June 25, 2009

Never Can Say Goodbye...

If you go to my family home and search through the video cabinet you will find a video from the 1988 J.T. Stevens Talent Show. In that show, you will see a 7-year-old version of myself break dancing and moonwalking across a stage to Michael Jackson's Bad. I still remember that like it was yesterday. My two friends (who I will not name, haha) and I worked that stage that night and just had a good time. That is what I remember when I think of Michael Jackson.

When I was a kid, MJ wasn't a celebrity...he was music to me. I played and sang his music all the time. My brother and I would dance around the kitchen trying to emulate his moonwalk and nobody could do the crotch grab better than my brother (we have videos to prove it,haha). I even convinced my mom to take me to see the Bad tour at Reunion Arena, which is to date the most exciting performance I have ever seen in my life. It alsoturned out to be one of the greatest memories I have of my Granny, but that is a story for another day.

I know many people will look at Michael Jackson and see him as the person who had to deal with all the legal troubles in recent years, but that is not what I will see. MJ is somebody that took the music industry to the next level. Nobody sold records like he did and he pretty much set MTV on the path that made it the successful network it is today which paved the path for other networks. He turned concerts into true shows and Moonwalker is still my favorite music movie of all time.

Michael Jackson will be missed and will never be matched. I would like to personally thank him for providing me with joy and entertainment in many times of my life. You may be gone, but your music will live on for time to come.

Michael Jackson, August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009
Rest in peace....

June 24, 2009

Moment in US Soccer History

Today the US did what most people considered impossible. They not only showed up, but they took down Spain 2-0 in a FIFA event. Spain hadn't lost in 35 games, was ranked number 1 in the world, and had not lost to a non-European team since 1999. it was pure magic.

I am one of the biggest critics of the US soccer team. I have no dislike for them, in fact it is the opposite. I just want them to begin living up to the great potential that they have, and today they made a step. The US played together as a cohesive unit and stayed focused for an entire 90 minutes. They defended as a team the same way the old Dutch teams playing Total Football did. They counter attacked with precision and made the most of their chances, getting 2 goals on exactly 2 shots on goal. And don't even get me started on Altidore... This kid is only 19 and he muscled off a world class defender to put in what would eventually be the winning goal. this kid will be a beast in about 2 years once he gets some regular playing time.

Today is a proud day and I sat there watching the second half with my eyes getting a little teary as the game got into extra time. For the first time, the whole world was watching and we gave them something to see. I know the final match isn't until Sunday, but we don't need a win to prove we can belong. If we stay focused and determined we can give respectable performances game after game. That is all we fans ask for and hopefully this is the beginning of that starting to happen.

June 19, 2009

First Real Photo Shoot

So my wife and one of her best friends are both pregnant right now and they decided they wanted to take some pictures together. Of course that meant I was going to have to take my camera out and try to take some true portraits. I had no idea how they were going to turn out, but I stayed focused and tried to use what I learned in my photography classes. I ended up with some good pictures and also some not-so-good pictures. Here are a few of the good ones...



June 4, 2009

USA - Costa Rica: We Got Served Edition

I usually don't post about soccer much on my blog, but after the game I saw last night I just had to take my frustrations somewhere and this is it. If you aren't a soccer lover like I am, feel free to stop reading now...

Last night the USA played a World Cup Qualifier against Costa Rica at their place. Now, it is well known that our qualifying region has a reputation for being a tough place to win on the road. Each team (even ours) always seems to have a great advantage playing on their home pitches and in front of their own fans. So no one would have been surprised that USA lost last night 3-1, but what was surprising is the way they lost. It was perhaps one of the worst road performances in our last few World Cup qualifying campaigns.

I have never seen USA come out for a qualifier and just look completely unprepared for the task at hand. They were slow to balls, gave the Costa Ricans too much space on the ball, and never really strung together a decent attack. In fact, the score would have been 3-0 had it now been for a pity PK given to Landon "Five Head" Donovan. It was just a terrible performance that received many boos as I sat and watched.

Now USA must play Honduras on Saturday, which just became a must win. A loss would drop us out of the Top 3, with only 2 more home qualifiers remaining. We can not afford to lose any points at home as we will continue to struggle on the road.

My Recommendations for Honduras Game
  • Start Freddy Adu and Jose Francisco Torres in the middle of a true 4-4-2 line up with Donovan and Altidore up top.
  • Sit Beasley down. In fact, send him home. He is truly worthless at this point as he is not playing with any sort of confidence or much skill.
  • Try Spector at left back. I know he normally plays on the right, but Beasley cannot play in the back and I will punch my TV if I see Heath Pierce or Bornstein at left back again.
  • At about the 75th minute, insert Charlie Davies in the game to let his speed burn up Honduras. We really need to get away from trying to use a forward to simply hodl the ball up top. We need a more fluid way of playing because we are not creating chances in the run of play.
We can all tune in on Saturday and hope for the best!!

June 1, 2009

Sorry ManU Fans!!

This was too funny for me to not post after ManU lost the Champions League final to Barcelona. As an Arsenal fan it gave me great joy to watch them lose and look so lost in the game. I just feel like rubbing it in one last time. I know present to you the latest Hitler rant on YouTube...