(.)_(.)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
the promised land
first we have the Chinese National team playing an exibition against the MLS team in Utah. The game was almost abandoned when some of the Chinese players refused to play when some fans refused to stop waving Tibetan flags in the stands. Much to the surprise of the fans, the MLS team officials together with the stadium security threw the fans out of the stadium.
Then we had the defection of two players from the Cuban National team, who sought asylum in Houston.
And then yesterday 13 of the 18 players on the Haitian Under-17 National Team disappeared from JFK airport during a layover. They were headed to South Korea in preparation for the U-17 World Cup.
I need a cab for 13 teenagers....Flatbush Avenue please. 0 comments
first we have the Chinese National team playing an exibition against the MLS team in Utah. The game was almost abandoned when some of the Chinese players refused to play when some fans refused to stop waving Tibetan flags in the stands. Much to the surprise of the fans, the MLS team officials together with the stadium security threw the fans out of the stadium.
Then we had the defection of two players from the Cuban National team, who sought asylum in Houston.
And then yesterday 13 of the 18 players on the Haitian Under-17 National Team disappeared from JFK airport during a layover. They were headed to South Korea in preparation for the U-17 World Cup.
I need a cab for 13 teenagers....Flatbush Avenue please. 0 comments
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Drew
alright Jason, you goaded me into it. There've been lots of topics I've thought about blogging about, but they're often soccer related. I know that never stopped me before but they just didn't seem generally interesting this time.
For instance there is the fact that over the past 6 months David Beckham has gotten back on the field for Real Madrid, become an integral part of their late season push to win the league title and has been recalled onto the England National team. In short he's playing some of the best soccer of his career lately and being hailed as a savior for both club and country. This of course has all the europhiles gnashing their teeth over the fact that he's quitting europe to come play in a soccer backwater like the US. These are the same people who declared Beckham washed up 6 months ago mind you. These people are idiots.
I was also going to write about the upcoming friendly between the US and Catalonia. About how Catalonia (with Barcelona as it's capital) is one of the 17 autonomous communities of which Spain is comprised, how simply holding a match involving one of these regions is perceived by the political right in Spain as a brazen act of political nationalist propaganda, pitting regional nationalism vs. Spanish nationalism. I find it fascinating that the rich national history of the country is interwoven with it's soccer to such an extent that the two can not be properly understood separate from one another. It's one of the things I love about 'the world's game' and it's stuff like this which makes the sporting rivalries in the US (Sox v. Yankees, Ohio State v. Michigan) seem like that much child's play.
But I did find a soccer item which I think will be generally interesting, which involves Drew...
No, not my little boy (who I've never called 'drew anyways that I can recall) but rather Drew Carey. Surely you remember him from that sitcom with those other people in it? Or perhaps from his stint hosting the US copy of Who's Line Is It Anyway, where comedians 'improv' on situations they've been performing for the last decade? Wait, Wayne Brady is going to make up a song on the spot!? But I digress...
I know Drew in another light, and that is as one of the US Men's National Team's biggest fans. Over the past 5 years or so Drew Carey has been found at most every US game in the States and abroad, traveling to Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, over to Germany for the warm ups for the world cup and of course for the WC itself.
Well he recently concocted an idea for a fund raiser which I thought you may get a kick out of. He set up an tournament where he's going to play against 6 US team members (guys and gals) in FIFA Soccer 07 on Xbox 360. For the first 5 games, if Drew loses he'll donate $10,000 to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund. In the final game, against US poster boy Landon Donovan, Drew will donate $50,000 to the Mooch Fund if he loses.
I thought that was a pretty cool idea. Here are some photos of the setup and the press passes issued for the event.
2 comments
alright Jason, you goaded me into it. There've been lots of topics I've thought about blogging about, but they're often soccer related. I know that never stopped me before but they just didn't seem generally interesting this time.
For instance there is the fact that over the past 6 months David Beckham has gotten back on the field for Real Madrid, become an integral part of their late season push to win the league title and has been recalled onto the England National team. In short he's playing some of the best soccer of his career lately and being hailed as a savior for both club and country. This of course has all the europhiles gnashing their teeth over the fact that he's quitting europe to come play in a soccer backwater like the US. These are the same people who declared Beckham washed up 6 months ago mind you. These people are idiots.
I was also going to write about the upcoming friendly between the US and Catalonia. About how Catalonia (with Barcelona as it's capital) is one of the 17 autonomous communities of which Spain is comprised, how simply holding a match involving one of these regions is perceived by the political right in Spain as a brazen act of political nationalist propaganda, pitting regional nationalism vs. Spanish nationalism. I find it fascinating that the rich national history of the country is interwoven with it's soccer to such an extent that the two can not be properly understood separate from one another. It's one of the things I love about 'the world's game' and it's stuff like this which makes the sporting rivalries in the US (Sox v. Yankees, Ohio State v. Michigan) seem like that much child's play.
But I did find a soccer item which I think will be generally interesting, which involves Drew...
No, not my little boy (who I've never called 'drew anyways that I can recall) but rather Drew Carey. Surely you remember him from that sitcom with those other people in it? Or perhaps from his stint hosting the US copy of Who's Line Is It Anyway, where comedians 'improv' on situations they've been performing for the last decade? Wait, Wayne Brady is going to make up a song on the spot!? But I digress...
I know Drew in another light, and that is as one of the US Men's National Team's biggest fans. Over the past 5 years or so Drew Carey has been found at most every US game in the States and abroad, traveling to Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, over to Germany for the warm ups for the world cup and of course for the WC itself.
Well he recently concocted an idea for a fund raiser which I thought you may get a kick out of. He set up an tournament where he's going to play against 6 US team members (guys and gals) in FIFA Soccer 07 on Xbox 360. For the first 5 games, if Drew loses he'll donate $10,000 to the Mooch Myernick Memorial Fund. In the final game, against US poster boy Landon Donovan, Drew will donate $50,000 to the Mooch Fund if he loses.
I thought that was a pretty cool idea. Here are some photos of the setup and the press passes issued for the event.
2 comments
