I'm not sure what makes me a bigger loser...posting a blog on a Friday Night at 7pm-ish or what I am about to admit to my dedicated readers.
I have nothing to do tomorrow. Just for reference - tomorrow is a Saturday. Typically a day full of stuff.
It seems like the last month or so has seen me with a schedule sorta like this:
Friday
5pm: Go spend way more than I anticipate for the tailgate. Free advice: Don't shop for a tailgate on an empty stomach. Bad idea.
7:30pm: Soccer game.
10pm: A few beers with the team. Hopefully the destination is Red Robin so I can get a banana milkshake on the way out.
Saturday
6am: Get up to watch the Arsenal game.
9am: Drive to Germantown for my game. Nothing like hitting 270 spur traffic on a Saturday morning.
12pm: Get back and pack up the truck. By the way, big brick to shower after my game because after packing up the truck I am soaked.
1:00pm: Leave for the tailgate - unless Adam is taking forever to find my house.
3:30pm: Try and watch some of the latest Notre Dame ass kicking while making a chicken for Will Chang.
4:15pm: Listening to Baker taunt his beer pong opponents. This is usually coupled with some sort of dance and song with Bui.
5:30pm: Change the channel to CBS for good after stating that I am no longer a fan of Notre Dame.
5:34pm: Switching back to NBC just to make sure the Irish didn't errupt for 3 points.
6:00pm: Bitter that all of the limes are gone for the beer.
7:15pm: Bragging about how great the spot I picked out for the TV is because you can't see a glare.
7:30pm: Packing up and finishing my last beer of the day. I mean somebody has to drive.
11:00pm: Pass out.
This week you ask? No game tonight, Saturday morning game is going to be non existent thanks to the rain, United was last night, Arsenal plays Sunday morning, and Notre Dame is idle.
What I should do is meet up with Danny and some of my other JMU friends for homecoming because this is about the first year that I have been able to attend for various reasons. Most of them rhyme with "delighted". This is an opportunity I shouldn't pass up. I mean even if its not that much fun, I know eating at D-Hall would be worth the drive. I think the football game might be sold out, but let's be honest here...I went to less than 5 games in 4 fall semesters in Harrisonburg so that's not really a problem.
Alright I'm going to go figure all this out while I'm running at Gold's.
Real quick (for games that matter):
Redskins 27 - Patriots 19
Arsenal 2 - Liverpool 1
Oregon 34 - USC 31
Penn State 17 - OSU 15
Idle 8 - Notre Dame 6 (Irish cover at home!)
Arizona State 42 - Cal 27
This now concludes my relationship with the interent until Monday morning at work.
lateR
Friday, October 26, 2007
Flattered? Yes...but enough is enough
Non Saturday Night Matches: In a season that featured exactly zero Saturday Night home games from July 14th to Sept 29th, it really should come as no surprise that United is getting totally screwed in the playoffs.
Thursday Oct 25th @ Chicago
Thursday Nov 1st Home to Chicago
Thursday Nov 8th (only if they advance past Chicago)
How did this happen? Look no farther than the executives at ESPN. They have the Primetime package and guess which team they want to focus on? Yep you guessed it. The Black and Red.
The real nail in the coffin was when LA failed to make the playoffs. You know they would have wanted to plaster Beckham all over the place. I would have been more than fine with that.
The real problem for me? I can't get my friends to show up with any sort of regularity to weeknight matches. The list of variables that hurts attendance is pretty long but the biggest factors are work - duh and the fact that you don't have the next day to recover from a few too many drinks/lack of sleep.
Even when I can get people to show up its just not the same. It's too bad because it is pretty fun. Just last week I had the most impressive girl to guy ratio my truck has ever seen (5:1). Out of that group it looks like I might have one repeat passenger. And that's only a maybe. Don't get me wrong...I'm not hating the players...just the game.
In an effort to end this blog week on a positive thought I will say this:
Next year should be a lot better in terms of home scheduling based soley on the fact that the Nationals are gone from RFK. I think we will see many more Saturday night games in 2008 which will mean more tailgate time. That's a win-win situation. Now all we have to do is get ESPN to fall in love with another team and its a win-win-win. I could be cised.
Thursday Oct 25th @ Chicago
Thursday Nov 1st Home to Chicago
Thursday Nov 8th (only if they advance past Chicago)
How did this happen? Look no farther than the executives at ESPN. They have the Primetime package and guess which team they want to focus on? Yep you guessed it. The Black and Red.
The real nail in the coffin was when LA failed to make the playoffs. You know they would have wanted to plaster Beckham all over the place. I would have been more than fine with that.
The real problem for me? I can't get my friends to show up with any sort of regularity to weeknight matches. The list of variables that hurts attendance is pretty long but the biggest factors are work - duh and the fact that you don't have the next day to recover from a few too many drinks/lack of sleep.
Even when I can get people to show up its just not the same. It's too bad because it is pretty fun. Just last week I had the most impressive girl to guy ratio my truck has ever seen (5:1). Out of that group it looks like I might have one repeat passenger. And that's only a maybe. Don't get me wrong...I'm not hating the players...just the game.
In an effort to end this blog week on a positive thought I will say this:
Next year should be a lot better in terms of home scheduling based soley on the fact that the Nationals are gone from RFK. I think we will see many more Saturday night games in 2008 which will mean more tailgate time. That's a win-win situation. Now all we have to do is get ESPN to fall in love with another team and its a win-win-win. I could be cised.
you never forget the first one...
The Age of Innocence is now officially over. I mean it had to happen. There are just some things you can't avoid forever. I mean if you go to enough away playoff games, eventually you will witness a loss. Hopefully they will be few and far between but they will rear their ugly head from time to time.
Hello - it's the playoffs. What that means is that the opposition is, by definition, pretty good. Last night was my loss. For those of you keeping score at home, I have made it out to every playoff game, home and away, since 2004.
Here is the away list:
2004 @ New York (win)
2004 @ LA vs KC (win)
2005 @ Chicago (tie)
2006 @ New York (win)
2007 @ Chicago (loss) DAGGER!
So there it is. My first time. Not exactly Sweet Home Chicago is it? Well you know what? I don't mind the loss. I think United will advance by taking care of business in front of 25k fans at RFK next Thursday. I seriously find it easier to be upbeat about the teams I follow when they are struggling. Never kick somebody when they are down...unless Dan Snyder is the one calling the shots.
All in all you gotta take the good with the bad. It is all part of the journey that we have decided to take.
Ok lets focus on the good if we can.
(+5) I got a chance to talk with ESPN's Julie Foudy and Rob Stone. Julie even decided that taking a picture with me about 10 beers deep was a risk she was willing to take. As soon as I charge up my phone I will have to upload that shot of me and the former World Cup Veteran.
(+2) I get to add another stadium to my list. The latest numbers show me up to 50 in my climb towards 100. The other two times I have been to Chicago the Fire were still sharing Soldier Field with the Bears.
(+2) They serve beer until the 75th minute at Toyota Park. Once I realized United wasn't going to come back I took full advantage of this rule.
(+2) Beer is $2 cheaper at Toyota Park as opposed to RFK.
(+1) I was able to make a lot of people laugh yesterday. Random texts from friends asking if I was in Chicago was met with laughter after receiving my answer. Only problem is that I had loads of trouble completing texts after the game. Lots of errors and incomplete deliveries. Weird - see the last two comments above to figure out what went wrong.
(+4) I shook off the hangover after about an hour this morning and slept on the flight. Stay away from the liquor and I am usually fine the next day.
(+1) Didn't have to take time off work. I worked later a few nights this week to even out the ledger.
(+20) Sam faked on going. What that means is that he didn't get thrown out. FYI - he was asked to leave Soldier Field in 2005 by the guys in yellow security jackets.
Hello - it's the playoffs. What that means is that the opposition is, by definition, pretty good. Last night was my loss. For those of you keeping score at home, I have made it out to every playoff game, home and away, since 2004.
Here is the away list:
2004 @ New York (win)
2004 @ LA vs KC (win)
2005 @ Chicago (tie)
2006 @ New York (win)
2007 @ Chicago (loss) DAGGER!
So there it is. My first time. Not exactly Sweet Home Chicago is it? Well you know what? I don't mind the loss. I think United will advance by taking care of business in front of 25k fans at RFK next Thursday. I seriously find it easier to be upbeat about the teams I follow when they are struggling. Never kick somebody when they are down...unless Dan Snyder is the one calling the shots.
All in all you gotta take the good with the bad. It is all part of the journey that we have decided to take.
Ok lets focus on the good if we can.
(+5) I got a chance to talk with ESPN's Julie Foudy and Rob Stone. Julie even decided that taking a picture with me about 10 beers deep was a risk she was willing to take. As soon as I charge up my phone I will have to upload that shot of me and the former World Cup Veteran.
(+2) I get to add another stadium to my list. The latest numbers show me up to 50 in my climb towards 100. The other two times I have been to Chicago the Fire were still sharing Soldier Field with the Bears.
(+2) They serve beer until the 75th minute at Toyota Park. Once I realized United wasn't going to come back I took full advantage of this rule.
(+2) Beer is $2 cheaper at Toyota Park as opposed to RFK.
(+1) I was able to make a lot of people laugh yesterday. Random texts from friends asking if I was in Chicago was met with laughter after receiving my answer. Only problem is that I had loads of trouble completing texts after the game. Lots of errors and incomplete deliveries. Weird - see the last two comments above to figure out what went wrong.
(+4) I shook off the hangover after about an hour this morning and slept on the flight. Stay away from the liquor and I am usually fine the next day.
(+1) Didn't have to take time off work. I worked later a few nights this week to even out the ledger.
(+20) Sam faked on going. What that means is that he didn't get thrown out. FYI - he was asked to leave Soldier Field in 2005 by the guys in yellow security jackets.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Guten Tag!
Its times like last night that makes me wonder how long I actually thought about my 8th grade course schedule before handing it over to my counselor. I mean it’s blatantly obvious to me that I put very little thought into the task. I was probably too busy worrying about which color Umbros I would be wearing the next day. (I got cised for the checkered red ones!) Or maybe I was in a major rush to get to the corner so I could meet Jesse on our daily trip to the Park for some legendary games of 21 with the rest of the gang. I mean look there weren’t even that many things going on.
You gotta remember that those were the old days. Nobody had the Internet. Hoping on AOL IM the minute you got home just to talk to friends you saw in IFL wasn’t an option. Nobody had a cell phone. I didn’t have any important texts to send out. The only girls I talked to after school had one thing in common – they were all related to me. So what was I doing? I know it wasn’t homework. Lake Braddock didn’t require much work outside the subschools. I think it’s safe to say that I spent more time studying the back of Football and Basketball cards to learn the player’s college than I did on worrying about my order of operations.
Well whatever it was, my judgment was severely clouded as I made a decision that I am still paying dearly for to this day. I signed up for German instead of Spanish. Why? This is a decision that continues to haunt me.
Last night wasn’t the first time and I know it won’t be the last time that finds me sitting through 90 minutes of a United game understanding nothing more than the players names and the word vamos. Hey guess what? I don’t even have German TV channels. Wanna know what else? I didn’t even go to the 2006 World Cup when it was in Germany. (Thank god by the way. What a disaster.) German 1, 2, and 3 has provided me with zero. I am so bitter at the auf deutsch.
I guess I could have gone out in an effort to avoid the language barrier but two nights in a row isn’t happening for me at this point in time. The wallet and the body have spoken.
Maybe I should just take some classes at Nova. It would probably enhance my tailgating experience in Lot 8 – which is something I am always open to.
Well whatever it was, my judgment was severely clouded as I made a decision that I am still paying dearly for to this day. I signed up for German instead of Spanish. Why? This is a decision that continues to haunt me.
Last night wasn’t the first time and I know it won’t be the last time that finds me sitting through 90 minutes of a United game understanding nothing more than the players names and the word vamos. Hey guess what? I don’t even have German TV channels. Wanna know what else? I didn’t even go to the 2006 World Cup when it was in Germany. (Thank god by the way. What a disaster.) German 1, 2, and 3 has provided me with zero. I am so bitter at the auf deutsch.
I guess I could have gone out in an effort to avoid the language barrier but two nights in a row isn’t happening for me at this point in time. The wallet and the body have spoken.
Maybe I should just take some classes at Nova. It would probably enhance my tailgating experience in Lot 8 – which is something I am always open to.
Result: In case anybody was interested the good guys lost last night 1-0, which brought the aggregate score in the home and away series against Chivas Guadalajara to 2-2. Chivas advances in the Copa Sudamericana by the virtue of their away goal. Dagger. The biggest dagger of the night was the PA announcer randomly playing the Chorus of "We Are The Champions" ad nauseam last night. Isn't there some Spanish equivalent out there???
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