or e-mail them to me.
Here is a link to all of last year's contest posts, & @ the bottom, you'll find a link to the posts on the old blog too.

Is the Hiatus Over?

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted. What w/ the weather and all... plus I've been busy w/ work & the kids. Besides, the readership has been on the decline so it lost it's priority status. That's ok though because we're back, baby! Drifting into Deep Water is in full effect! (Just like Public Enemy.) It seems like the way to kick things off after a month long hiatus would be w/ a proper soccer post. However, in lieu of a proper one, here's a mediocre one for you to enjoy.

First up: In over the hill, drug addled, former Newcastle & England international star news, our favorite nut sack pain faced over the hill, drug addled, former Newcastle & England star, Paul Gascoinge (known to those in the media but probably not actually to his friends as Gazza) has recently admitted he spent 4 months eschewing food & water for a preferred diet of cocaine & whiskey. Now, I've had my fair share of whiskey over the years (though I've never done coke), but 4 months seems a tad extreme. Maybe I'm just a prude, but 4 months? Really? He claims that he needed it to fill the void lest in his life after he retired from football. if that's the case, I guess I better play until the day I die. I suppose the other response could be "4 months? Come on... man up! Ozzy could do 4 months of coke & booze standing on his head!" but that doesn't really seem responsible does it?
in his Newcastle kit, demostrating his "nut sack pain face"Second up: Donnie's favorite metrosexual former ManUre star turned current Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo, missed a sitter this week in the Portugal Euro 2012 qualifying play-off against Bosnia & Hertzogoviniad%jkfhla#kjfaja (sp?). In the end, it didn't really matter as Portugal qualified anyway, but he was embarrassed & ended up blaming the bumpy turf, claiming, "That wasn't grass, it was a vegetable patch." I guess he now knows what it's like to play @ Independence Park in Canton week in & week out. To be fair, I already know what's it's like to miss easy goals. The reason this is news though, isn't simply that he missed a goal... even I do that sometimes... the real issue here is that the patch of turf he blamed has sold at auction for 4,000 GBP. I thought this was a joke when I first read about it, but it seems to have made all the papers (or @ least all the ones that cover football minutia which in turn means "all the good papers").

I think this is all I've got for today. Oh, France beat USA on Firday 1-0 & then drew w/ Belgium 0-0 yesterday, but now we can get back to the SOP of the league stuff this week. After the loss to France, Team USA went on to beat Slovenia 3-2 in Ljubljana%hjkh#jkh (sp?). That said, we may now be back to our SOP on this blog as well. I'm not making any promises, but we'll see.

PS I know I've said this before, but let's leave comments in the comments section rather than on Facebook... it keeps the comments w/ the post for archiving purposes, & I have archive fever!

Does Guest + Blog Post = Jinx?

The autumn half of the MUSL season is in full swing. I served my suspension a couple weeks in a match we lost 2-0. The saving grace from that match was that the goals were scored while we were short-handed. The following week, we played even better… @ least in the second half. After going down 2-0 early, we pulled one back & had our tightest score line so far, losing 2-1. We could tell we’d been improving & that a positive result was lurking just around the next corner. Things were finally beginning to gel. We’d been connecting on more passes, playing w/ our heads up & strengthening the steel on the defense.

This then brings us to last week, the first ever Verde FC win from the run of play. We got one victory last year but only because the Brighton team played a suspended guy &, therefore, forfeited the match. As we arrived in Plymouth for our game last Sunday, there was something in the air… a feeling of confidence & excitement that had here-to-for been unknown by the Verde squad. I shifted the line-up around, & we took an early lead through new boy Joe F. He then doubled our lead before the interval. Going into the half time break w/ a 2 goal lead was amazing. In the 2nd half, even newer boy, Efrain M. headed in a corner kick putting us up 3-0. By the end, Plymouth pulled one back after a weird scramble in front of goal, but we won… 3-1.

We are taking this 1 match winning streak to Oxford today for another match we really think we can win. I’ll be meeting up w/ Cal & Eric in a little while for the trip out there… it ain’t close. And Sara will be joining us for her first ever Verde viewing… something most of you have never experienced. You all claim to be die-hard fans, so next week, for our 11:00 home match, you should don the green & get off your ass & jam. For there ain’t no party like a Verde party cuz a Verde party don’t stop!

Feather Bowling & Fábregas

For the b-day girls (Solstice & Elizabeth), we went out to eat @ The Cadieux Cafe last night. The food was good & the feather bowling was super fun. All 3 of my kids got the "Chicken Finger Club Sandwich," a huge bun w/ chicken & bacon. They all loved it. Seeing as it's a Belgian place, I got the Peter Paul Reuben (as did Dan). It was good, ranking maybe 3rd or 4th on my all-time list of Reubens. Elizabeth & my parents all got the all-you-can-eat mussels. They were good too. All-in-all, I'd say the drive to the East Side of Detroit would be worth it just for the food... even if they didn't have Feather Bowling. For those of you not in the know, it's kind of like curling got its chocolate in shuffle board's peanut butter. There's a long lane kind of like bowling, but it's dirt & concave. At either end, there's a feather sticking out of the dirt & the players roll cheese shaped "stones" towards it, & the closest ones get the points. We played boys v girls & since it was their b-days, we let the girls win. We're nice like that.In other "F" news, Cesc Fábregas finally signed w/ Barcelona ending an 8 year run in N. London. He was the Arsenal captain for his last 2 years, & it's generally understood that he was given the captaincy in an attempt to convince him to stay put. Well, it's clear that it didn't work. He was great though, & he represents the rare occasion when a player leaves because he actually really wants to play for a specific team... & who can blame him. He was raised in Barcelona, he came up through their academy, & they're the current European Champions... maybe I should make a move from Verde to Barcelona. We'll see if it's in the cards. Here's a fun collection of pics from The Guardian celebrating his years @ Arsenal: Cesc Fábregas's Arsenal career - in pictures.
Making his 1st team debut against Rotherham United: 28 October 2003

In which we wrap up July & move straight on into August

Well, the summer's been flying by. It's already time to start thinking about fall classes. I scored an extra one the other day, a poetry class in Detroit, about which I'm pretty excited. I haven't done a poetry in a few years, so it should be extra fun. I've still got a couple weeks to go in the current semester, so I won't really start planning too much yet, but you can count on a couple days of Whitman!

In other July news, I've kind of let the Tom Cruise-a-thon fall by the wayside, but along w/ a couple days of Whitman, you can also count on a resurgence of Cruise soon.
In the mean time, I've had my way w/ about a third of the James Bond Films, almost all of the Kevin Smiths, & a Tarzan marathon on TCM. Have you watched the old Tarzan movies? You should! They're shit, but they're super fun. They show one every Saturday morning after an hour of old serials. At the moment, they're showing an old Zorro one. It sucks worse than the Tarzan film, but it's interesting.

As August rears it hot, humid head, we've got a short camping trip on the horizon. We'll be hitting Petoskey after the semester is over for a couple nights. I'm excited & I think the kids are too.

The other thing about which I'm excited is the start of the 2011-12 Premier League. Arsenal's first match is against Newcastle on the 13th. Set your DVRs. Hopefully, they'll have the defensive issues sorted out by then. They still need a couple more people. In order for that to happen, we should also be able to wave goodbye to a few: Squillaci, Bendtner, Almunia, & Eboue will hopefully see the exit door. If I had my druthers, Diaby would be joining them. It looks like they may be hanging on to Nasri &/or Fabregas which is nice. However, they better get their shit together soon, because a draw w/ The New York Red Bulls today was certainly not impressive. An MLS team for crying out loud! The folks looking good so far include Rosicky (who I've always liked & have wanted to assert himself after his weird run of injuries... maybe this could be his year), RVP (quick & creative), Wilshire (although he got hurt today), Gervinio (the marque signing of the summer so far), Frimpong 9who was supposed to the other big thing last year but sustained a season ending injury in the preseason), & today the other young kid, Afobe (he subbed on in the 7th minute today & looked not at all out of place).
So there you have it... the season preview w/ a July review & some teasers for the month of August... enjoy. And then enjoy this fantastic video of a TV showing one of the greatest Arsenal chants of all time: "Evra, you're a cunt!"

A Mid-Summer Soccer Post

After the USMNT piss-poor collapse in the Gold Cup Finals, there'd been little to watch until the Women's World Cup began a couple weeks ago. As one would expect, it hasn't had quite the coverage as the Men's equivalent last summer. I wonder why that is... oh yeah, sexism. That said, the games have been pretty good. At the moment, I'm watching USA v France, & here we have the the biggest conundrum of the summer. These 2 women's teams are sort of opposite in my mind from their men's equivalents. What I mean is that the french Men's team has been really good for generations while the USA men's team has only recently been worth watching. On the other hand, the French women's team has never made it to the World Cup (at least I think that's the case... I could be wrong), & the US team has been one of the best for years & years.

Watching these 2 teams, though, is tough. I think I would have preferred them to meet in the finals.I've been following the French Football Federation since the 1982 World Cup. As you know, they were robbed by the ref in the semi-finals then when the German goalie came out of the box, missed the ball entirely, & knocked the french player out cold... the ref said there was no foul.Italy went on the win the tournament which cemented a rivalry w/ our Italian neighbors... & cemented a place in my heart for FFF.

The French team is definitely looking better today, but the US goal was really nice. I gotta say, I haven't been nearly as impressed by Abby Wambach as the media would have me think I should be throughout this tournament. She's missed a few sitters & just looked a bit out of sorts. yes, she got the last gasp winner against Brazil, but in general, she's looked more like Bendtner than like RVP.

Speaking of Arsenal players, they had their 1st pre-season friendly this morning in Kuala Lampur against Malayasia XI. Arsenal won 4-0 w/ goals from Ramsey, Walcott, Vela & Rosicky. The good news (other than the decisive win) is that Nasri looked good & dedicated, Vermaelin was amazing, & Denielson's days look numbered. He subbed on @ halftime but was them taken off in the 61st minute. That can't bode well for his future. Of course, when he came off (along w/ a few other people), Nasri, RVP, Ashavin, & Sagna came on. It must have been rough for Malaysia XI to be down 3-0 & see that group of people waiting to come on.The final tid-bit of soccer info today comes in the form of a Verde FC alert. We're playing in a tournament on Belle Isle on Sunday afternoon. Come on down, drink so beer, & cheer on you local 5th division team. It'll be your last chance to see me play until the 2nd fall match... I'll be serving a suspension during the first match this fall. I was handed a happy b-day red card last month. Perhaps you heard about that. It made all the papers, well, it made my facebook status & I think I blogged about it too. Shocking, I know.

An Obligatory Post? Not Quite

So often, when talking about blogging, I hear people say they feel they're letting people down if they don't post on a regular basis. I know I don't have that problem because I don't have many readers to feel let down. On the other hand, I've also heard people say when they've gone a while w/o a post, they're less likely to post again. That's never been an issue here either, but I suppose sooner or later it will be. Each post reminds me that the time will come when there are no more posts; the time will come when I'm no longer a blogger. What this really means is that each post reminds me of my own mortality & brings me one step closer to realizing my death. Sein-zum-Tode is how Heidegger would have described it... being towards death.

That means we, as bloggers, must celebrate the little things like Aiden's Little League game. He was walked his first time up today & got a force-out at third base later. Earlier this week, he & I went camping @ Bishop Lake in Brighton w/ his class. It way well have been my first adult camping experience sans booze, & I didn't expect sleeping on the ground w/o a little buzz would be easy, but I slept really well. We had a good time, but it was cut a little short due to the rain. I met some of the parents of his classmates, & they're pretty cool. He was in a skit about the Greek Gods, he played soccer, baseball, & kickball, & we played some poker @ the tent. All in all, it was a good time.Before camping, he & I went down to Ford Field to watch the US beat the Canadians 2-0 in the 1st match of the Gold Cup Group C group stage. It was an awesome time. We had fun taunting the silly Cannucks who made the trip across the border. Based on previous tournament experiences, I imagine they were just happy to be there. Although, I would say they went a bit far when they started singing a song about Tim Howard's (the US Goalie) Tourettes. I'm not always the most PC when it comes to soccer-related taunting, but that's going a little too far. Aiden was a little concerned about our use of certain words beginning w/ "F" & "S" but I made it clear that basic societal language norms aren't followed when attending a soccer match. If I can't yell things like "We've got Clint Dempsey, the one & only Dempsey, & you've got fuck all nothing!" then, what's the point of going?In about an hour, the 2nd match of the Group C group stage will be starting. The USA will be playing Panama. It should be a good time. Although, I imagine the game itself won't be very good. It should be a walk in the park for the USMNT. (That's the hip Internet way of writing United States Men National Team, for those of you not in the hip Internet know). Tomorrow, Verde has a game @ 3:00... come on out & cheer us on.

Gold Cup Post #1

The Gold Cup, the bi-annual CONCACAF championship tournament, started yesterday in Dallas w/ Mexico & Costa Rica both winning their respective matches 5-0 (against Cuba & El Salvador). Today, we have Group B in Carson, CA w/ Jamaica playing Grenada & then Honduras taking on Guatemala. The 2nd match should actually be pretty good. Tomorrow, we'll be going down to Ford Field for a nice Group C double header. First up will be Panama v Gaudeloupe before the big USA v Canada match. I haven't been to a US Men's Team match since the Gold Cup Final in 2007 @ Soldier Field when the came from 1-0 down @ the half to win 2-1. My other forays into USMNT support include a few matches in Columbus 10 or 12 years ago.I have a feeling that tomorrow's match will have a slightly larger US fan base. Four years ago, we were in the vast minority, but playing Canada, a team whose best days seem to be behind them... like back in 1986... but I'm sure they're be a nice crowd from Toronto & Windsor. not to mention, our family friend, Clive, whom I haven't seen in a few years. He was a coach of mine in Petoskey & is now a big-wig w/ the CSA. There's even talk that he might be able to get us into the official Canadian Box. We'll see if they're let a few crazy Yanks in there.I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you, dear readers, will also be attending the game. I suggest a pre-match drink @ The Elwood, say 5:00ish??? Sign up if you're up for a drink... & feel free to post your conflicting pre-match plans for everyone else to see too. For instance, if you're going to Cheli's pr something, that could always work too. I'll be picking Aiden up from school & then meeting up w/ my Dad, @ which point, we'll head downtown & meet up w/ Liz & Dan. I hope to see you all there! And be sure to check back here tomorrow for team news before the match.

Comments, Cruise, & Chronicles... but not in that order

In lieu of anymore Bob Dylan posts, I want to take a moment to talk about the Tom Cruise marathon. I've only watched a couple more since my last update (Valkyre & Jerry Maguire [we'll get to some reviews after I've seen a few more]). I had to take a little time off over Memorial Day to watch some pretty painful WWII films as per my usual Memorial Day celebration. One of them takes place on a sub & stars James Garner (that one was actually alright). Another featured George Peppard, Sophia Loren, & Paul Henreid... it sucked ass. The capstone of its shittiness was the bombing by the Germans of an English Nuclear Power plant. (They didn't exist until the 1950s.) The third of the films was a stock tank battalion movie w/ no one I'd ever heard of. It was a good time before going to watch Barcelona treat ManUre like a bunch of silly children though. I'm trying to remember which English team it was that was able to beat Barcelona in London. Hmmmmm... maybe you ManUre fans could refresh my memory in the comments section.Speaking of the comments section, that's the real issue I logged in to discuss today. A couple weeks ago, I spent a little while talking w/ some fellow bloggers about the lack of comments, why comments have gone down, & what that means about blogging. It was suggested that w/o the interaction of the comments, it's not really a blog. However, we can't forget that blogging started as an on-line version of journaling or diary keeping. Diaries have always been seen as a private thing, to the point where people even come up w/ spells & incantations to protect their privacy. That said, most people who blog, myself included, aren't doing it as a private act, & we're certainly not doing it in a vacuum. This means we need to consider why the comments have decreased over the years. Most people seemed to think that it was due to Facebook. At 1st, that seemed like a reasonable explanation. As comments are left on the Facebook or Twitter pages where links are provided, they are then divorced from the actual post which means historical archiving of the post w/ the comments becomes much more difficult. On the other hand, it's impossible to demand that people place the comments in the actual comments section for 2 reasons.
1) They just don't listen, & I've tried.
2) More importantly, the blogging/comment programs seem to be making commenting more & more difficult. I tried to comment on a blog the other day, but it wouldn't let me. There was a time when anyone could comment. After that period, logging in was easy. Now, each blog seems to have it's own hoops through which people need to jump.

If the lack of comments is to bring about the end of blogging, most of the blame needs to fall on the shoulders of the very code upon which the blogs are based. That said, I'll try again... leave the comments in the comments section rather than on facebook.

The commenting problem has a certain downward spiral aspect to it... just like The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles which I've sadly been watching this summer. When George Lucas released them on DVD, he re-edited the 1 hours episodes into feature length films by joining them in twos & putting them in chronological order. They were then released in 3 multi-disc sets. Each set contains 8 or 10 films... I'm 4 films into the 3rd set now. The first set follows a 9 year old Indy around the world w/ his family as he has adventures & learns about world culture meeting people like TE Lawrence, Teddy Roosevelt, & Tolstoy. The second set sees a 16 year old Indy enlist in the Belgian army & fight in WWI in Europe, Africa & Arabia where he meets people like Mata Hari, Albert Shweitzer, & Kafka. The third set follows him from the end of the war though some college adventures where he meets people like Al Capone, Edith Wharton, Paul Robeson, & John Ford. They're fun movies w/ a silly educational bent to them. Each one includes a series of documentaries about the people & places. Overall, it's a pretty cheesy series that never really goes anywhere, but since I'm almost done, I figure I should see it out. The one I'm watching right now, The Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, is a nice adventure in the traditional Indiana Jones style... he & his war buddy set off in search of ancient treasure & a series of narrow escapes ensues.

Dylan Week Day 5: From Woodstock to Woking

Along w/ Dylan's 70th this week, we also have Levon Helm's 71st today. Here's his band doing a nice job on "I Shall Be Released" w/ Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, & Warren Haynes:

Yesterday, saw the 53rd b-day of Woking's own Paul Weller. Here's his fantastic cover of "All Along the Watchtower:"

In other Woking news... 2 Woking related points in 1 post? Maybe, but we might actually get 3. Hold on to your hat, we're getting crazy... I started reading War of the Worlds the other day. I think I'm gonna teach it in my super-sweet sci/fi class next winter. It's fun... & the Martians land in Woking. I've seen the 1950s film many times (it's shit) & I watched the Tom Cruise/Spielberg version a couple weeks ago (it's not shit, but it can see the litter box from where it is), & yesterday I learned there's a crummy, Ed Woodesque version that came out a few years ago which is actually set in the original time period. I suppose I'll have to see that too.

I know what you're thinking though. You're thinking, "Hey, Woking is just outside of London; shouldn't there be some sort of soccer related aspect to this post?" Yep, there should. And here it is, the 3rd Woking related point in this post. When I was a kid, maybe 11 years old or so, my dad's friend who lives in Sault St. Marie & is connected to the Canadian Soccer Association, hosted a tour of a school team from Woking. They played some games in Northern Ontario & then came down to Petoskey to play the teams my dad was coaching. I remember it was over Father's Day weekend, & I remember we took them to Sleeping Bear Dunes in the belief that "Hey they came all this way, we best show them some weird shit." I remember it was super hot, I got some weird cut on my tongue, & that night there was an awesome Northern Lights which we watched over Harbor Springs from our deck. Those kids from Woking ended up going on to do something in the Football League. I don't remember exactly what it was, but I think it had to do w/ a strong Woking FC run in the FA Cup. For more specifics, you'd probably need to speak to my dad, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is already more specific than you'd like. So much so, that I bet no one reads this far down to learn that the comment password for today is Surrey. I'll check the comments section later to see if anyone puts it there for an extra 10 comment points.

Dylan Week: Day 3: The B-Day (w/ Arsenal Goals of the Year)

For the big 70th birthday, I was going link y'all to some footage from Renaldo & Clara, but the only footage I could find sucks... of course, some would say that I may have found the entire film. I was able to find the Dylan/Dead rehearsals I promised though, so be sure to listen to them all today...all 4 1/2 hours of them! I'm listening to them now for the first time in years. I wish they'd done "Absolutely Sweet Marie" though. That songs seems tailor made for a Dylan/Dead collaboration. All in all, the rehearsals are just as hit or miss as I remember, but you need to listen to them anyway.

Speaking of Dylan memories, I distinctly remember sitting in Mr. Bean's (the teacher @ my high school, not the British comic character) English class looking @ his copy of Rolling Stone which was announcing Dylan's 50th b-day. The article was about how rock music was getting old & stately & I was thinking about how old 50 seemed to be. Now here we are 20 years later & he's still rocking out all year every year & still writing great stuff. The problem w/ this little memory is that I can't find any proof of that RS issue anywhere. I looked for it last night for a 1/2 hour... no dice. Maybe it wasn't a Rolling Stone after all. It's funny how I spent the last 20 years so certain that I'd read about his 50th in a RS; now I think I've been wrong. I wonder what other memories I have that are just plain incorrect. I mean, of course they're all open to interpretation, but flat out remembering things that didn't happen @ all is scary. What if everything I remember is wrong.

Maybe, in 20 years, when I look back on the Arsenal 2010/2011 season & remember that they came close to winning everything, but in actuality won naught, I'll be able to take comfort in the fact that my memories could be incorrect. It was a frustrating seas, over all. They finished 4th again (3rd the last couple years, but 4th has become their spot lately). The made it to the League Cup finals, they beat Barcelona in the 1st leg of their Champion's League tie, but then they lost the cup, were eliminated from the FA Cup & the Champion's League in the same week, & took a nose dive in the league... just as I predicted. They did score some crackers though, & here's the official Goals of the Season highlight reel. Enjoy... I'm sure Dylan is enjoying this today as he kicks back, blows out his candles, & watches Arsenal highlights.

Deep Space Six on Kentucky Derby Day

After a pulled muscle kept me from playing anything resembling the beautiful game on Saturday afternoon, I watched Verlander's no-no & the Kentucky Derby w/ Aiden & my dad. I really don't have any feelings one way of the other in regards to horse-racing... other than the simple conviction that the horses are getting pushed harder than they should be & that it's kind of a silly sport. I do have a strong belief in the ridiculousness of the 2 hours of fluff pieces about the jockey's childhoods & so forth... not to mention stupid hats the women wear. Of course, I've been known to wear a stupid hat on occasion too & here's the album to prove it, so who am I to judge?

Afterwards, I went to see Deep Space @ The Crosstown Bar & Grill. I seem to have forgotten that I'm not 23 anymore, & drank the place dry. The Mexican Slayrides* were flowing... after a 25 oz Oberon, I had 3 Slayrides, a shot of Cuervo & PBR. For some reason about which I was too wasted to enquire, my bill only came to 16 bucks. In hind sight, I think I got a deal. Knowing full well that I had to work @ 8:30 on Sunday morning, I then saw fit to go to an after-party & drink more Oberon... (To quote my team-mate's father after he broke two cheek bones in two games in one week, "stupid is stupid & there's no pill for it.") Anyway, a good time was had by all... but like w/ my previous Deep Space post, I must admit that I can't remember the set-lists as well as I used to, so you'll have to forgive me when you realize that it's not ony incomplete but also not quite in the right order. I feel like the first set is pretty accurate, but the second set must be missing stuff.

Set I:
Feelin' Alright
Althea
Evangeline
Blow Away
Box of Rain
Speedway >
Truckin' >
Terrapin

Set II:
Bertha
Same Thing
Help >
Slipknot >
Cumberland Blues

Encore:
The Race is On >
Dead Flowers

* Put a shot of Captain Morgan's in a pint glass and then fill w/ one bottle of Negra Modelo... named after the pilot episode of The A-Team in the summer of 2007. It's a variant on the less-than-popular cocktail, the Boilermaker. Enjoy!

Arsenal v ManUre Highlights

I know something else happened yesterday, but until I get that post written, feel free to enjoy the highlights from Arsenal's sweet, sweet victory which really ends up helping Chelsea more than Arsenal, but if Chelsea beats Man U next week, Arsenal will only be 3 points back. At least it's been a tight season.

A Classy Weekend

Yesterday, my mom & I took Aiden & Solstice to the Detroit Symphony. They do a free family show about once a month. It was fantastic. I'd never seen them before, & wow... they know their shit. I shouldn't be so surprised, but I'd never see any orchestras before other than student ones. They performed for about an hour which was perfect for the kids. Next time, we'll have to plan ahead & get tix to a museum too... & maybe some Lafayette Coney Island in between. Nothing says classy like chili cheese fries. Anyway, between each piece, the conductor, Leonard Slatkin, talked to the kids about the subsequent piece, explaining what it was about & why they chose to do it. Here's what they played:
Overture to Candide - Leonard Berstein
Summon the Heroes - John Williams
"Hoe Down" from Rodeo - Aaron Copeland
Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin (featuring Michel Camilo on piano)
Tropical Jam - Michel Camilo
The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) - John Williams
Then today, while Dan & I were classing it up w/ staches for our 1st Verde FC match, My mom took Solstice to see The Magic Flute at the Detroit Opera House. She says she loved it. I'm so glad she got to go. I think she's looking forward to doing that kind of stuff more often. Verde, on the other hand, lost 3-0 @ home to Brighton today. Their first goal was due to a ridiculous defensive break down, their second was clearly offsides, & their 3rd was right @ the end on a counter attack while we were all pushed up trying to score. Plus, we had to deal w/ the wind which was harder for us than them because we demand a more beautiful style of quick passing... very much like a symphony, now that I think about it. They just play sloppily. (we play them again in a couple weeks in a cup match & would love to see you all out there supporting your local team.) So w/ these things in mind, we'll call it a draw. And that's some classy logic.

Spring, Soccer, the Symphony, & Silly Accents

With final exams nearly finished, it's time to look ahead to ze coming months... months to be filled w/ Verderiffic good times. I updated the team site so you can all follow our progress and plan your Dimanche afternoon outing. Get your Vuvuzelas and come support your local team. As always, replica kits are available for ze low price of just $30.00. Order yours today. If that's too much of a commitment, you can always just join our brand-spanking-new Facebook Group. Our first match is this Sunday at 11:00 in Canton. Come on out! Tomorrow afternoon, Stephanie & I are taking Aiden & Solstice to the DSO Young People's Concert. It should be a great time. Afterwards, Solstice will be staying w/ my parent s so she & ma mere can go the The Magic Flute (but not this version) on Sunday... it's quite a classy weekend for us.

Finaly, while taking the kids to school today, Solstice was speaking w/ her fake English accent. She loves it. I told her she had to use it all w/ her friends & teachers & everyone. I hope she's still doing it, but I doubt it. We then decided that Aiden should go through the day w/ a "hillbilly" accent, which he was doing pretty well, & then they demanded I use an elderly French accent. I'm alright when it comes to certain accents, but my French one is pretty basic. Adding extreme, toothless old age was tough. One or the other I could have done, but I can't bring them together well. They then decided it should be Spanish instead... that didn't go over any better. I went back to elderly French so you need to go back to the top & reread zis w/ a sily accent you see... while I fart in your general direction... as I said, quite a classy weekend.

Arsenal Highlights Series #X

I promised a quick return to soccer posts. Well, it wasn't as quick as I'd hoped, but here you go. Arsenal picked apart Blackpool yesterday morning during a match that could easily have seen Mad Jens Lehman sent off for a horrible challenge on some Blackpool person. After a closer look, it seems that he wasn't really the last defender and maybe should have gotten only a yellow... as it stands, he got nothing which is good because there was no second goalie on the bench after Almunia was injured in the warm-up. I didn't see the game, but I've watched the highlights & I've gotta say, these 3 goals are pretty sweet. Of course, I'd have settled for headers from corner kicks, but the beauty of the free-flowing goal from open play can't be beat... unless of course, like that douchebag, Berbatov, the goal-scorer is offsides & the ref doesn't see it. There's nothing beautiful about that.

So anyway, here's the highlight reel straight from the Arsenal FC site. Enjoy & be sure to come out & support Verde FC in a few weeks when our season gets underway.

Verde FC & Team USA

The team is coming along nicely. Your local football club should be playing a pre-season friendly against Detroit FC in a few weeks. Be sure to come out and cheer us on and remember to order your fancy replica kit soon. The campaign will start at the end of April and run through June at which point we'll take a couple months off and then finish the remainder of the season from August to October. We'll also be playing in the state tournament and a tournament on Belle Isle in July. Here's to hoping we can improve on last year's rather shocking record.In other soccer news, we scored our tix for the Gold Cup matches @ Ford Field in June. I'll be taking Aiden down w/ Liz, Dan, & my dad. It's a double header; the first match is Panama v Guadeloupe followed by USA v Canada. It'll be Aiden's 1st international, & I think he'll have a great time. Perhaps a good showing from the fans will help convince the MLS that we need a team in this area. If they perform like they did @ the World Cup last year, it'll be hard figuring out which squad (Verde or USA) puts up a more embarrassing summer... hopefully neither will be embarrassing... cross your fingers.

"We're Goin' to Wembley!"... & Maybe The Elbow Room

This is neither the "royal 'we,'" nor the "collective 'we,'" but rather the "quotatative 'we.'" This is only vaguely connected to the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, but related none-the-less.As people were talking about it this week, it got me thinking about where I was when I heard about it: Mr. Harvey's 6th grade math class in Petoskey, MI. I wasn't the greatest student as a middle-schooler, believe it or not, but he was an alright guy... aside from his odd proclivity towards jamming Glenn Frey in class. I remember 1 day we had to listen to his new album, the 1 which was featured on Miami Vice w/ "Smuggler's Blues" & "You Belong to the City." WTF? Remember all the Christie McAuliffe jokes? I know they were horrible. In fact, even as a 6th grader, I knew they were a little inappropriate, but here's the 1 I just wrote. When I say "just," I mean while I was looking up how to spell her last name.

Q: Who's the only person who fell further than Christie McAuliffe in 1986?
A: Glen Frey... I mean really! What ever happened to him? One minute he's on top of the world w/ Miami Vice; the next minute he's begging Don Henley for an Eagles reunion.

Anyway, I didn't log in to take cheap shots @ The Eagles... that's too easy. I logged in to meander down 6th grade's memory lane. Other than the Challenger, the other things that stand out are WWF (we were in the heyday of Hulkamania), Garbage Pail Kids (these stupid stickers that combined the charm of Cabbage Patch Kids w/ the aesthetic of "What's grosser than gross?" jokes), & the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. As you remember, France knocked Brazil out in the 1/4 finals after a hard fought 120 minutes when the game finally went to penalties & Fernandes scored during the penalty kick shoot-out. of course, they ended up losing the 1/2 finals to Germany when the ref left his brain in the cab, causing France to go out 2 World Cups in a row against Germany in Semi-Final matches due to sub-par reffing.
In fact, & I know this will come as a shock, many of my Petoskey memories revolve around soccer...

... Which is how we can relate all of this to Wembley. The title of the post come from the chant often sung by fans of the winning team during the semi-finals of cup competitions in England seeing as the finals are held there. This only interests me because on Tuesday, those fans happened to be fans of Arsenal, which brings me to the point of this post: Jean asked why I hadn't written about this yet.

Arsenal are going to the Carling Cup Finals at Wembley on 27 February, 2011. The main reason I hadn't mentioned this yet is because it's only the Carling Cup... & they're only playing Birmingham City. They should win so they'll probably lose 1-0 which will then spell the end of their strong run as they lose confidence, crash out of the FA Cup & barely qualify for Europe. All of those other competitions are more interesting... & more prestigious. That said, it's nice to see them back chasing a trophy since they haven't done this since they lost to Chelsea in the finals of the same tournament in 2007. They lost to Barcelona in the Champions League finals in 2006. The last thing they actually won was the FA Cup in 2005. Which reminds me, it's FA Cup 4th Round weekend so enjoy... & then come on out to The Elbow Room tonight for Deep Space Six!