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.

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!

friday football five

Life's kind of hectic right now between dealing with car dealerships (I hate this whole process) and going to Kanye, Lupe and n.e.r.d. tonight in Chicago(I do not hate this process at all!) so this is going to be a quick five.

1.It's official! My boy Bocanegra is no longer a Cottager. It's kind of an end of an era. Hate to say it, but this will really test my fandom, especially if he happens upon another EPL team. PSV and some Spanish team is interested. That would be amazing if he could get some Champions Leage time with PSV. Crazy! I'm hella anxious to see where he's going to go. He better not wait all summer.



2.Another US Soccer commercial. This one features Duece. My lone Fulham American left (Kasey's basically out the door, McBride might be coming to the Fire in August and well we've already discussed Carlos and I try to forget that Eddie Johnson is a player for the US National team and for Fulham). I just got a black and red Fulham jersey with his name on the back so he better no go anywhere. Love him!

3.When did Shaka Hislop become an authority on soccer? He was on the Champions League broadcast this past Tuesday and he writes each week about MLS for the Guardian's website. I only read one of his articles as it was full of basis MLS errors and I pretty much discredited him at that point. I didn't hear what he had to say during the Champions League broadcast as I was busy trying to gather all the Newcastles I could before they ran out. I'm just not a fan but maybe he was better with European soccer.


4. The Cesc Fabregas Show debuted in jolly ol England this week. I downloaded it on Tuesday but still haven't had the chance to get through the entire episode. Currently, this show is bothering me because I'm trying to send it to a friend, but it's not working for me. Because of the debut and the havoc it's caused on my life these past few days, here's a preview of it.

5. I don't know whose least shameless in their promotion of their team. Chivas USA with their making guys strip on morning TV or US Soccer with their constant barrage of pictures of Carlos in a pool. I don't really care who wins this battle, just that it continues for a long, long time!

friday football five

I made the trip out to DC this week to catch the Fire/DC game. In all the trips I've made out to DC, I've never seen the Fire win. I was kind of worried that this would be the weekend that DC shook out of their slump and sent me home disappointed again, but thankfully, that wasn't the case. Don't stop living in the red, yo! A few observations from the trip and then some.

1.WV really knows how to make an entrance. The first thing that took me aback was the fact that they had the jerseys in the team store already. Pretty cool considering there are still Fire fans who don't know where you can find a Best Buy Fire jersey. (BTW, they're it that little shack when you walk in from the parking lot on the Section 8 side of the stadium and I'm sure other places but I've never sat any place other than Section 8. Also, can I mention how our little shack of Fire gear doesn't even compare to the official team store DC has? Their stadium is still a dump so there!) The second thing that caught my attention was the fact that they were comping parking for everyone for this game. Hey guys, you get the beer, I'll get the parking for this game! Sneet. I walked into RFK and was immediatly given a WV poncho! How brilliant! There was rain in the forecast and they were sure to not have people's brand new DC jerseys with their fancy logo on it covered it by rain gear so they supplied it for you. This was also a welcome freebie to The Boyfriend's sister who was less than pleased she couldn't bring her umbrella-ella. They weren't cheap ponchos either. WV had me at hello at that point, but that wasn't all. They had a TALKING BUG!!! (I think it was supposed to be talking in a German accent, but can't say for sure;)) and have already supplied to the Barra Brava their own big ass WV jersey. Section 8 is still loving the Puma days when we toss our big ass jersey up so I was in awe. All in all, WV had their stuff together and I was highly impressed...and a little jealous.

2.Bakary Soumare, Diego Gutierrez, Brandon Prideaux and Gonzalo Segares are an F-IN WALL!!! You can't beat these guys! Every time I thought DC had a chance, these guys would be there to sniff it out and in tough fashion! Diego, Brandon and Gonzalo are just true defenders in that they do their job and it's not in flashy fashion or anything. Bakary is just running all over the field, tearing stuff up! I love it! I mean, they're making Jon Busch look like an all-star. Jon Busch! I never thought I would get so turned on by a defensive unit that didn't include Carlos Bocanegra but here I am. Love em!

3.Side note about Bakary...he's pretty much earned a spot into the hearts all of his Fire fan Facebook friends. While on the prowl on Facebook, I had seen where he had gotten into convos with other Fire fans. So this morning I thought I would let him know I appreciated his efforts in last night's game and what not. Then, just a few hours later, I got a response from him. What a dude! I might have to start a Facebook group called "Bakary Soumare is my favorite Facebook friend" or something. How many pro athletes take the time to even reply a line to their fans and treat them like a real friend? I don't care that he's "just an MLS player", that's still pretty cool in my book.

4. Day of Destiny

Fulham is all about getting their fans pumped up for these final games!!! I totally buy into this kind of stuff. At the beginning, though, when they said something about "don't stop believing" I thought they should have totally bust into that song. Hello, there are 5 Americans(even if 2 of them are m.i.a.) on this team. It's like our National Anthem (name me someone who doesn't love that song when they're drunk! You can't!) It's inspirational nonetheless. This is the final game of the season and I can't believe it's all going to come down to this. I call another Clint Dempsey franchise saving goal.

5.



Cesc + "Move Bitch" = GREATEST VIDEO EVER!!! There is even a special appearance by both The Special One and The Voyeur! I can't put into words how amazing this video is so just enjoy it.

"young and successful, sex symbol. bitches want me to f*ck em. true true" I can't think of a better soundtrack for young Cesc.

Off to watch the game from last night. I hear Blanco blew kisses to the crowd. I love that man.

crazier things have happened

1.Fulham rescued themselves from the relegation zone for the first time since Boxing Day. In semi-related news, Boxing Day was the last time I spent the day drunk at The Highbury. See the connection there?

2.One week after jumping off the Brad Guzan bandwagon he went ahead and delivered his first clean sheet of the season against Houston. That's good to see Brad. Maybe I wasn't totally off of that bandwagon just yet.

3.Speaking of bandwagons I'm jumping on...that Cesc Fabregas is quite a stud. And not too bad at my favorite game either. Before the Birmingham City game, and after a couple bloody marys, I declared my love and devotion to Arsenal and said I was getting a Fabregas jersey. That was before my boys reminded me they were staying in the Premier League. Anyways, I still might get his jersey because dude is cookoo bananas!



4.Also this weekend, Martin Truex Jr. got 6th for his first top ten of the season, I think. Hallelujah! It's about damn time Martin. He thought his breaks were going early in the race, but he persevered, kept himself out of trouble and got a good finish. Now onto Darlington!

That was quite a lot of good things to go down in one weekend. I'm not used to being happy with all my teams and what not. Hopefully I didn't just jinx them!