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.

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.

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.

welcome to Milwaukee!

Oh thank you Jesus! I don't need to know anything else about this man except that he puts idiots in their place. We have plenty of idiots who need to be put in their place...and that place doesn't include Milwaukee. I'm riding high on the Bucks decisions as of late. When Larry Harris was fired in March I didn't really think of it. I wasn't like, "ooh great, now we'll really get someone in here to turn things around." I just thought the Senator would hire some other idiot who would sign a player like Dan Gadzuric to a 6-yr insane amount of money contract.

When he brought John Hammond in from Detroit I was slightly impressed. Herb Kohl said he wasn't going to hire from within and he didn't. Good job. Way to not disappoint. Then Hammond mentioned the coaches that he wanted to bring in and I really got anxious. Most of the names mentioned were no-nonsense, defense minded coaches. Yep, I said it DEFENSE!!! To a Milwaukee fan you may as well be speaking Chinese because we have long forgotten the concept of defense.

Today, Scott Skiles was brought in. A man who doesn't take any crap from anyone. There's a thread on real GM with quotes from all the players who don't like him. Good. This team needs an asshole to lead them. There are very few players I like on the Bucks. Of course Andrew Bogut is one of those guys because he kept the pouting to a minimum this season and really understands the concept of team basketball. Yi, I can't write him off just yet. Ramon Sessions showed well in garbage games at the end of the season. That's about it. The rest of the starters can go jump off a cliff and Scott Skiles will be the one telling them what cliff they can jump off of. I almost want Mo Williams (I hate him the most) to stick around just so I can watch him try to battle with Skiles all season. I don't mind if Redd sticks around, but he's going to get an attitude adjustment as well. All these lazy ass, wanna be elite players are going to have to check themselves and it's going to be great. Okay, maybe my head is a little large with ideas and hope, but it's definitely not going to be business as usual.

I understand he may not be the long term answer given his track record with teams and that he may not lead us to the promise land (second round of the playoffs??) but he's a large step in the right direction of changing the attitude of this team. They need to start playing like they belong in the NBA.

A personal benefit to this hire, I don't see Skiles drafting Eric Gordon. As an Illini fan (another losing team), drafting Eric Gordon would be like closing all the Qdoba's down. You better be ready for some hell to pay. But yeah, I don't see Skiles drafting some small, mentally weak 12 yr old. I hate that kid and I'm glad he's not coming here! Phew!

What a wonderful day today. The sun was shining. I hit golf balls for the first time this season. I won tickets to sit 4 rows behind the plate of the STL/MKE game tomorrow. More importantly that game is a day game so I get to partake in one of my favorite past times, drinking during the day. And hope was born in the form a bald headed angry white man.