http://www.tvscreenprotector.com/

i waited a year for this?

I only watched the last ten minutes of the game so these will all be highly intelligent thoughts:

1. Where you going on that first goal Hope? You had a defender right in front of you. Do you guys not talk to each other? The video isn't up on nbcolympics.com yet so I can't enjoy that first goal all over again. I understand coming out for the ball but I don't know Hope seemed a little too far out there. Not the way to win your teammates back after that big talk. Just saying.

2. In the final 10 mins or so I watched I am still a big fan of Natasha Kai. The girl kills it.

3. I don't really watch women's soccer. At all. It's a bit of a snooze fest for me because everything is so much weaker. Sad but true. In the little bit of play I saw today, though, there was a lot of ball movement and attempts at being creative with the ball. If women play the game like that, it would be interesting. Realizing your limits isn't about playing long balls. It's about keeping the ball on the ground, the headers I saw weren't really anything productive, and using your head (not for headers, though). Even at the end when A Rod tried something cute on the sideline and ended up getting the ball dispossessed, I wasn't even mad. She tried something different. Maybe this has been the norm in women's soccer under Pia, I don't know. But despite the 2-0 scoreline, I'd watch it again. Ladies you impressed me.

On the other hand, the men's team who didn't score a goal in their pre-tournament games, are taking on Japan in their Olympic debut tomorrow morning. That should be a thriller. ;) Remember, I'm rooting for this team to do a damn thing. Brian McBride said if they're outed in the first round he would be back for the Fire game on August 16th. While coach Dennis Hamlet said he wouldn't start him that first game back, he'll be there. And wouldn't you know, I just so happen to have off on that day and will be there as well! Granted, I'll also be at the last game of the season against Juan Carlos Osorio and the New York Red Bull, but McBride could be injured by then so I'd like to see him sooner rather than later. BTW, that NYRB game is going to be off the hook! Section 8 isn't going forget that Osorio up and left us for an uglier women in the middle of the night last offseason or that he wanted to take our beloved Conde with him so they'll be ripping him a new one. But I digress...

In basketball news I decided I won't be rooting for the USA team (man, get ready to ship me out of the country). They're just too showboaty and what not. Besides, I hate Michael Redd which, despite the fact that I bitched about Redd for entire 07-08 Milwaukee Bucks season and bashed his bobblehead etc., came as a surprise to The Boyfriend. While I was watching the Australia/USA game yesterday Fran Frachilla (who is my new idol) was asked if Redd was the best shooter in the world. I laughed out loud. Fran stated that Redd is a great shooter...when there isn't anyone on him. Great, when he doesn't have a defense in front of him, he's a great shooter. How often does that happen? But yeah, I don't really like any of the players on the USA team, maybe just Deron Williams and Kobe...oh and Tayshaun Prince but he's not getting any time which is just bogus. So I have two picks for this basketball tournament: Australia and Spain. First, Australia really held their own in two games against Argentina and the States WITHOUT my boy Andrew Bogut, who has a sprained ankle. While they ended up losing those games, they really put up a fight against teams stocked with NBA stars while theirs was out. And I'm picking Spain because they're really good and it's been a Spain kind of summer. Plus, I appreciate another country who values basketball as much as the States do.

Yep, I'm getting Olympic fever! Women's gymnastics start tomorrow! Out of all of the things I just discussed, that's my favorite part of the entire tournament. I totally wanted to be one of those bitches. Although, I'm glad I'm not because being 5'4" is short enough for my liking.

remember me?

I bring you pictures of Carlos Bocanegra's time with his new French team because that's all I can understand. And really, when it's Carlos Bocanegra do you need anything besides pictures? Not so much! These were taken over the past few days at training (duh). In the preview to the set of pictures they pointed out that the American flag was there for our boy Los. Don't you love it?

In actual game news, according to the info I translated using Babel Fish (does anyone have any other suggestions?) Carlos wasn't qualified (that's the word they used) to play in Rennais' last Intertoto Cup game, a penalty kick win against SC Tavriya Simferopol on the 26th. This win allowed Rennais to go on to the next round. I tried to find some info on their opponents but I didn't see any info. Maybe if I dedicated some time to it instead of throwing a post together while wearing a towel because I just got out of the shower, I might be able to deliver some info. Anyways, does anyone know how you're not qualified to play a game after playing 60 mins of the last one? Did he get a yellow card suspension that quick? If anyone would do it that fast it would be Carlos.

But that's all I have to offer you on the Carlos Bocanegra front. Rennais' Ligue 1 season starts Saturday August 9th against Olympique de Marseille. I'll try to catch it on the internet but I make no promises.

Time out: I found out some more info on the Intertoto Cup. It's amazing what you find when you click random links on the Stade Rennais home page (where I got all of these amazing pictures from). Apparently, they have been drawn to take on Stabæk IF of Norway. The first game is August 14 in Norway and the return game in France is August 28th. If they pass this round they will officially be in the wannabe Champions League aka UEFA Cup. That would be pretty sweet for Carlos and might actually make his move to France worthwhile as I don't think Fulham's qualifying for any tournaments anytime soon. Maybe that Carlos thought ahead? No, I'm betting someone did that for him.

australian gold

So that might not be totally legal there, Drew, but I understand. How the heck else are you going to handle Yao. Australia played China yesterday? this morning? this evening? (this time difference is going to really do a number on me) and won! Good for the Australian team! I don't really know what their chances are in this Olympics but Andrew doesn't want you to count them out. They play the United States team next week which will obviously be a good game to measure themselves. The last time they played the US team in the World Championships, Andrew stole the show for the first five minutes and then the US team woke up and it was all over. I hate watching shut outs but what are you going to do. Andrew's a better player now and hopefully a better leader so I'm looking for the team to do well. I just hope he doesn't come back to Milwaukee totally disappointed because I'm looking forward to this coming up season for the Bucks and he needs to play a big part of getting this team to the playoffs again!

And because you can't have enough Andrew in your life, here's a video where Andrew says the sport he would most like to watch while in Bejing would be soccer. A man after my own heart.

my trash is better than your trash

The Boyfriend and I had a discussion on Monday about the Cubs/Brewers matchups. For those not from Milwaukee or Chicago, these games are a pretty big deal even when they're not battling each other for first place. Chicago fans won't want to admit it, but they do take these series a bit seriously otherwise they wouldn't make the trip up to The Good Land every chance they get to watch one of the games. The Boyfriend is a Cubs fan and was saying that he'd rather go down to Wrigley Field to watch the game because people are better behaved down there. I pointed out that as a Cubs fans, he probably doesn't notice all the douchebag behavior because he's not under fire from anyone. He didn't agree. All around the fans are douchebags when it comes to these games. I remember one game up here when two guys were getting into it in the cheap seats(I try not to pay a lot for baseball tickets) and a White Sox fan had to get up in front of everyone and tell them to shut up because neither of their teams were close to being World Champions and pointed to his couple year old White Sox World Series t-shirt. It was pretty funny and I had to give it to the guy for putting himself out there to cut the tension like that. Everyone gets all drunk and starts picking fights with anyone that moves that's not wearing their shade of blue. Zach pointed out that the Cub fans usually leave the women out of it and I reminded him of the time he was in the bathroom at the McDonald's near Wrigley and I was standing around by myself waiting for him and some dude started to give me crap. Not like good natured ribbing, which is to be expected if you're wearing the other teams jersey, but shit talking. When I told The Boyfriend about this when he got out of the bathroom he asked what I expected wearing a Brewers jersey down there. The Boyfriend had no recollection on Monday of this when we were having this discussion, of course.

These games bring out the trash from both cities and make the games less enjoyable. Yesterday's game actually would have been a baseball game I would have watched. Zambrano against Sheets. Thankfully tickets cost an arm and a leg and I didn't go because it was just more of the same last night. This is kind of a perfect story, except for the women getting knocked out by the Cubs fans for trying to break up the fight, because it just proves my point. There aren't any better fans in this series. They all get drunk and get stupid and I don't want to hear anyone, including The Boyfriend, try to stick up for their team. See, I hate baseball so I don't really care about either of the teams. Brewer fans kind of annoy me, but I always think I should go for the hometown team. On the other hand, Cubs stuff is always so cute. I usually am the antagonist and wear whatever is going to cause a stir with the people I'm with.

And no, Ryan Braun didn't really have anything to do with this story but couldn't you just lick him?

hallelujah!!!

McBride In, Barrett out!!!

That's all that needs to be said from me. I couldn't think of any news that would make me happier this morning!

the legend

My local paper, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ran a nice little article talking about Brian McBride making the Olympic team and being at least 12 years older than the rest of the players on the team. McBride isn't such a shocking choice as an overage player, in my opinion. Typically, aren't the overage players actually overage? My boy Guzan, another overage player, just barely missed on being an age qualified player and Michael Parkhurst isn't exactly collecting his AARP membership. But McBride goes on to say he doesn't feel old at all and is ready for this challenge. I'm glad he'll get to spend in August in Bejing since Toronto and Chicago haven't really come to any kind of terms to get him playing in MLS just yet.

Another funny, but kind of sad, note from the article. McBride talks about how joining the Olympics team just kind of came up in conversation with Jonathan Spector and now it's a reality. It's sad because Spector is the one who isn't on the team due to injury.

blog diarrhea

Pleasant thought, I know. But due to my not like ever posting I have a lot of random stuff to discuss.

First, my boy Carlos Bocanegra got a job. Woop woop! Unfortunately, it's in France. I don't know anything about the French league and pretty much any bit of the French language that I know is summed up in this song:



But from the little bit of info I did get I heard that Rennes is a decent team and I can find a jersey somewhere. Since I don't know anything about this team, that's pretty much all I have to say about that. Unless anyone knows of any French league blogs that are in English. That would be amazing.

Next, apparently the breaking news is that Aston Villa are ready to sign Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Paul Robinson. This is notable because last night they were all about signing Robert Green from West Ham. Still don't see the importance? Well, sounds like I'll be seeing Brad Guzan at the Superclasico later this summer as he is apparently no longer in Martin O'Neill's thoughts. Brad hasn't really had a stellar season so I was always going to be surprised if Villa actually picked him up. He is a great keeper and I think he's definitely the keeper of the future for the National team, but he hasn't been bringing it every week for Chivas. Maybe once he doesn't get picked up he'll get all that other crap off his mind and play like everyone knows he can. The January transfer window isn't too far away.

Next topic: Chad Barrett still sucks! Watching that game against San Jose Saturday was only amusing because I don't live and die for the Fire anymore and it cracked me up to see how horrible Chad Barrett really is. Bonus was he did start his ass on the bench in favor of Andy Herron. ha ha. Unfortunately, Herron was injured early and on came Chad to everyone's dismay, I'm sure.

On a positive Fire note, though, I'm pretty sure if I watch another one of these "My Wish" segments I'm going to cry. Last night it was a kid from Vegas who has cancer whose little league team was named the Indians so he became a huge Indians fan. He got to ride a limo to the game and was greeted by the mascot, whose name the kid knew so considering he had never been to a game the kid really was a big fan. He also got his own locker, got a personalized jersey, took batting practice, threw out the first pitch and got to take the lineup cards to the umpires. The Indians went ahead and thanked him for all he did by breaking their 7 game losing streak that day. I want to cry just writing this all out. But a kid who wanted to meet Blanco is on tonight. It will be cool to see how this kid and his parents react to Blanco, because I don't think Americans could ever understand how big Blanco is, and just to see them make some kid's day.



In a completely unrelated note, remember Arrested Development the band? Well, their head guy, Speech, is from Milwaukee. Here's a pretty cool article about how he comes back to Milwaukee every summer for Summerfest to run his father's corn stand. It talks about how last year he literally went from performing on one of the stages to running to check on the stand. Way to remember where you come from and what's important. I still haven't been to Summerfest yet and I don't miss it, although now I kind of want to go to see if Speech is at the corn stand. I think I might wind up there Saturday to see Cheap Trick with The Boyfriend and his friend. The Roots are there Friday night but I don't have anyone to go with me as The Boyfriend and aforementioned friend are going to see Stone Temple Pilots. But I digress...

The NBA Draft has come and gone this year and the entertainment value certainly didn't disappoint. Although, I was pretty upset that Stephen A. Smith's role was relegated to interviewing the guys after they got drafted. I don't think he screamed once during the Draft. It's not really the draft until Stephen A is screaming about something. Also, Spike Lee wasn't there. What on earth could he possibly have been doing that was more important the going to the Draft? This has to be the first draft in a long time that he hasn't been there for. Despite all of that, the draft was still top rate! The Bucks tried as they could to trade away both Mo Williams AND Michael Redd to Miami for their pick so they could grab OJ Mayo but it didn't happen. We did end up making a trade to get rid of Bobby Simmons' contract and Yi Jianlian for Richard Jefferson. Yi hadn't really proved himself last year so I'm not too sad to see him go. The Bucks wound up draft Joe Alexander from West Virginia University. The story behind this kid is that he grew up in China and didn't start playing organized basketball until his Junior year of high school. With that said, considering he came out of college early, I don't see much wrong with the pick. He'll back up Richard Jefferson for a while and when Jefferson gets old and more expensive than he already is, in steps in Joe. It works out for everyone.

I'm counting down the days until July 9th when Andrew Bogut can sign his new contract. The word on the street has always been that he wants to get this done before the Olympics where he'll be representing Australia. Going into the draft everyone always thought Yi and Bogut were untouchable and weren't going to be traded. Obviously, that turned out to not be the case for Yi as he's now vacationing on the Jersey Shore. But I did hear that Bogut's name never came up once as a trade option. That's awesome! He doesn't get the respect he deserves, really. I'm sure his new deal with be pretty respectful, though. While it won't be Deron and Chris Paul money, it should be good.

And finally...this thing is epic...let's all give it up for Cesc Fabregas and Spain for pulling it all off and winning Euro 2008. I don't think I mentioned my allegiance to Spain in this thing but my love for the team was all over the place since the day the tournament started. Hello, Cesc plays for them.







And speaking of pulling it all off, I believe the best part of the tournament was the celebration...



Based on celebration alone, the best team won!!! Holy moses! Even with all the nakedness in the video, my favorite was the fully dressed David Villa. What a stud! Oh, Euro 2008....I'll miss you.

chad barrett sucks!

Recently I feel like I should have like made t-shirt or started a facebook group about the hatred because everyone is jumping on that bandwagon now. I have never liked the guy. I will never like the guy. I always thought he was horrible and now it's gotten to the point where I don't even like the Fire because they employ this douchebag. Everybody wanted to get on Blanco's case when he would yell at Chad while on the field like Blanco was being too mean to him or something. I think it's mean of Chad to be on the same field as Blanco and not finish some of the great chances Blanco creates for him so it's kind of a two way street there.

It's finally out in the open. Chad Barrett is horrible. Everyone agrees on it finally. If he's on the Olympic roster...well I guess it wouldn't surprised me but I would be just as angry with the decision as I was him being chosen to be on the qualifying roster. I guess I can go without the recognition as being one of the first to completely hate this guy as long as everyone is on board with that idea finally.

BTW, http://usasoccer.blogspot.com/ makes the greatest MLS videos ever!

i love Euro 2008!

Because they didn't play this song after Cesc scored the PK to send the Italians home, here it is.



I love this stuff!